Vacances d'hiver: Marrakech, Day One

Hey all! Guess what? I am on yet another 2-week vacation (courtesy of the fantastic French Ministry of Education) and this time, I am in...wait for it...MOROCCO!!!!! AHHHHH!!! So. Freaking. Awesome. I got here yesterday around noon with my friend Louise (the same one I went to Belgium with), and we have been basking in the gorgeous 70 degree (Farenheit, of course) weather. We're staying in Marrakech until the night of the 28th, then taking the overnight train to Tangier, where we'll catch a bus to our next stop, Chefchaouen. Chefchaouen is this small but beautiful town where all the houses are blue and white--can't wait!! We'll be there for two days and one night, and then we're going to Fes, where I will stay for two nights and Louise will stay for at least one (possibly two as well) because she has to get back to Marrakech on the 4th to catch her flight to Spain. I'm flying out of Fes so I will most definitely be there two nights. Anyway, onwards!

We're staying in this hostel called Hostel Riad Marrakech Rouge, it's pretty awesome...and we can ask for free tea whenever we want!

Main building

Main building lounge

Door of our building--so colorful! =)

We haven't done too much so far; most of yesterday was spent wandering around Marrakech--our first stop--and exploring the souks. Which was...an experience. Vendors here are definitely the pushiest ones I've ever encountered. Most of them are male, and since it's just me and Louise, 2 girls who stick out like no other (I'm Asian, she's blond...not exactly helpful for blending in), they hassle us a lot by calling us weird things or complimenting our looks (except in a creepy way) and try and get us to buy their goods. Two of my favorite nicknames for Louise so far are "Shakira" and "Lady GaGa." As for me, they constantly ask where I'm from, and for some reason they always assume Japan first...one interaction went like this:
Vendor: Konichiwa!
Me: Je ne suis pas japonaise. Translation: I'm not Japanese.
Vendor: Oh...(is embarrassed) désolé! Translation: Sorry! (runs away)

Haha, yeah. It makes it pretty uncomfortable walking through the souks, but...it's still pretty awesome to see all the beautiful and colorful products! There are so many things I want to buy! Agh! Here are some photos from our exploration:

Louise in front of the Koutubia mosque

There are orange trees everywhere! Almost like Florida!

Place Jamaa El-Fna, the most famous square in Marrakech!

We also got to have a delicious Moroccan lunch at this place called Toubkal in the Place Jamaa el-Fnaa, which is the biggest and most central square of Marrakech. I got couscous with lamb; Louise got lamb tagine. Sooo good! I also got the Moroccan specialty, green tea with mint. Now that stuff is bomb. Definitely planning on buying some of that to take back!

Green tea with mint =D

Couscous with lamb

Anyway, on the books for today is a one-day excursion to Ouarzazate, also known as "the door of the desert," which is pretty damn exciting. Hopefully I'll get to ride a camel! 

Vacances de Noël: Paris

After spending 4 days in Belgium, we headed to Paris to say goodbye to 2012. We were lucky and got to stay in the apartment of Louise's friend, who was away for the holidays (and so were her roommates). We left Brussels in the morning and stopped in Lille on our way to Paris because our friend Marie is from there. So we went to lunch with Marie, her sister Sabrina, and their friend. They took us to lunch in a really popular restaurant in the center of town called La Chicorée, where we got to try some typical northern French dishes!

I got the dish called "L'assiette du Nord" which included: a piece of savory tart, aspic, charcuterie, and toasted bread with cheese on top

After lunch, they took us to one of the most famous pastry shop in the north of France, called Aux Merveilleux de Fred, where they specialize in this one pastry called a "merveilleux" (literally translates into "wonderful"), and it was absolutely FANTASTIC. It's made of two meringues, one on top of the other, and they swath them in delicious amounts of buttercream until they're in the shape of a large gumdrop, and then they coat in chocolate flakes...So. Delicious. It actually melted in my mouth when I bet into it. I've never had meringues that good.

The outside

The inside was so fancy!

My white chocolate merveilleux

Once we bought our merveilleux, we parted ways from Marie and I headed to the train station with Louise and Natalie, where I devoured my merveilleux.

Since we got to Paris at night, our first night there was pretty uneventful. We just had dinner at a restaurant close to the apartment and watched some TV. However, in the middle of watching TV, we hear this slight cracking sound, so Natalie looks into the dining room, and her face drops. Then she says, "Was the ceiling...always like that?" Louise and I look and our mouths fall open, because the ceiling literally had dropped down a little, as in, it had cracked and part of it was dipping below the level it was supposed to be at. So basically...it was barely clinging on. We didn't really know what to do, so we just moved everything from underneath it and hoped that it wouldn't completely fall in. Unfortunately, that night while we slept, it did. Well, okay, Louise woke up when it did, but I kind of slept through it...haha. Anyway, that was pretty crazy. Couldn't really do much about it though.

On the 31st (New Year's Eve!), we headed into the city (the apartment was technically outside of Paris) and did some sightseeing. We went to the Louvre (but didn't go in because we didn't have enough time), the Pont des Arts, Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, the Red Light District and the Moulin Rouge, and the Tour Montparnasse because that's basically where the club we were going to was.

In front of the Louvre

Guy playing ukelele on the Pont des Arts

Pretty self-explanatory lol

Tour Montparnasse

We actually found out in Belgium that the three other American girls were going to be in Paris for New Year's, so they ended up buying tickets to the same club that we had chosen and we spent New Year's Eve with them! We went to Mix Club, and...well, basically spent the entire night there. We didn't leave until 6 in the morning, haha...that's NYE for you. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting...needless to say, we didn't wake up until very, very late the next day.

Yes, we got there when it opened...because we're cool that way.

Full!

Us and the other girls (left to right): Ayla, Louise, Natalie, Sarah, Maile, me!

On the first day of 2013, however, we did still go into the city to do a little more sightseeing. We had dinner in Saint Michel at a place called Crêperie des Pêcheurs, which was pretty good, and then "flâner"-ed (strolled) around some more. Here are some places we hit:

Notre Dame, of course

Hôtel de Ville with the ice skating rink!

Centre Pompidou

Look who we found! =D

We also found this AMAZING gelato place called Pozzetto...I think it's actually supposed to be one of the best ones in Paris.

Place de la Bastille

The next morning, we went and had a good ol' American breakfast at this diner called Breakfast in America. It was pretty amazing, considering I hadn't had real American food in quite some time. Then we went and actually saw the inside of the Louvre!

The esteemed lady herself, of course.

With the Winged Victory of Samothrace!

The Da Vinci Code, anyone? Haha...

We bumped into our friend Sebastien there, who is also a teaching assistant in Nîmes. Small world, right? We went to the Musée d'Orsay afterwards but he didn't join us because he had to meet his Colombian friends.  We actually got to see this really cool exhibit called "Impressionism and Fashion", but they didn't allow pictures so I don't have that many from the Musée d'Orsay, unfortunately.

Got this one though! Isn't the roof so gorgeous?

Well, that was the end of our Paris excursion, and I went back to the apartment once we had finished with the Musée d'Orsay to get my bag (Natalie had brought hers with her), and then went back into the city to catch the train. Louise stayed an extra day so that she could actually see her friend. But yes, quite the vacation! I definitely had a blast. =)

Vacances de Noël: Belgium

WARNING: Lots and lots of photos in this post. Just FYI.

Okay okay, I know it's been a really long time since I last posted, and it is definitely not Christmas vacation anymore...but hey, what can you do. Here's how my Christmas vaction started.

For the first time ever, I spent Christmas away from home this (okay, technically last) year--in Nîmes, with a small group of assistants who stayed in France. We had a lovely small lunch together, and that night was my friend Anna's birthday party (she was born on Christmas), so we had another small dinner. It was a lot of fun!

The next day, however, I left for Belgium with Louise and Natalie. Our first stop was Brussels--we arrived on December 26th pretty late at night, and our CouchSurfing host Brunel came to meet us at the train station. He took us back to his house, where he was hosting quite a few people...14 (including us), to be exact! Yeah. Pretty insane. There were some people from Mexico, two girls from Poland, a girl from Russia, 3 other American girls...it was quite the party. Anyway, since we arrived pretty late we didn't do anything the first night.

The next day, however, was our first day in Brussels, and we met up with Louise's old boss Joelle from the U.S., who is actually Belgian and was in Belgium for the holidays. She took us around the city center and showed us some of the sights. Some (okay, many) pictures below!

View of Brussels' city center

Mannekin-Pis

Grand Place!

Absolutely incredible architecture

Lace shop!

Lunchtime...eating moules frites the Belgian way =D

Tintin shop!

The museum of instruments and music...didn't go inside, but isn't it gorgeous?

Brussels is an absolutely fantastic city; I love it so much. Joelle accompanied us up until a little while after lunch, and then she left and we headed on to the Magritte museum. You know the painter, René Magritte? The one who painted this:

Yeah, that guy. Well, apparently he's Belgian, so they have an entire museum dedicated to him in Brussels. We spent a good couple hours in there, and then we met up with Brunel and the other CouchSurfers to walk around Brussels some more. Brunel showed us where to get the best Belgian waffles (YUM) and also took us to the best chocolate shop. Okay, I have tell you, Belgian waffles...ARE all they're cracked up to be. They are seriously phenomenal. Like you died and went to heaven type of good. If you ever are in Belgium, go to this place called Australian Home Made Ice Cream right near the Grand Place (apparently it's a chain so there are some other locations, you can look them up). Yes, I know, it's kind of bizarre that it's an ice cream shop, but apparently they have the best waffles. These waffles are not even like American waffles at all--they're made from a dough, not a batter. So you can watch them literally slap a wad of dough on to the griddle, shove it down into the waffle iron with a spatula, and then slam the iron shut. It's amazing. Anyway, here are a couple photos (not from that night but whatever):

WAFFLE.

Do you see those layers?? It's like a freaking croissant inside!

After eating waffles, Brunel took us to Leonidas, which is a chocolate company, but apparently the best one. We bought our fair share of chocolate, and Brunel also bought each of us a box of chocolate! So nice. Another photo:

So much chocooolaaateeee

Once we finished pigging out, we went home, had dinner, and then Brunel took us to Delirium, which is an incredibly famous bar that has the largest selection of beer, for a bar, in the world. Pretty cool. I tried this Belgian beer called Chimay, which is supposed to be one of the best Belgian beers. It was actually very good!

Entrance

With my Chimay

Then, after Delirium, we went to this other bar which was also a dance club. Okay, I'm going to stop right there for a second because I have to say this: I have never, EVER experienced anything like I experienced at this bar. This is what happened--as soon as all us girls (since it was mostly girls) got onto the dance floor and formed our dance circle, ALL of the men in the bar literally descended upon us. Like moths to a flame. They formed their own weird creepy guy circle around our dance circle. Brunel had to practically fight them off to keep them from grinding on us. It was...disturbing, but also hilarious. And amusing. So...yeah. I wish I had taken a video or something, because it was definitely one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.

Anyway, so our second day in Belgium was--for me and Louise--going to the chocolate museum, and then getting another waffle. And then going back to the apartment. Natalie actually got up earlier and went to the lace museum, which I kind of regret not going to, but oh well.

Old guy giving a chocolate-making demonstration

In the afternoon, we went to Brugge with the rest of the CouchSurfers and Brunel, because the three of us were supposed to stay in Brugge for two nights. When we got to Brugge, Louise, Natalie, and I headed to our hostel to check in first and drop off our bags. It was pretty far outside town, so we had to take a bus there. Upon arriving at the hostel, we found that it was closed...which was very strange and unnerving, so we went across the street to ask a produce vendor about it. She told us that it was closed for the holiday season until the end of January. We were like, "WHAT" and then we looked at the reservation and saw that we had booked it...for January 28th. Not December 28th. Yeahhhh. Not so great. Sooo, I called Brunel and explained what happened, and he told us to meet them in the central square and we would figure something out. We walked all the way back, which took quite a while, and met Brunel and the others. I'll give you the short version of what happened: basically, we tried to find a hostel, couldn't, and ended up going back to Brussels to stay with Brunel again. And this time, it was even more crowded--18 CouchSurfers. Yeahhh. I slept on the couch that night, haha. As did two others. It all worked out though.

The next day, since we couldn't actually spend any nights in Brugge, we went back for the day and saw the city during the daytime. Brugge is a beautiful city, really, but very very touristy. Brussels is touristy too, but I just feel like Brugge doesn't feel real, you know? It looks like something out of a brochure or storybook. Still, it's gorgeous. Also, what was really weird for us was that, in Brussels, everyone speaks French (good for us, since we speak French), while in Brugge, everyone speaks Flemish! Quite a leap for just one hour on the train. And no, we don't speak Flemish, but almost everyone speaks English too, so that made things easier.

However, the summary of the day was...lace. Haha. We went into SO many lace shops, because apparently Brugge is the lace capital of...Belgium? Europe? I have no idea. It's some sort of lace capital. And we must have gone into at least 10 lace shops. Pretty exhausting. However, I also got some legit Belgian fries in a white paper cone, which was awesome. Photos!

Apparently Brugge is known as the "Venice of the North"--canals!

Lace map! Isn't that amazing??

Wall of Beer, no big deal

Belfry

Belgian fries!

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant, of all places, because Natalie was craving Thai food, haha. It was actually really good!

Mmm...curry. =)

Then we went back to Brussels for our last night in Belgium, because the next day...PARIS!