Morocco (long and detailed)

Neil and I just returned from Marrakech, threw some clothes in the laundry, and sat down to upload all of our pictures. Neil went a little photo crazy, but that's fine.
Day 1:
We left on Wednesday morning, pretty early, and we were starving by the time we got to Marrakech. Security into the country was pretty lax, we had a little trouble finding an ATM in the airport but eventually got it. We took a cab from the airport into the center of town. It cost about $15, was an old hatchback, and didnt have any seat belts. The drivers are crazy. People pass on all sides, in whichever lane they choose, bikes and mopeds weave in between cars, and mule-drawn carts try to as well. The cab driver dropped us off at "the door" which I had read so much about when I was looking at the hostel. Apparently, the street to the hostel is closed to cars during the day, so we had to get out and trek a little while. It really was like a movie. There were shops everywhere and a maze of small streets, the craziness of which I cannot do justice. Tucked back behind a number of twisting turns was our hostel, in a neighborhood that seemed uninhabited, but was apparently full of houses. We had booked two beds in the four person room and our roommates had not yet arrived. Starving, we decided to head toward the "big square" and search for some food. My limited French got us there and we let ourselves be guided by the waiters who stand in the street shoving menus at tourists. We ate outside at a restaurant which we later realized was called "Fast Food al-habab" and was apparently recommended by lonely planet. We both got chicken shawarma, which was really really good, and cokes, for about $7. Small children selling tissues came by, and since Neil is sick, I spent about fifty cents on some. Then we explored the marketplace and did some shopping. I did so much shopping. Its actually really scary. My french isnt great, neither is their english, but we have to haggle. Everything seemed to start at around $30, no matter what it was, and I usually haggled them down to $10-12. At one point, we went into a rug store and quickly realized that we could not afford any of the rugs there. There were about four men who came to show us the rugs, pulling them from the middle of stacks piled along the walls, spreading them out over every inch of floor space, and then on top of each other when that ran out. I felt terrible, because looking at the tags I could tell we couldnt afford them, and he kept assuring me a "shocking price," but I knew it wouldnt be enough. We headed back to the hostel to drop off our stuff, but stopped in many of the shops on the way back. We were on our way back out to Djemaa el Fna when we met Alexis, and English man who was also looking to eat dinner. He came with us and we ended up eating in the middle of the square from one of the stall vendors. We all had couscous with beef, and it ended up being about $8 for the two of us, including the moroccan salads that we didnt order but were inevitably brought. Every meal is usually followed by mint tea, which is amazingly good, except the tea at this stall was very sweet, so I was misled in the beginning. The stalls are all in competition to get European tourists to eat with them, so they would applaud every time some decided to sit down. However, Alexis was black, and apparently I have a moroccan face, so we didnt get any applause. We finished eating and had mint tea, then went to explore the marketplace. There are people performing everywhere, but the locals surround them pretty heavily so you couldn't see anything. Also, as soon as we got close to a performance, someone would come around with an upside down drum or hat asking for money. I kept some small coins in my pocket, but if you don't give them enough they aren't happy. We went back to the hostel pretty early because everything starts to pack up around 10pm. Our roommates were already asleep when we got there, so we just called it an early night and went to sleep.
Day 2
We got up fairly early for our day of tourist stuff. We were armed with our map (given to us by the hostel, although they told us that it was ten euros, let us debate whether it was worth it, and pay them, before they laughed at us and gave us our money back. We went up to the mosque next to the square, but we couldnt get inside. We took some great pictures and then walked through a garden behind the mosque. Eventually we found the Saadian tombs, once we were pointed by the man who owns the spice shop. The tombs were amazing, ornate, and enormous. When we left we had to go to the spice shop, and I ended up buying a few things. After that we headed over to the Palais Badii, but got sidetracked in a little shop. That guy had some small rugs on the wall, but he didnt know the price because his boss was asleep across town, so we would have to come back that afternoon. He then took us through a small labyrinth to another shop, where we proceeded to "make a deal" for some rugs. They weren't actually rugs, which we couldnt afford, but are called kalim. We left, and actually did make our way to the palace, which was mainly ruins. There were storks on the rooftops, the biggest birds I have ever seen. It was really scary and I made Neil go into all the rooms first to make sure there were no birds inside. We also went onto the terrace, even closer to birds, and Neil got yelled at for taking pictures. Leaving the palace, we made the mistake of looking slightly lost and were able to find ourselves a local guide. He was probably fifteen years old, and he refused money at first, but offered to show us around. He took us to the Jewish Quarter and showed us a synagogue that was very pretty. The men worship on the ground floor, and the women worship upstairs behind them. Then he took us to another spice shop, I'm pretty sure it was run by his brother, who may have also lived in the shop. He invited us in, and gave us a demonstration of all the products in the shop, some of which we ended up buying again. I got a small facial and a pumice stone and lipstick as a gift. Another man came in and brought us mint tea. We left, our guide was waiting for us outside, and he led us to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was clearly a very nice one, and was the most expensive meal we ate the entire time. We got a Moroccan Salad, which came with about ten different small sides, cokes, entrées, a fruit plate, and pastries for about $60. I ordered the tangine with lemon chicken, which had an indescribably amazing sauce. Neil ordered a pastilla, with choice of chicken or pigeon, although I made him get the chicken under threats of never kissing him again. After lunch we made our way to the Palais Bahia, waited for it to open, and marvelled again at the intricate detailing of everything in this palace. I thought I had seen very detailed chateaus in France, but they were incomparable to the things we saw at Bahia. By this time we were dying to get back to the room and drop off our rugs, so we took a small detour, bought a few more things, and made our way back. By that time the rest of the museums were closed, so we went out again to the main square for dinner.

The election came and went and I am a terrible person for only having gotten to it now. You might be (then again, you might not be) surprised at the tremendous shift in attitude toward americans. A few weeks ago we were at the University of Chicago Center (marketing by the study abroad department as our 'safe-haven in Paris') and a friend of mine was trying to print something. One of the directors comes over to help and starts yelling in French about how he has ruined everything. He fixes the printer, gives my friend his picture, my friend says thank you, and his response was "merci pour l'imperialism." Thanks for imperialism? Really FRANCE?
One day, on the train coming back from class a guy gets on who looked borderline homeless and crazy. He was black, and he starts talking to another black guy near us in French. I heard "Black is beautiful" in perfect English and just figured he was a little crazy. When we got off, a friend of mine had been standing closer and heard him basically say "look at this group of kids speaking english. They must be american and wealthy. they are probably going to get murdered."
The day before the election some friends and I went to a pizza place nearby. The election was being covered on the French news station, and although we couldn't understand what was going on, one of us would randomly yell "OBAMA" whenever his face appeared. We were the only customers sitting inside. At one point, one of the owners was nearby fixing something and started asking us about the election. Who we were supporting, if we really thought Obama could win. I told him except in the case of voter fraud, which is a legitimate concern. Then he brought up 2000 and Jeb Bush and we talked about that for a while (all in French, might I add). But, despite being loud and American all night, we left to a pleasant chorus on bon-soirées.
Two nights ago I went out in search of food at about midnight with some friends visiting for the weekend. Outside of a restaurant, another boderline crazy person started talking to us and realized we were american. he asked if we were happy about the election, we said yes, and he took turns shaking our hands. As we walked off he started yelling "HOPE" down the street over and over.
Election night itself was crazy. There were a number of American bars and restaurants that were staying open all night to air the results, but they were all so packed there was no use. We also had our final two days from then, so we were trying to get some pretend studying in. We ended up staying in the dorm and going to the election party they had in the basement. The problem was that they only have French cable, so someone had to bring their computer down and stream MSNBC. Which would hav ebeen fine except that the internet here streams for about five minutes at a time before having to refresh. It was fine though, they had free pizza at 3 and beer for a euro, which actually only served to get spilled everywhere by the unamericans who had shown up. There were three McCain supporters there, out of a hundred. However, now that I think about it, I'm sure they didnt vote at all. They were actually drunk the entire time. By three one girl had wine rolling down her chin, was calling me a bitch for not letting her whisper in my ear, and trying to punch our dorm president because he wouldnt stop hitting on her. He is sleazy and looks like a hobbit.
My friends and I were called the Obama Girls all night. I, having left all of my Obama gear in IL, had to borrow a shirt from my friend. The only extra he had was the Bros Before Hoes shirt, over Hillary's picture I taped one of Palin. My friend Olivia spent all day putting the Obama symbol on a white tshirt, my other friends just dressed in red, white, and blue, and we all painted OBAMA or HOPE across our faces. We had to take so many pictures that night. None of the states were huge surprises, but you should have heard us when Ohio was called. We were planning to go to bed after it was clear, but none of us could. We had to watch to the end. Then at the end, we had to watch the speeches. By the end of the speeches, the group of over a hundred had dwindles to maybe twenty, and all of us were crying. There was one black girl there who was wailing and rolling on the floor screaming "I'm finally free." There were a couple of us there, and the white people kept looking at us and looking at her trying to figure out what she was doing. She was also one of the people who cheered when McCain won states. So don't worry, as much as we can be proud of Obama, we still have those black folks to be ashamed of, i know we were going to miss them...

We just finished another "quarter" of civ. our professor this time was the most ridivulous person i think ive ever met. He is one of the leading experts on Montainge alive today (according to his wikipedia page) which I'd believe. When we got to Montaigne, he pulled out three or four huge books that he had written about him, one for which he had one the French Super Important Awesome Medal of Honor. Then one day he casually mentioned Jean-Paul Sartre. It was something like "when i used to meet with Jean-Paul Sartre, he told me-" except he was cut off by all of us going what?? apparently, in the 50s or 60s JP was his mentor and they would have coffee three times a week. wtf? Then, he started explaining to us (again) the difference between France and America. Today his focus was on the rights of citizens. Basicfally, France throws away personal rights if its for the good of the commonwealth whereas the US is legally bound by the constitution to uphold personal privacy and property rights (ex: search warrants arent ever necessary in France). I didnt explain to him that some of this was due to a lot of long standing abuse of power by police in America. He then started talking about how, in France, rioters never get arrested because they are in a group. They aren't acting as an individual, so the individual can't get in trouble. Someone brought up the fact that there is an astounding amount of police brutality in France to which he responded "oui, zat is true, but you just have to beat them up when no one is looking." apparently, our professor was also the leading expert in Paris on molotov cocktails in his day. His son got arrested in the US for jumping and dancing on top of a police car during a riot, to which his parents responded "of course!"

The past couple of weeks have been pretty basic. Laurel came last weekend with her friend Kelly. We met up with them on Saturday night. Kathleen wanted to go inside Notre Dame so we went up a little early, got some cheap postcards, and met up with Laurel and Kelly in the garden outside. Stephanie was with us, but she wanted to go shopping and decided to wait in line to buy clothes rather than come with us. Notre Dame is beautiful, by the way. It was cool because there are little alters to different saints inside and we had learned about a lot of them during our first class. Kathleen and I (mainly Kathleen) were able to give them a little bit of the history going on at the time. Then we met back up with Stephanie and the five of us trekked up to Sacré Coeur. As always, there were tons of people sitting on the stairs and drinking, as well as musicians dancing and singing everywhere. There was also some sketchy guy who kept following me around trying to talk about the music, but Kathleen scared him off. Sacré Coeur is beautiful as well, but they don't allow pictures so I think we only got like one... I took Laurel and Kelly down to Moulin Rouge since we were in the neighborhood, then we headed over to another district a little south to get dinner. We had all heard about this very authentic French restaurant that isn't too expensive, only to find a line half a block long.
Last Friday we went to Poitiers, which is a small town in the south of France. It was adorable! It made me want to retire and open a bed and breakfast. Every street was narrow and winding and every window had flowers hanging over the balcony. We took the train, our ears popped, and it took about an hour and a half. We had an amazing lunch at a local restaurant, I got baked goat cheese toasted with apples and bacon on whole grain bread, teryaki chicken with mashed potatoes, and tarte tartine (which I thought was like apple pie, turns out it isnt) but Steph and I also did a pretty good job taking care of everyone else's food. We got unlimited bottles of wine so most people had filled up before they finished eating. On the train back we didn't get our own car so we subjected all of the French to our rude, loud, Americanness. We also happened to be on the train with an entire platoon from the French Army. They weren't friendly. Pictures to follow when my internet doesnt suck.
This past Friday we went to the Loire Valley and saw some chateaus. First we went to one that was actually three different chateaus in a square. Each segment had been built by a different ruler, in a very different time period, with a very different style (think Victorian house with a Colonial addition and very modern guest house). It was hideous, yet still impressive. The second was Chambourd, which was the King's hunting house used primarily for holding feasts. Apparently the French president still uses it to invite foreign diplomats on hunts. It was beautiful from the outside, tremendously large and cold inside, and sparsely furnished. Our tour took about four hours...
I've decided to go to Morocco for the week long break we have in November. I'm only going for three or four days though, so I should have enough time to hit some beautiful mosques and markets. I might go to Dublin this weekend to see Will. He was in Paris last week and we were able to get together and have dinner. His friend from DePaul is also studying here and knew of a really good restaurant. Anyway, may go to Dublin, Friday is Halloween, but I don't feel like staying here. Everyone is going to get drunk and go see the new James Bond movie, in which I am only mildly interested. We'll see what happens

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while, so this might be long.
Today I went to the Musée d'Orsay with Olivia and Kathleen. It was really nice, although the three of us were unbelievably tired by the end of it. We actually went to the Louvre first, but didn't end up going inside. We have these cards that say that we are History of Art students that way we can get into museums for free, however, the Louvre has their own free student card, so we had to take our passports and sign up for it. Today there was only one person working and we stood in line for about 20 minutes with no movement before giving up and deciding to return during the week.
Yesterday we went to Saint-Denis, which is one of the more beautiful Gothic churches I've ever seen, even considering the fact that you are surrounded by dead people. All/ most of the old French kings are buried there and the chapel is also home to their mausoleums. We had a great tour guide who used to go to our school apparently, and was nerdy enough that that wasn't surprising. It's very far north of Paris, and Olivia has decided that she is getting married there, no matter what. Patrick has a friend in town from Holland (apparently they went to high school together in Houston) so we all went out with them last night. It was pretty uneventful, mainly since we kept getting rejected from bars because our shoes weren't nice enough.
My daily life is pretty uninteresting, we have class Mon-Thurs, until sometime in the afternoon, then we have enough homework to keep us busy most of the night, so we don't do a ton. Mainly, I walk down to the small grocery store nearby and buy odds and ends. The kitchen isn't fully equipped, nor do I have enough room to buy real groceries, so I mainly subsist on pasta, sandwiches, and individual pizzas. Today, however, I think I will try the chicken nuggets. There's a cafeteria next door that has pretty cheap meals for students on the weekends. The formule blue (the blue meal) some with chicken, fish, or cheeseburger, plus fries, a salad, and yogurt. When you add in a coke it comes in just under 4 euro, which is about 6 dollars. The fish is actually one giant fish stick, but it's decent. I'm pretty sick of french fries though, that seems to be the most common side dish, even in nicer restaurants.
On Thursdays we have mandatory friendship hours. I have decided I hate mine. The university knows that it would be difficult for most of us to meet real French students, so they hired some to hang out with us every week in small groups. The kids in beginning French have it pretty good, their friend just speaks English and helps them learn how to order food from menus. The kids in the advanced French class can hold a decent conversation and tend to have a good time as well. I, however, am in the intermediate class. We can understand most of what Geoffrey says, but can't seem to express any of our ideas or opinions well enough to carry our end of the conversation. Geoffrey is a chill, almost hippie, i-dont-care-how-i-look-in-your-fashion-obsessed-Parisian-society kind of guy. Last week, we met at the Center and ended up in a British pub because it was cold and rainy. We got past the introductions and found out a little about his life. We have basically the same hair, so we talked aout that for about two minutes...
This week, however, he sent us on a wild goose chase in an unfamiliar neighborhood. He wanted us to meet him at a bar called "Tribal." We get off the metro on the north side of town and we are surrounded by african hair salons. One kid in our group had told us that he had directions, but in fact he only had the address of the bar. So we just start walking in a direction, which turned out to be the wrong one. Eventually, the two guys I'm with decided that we needed to ask for directions. Steven is from Hong-Kong and is apparently slightly uneasy around black people. When we got off the metro he said something like "It looks like a lot of our friends from Chicago are up here." I chose to let that go. Then he starts telling me, since my French is better than his, and the other guy, Ezra, is sick, I should ask for directions. That's fair, I'm not afraid of black people, but I also do not really want to approach some Algerian immigrant looking for a bar called Tribal. Eventually, I do, but I'm told that the bar is no longer open. Yippee. About half an hour and four more directions later, we find the place. It's in an alley behind a semi-major road. I'm pretty sure they were getting ready for a dog fight across the street. An old man with a feather in his hat kept walking past blowing a police whistle. Apparently, according to Geoffrey, this is the cool place. This neighborhood hasn't become hip (pronounced 'eep') yet, so only the really cool people come here. Apparently, the cool people include his girlfriend, whom he brought along. I guess I should say he brought us along... on his date... when he gets paid to hang out with us. So basically, it was an hour of discomfort. His girlfriend is from Tokyo, Steven has been to Tokyo once, and she has been to Hong Kong, so they talked about Asian stuff for a while. During a lull I told her where I had been in Japan, but she had never heard of it. Ezra was sick so he mostly kept to himself, except for when he asked Geoffrey where to buy hashish. Geoffrey told him "don't buy it on the street, you'll get ripped off. and don't buy any in a club, because it will probably be laced with coke. just ask your friends where to get it." Isn't he being paid to be our friend? Clearly Ezra's friends include those of us in the program, and we have no idea where he can buy some hashish in Paris. Really Geoffrey? Really?

It's been one week...

This morning we went to St. Chappelle, it was pretty beautiful, but cold. I need to get some yarn and I'll whip up some gloves and maybe a hat. Everyone here wears scarves, its a little ridiculous. We had really good weather for the first few days but now I need to start wearing a coat. We learned a lot about the French history we are supposed to be reading, then had a really good lunch at Au Pied de Cochon (at the pig's foot). The food was really good, although they serve fries with everything, even at pretty nice restaurants. I got creme brulée for desert, it was pretty amazing. We took over two hours to eat lunch so we missed our appointment with Notre Dame I guess. We didn't get to go in, but we stood outside and Professor Peter White told us about all the architecture. There was a couple getting married outside Notre Dame, there were only about five or six people there, but she had on a huge puffy dress. Everyone kept telling me that I should do that, but considering they were standing in a huge flock of pigeons, I think I'll pass.
I'm starting to get used to the tiny shower, although it will be a relief to get home. I have a great view from my window and I've taken to opening the window and people watching in the morning or afternoon when I have a few minutes. I had a very French moment the other day. I was standing at the window eating my yogurt for breakfast, it was a beautiful day, and someone in another room was playing classical music which I could vaguely hear.

Day 3-6

We have a lot more work than we thought we would, everyone is a little ticked at that. I have to lead the discussion tomorrow, so I should probably be working on that right now. Whatever. My french teacher pulled me aside today, along with another kid, to tell us that we should move up to the next class. However, Olivia is in that class and I know its going to be hard, whereas the one I'm in was going to be a pretty good easy review. The other kid took 201 and 202 over the summer so he's pretty fresh and should move up. Since I forget EVERYTHING though I told her I might need the review. She basically gave me the choice, and as much as I want to coast this quarter, I know it would be better to just take the harder class so my French gets better. oh decisions. We had a wine and cheese tasting today. The university hired the sommelier who owns a nearby wine shop to come and teach us about wine. It was actually pretty cool as I have never really liked the taste of alcohol before. I actually liked two or three of the five wines he gave us, and they are incredibly cheap, incredibly, so I may become a wine-o before the trip is over. As the girl next to me said "what the hell else is Paris for?" which apparently is everyone's opinion because everyone basically let themselves get pretty tipsy. Then we went to happy hour at an Irish Pub and played "I've never." Since I've never really done anything except be engaged before 20, I only barely got through one beer, which was bought for me, so whatever. I'm actually only writing to avoid more work, but I had better get back to it.