Mo-ROCK-on

So after getting back to the US and saying hello to friends and family after 6 months of traveling in Central and South America, I got the traveling bug again and 2 weeks later flew to London to visit friends from my time studying abroad in Mexico. My quick week-long European getaway turned into a month overseas with Africa stirred into the mix when my Australian friend suggested we hit up Morocco since flights were so cheap from Europe. Ok, done. So after a great 10 days in London with friends, I took the train to Paris for a couple of days because I had another friend there. I really loved Paris though it was FREEZING! in the mid to high 20s during the day, and I was outside seeing the sights all day! But it was well worth it, it was amazing to see the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge, the Seine, Champs Elysee, and the other great Paris sights. And of course the food! Within my first 5 minutes of getting off of the metro I saw 3 women with baguettes. The cheese aisle in the super market overwhelmed so much, I had to take multiple photos. I gorged on nutella crepes made from street vendors, and had enough wine to suffice me for the next week in alcohol-scare Morocco. Parisians were really nice too, despite my built-up stereotypes prior to coming. While attempting to get my bearings after getting off the wrong metro stop, a woman came up to me and offered me help. I was worrying a lot about my lack of French before going to Paris, and since my friend wasn't going to be around until the next day, I had to get by my first night in Paris without her. But I found it to be a really English-friendly place and I got by just fine, even managed to pick up a few key phrases from my French friend Jerome while in London (only the vital ones like where is the toilet, can I have water? how much? etc).

On Monday morning, I flew from Paris to Milan and had a 7 hour layover so I got a few hours to roam around the city. Milan was pretty cool, I had some pasta and gilatto and bought some chocolates, very yummy. I stumbled upon this massive cathedral that was built in the 13th century that was amazing, and then went to Teatro alla Scala, which was some famous theater where a lot of opera is performed, to be honest I had no idea what any of this stuff was, I just wandered around and literally found these sights and saw tourists with cameras so figured they must be important touristy spots. Anyhoo, I met my Australian friend Emma (who I met abroad in Mexico and until New Years hadn't seen for a year and a half!) back at the Milan airport for our flight to Fes, Morocco later in the day and at around 7 pm we got to Morocco! It's so different than any place I've ever been! The stop signs are in Arabic! (They speak Arabic, Berber-some indigenous tribal language that's similar to Arabic I think) and a bit of French, so Emma and I have been managing to get by with the little French I picked up in my 3 days there, Spanish (since for some reason everyone thinks we're from Spain) and English. I learned how to say thank you in Arabic, it's "shukhan" or something like that. The people here are pretty nice, though a bit sketchy at first because the men wear these big frock-like coats with hoods, but they're just their way of keeping warm as it is only in the low 50s during the day and drops to freezing at night (not the best fashion statement if you ask me, but whatevs, their call). It's definitely not that cold in comparison with Paris where my toes almost froze off it was so cold, but for Moroccan standards it's bad, hasn't been this cold since the 70s I guess. The country is 99% Muslim so most all women wear head scarves and you don't see any in cafes or restaurants, or walking alone with men. It's very different in that sense than any place in Latin America I've been too. But it the markets remind me of Mexico, they have a plethora of handicrafts and fun foods to try. Me and Emma had 3 pots of mint tea each yesterday, they use real mint leaves and pour hot water over them and add a bit of sugar, so nice! They're big on cous cous and a dish called tajine, which is basically a stew and you can get it with different kinds of veggies and meat.

The landscape is beautiful here, full of rolling hills and white adobe buildings and houses. Fes is pretty cosmopolitan, and seems pretty rich. The poverty here doesn't seem jarring in the slightest and everyone is friendly and happy, though of course they can be aggressive to us tourists and have called out to us in French, Spanish, English, etc while Emma and I just pretend to be from Finland. Though when we did this yesterday and pretended we didn't speak English, some guy gave us shit and asked us how could we not speak English when it's the most popular language in the world! I mean what if we really didn't speak it!

I can't wait to see what Marrakech is like, we've heard it's more Moroccan, and more of a city than Fes. What me and Emma are really looking forward to are the 70 degree weather and the hammans-Turkish baths-there!