Today marks the second week of classes. I'm thrilled that it's Thursday and that the weekend is officially starting. The weekends are, of course, my favorite. Classes are good, but tough. Intermediate Arabic is proving to be quite the challenge, but slowly but surely...I'm getting it (I think). On the weekends, we travel around in our very touristy charter bus and see some really awesome things! Last weekend we saw Meknes and Fez. This weekend we'll go to Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Merzouga, the Sahara desert, and Imlil. No worries. I'll take more pictures. Morocco is amazing so far, and I can't wait to see more of it.

Doorway in Rabat

In front of the Palais Royal

Volubilis

Fez

Monkey in the Ifrane Forest/Park

16 Days Until Departure!

! مرحبا

Hello!

I can't believe that in 16 days I'll be on a plane to Morocco. Just thought I'd let you all know what my trip will look like. The study abroad location is in Rabat, Morocco where we'll be studying at Amideast--a school in the center of the city. I'll be taking 2 French courses and 1 Arabic course

--let's hope I remember my Arabic from 101/102...

We'll all be staying with host families near Amideast. Anyway, so apart from classes 4-5 days a week, we'll be traveling on weekends. Here's a sample of what we'll see and do:

-Marrakech

-Climb sand dunes in the desert

-A visit to a Berber village

-Fes (the cultural capital)

-Meknes (imperial city)

-Volubilis (Roman ruins)

-Casablanca (economic capital)

-Tangier & Tetouan (on the Mediterranean Sea)

-Atlas Mountains

-Camel riding??

And who knows what else!

...And of course the trip to Casablanca wouldn't be complete without stopping at Rick's café!

(Insert typical Humphrey Bogart line here)

I'll try to keep the blog updated as I go through my travels as long as there's internet--which I know there will be at the school, but other than that, I'm not sure. Alright, well, signing off for now.

A plus tard.

Athens and Venice

Our apologies for the long time that has passed since the last entry. Internet here is limited. Since the last time we posted, we have been through Athens and Venice, and both have been very different cities and both enjoyable in their own ways. First, we had to take a ferry from Bari, Italy to Patras, Greece, where we caught a train to Athens. We stayed in the heart of the city and experienced great Greek food, culture, and of course the Acropolis, which was the highlight of our stay in Greece. We tried to go to a Greek island, Mykonos, but unfortunately, we missed our boat--oh well, all a part of the experience!

Part of the Parthenon

Theater of Dionysos

After another long ferry ride, we arrived in Venice, Italy, which was absolutely beautiful! The canals were amazing to see as well as all of the little shops along the waterfront that sold Murano glass, in all shapes and sizes. We toured the famous Piazza de S. Marco, including the church of S. Marco, the island of Muranoas well as the Peggy Guggenheim collection, featuring many reknown artists. We even had the chance to see part of the dance portion of the Venice Biennale, which is a compilation of various contemporary art forms (this year being dance). Now we are in Vienna, Austria and starting to get tired after so much jumping from city to city! We are nonetheless happy to be here.

Part of the Grand Canal

The Church of S. Marco

Making Murano glass

Bell'Italia!

Buongiorno from the beautiful country of Italy! This is our third day in Rome, and before this we spent a day in Milan, and two days in Florence. In Milan, we ran into some rain, which luckily has been the only time we have, save for a brief thunderstorm last night. We saw the Duomo, or church, in Milan which was great to see as well. We also spent a couple of hours catching up on laundry...

So, moving on to something a bit more exciting...

The Duomo in Milan

In Florence, we stayed busy every hour we were there. Upon arriving at our so-called 'hostel,' we realized that it was actually a budget bed and breakfast, which turned out to be very comfortable and nice to stay in. Between the two days we were there, we saw the Uffizi Gallery and the Gallery of the Academy, where we saw many famous pieces of art, including the sculpture of 'David,' by Michelangelo and the 'Birth of Venus,' by Botticelli. Additionally, we climbed to the tallest hill in the city and reached the top by sunset to watch the sun go down on all of the buildings, monuments, and the river down below. The duomo in Florence was also incredible to see, with intricate patterns covering it entirely. Oh, and of course we tried our first gelatto, which was to die for.

The Duomo in Florence

The Pietà Bandini, also known as the
Deposition of Christ by Michelangelo

Mmm...

The city of Firenze, Italia

A replica fountain of David
...we couldn't take pictures of the original...

It was sad leaving Florence, but we were excited to see what Rome had to offer. The minute we got here we saw how much fun the city could be. People were on every street corner it seemed, shopping, dining, and touring. We decided the best solution was to head out and walk around to get oriented with the city and we were impressed to see all of the ruins and the Colosseum in the distance. We went to the Colosseum yesterday and it was eery to see in person with the knowledge of all that went on there during its time. After, we passed the Arch of Constantine and the Circo Maximo, where chariot races used to be held.

The sunset over some of the ruins of the ancient city

Outside of the Roman Colosseum
Inside of the Colosseum--note the labyrinth located
under the floor. The floor has since been eroded away.

Today, Kris and I toured the Vatican, going inside the Basilica and the tombs of the popes, where we saw Pope John Paul II's tomb among many others. The walk to, from, and around the Vatican wore us out, so we are going back tomorrow to tour the Sistine Chapel. On our walk back from the Vatican, we passed by the Roman Pantheon as well, where we incidently ran into the filming of 'Angels and Demons,' with Tom Hanks and Ron Howard standing near by. What are the odds? Tonight we are going to relax and splurge on an Italian meal at Campo de Fiore, a populated, yet quaint city square with numerous sidewalk cafes.

Vatican City--The Basilica

Statue of St. Peter...it is a tradition to touch his feet
in passing through the Basilica. It is also said
that the tomb of St. Peter is under the church itself.

The Pantheon

And last but not least...Tom Hanks!

Ciao!

Madrid and Paris

Well, as of today, we are going on our third day in Paris. We had a great time in Madrid, exploring the city and visiting the famous Prado Museum of Art, the Parque de Madrid (I forgot its other name), the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza de Mayor.

The Rose Garden in the Park

The Plaza de Cibeles

We took an over night train to Paris to arrive on the first of the month. Unfortunately all of second class was taken, so we were forced into first, and let me tell you--we traveled in style. Well, sort of.

Our first day in Paris, we went to the Centre Pompidou to see the Louise Bourgeois exhibition, which was excellent to see. After that, we got lunch at a sidewalk cafe and tried out the famous Nutella crepes! We decided to walk to the Notre Dame Cathedral and from there we walked to the Eiffel Tower (little did we realize it was an hour and a half walk) and we got there by sunset, where we sat in the grass and watched the lights turn on on the tower as the sun went down.

Le Centre Pompidou

Le Tour Eiffel

Yesterday, we walked through Montmartre and visited the Sacre Coeur church, one of my (Kelley's) personal favorites. We also did a bit of shopping, which is definitely to be expected in Paris! Lastly, today we are headed to the Musee d'Orsay as well as the Arc de Triomphe and les Champs Elysees, the famous street which runs around it.

Sacre Coeur

Tonight we catch the train to Milan--another over night train ride, but this time back to second class!

Lisbon, Portugal

Yesterday, May 28, we arrived in Lisbon after a long red-eye flight to Madrid. After rushing through the Madrid airport and going through customs a second time, we made our second plane right as it was boarding. At about 2 pm Lisbon time, we arrived at our hostel, the Lisbon Lounge.


After settling into our room, we headed out to the city center called Rossio, where we spent the rest of the day wandering around through neighborhoods, past monuments, and through the city´s cathedral, an old Romanesque temple--we even tried out the metro, and we are happy to say that we have not found ourselves lost...yet.

The Cathedral

The Pombaline Baixa, or lower town
is where a lot of
shopping and outdoor cafés
are located. Our hostel was located
nearby on a side street.

The Arco da Rua Augusta, which is the
main artery of the Lower Town.

All of the streets in the city center are tiled like this.

Today, March 29, we decided to go to the Elevador de Santa Justa, which connects to the Convento do Carmo, or the Carmelite Convent. We decided not to spend the money and go up in it, but rather decided to look for the Castelo de Sao Jorge, which is located on one of the largest hills in the city, and has the best view of Lisbon and the coast. After hiking up side streets in the general direction of the castle, we finally found it and it was well worth the journey.

The Elevador de Santa Justa

The St. George Castle

The view from the castle

View of the coast

Lastly on the agenda for today is to catch the train to Madrid later in the evening, a ten hour trip from here. We have enjoyed Lisbon and cannot wait to see everything else that our trip has to offer. Adeus for now!

The day has arrived!

It's t-minus 4 1/2 hours 'til we leave to go to the airport. Our flight officially leaves around nine PM and we're taking a red-eye to Madrid and should be arriving around ten in the morning on the 28th (or so the itinerary says) and then flying 30 minutes from Madrid to Lisbon, Portugal. We spent all day yesterday packing our bags ever-so-carefully and weighing them in so as not to go over the 22 lb limit for carry-on items, and ladies and gentleman, we have successfully weighed our bags in at about 17 lbs!!! (And yes we are proud of that!) So now, without furthur ado, we wish you all fairwell from this side of the world and are excited to let everyone know about our travels!