hey hey
I think I just finished packing for Morocco tomorrow! I'm going for 6 days and I only have my book-bag and a small over-the-shoulder bag. You might think this is a testament to my superior packing skills, but really I think its a testament to how grungy I'm going to be the entire time I'm there. For some reason I'm sort of freaking out about going to Africa. I haven't really been too nervous before any of my trips. I've just been really excited and then sort of left without even thinking. But this one is sort of getting to me. Probably because I have literally no idea what to expect. I've heard different things from other people who went from my program. A few girls said that the poverty really got to them and it was really emotionally draining. I'm really excited, but at the moment I'm completely exhausted and just hoping everything goes ok. Mostly I'm hoping I don't get sick. We're bringing motion sickness medication, anti-diarrhea, the works. Cross your fingers for me.
More importantly though...I went to the Canary Islands last weekend! It was so so pretty:

It was me and my two friends Colleen and Casey. We were kind of nervous about our hotel because some of the reviews said that it was cockroach infested. If there is one thing I hate its cockroaches!!!!!!!! Luckily there wasn't a cockroach in site and we didn't get robbed! haha. It was in a really good location too.
Some highlights:
- I'm used to getting harassed in Sevilla, but the Canary Islands took the pestering to a new level. You seriously could not walk ten feet down the street without some Irish or English person coming up to you asking "Hi! Are you out for a drink!? Come to [fill in name of bar] for this really awesome deal were having!". In a word: annoying. Although also kind of fun to listen to their accents.
- I got turned into a lobster. Being the health-conscious, fair-skined girl that I am, I took great pains (and by that I mean I spent the absurd amount of 9 euros) to buy sunscreen before going to the Canary Islands. Upon arrival at the airport, I went bouncing through security all ready to go! Then out of nowhere the evil secutiy guard swept down and commandeered my sun screen! I'm still a little bitter as I sit here and type this.
- I was the only one who got in the water. I'm really glad I did too because even though it wasn't clear, it was still really blue and pretty
- We got to hang out in Playa de las Americas and spent Sunday in the Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife (the island we went to)
- Oh man. Embarassing story...so on Sunday when we were exploring Santa Cruz we wanted to find a beach where you could just relax and hang on the white sand. So we were sort of aimlessly roaming around the bus station and decided to just ask a random bus driver where the free shuttle to the beach was. So Casey went up to the bus driver and asked "Esto es la autbus para la costa?" And the bus driver responds Si. So there we were, thinking we had really hit the jack-pot. A FREE shuttle to the coast and we just happened to wander upon it. We hoped on and starting talking about how incredibly easy that was. The bus takes off, I start looking around to discover that there are a lot of old people on the bus with us. A little while into it I start thinking that it really is pretty odd that we were the youngest people on the bus. Then we start embarking on our destination....
A cruise boat by the name of "La Costa".
yup.
Pretty hilarious. Eventually we did find the bus to the beach, but it wasnt free and it wasnt full of old people. Yay Canary Islands!

I went to a bull fight this week!

I'm so glad I went because it was definitely very spanish and a really good cultural experience. That being said, once was enough and I never want to go again. There was lots of blood, it was really gory and I felt really bad for the bulls (all 6 of them)

The girls totally horrified after the bull fight:
Alright, off to shower and then off to Morocco.
ps - today was our last day of classes! actually sort of depressing.
bye!