Final Post of 2010

I'm back home in Olympia for the holidays. Here are some photos from the last few weeks in Salamanca - the weeks leading up to CHRISTMAS, which is celebrated just as enthusiastically in Spain as in the United States.

New Cathedral

Christmas decorations everywhere

Plaza Mayor

Cathedral from across the river

Another shot of the plaza

The street I walk down each day to class...

I'm returning to Spain at the end of January after two weeks in LONDON visiting my friend, Meredith. Sooooooo glad I decided to study abroad for the full year!

¡Felicidades!

Basque Country

I took a weekend trip with my roommate Alex up to Basque Country in Northern Spain. We started in San Sebastian, the gorgeous beach city.

We were bundled up because it was freezing...

...but apparently that doesn't stop Basque people from swimming in their speedos. There were at least 10 people in the water - they are clearly insane!

A sign in written in Basque - no idea what it says... probably something against the Spanish government. (Everyone we met in San Sebastian was really welcoming and helpful, but we did accidently walk into a creepy bar that we later found out was the hang out for ETA sympathizers... yikes).

San Sebastian at night was absolutely gorgeous, and also super fun! It's home of the best (and most expensive) food in Spain - we got some excellent tapas! We also stumbled upon a random street concert by a really popular Basque band - the place was going crazy!!

We went for a morning hike to see the beautiful bay and mountain views with some friends from our awesome hostel. We met people from Germany, the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, and the good ole US of A!

So this picture doesn't even begin to capture it, but the night we left was a huge soccer game between Basque rivals San Sebastian and Bilbao. The streets and bars were absolutely packed with fans - almost everyone was decked out in jerseys and other spirited clothing. I've never seen anything like it. What was especially cool was how well the rival fans got along -

On our mountain ride to Pamplona, we passed through lots of cute Basque villages

Pamplona: the home of the Running of the Bulls!

 There was lots of snow and Christmas decorations

 and they had a countdown to the next Running of the Bulls - only 212 days left!

Morocco Part 3: Rif Mountains and Chefchaouen (plus Gibraltar)

We drove up into the GORGEOUS Rif Mountains - I took lots of photos :-)

We stopped in a mountain village and had lunch with a family there. They welcomed all of us into their home, and all their neighbors came over to talk with us, too. We all had lunch, talked about Morocco through a translator, and played with all the kids!

This was the greatest game of peek-a-boo I've ever played. I'm so glad Louise captured the moment on her camera:

Preparing the tea:

We went to Chefchaouen for the night. It was a little more touristy than some of the other places we'd visited, but absolutely gorgeous, despite the rain! We got great views from the roof of our hostel:

A walk through the rainy streets (everything is BLUE!):

A view from the inside of our fabulous hostel:

Also, the day before we crossed the strait to Gibraltar, Stephanie and I took a quick trip to Gibraltar to see the famous rock and Barbary apes!

Cable car to the top of the rock:

View from the top:

The monkey that later tried to steal my purse:

Morocco Part 2: Rabat

Stephanie and I were in the same homestay in Rabat. Our host mother - whose name I can't remember because it was long and complicated - was the sweetest woman ever. She didn't speak any English, which was difficult at first, but we figured out ways to communicate. Her son, Ahmed, still lives at home because in Morocco, "you don't leave home until it's absolutely necessary" - if you get married or have to move to another city to find work or attend university. He's learning English so he served as translator for everything.

I didn't need my alarm clock in Morocco because the call to prayer work me up around 5:30! Apparently I'm just a really light sleeper, though, because Stephanie slept through it. They sound the call to prayer five times a dayAfter a delicious breakfast, we met up again with everyone from the program and went to the Roman ruins outside the city.

Group picture with the headless statue:

STORKS on top of the old mosque:

The ruins of the old mosque - the only mosque interior we were allowed to go into on the trip since we're not Muslim.

The eel pond! You throw an egg in and if the eel eats it, it means you're fertile. Allison threw in an egg, but the eel didn't eat it - sad! Here's a picture of everyone watching to see what the eel will do. (Notice the cat - there were cats EVERYWHERE in Morocco).

Then we went to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, the previous king of Morocco:

 Don't mess with the Moroccan guard!

 The tomb surrounded by candles and Moroccan flags:

In the afternoon we met up with students from the University of Rabat who gave us a tour of the city.

The old fortress:

 We all went out for coffee. Hajiba is the second from the left and Abdellah and Khaoula are on either side of me:

 They also took us to the Rabat market and helped us barter. I learned that I am the worst barterer in the world - thank goodness Badr helped me out!!

In the evening we went to the Hammam - the public baths - which was the greatest thing ever. It's pretty much a giant steam sauna/spa - we stayed for hours!

It was so sad saying goodbye to our host family the next morning! It was hard leaving them and the university friends so soon when I wanted to get to know everyone better. Thank goodness Facebook fever has spread to Morocco, so I'm at least virtual friends with all of them now!