Spring Breakizzle

Hello!! It's Tuesday night and I decided to blog, as promised, about my Spring Break adventures!!! yahoo!! Here we go:

Rome - Barcelona:

The plane ride went well, but the airport itself is kind of far so I was prepared to take a shuttle to the center of the city. Seeing how it was like 2 in the morning, I decided to take a cab. Home girl decided to totally rip me off! 14.95 euro for a 4 minute cab ride? No way! Meh, I was too tired to argue. Note to you all and myself... figure out pricing before getting into the cab. It works in your favor for sure. The hostel was a bit hard to find but I ended up getting there thanks to a guy on a balcony that helped me out. The hostel ended up being pleasant and the people were phenomenal! They were so kind and chill. If you ever go to Barcelona, I would recommend them for sure!! (Backpackers BCN Hostel in Barcelona) After checking in and checking email, I headed straight for my bed which felt like heaven and great just to be there safe. The next morning would be full of exploring.

I met a hostel mate of mine named Jessica Cortez and we ended up exploring together! We checked out some Gaudi art, which is nothing like what I've ever seen before, and we headed out to Las Ramblas. There we were able to visit the central market that was like heaven. Fresh fruit drinks for 1Euro and even lunch with some champagne was served inside along with the fresh fruits and veggies! Further down Las Ramblas there were street performers and the port of course which is apparently hopping at night time. I definitely will have to explore there when I get back to Barcelona in June! Instead of going to those mainstream clubs, my buddy Josh and I went to this hole in the wall club that someone told us about. It was small and fun but dayummm I got soooo drunk. Let's just say , I've never woken up and not remembered parts of my night before. *shakes head* I soon remembered stepping on a broken bottle the next morning after looking at my feet. gross.

The rest of the trip was chill in Barcelona and I decided to miss my flight to Madrid. I decided it was worth it to stay in Barcelona and catch the bus the next day. Unfortunately, they were packed . My next option was the train, and the only seats they had left were 1st class 200 Euro seats. NO wwayyyy Jose! Josh and I considered driving to Madrid in the rain. We both wanted to cry as we ran around trying to locate other options. The finally went to the airport and found a flight straight to Morocco. Great decision. We congratulated ourselves with an oreo McFlurry. lol.

Barcelona - Morocco:

Marrakech is absolutely a gem. We stayed in the Medina though which isn't the prettiest but it's the way things used to be which is always a great thing to experience. Not exactly the cleanest place but hey we kinda expected that. Basically the city is split between new and old. We experienced more of the old because new town is more like things we see all the time like McDonald's and nice restaurants.

On our first night there we arrived after being overcharged by our taxi driver who handed us over to these two "guides". Apparently they were drunk and took us to our hostel. Hot damn I was scared. They could have led us anywhere. Especially since they knew we weren't from the area nor did we speak a lick of Arabic or French. We eventually got there and were greeted by a man named Juseph. He was the sweetest thing and even paid those "guides" to leave us alone. He also makes amazing mint green tea. nom nom nommmmm.

The next day we spent plenty of time in the Souks of the Medina which is basically a HUGE marketplace that has tons of clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry and more. By day there are a ton of shops and by mid day some of them transform into food places. Definitely watch out when taking pictures though. EVERYONE and their moms will ask you for money. That is not an exaggeration. We got our first taste of Moroccan food and it was pretty awesome. Fresh cous cous, fruit drinks, and pastries. It was a bit hard asking for things though since we didn't speak the language. Either way we got through. We asked a neighboring table for help.

The next morning we proceeded off to our sahara adventure. It was a long drive but the view was beautiful as you can see from my posted pictures. I rode my first camel ever and was totally sore after the trip. We had dinner and show that night under the sahara sky. There was perfect weather and what made things cooler was that there was nothing in sight all around our tents. I loved it.

The next day we returned to Marrakech ready to do some more exploring and grubbing. We had a wonderful time aside from those annoying "guides " that wanted to help us so we would pay them. We were so frustrated with them that we made up our own language called "douche" and spoke gibberish to each other so they would leave us alone. It was pretty funny I might add. Aw good times to remember in Africa.. =]

Marrakech - Madrid - Valencia:

I loved Valencia. This was probably one of my favorite parts of Spring Break. It wasn't full of tourists and it was sunny just like back at home. After a day or two I already felt familiar with the city and the weather was so nice that I literally felt like I was back in California with avocados galore! The central market was delicious and you could smell the strawberries for 10 minutes after walking away. We spent the next day at the beach and had dinner seaside. We chowed down on the best muscles I've ever had, some calamari, salad, some potato dish, seafood paella, and dessert. Oh! But before that we had a sunset sailing cruise for 1hr and a half with champagne. It was cold but we had a fun time.

Another great idea that we carried through with was to rent out bikes for the day and bike around the city. There is a park that runs through the city and we rode our bikes down that way all the way to the science and arts center. There we visited the Oceanographic center,which is like an aquarium, that had lots to see and a dolphin show at one of the stops in the arena. This area was packed with modern designs, and the little pools of water they had around the area were breathtaking. Valencia is a great city to explore in especially if you're on a budget. I would highly recommend that you pay it a visit. Plus it only takes 15 minutes to get to the beach from the center of the city!! Oh and you have to try horchata there! It's so good and you can order things to dip in with it!

Back at home...

it was nice returning back to Rome. It was surprisingly hot and sunny outside. It felt good to be back at home and I must say, after going to a place that was like a third world country really makes you thankful for a warm shower and clean clothes. =] Spring break was a ton of fun.... expensive... but it was memorable. The camel didn't let me forget. I couldn't stretch for 3 days. haha.