In January, I left for Cairo, Egypt where I expected to study for 5 months. There I saw the amazing wonders of the world - the Great Pyramids of Giza.
The semester was disrupted on January 25th, when protests broke throughout the city and led to an uprising that eventually toppled the country's 30-year incumbent President Mubarak.
After a 5-day lockdown in Cairo, we were finally evacuated to Athens, Greece where we stayed for 36 hrs to decide our next moves.
I decided to finish off my semester in the city of Rabat, Morocco. I moved in with a Moroccan host family and began a new program.
After settling into Rabat, I had my first excursion to Fes, the 2nd largest city in Morocco. There I was turned into a bride in a mock Moroccan wedding.
On the way back to Rabat from Fes, I stopped at the Volubilis, the largest ancient Roman ruins in North Africa. Or the perfect place to play hide and seek.
The following weekend, I visited the city of Casablanca, where I saw the famous Rick's Cafe and Masjid Hassan II, the 5th largest mosque in the world.
In the first weekend of March, I spent a 3-night weekend in Madrid, Spain where I visited Puerto de Sol, Plaza Mayor, had real Spanish paella, and saw a Spanish drag show.
I spent spring break in London with my cousins. We saw MJ's Thriller in theatre. It was probably the best week of the entire semester. My family is awesome.
While in London, my cousin and I took a day trip to Paris where we visited the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. J'adore Paris.
After returning from spring break, our program took us on our 2nd excursion to the North of Morocco to the city of Tangier. We went into the Hercules cave which overlooks the Atlantic ocean.
After Tangier, I headed to the blue and white city of Chefchaouen. Quiet and between the mountains, it's a hidden treasure in the country.
The following weekend I traveled to the Sahara desert, where I trekked for hours on a camel and camped in the vast emptiness. An experience unlike any other.
At the end of April, I had my last excursion to the city of Marrakech, the main tourist city in Morocco. This very square was victim to a terrorist attack just 3 days after our visit.
Finally in mid-May, the time came to leave Morocco. But I'd never looked more forward to going home.
6 countries, 15 cities, 13 flights. Different languages, culture shocks, ethnic foods. Revolutions, uprisings, protests, terrorist attacks. What a crazy year.
