Morocco (cont.)

9:54 PADOVA - Woke up pretty early to grab a quick orange juice in the market and then we took off to see the beautiful mosque in the center of the city. It was closed for some reason and we couldn't go in but it was cool to see that and the gardens around it. After that we did a little more shopping in the market and eventually (after some difficulties explaining where we needed to go) made it to the station to go to Casablanca. In Casablanca we took another "taxi" to our hotel from which we could see the port and water. We were given a room originally in which we weren't allowed to sleep in for "safety reasons". Whatever that meant. The hotel had internet and I was able to call home and talk to the family who were either up north or at the ballgame.
That night we took a walk around Casablanca towards the mosque where we really felt like we were in a different world. Of the hundreds of people there we were obviously the foreigners and I don't think there were many (if any) other tourists around. That was a really cool feeling. We eventually made it to Rick's for dinner. The atmosphere at Rick's was really chill and they had a live jazz band playing while we ate - a lovely end to a lovely trip.
It was a little sad to leave this strange and foreign place but it was nice to be going back to somewhere more familiar at the same time.
Real quick thoughts:
Having just finished a course on the sociology of Islam it is really interesting comparing the cultures (our Christian world with their Muslim world). I, personally, think it stems from differences in how we view time and money. There, it seemed, that everyone lived in the same poverty-stricken boat, where every helps everyone else get through life by buying from each other, trading, helping the elderly. It was cool for me to contribute to their way of life by buying stuff there. It seemed to me that even though I didn't speak their language(s), they still tried to communicate with me and were very personable. Yes, they wanted my money but they were happy just to "talk" and help me out by providing services, and products that I might need. It was a stark contrast to when we returned and on the bus ride home we overheard these older Italian men talking condescendingly about the Japanese and Americans that are here in Italy. In more ways that I can express the trip to Morocco was definately an eye-opener.

Quick update - Morocco

Friday, June 22 12:55PM PADOVA - It's hard to believe that my last week is finally here. There are some many things I have been doing that I haven't updated on here but I am going to do my best to catch you up. The last place I left off was between my Amsterdam and Morocco trips WAY back in April. Joe and I got back from Amsterdam spent a couple of days at lessons and then took off again to Morocco with Kylie and Tisha. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.
Arriving in Casablanca on a Friday morning we immediately experienced our first bit of the native culture where everything was in Arabic or French (which none of us spoke) and we had a tough time finding an ATM to get the local currency (the Dirham) and buy our first breakfast brioche.
Finding the train to Marrakech wasn't too bad and we had the help of a local police man to buy us tickets and tell us where and when to get off. We had to change trains in Casablanca (because the airport was a little out of the city) and after a several hour train ride through the deserted Morroccan country-side with the occasional "town" going by we knew that we were about as far as we could be from Kansas.
Arriving in Marrakech mid-afternoon we exited the station to a mob of people all offering various things: Hotels, car rides, jewelry, knives, etc. We took a random stab in the dark and asked some guy to give us a ride. After hopping into his car we showed him where we needed to go and we drove through the crazy traffic and city that is Marrakech until we arrived at this small little ally where we got out, paid the guy and then he handed us to some other randomn on the street. Somehow we made it to the exact place we needed to be and our newfound friend Hasan made us tea while our rooms were prepared.
After sending us with someone else to another location we arrived at our Riad (like a hotel) which was about a 4-5 minute walk to the famous market Djemaa el Fna where we were completely blown away by the sensations the market presented us with.
The smell of all types of meat and vegetables roasting at almost every stand, the sounds of vibrant life: snake charmers, beating drums, people yelling, asking you -no pleading for you - to come and eat at their place "Number 42!". The visuals of a setting sun over this grandiose marketplace with smoke rising, various animals, people from all walks of life. It was truly an imagery I will never forget.
After eating a scrumptous lamb/mystery meat dinner with cous-cous in the square, we walked around the periphery where all the little shops were selling anything you could ever ask for.
We decided we didn't want to stay out too late that night because we had arranged for a trip to the Atlas mountains the following morning so we went back to the Riad where I taught the Californians how to play Euchre and we watched an Eddie Murphy movie with Arabic subtitles.
The following morning we met Hamid where we were dropped off and we hopped into a white van with windows and waited for an hour for the Spaniards who were supposed to come with us to show up. Eventually they came and we took off for the mountains. We stopped at several places to admire the scenery (even though it was cloudy in the morning) and have stuff offered to us. We stopped at a tradtional home and had tea, we went camel riding, and we climbed up a waterfall crossing Indiana Jones-like bridges (some with more difficulties than others), and ate another delicious meal. After that long day we got back in time to go out and have another nice dinner above the famous square. By that point it was time for another round of Euchre and sleep because the following day came the mosque and Casablanca!
More on that to come...

So... Lately I haven't had school

5:04 PADOVA - Don't ask why, but any reason is reason enough not to have school in this country. Yesterday was the festival of liberation - the freeing the country of communism I believe. My roommates said it was thanks to the yankees so they said thanks to me while the local communist party had a big demonstration in the piazza. It was lovely.
After my mom and my brother's left from Venice last week, I took a relatively chill weekend and week in Padova before I left again with Joe for Amsterdam. We spent our first night in Treviso with Checca and her family who made an amazing dinner and then went out and found Johannes. Amsterdam came early the next morning...
When we finally got there Joe had to do a trans-atlantic interview for an internship and then we hit the town. After a couple bars, some great food, and the Van Gogh museum we met some Danish people in our 24 person hostel room and found out what Amsterdam has to offer for the nightlife.
I'll just say this: Amsterdam is a crazy city as it is, but when the sun goes down it's even crazier. The people you can find there are really diverse. Good times.
Saturday we walked all around Amsterdam with our Danish friends and went to the Heineken museum for most of the day. That was a blast, then we had a Shoarma (kebab type thing) and chilled and drank with Jesper and Mads while the 40 year old Las Vegas dude sleeping next to us toked up and slept the entire time.
Sunday Joe and I went to the tourist office and took a trip outside of Amsterdam to the nearest tourist city with Windmills and Tulips. We were the only people under 50 I think. Complete change from the night before.
We stayed up all Sunday night to catch our plane home on Monday and its been rather regular Padovian life until tomorrow when Joe, Tisha, Kylie and I take off for Casablanca in French Morocco. More on that soon!

Ciao!

Pictures

1:03 AM PADOVA. More to come! Click here.

Roma with the fam

Hey all--
It's Danny comin at you from Steve's apartment. We just got off of our train from Roma and we had a great time!!
Our flight was clear, and although it was very, very long, we managed alright. We proceeded to take a nap and meet Steve at our hotel.
Our hotel was perfect--a 5-10 minute walk to St. Peter's Basilica and we got 2 nice rooms. "Hotel Alimandi was a perfect location, and an authentic Italian family-run business--I highly recommend it."
-Jean, Italian Hotel Critic

We didn't do much the first day (Wednesday), but enjoyed a great dinner right across the street from the Pantheon.
Thursday morning brought a tour of the Vatican Museum, and a bypassing of the mile-long line. We met up with one of Steve's best friends from St. Joan, and he joined us for the tour. The Sistine Chapel was sistine, and everything was really just peachy. It is just mind-boggling to see everything, it was all so beautiful!!
The food is amazing and so is the gelato. I could live on magherita pizza and ciocolatto gelato, without ever getting bored at all.
Friday brought a tour of the Necropolis from ancient Rome, which was pretty interesting. We also saw the Stations of the Cross at the beautiful Colosseum. It was long, and not being able to understand any of it didn't contribute to the matter. Bill and I cut out a little early, but the Colosseum was still cool.
Saturday we visited the Spanish Steps and most of the piazzas. We could sit and eat under 70 degree weather, enjoying some nice accordian music (typical Italy, apparently). Then, came Mass with the Pope for the Easter Vigil at the Basilica. After finding some of our friends that we met at the Colosseum, we snuck in line with them, and an hour and a half later, we were in the Basilica. Finally, three hours later, the Pope came down the aisle. We could have touched him with a golf club, we were so close!!
Anyway, we are having a great time and can't wait to tell you all about it in person. Stay warm back in MI, we'll absorb some sunlight for you!!
Talk to you guys later!!

-Danny

(Another) Roman Holiday

12:30 AM - PADOVA- Hey all! Tomorrow (today) I am heading down to Rome to meet my Mom and brothers. I am really stoked. Also, I took my midterm today and scored a 28/30! Life is good. Hope all is well - contact me and let me know what's going on with you!

Uno studente italiano?

12:48 PADOVA - Hey all! After seven months I'm starting to feel like somewhat of an Italian student - even if that means I'm not really doing anything. These last couple of weeks I have had two classes at the University and one at the Study Center and when I try I can understand *almost* all that they are saying (with the help of some context clues). My two classes at the University are: Sociology of Religion I (Isam) and Sociology of the Communication of the Masses while my one at the Study Center is a comparative politics class focusing on the Italian politica. They are rather interesting.
Two weeks ago two friends from High School, Jess Parsh and Megan Irving made their way over here from Spain - they are studying in Sevilla - and in the weekend we did Padova, Verona and Venice and we celebrated Megan's 21st! I am getting to be a rather decent tour guide of the Veneto region so you better come soon before I'm gone (and then forget)! A week from today I will be in Rome waiting for my mother and brothers to arrive! I've done the tourist thing there a few times as well so we can ask them how I am as a tourguide I'm sure they will be my best critics.
Also, I have booked two trips for April (Morocco and Amsterdam) and found out that my sister will be able to come in May! Over all my life is pretty darn good. :-)
Yesterday a couple of us went to an Italian political discussion at a local bookstore as the American diplomats. It was a very intense experience and even though I know some stuff was lost in translation I felt we did a decent job representing the Red, White and Blue. This weekend I need to study a little bit because I have an exam on Tuesday :-O !
Write me an e-mail and let me know what's going on at home!

Spring Break Wolverine Style

12:03 PADOVA - Finally back from a great week of good times with good friends. After Berman came last week Saturday we made it to Rome on Sunday and met up with Lisa and Nadia for a pub crawl that night. Pub crawls are fun, however they are totally Americanized. The people running the show are mostly Americans and barely (if at all) know the language. The hostel we were staying at was putting on a pub crawl/night tour of Rome however they even spelled the main drink they were serving wrong! They spelled it PERSECO instead of Prosecco. It was kind of sad but I got over it. Pub crawl was still fun, and we got up quasi-early the next day and did my standard "Rome in a Day" trip. We hit the Vatican, Roman Forum, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Jewish Ghetto, Colleseum in no particular order. Then we met up with Nadia's friend who is studying in Rome at this really nice restaurant where we had a nice dinner and some great wine. Tuesday came and Berm and I were off back to Padova. We made it in time for some spritz in the Piazza and then a dinner in the mensa (Italian cafeteria).
Berm and I took it easy that night and were off the next day to Verona to pick up Kristy and Liz from the airport. After a debacle trying to figure out where the airport was we made it in time to greet the girls and we came back to Padova for a pizza dinner with some of the Americans.
Wednesday night in the piazza was pretty crazy as usual and we ended up at the discoteque for a little bit of dancing. It was really nice to see Kristy :-)
Thursday was spent in Venice... it was beautiful weather and great company. Berman left Thursday night and Liz, Kristy and I were out to Paris Friday afternoon.
Arriviamo in Paris and we went to eat near the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Then we found a great gyro place and then a bar in the Latin quarter of Paris (student district).
Saturday we did Paris in a day. We started off at the Musée d'Orsay, made our way to the Louvre! and down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. We ate some crepes on the way and then made it to the Tour Eiffel where we saw a freestylin' footballer named Iya Traore who was fun to watch. Then we made it back to Notre Dame to see inside and then it started to rain so we grabbed some food, etc. and called it a day. Kristy and I went out to an Italian restaraunt for dinner and then we were off in the morning - she and Liz to Detroit and I to Milan.
Made it to my hotel in Milan after three hours in the Italian airport (they lost the bag I knew I shouldn't have checked) and walked around town with an older couple who showed me around the city. I got some Burger King! which I haven't had in a long time, saw a pretty sweet old castle with a moat and drawbridge and then made my way over to the Teatro dal Verme where I waited with some enthusiastic Dave Matthews fans for the much anticipated Dave and Tim show. Made some Milan friends and then retired around 1 because I had to be up at 7 to try and get to class (which I missed most of:-/ ). Oh well, it was a good time all around I can miss a little bit of class. THis week has been full of class and Megan and Jess are arriving tomorrow from Spain! So here we go again this weekend! Speaking of Norseman, Congrats to Billy-Boy and the boys' basketball team who won their district game the other night vs. Detroit Southeastern! Go Norsemen. Alright it's back to class, Have a good one!