Marrakech, Morocco

This morning we woke up at 6:00 am and walked to the front of the port. Usually buses take us because it's about a 30 min walk but it was too early so we walked. We took a taxi from the front of the port to the train station only to find out that our train left at 8:50 not 8:00. We decided to walk around and look for some food. We never really found any but we saw the call to prayer and that was pretty cool. When we got back to the train station we found out our train was delayed an hour. There were tons of SAS (Semester at Sea) kids at the train station so we kind of just talked to everyone. When the train finally showed up we didn't get seats because there were so many people. We eventually got seats about an hour into the train ride. We arrived in Marrakech about 4 hours later. We checked in to the hostel which was really nice! It looked so authentic and the people were very friendly! When we walked in they made us sit down and served us some delicious mint tea. After getting settled in we went to the marked and shopped for most of the evening. Our group split up and I went with Alyssa and Leah to eat. We had an amazing dinner on a rooftop overlooking the market. I had lemon chicken and it was very good! The next day we woke up and had breakfast at the hostel. Our breakfast was hand made and included several different kinds of bread and crepes. The crepes were a lot thicker than other crepes I've had but they were still good. Then we checked out and went to the gardens. We walked around the gardens for a while and then met up with Kathryn, Jared, and Sarah at the train station. I stayed with them that night because my group was going back to Casablanca. We went back to the market that night and we spent most of our time there. I had a lot of fun in Marrakech and I enjoyed it so much more than I was expecting. In our pre-port meetings I was thinking that I wouldn't like Morocco but it turns out that I loved it! The last day in Marrakech we found camels to ride! We were so excited! We only rode them for half an hour but that was plenty for us. My camel wasn't too happy though and he kept trying to get free. We were all really excited because a lot of our friends went on camel treks in the desert and we wanted to go but it worked out because we still got to ride them.

Morocco Day 1

We got to Morocco a day early and I went on my first Semester at Sea trip. It went to the SOS Children's village. It was basically an orphanage but the orphans couldn't be adopted because it is not allowed in Islamic culture. We started off by going to a high school. It was an American high school and they were taught English and used an American curriculum. Then we went to the children's village where we were shown around the facilities and then played with the children. It is set up with several little houses and each house has a mom that watches over about 10 children. The houses were actually a lot nicer than I thought. They had flat screen tvs. We played with the kids for a while and I met a little boy who I spoke to in French a little bit. He spoke some English and I spoke a little French and we tried talking in English and French. It was really cool and a lot of fun.

Malaga and Cordoba

We started the next morning in Malaga by going to get churros for breakfast. They're similar to the churros we have at home but these didn't have cinnamon sugar. Instead they bring you a cup of chocolate and you dip them into the chocolate. It was delicious! Picasso was born in Malaga so we went to go check out the museum but it turns out a lot of things are closed on Monday. So we couldn't go to any of the museums but we did go into the cathedral in Malaga. It was beautiful. After that we hiked up to a castle, which was closed, but the view was amazing! For lunch we went down to the beach and ate and then walked along the beach. Then we headed back to walk around some more. Things started closing for siesta so we went back and I took a nap. After my nap we went back to the beach to watch the sunset and then went to another cafe for dinner. The next day we took a train to Cordoba. We really wanted to see the mosque there. It's interesting because the mosque was built in the year 785 and additions were made as time went on. Eventually it became a church and the center looks like a cathedral and the rest of it looks like a mosque. I forgot all the details of the story but it was really cool. I'll put up pictures so you can see what I'm talking about though. We went to a plaza afterward where we took a break and drank a coke. Then we shopped around a little and looked for this statue of Jesus on a cross with lanterns around it. It was kind of hard to find because it was hidden. We were pretty worn out by this time because we were carrying around our heavy backpacks so we decided to just go catch a train back to Cadiz. Today is out last day in Spain and tomorrow we'll be in Morocco!

Spain!

I arrived in Cadiz, Spain yesterday! It was exciting to finally get off the ship. I thought I would be more sick of the ship after a week but I really wasn't. The seas calmed down after those first couple rough days. We didn't hit any of the bad weather they expected to from the hurricaine which was such a relief. After the seas calmed down I haven't had any headaches and it's been fun. Anyway, I had a change of plans and I decided to stay in Cadiz yesterday and explore. It was really pretty and hot! It kinda feels like Georgia. I guess I should be used to the heat after this summer. We basically walked around and shopped and found our way around town. We found the beach too which was pretty. I walked along the beach and put my feet in the ocean and it felt wonderful. Hopefully, I'll have time to go back before I leave. Today, my friend Sarah and I got up at 5:30 am to catch our train to Sevilla. The sun doesn't rise til 8 so it was kind of weird being up so long before the sun rose. We got to watch the sun rise which was cool I guess. It's not something I see often haha. So we got to Sevilla and it was beautiful! There was a huge cathedral that was gorgeous! Sarah went to mass but since I don't know any Spanish I decided to go walk around and explore Sevilla. I met up with her after mass. I found this really beautiful plaza or something. I don't actually know what it was and I couldn't find any brochures or maps. I brought Sarah back after mass. I'll put pictures up soon though so you can see it. While we were there though, I set my backpack down to take a picture. I should have known better but there was only one other couple around so I figured it would be fine and the backpack was really heavy. Sarah was taking a picture of me when I look over and see this man walking off with my back pack. I yelled and him and ran after him and thankfully he dropped it and kept walking. I was so scared. There was nothing valuable in it. It was just my clothes but it would have not been fun to be without clothes and make up for 3 days. I'm so lucky he just dropped it! I sure learned my lesson. I've been super careful with my purse the whole time though because it has my passport, money and cameras in it. After that little incident we went back to the train station to go to Malaga because Sarah has a friend Drew that lives here. He and Sarah are both from Colorado but he's been living in Spain for the past 4 years. We're staying at his apartment and thankfully he has internet! We went out to dinner and he brought along his Spanish girlfriend. She was really sweet but she didn't speak much English and I don't know any Spanish so he translated the whole time. Dinner was interesting. We started out at one cafe and just got drinks because it was early and restaurants don't open for dinner until around 9pm. I got a coke because they don't have coke on the ship and I was craving one. We stayed there for probably close to an hour and just talked. Then we walked around the town and he showed us around. It was like having our own tour guide. Then we went to another cafe for basically wine tasting. They ordered 4 little glasses and we all tried them. I tried them but I didn't particulary care for any of them. After that we went to another cafe for tapas. Apparently this cafe hopping is common. You go for drinks and then go to another cafe and just keep moving. It was kind of cool. We ordered 4 different tapas and all shared. I liked some of them and some I didn't but I ate enough to where I was full. I'm glad we had them order for us because I would have no idea what to order or what anything was. After dinner we walked around for a little while again. It was around 11:30 pm at this point and we stopped at one more place and I got a coke again. They give you a glass bottle of coke and you don't get refills. Drew has some touristy stuff planned for us tomorrow so I'm excited.

Aboard the MV Explorer

Since I haven’t updated for the last couple days here’s what’s been going on. I got to Halifax with Mom on Wednesday and we checked into the hotel and I basically slept all that evening. The next day Dad and Michael were supposed to meet us but they got to New York didn’t make the flight to Halifax so they turned around and went home. On Friday, I boarded the ship. We had some meetings and stuff that night which were kind of boring. They introduced the professors and the crew and stuff like that. Saturday was orientation and again there were just a bunch of meetings all day. Some were informative and some were boring. Yesterday classes started but we’re on an A Day/ B Day schedule and I only have classes on B Day so I started class today. I pretty much like all my classes. I’m taking geography, contemporary social issues, video journalism and global studies. Global studies is required for everyone and they teach us about each country before we get there.
Our rooms are very small. They’re smaller than I thought they would be. We have a window though which is nice. My roommate and I get along really well. Her name is Rachel and she goes to Vanderbilt. The ship was rocking a lot yesterday and a lot of people got seasick. I’ve been getting headaches but that’s it. Apparently there is a hurricane not too far away. We’re not going too close but we’re supposed to get some rough weather from it. Today it’s a lot better though. The ship is smaller than I expected it to be. I thought it would be about the size of a cruise ship or just a little smaller but it’s a lot smaller. Cruise ships are about twice the size of this ship. It’s pretty cool to have class on the ship and look out the windows. I laid out the other day on the top deck and it was nice. We arrive in Spain on Saturday and I’ve been planning a trip with some of my friends. We’re going to go to Madrid and Sevilla. I only get 125 minutes of internet for the whole voyage so I’m trying to get online as little as possible. Email doesn’t count against my minutes though so you can email me! Well I miss you guys and hope all is well at home!

email address

I'm heading to Halifax, Canada tomorrow and I thought I would go ahead and give you guys my ship email address. This is the best way to talk to me because it doesn't use up my limited internet minutes on the ship. It's klsola@semesteratsea.net. This email address won't work until I leave on Friday Aug 27.

21 days to go

Hey everyone! I'm getting ready to leave for Semester at Sea in a little less than a month and I'm planning to keep this blog so you guys can know what I'm up to. Basically, in case I haven't already told you, Semester at Sea is a program for college students sponsored by the University of Virginia. I will be traveling around the world on a boat and taking classes while I'm at sea. When we get to port there are no classes and we are free to travel. We're usually at each port for about 2-5 days. It's a 590 foot ship that holds somewhere around 700 students I believe. I will circumnavigate the globe in 109 days!

Here's the itinerary for the trip:

Depart from Halifax, Canada on August 27

Cadiz, Spain September 4-8

Casablanca, Morocco September 10-14

Takoradi, Ghana September 22-25

Cape Town, South Africa October 3-8

Port Louis, Mauritius October 14-15

Chennai, India October 22-27

Singapore October 31- Nov 1

Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam Nov 3-8

Hong Kong/Shanghai, China Nov 11-16

Kobe/Yokohama, Japan Nov 19-23

Hilo/Honolulu, Hawaii Dec 3-6

San Diego, California Dec 13

If you guys want post cards from any of the countries email me your address. I will have unlimited access to email while I'm on the ship so once I get my Semester at Sea email address I will post it. For now you can email me your address at katiesola@aol.com.