J'adore Paris

One of the greatest highlights of spring break was going to Paris, a city I have wanted to visit since I was a little girl. Saber bhaia took me there on a day trip and we spent it running around the city to see all the major attractions. We had to get up at 5:30am to but I was so excited that it didn’t even matter. We were going to Paris!

We went by Eurostar, which took us about 3 hours. When we arrived in Paris, we took a bus tour around the city. We saw L’Arc de Triumph, Champs d’Elise,Place de le Concorde (where Marie Antoinette and thousands others were beheaded), the Opera House, and the busy streets.

There is a certain glamour about Paris that radiates from everything inside of it. While everyone talks about how stuck up the people are, you can’t help admiring just how pretty everything is. Sadly my camera mysteriously broke as we got to L’Arc de Triump but luckily bhaia had his!

After the bus tour, we went on a river cruise on the Seine. It was a lovely day and looking at the city from the river added to its beauty.

We passed Notre Dame which was breathtaking with its intricate architectural design. And finally saw the Eiffel Tower! "Look, there it is!"

When we got off the cruise, we headed inside the Eiffel Tower where we had lunch. Bhaia had salmon and I had pasta, with cheesecake and chocolate praline cake for dessert. It was delicious. After lunch we went up to the second level of the tower. The elevator was too crowded so we took the stairs- 300 steps and it was exhausting! The views of Paris from the tower were amazing though since we could walk around and take in the city from every angle.

Then we headed to the Louvre which bhaia was most excited for. Usually I’m not into museums, but even I know that the Louvre holds the greatest works of art in the world so I was very excited as well. Here’s the famous glass pyramid. (If you’re a Da Vinci Code fan, directly underneath is where Robert Langdon discovered that the body of Mary Magdalene is buried).

Of course we saw the Mona Lisa. I was prepared for the anticlimax of the painting but the museum has it roped off at such a distance that you can’t really admire the painting at all. Such a shame that we can't enjoy the most famous painting in the world. Afterwards we saw the Egyptian gallery, along with the statue of Venis de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the 2nd century BC statue of the Greek goddess Nike.

Bhaia’s favorite part was when we found the Hammurabi Code, the first law ever written in the Babylonian era. The Louvre is so huge that an hour and half was not nearly enough time to spend in there. But we saw everything we wanted to see.

After that, it was time to go home. We were both exhausted, but in a good way because it had been a fantastic day. Thanks bhaia, you're the best!

Why you should never fly with Iberia

Before I write about my fabulous spring break, I'd like to emphasize that I flew with the worst airline I've ever encountered- Iberia, the Spain flag-carrier. Here's why:

Every single flight was delayed.

I had 4 flights with Iberia between Casablanca, Morocco and London Heathrow and they were all delayed by at least 2-4 hours. They used the same excuse every time- "traffic control delays." Somehow all the other airlines managed to come in on time though. Imagine that.

They're greedy corporate bastards.

On my way back to Morocco from London, Iberia staff wouldn't let me get on my flight because I don't have a Moroccan visa. When I told them I'm a student in Morocco, they refused to verify the information by calling my program and insisted that I buy a ticket out of Morocco to prove that I won't be staying there for over 3 months. Being a displaced student from Egypt is a unique situation but Iberia didn't bother to listen. So the only way I could leave London was to buy a $600 ticket out of Morocco to Madrid. While they said it was "fully refundable" they also told me they would charge me a $60 penalty for cancellation. I had no choice but to buy this ticket because they refused to give me any other option.

Their customer service is awful.

After I got back to Morocco, I called their office in Casablanca to cancel the ticket. No one answered. After calling back repeatedly, non-stop, still no one answered. I found out they take a 3-hour lunch break (which they even state on their website) so I called back in the afternoon. Surprise- still no answer. I called their office in London and no one answered there either. Finally I called their American office, the only country I could count on to have some sense of efficiency and professionalism. Finally I got my ticket cancelled.

The staff and flight attendants are rude.

You know how flight attendants greet you when you get on board? Not with Iberia. You also have to pay for all food and drinks on the flight. I fell asleep and missed the food cart when it passed, but when I asked the flight attendant if I could get a drink she told me in a huff that I had to pay and pointed to a menu. At least I got a small cup of water for free.

The flight itself is very unimpressive.

There's no difference between first class, business class and economy class other than the fact that you sit further up on the plane. And the seats are not cleaned- there were crumbs on my seat.

Even the baggage was late.

When I got to London from Madrid, I waited at baggage claim for at least an hour before they finally started putting out the luggage. As if a delayed flight isn't bad enough, it added an extra hour just to get my suitcase.

So take it from me- don't ever fly with Iberia. The prices aren't any cheaper than other airlines so basically you get crappy service, delayed flights, and ripped off no matter how much you pay.

Spring break!

It's Friday and my break has officially started! I'm waiting at Casablanca airport right now for my flight to London but I have a short layover in Madrid. I'll arrive at Heathrow airport at 9:15pm. I can't describe how unbelievably excited I am. I have tons of cousins and family in London, plus my dad is also flying in this week. It'll be the first time seeing familiar faces in over two months which is great because I'm tired of being around people from AMIDEAST all the time. While some of them are cool, they're still strangers who I've only known for a few weeks.

My cousin Saber bhaia is picking me up from the airport tonight. I'm excited to meet my little niece Sahra for the first time! Dad's coming on Sunday, and I have a ton of other cousins to see during the week. I've been to London before so I've seen most of the touristy stuff, so this trip will mostly be enjoying the city and shopping and spending time with family. And of course looking for Harry Potter stuff! Then there's my trip to Paris to look forward to! By some incredible stroke of luck, I got my tax refund today which means ore spending money in my bank account which means shopping in Europe! Life is good!

Dinner a la....dinosaur???

This is what my host mother prepared for us last night. As my friend Mariam said- it looks like a baby alligator threw up on the plate. However, once we got over the initial shock of seeing a scary face with sharp little teeth on our plates, we realized it was delicious! It was some kind of white fish, the red stuff is eggplant, and we had it with bread. Mmmmmmmm. See, I even finished it!

Viva España

This past weekend, me and two other girls from the program took a 3-night weekend trip to Madrid. We left from Casablanca airport so the flights were only about $70, an amazing deal. We stayed in Hostel Dolce Vita in the neighborhood of Cheuca, a trendy area known for its bars, nightlife and mostly gay crowd. A nice break for us considering we wouldn't be hit on every time we stepped outside. It was my first time staying in a hostel but it was surprisingly clean and very charming, with a triple bedroom with flower lights and multicolored walls.

On Saturday, we spent the day touring the major tourist areas, including Puerta de Sol, a large square with tons of entertainers, restaurants, and stores. We saw Mickey Mouse, Spongebob, a Mariache band, and lots more. We contemplated tackling Spongebob and Patrick but there were too many kids around. Mickey tried to charge me for taking a picture of him so I gave him a Moroccan dirham (he couldn't tell the difference with his big head)- am I going to Disney hell for ripping off Mickey Mouse?

Then we headed to Plaza Mayor, another famous square which hosts restaurants and entertainers as well. We saw magicians, mascots, headless sequined men, and women dressed in flamenco dresses. A man was also blowing the coolest bubbles I've ever seen- they covered an entire person!

We spent a majority of the day shopping - Spain has amazing clothes! Although it was a bit of a shock to go from spending Moroccan dirhams to Spanish Euros- that part wasn't so fun. Spain is huge on soccer so Real Madrid and FC Barcelona stuff everywhere.

For dinner, I had paella, a Madrid must. Paella is a Spanish rice dish with prawns, mussels, squid and different veggies. It wasn't the best I've ever had, but good nonetheless.

We also stopped in a crepe store and had the most incredible crepes I've ever tasted. It was filled with oreos, nutella, caramel, and topped with dulce de leche ice-cream and whipped cream. Absolutely divine.

In the evening we went to a drag bar called "A Noite," where we saw a drag show in Spanish. Not understanding a word of spanish, I simply admired that these men could walk in heels better than I do.

The night didn't end very well, since the girls got so wasted that they both literally threw up all over themselves (and on my shoe!). Being the only sober one was quite frustrating. I can never understand why getting that drunk can be considered a good time.

On Sunday we visited the Palicio Real, or the Royal Palace, and then walked around the city some more. Madrid is an friendly city to navigate, and we were able to walk to all the places we wanted to see. We also had Spanish hot chocolate, which is delicious and so thick that it tastes just like melted chocolate.

We flew back to Morocco on Monday at noon. It was a great weekend getaway, and a nice change of pace after being in Africa for two months. Shopping in Spain was amazing, and don't worry, I got lots of gifts for everyone! Now only a few days until spring break. London, here I come!

The best message of the day

A message from my wonderful friend Ali Manzar after he read my blog today for the first time. Probably one of the best comments I've received about my blog so far --

"You really are quite the little adventurer! I was planning to read only a couple entries and then come back to it later, but I found myself sad when you were sad, happy when you were happy, laughing when you were laughing, disgusted when you were disgusted, and scared when you were scared. Don't ever stop writing - it's your gift.
...
Anyway, now that I am up to date on your life, I will be following along very closely, eagerly awaiting your next entry (wow, I'm even writing like you now - see what effect you've had on me? =P)"

Thanks Ali! :-)

On a side note, food poisoning is starting to subside, I got a lotion made of milk for the hives, and I'm off to Madrid tomorrow! Buenos noches!

Food poisoning

After a day of vomiting, cramping and breaking into hives, I went to the clinic only to find that I have food poisoning. Wonderful. The doctor told me to stay off fish, eggs, and… chocolate?! Fml. Oh well, it was bound to happen at some point. I’ve decided to see everything with a little bit of humor, since my life is pretty ridiculous at this point. And on the bright side, at least it happened before Spain this weekend.