Spring Break (in review)

Boy oh boy do I have some catching up to do!

Coming back from spring break to buckle down to finals was challenging, to say the least, but I made it through and now I'm ready for a few months to catch my breath and rest up before tackling New York! That being said, I'm happy to share that even though my classes are finished, my time in Paris does not have to come to an end quite so soon. I'm working with NYU as an RA for the summer in Paris program until July 18. Its possible that my summer won't be quite as restful as previously implied, but I'm so grateful that I have a couple more months to spend in this magnificent city. Outside of work and babysitting I'm hoping to have time to revisit my favorite places a few more times and discover some new ones, and I'm also looking forward to having my mom come visit in a couple weeks! Most of my friends from this year went back home for the summer, but don't worry, I won't be lonely--my crepe-making friends were very happy to learn I'll be sticking around for a bit. In all seriousness though, I have a few friends who will be in Paris for most of the summer as well, and I'm also meeting lots of new students through the summer program.

But now back to the good stuff--spring break! We had two weeks off and I spent them traveling with my friend Annie, who will in fact be my roommate next year. Our trial run of living together was a grand success, if I do say so myself, involving lots of photos, a few sunburns, some pretty train scenery, and of course numerous culinary adventures. We spent the first half of our break in Italy. Our trip started with a slight hiccup when we got on the bus that would take us to Paris Beauvais Airport and Annie turned to me and asked if I had my passport. It was 6 am and I had left my apartment with no caffeine in my system, so it was a valid question as I was still half asleep. Maybe even 75%. However, I proudly held up my passport that I remembered to bring as the responsible young adult that I am. At that exact moment I also realized that I did not have my wallet. And my wallet contained my phone. And my keys. My phone was stolen in March, and I had just gotten a new one literally two weeks earlier, so it was a rather tragic episode of deja vu. We hopped off the bus, called the driver of the taxi we had taken, and he graciously sped back to return my wallet that I had left in the backseat--keys and phone included. Thankfully, that speedbump did not set the tone for the rest of our trip, and other than my sleep-induced forgetfulness, everything else went off without a hitch!

We arrived in Pisa and did a bit of wandering before sitting down to our first Italian lunch. I will take this opportunity to say that for a week my diet consisted of pizza, pasta, and gelato, and I don't think I've ever been happier. Pizza and pasta are pretty hard to mess up in themselves, but Italians really know what they're doing over there. We only spent one night in Pisa before taking a train to Rome. I now understand where my friend Ryan Bedell's love for that city comes from. It was incredible! The sights, the history, the people--we were there for three days, which was not nearly long enough for my liking, but some of the highlights were definitely seeing the Coliseum and Sistine Chapel. We also made friends with a waiter who taught us to say cheers in Italian and insisted we stay after we paid our check for some limoncello and chocolate covered strawberries on the house. In hindsight I'm fairly certain he was just trying to stall us until he got off work at 11 because he then invited us to go get drinks with his friends who "love Americans and speaking English." We declined as it was our last night and we had a train to catch in the morning, but nonetheless he was very kind and gave me a rose as a parting gift. And people say the French are the romantics...

They should really get around to fixing that...

                                      

A (t)rainy day in Pisa.

St. Peter's Basicila in Rome

Coliseum selfie! When in Rome, right?

Roman Forum

Spanish Steps

An illicit Sistine Chapel photo. Don't tell on me, please.

From Rome we went to spend a night in Siena. It was quaint and charming with stunning views of the Tuscan countryside. Every winding street looked like something you would see on a postcard. Actually, it is something you would see on a postcard. They were selling them everywhere. Siena was more of a challenge than Rome as we did not find many people who spoke English, but despite the language barrier people were so welcoming and helpful. We got by at dinner in a mangled mess of French, Italian, and English, though I'm not quite sure we ever cleared up the fact that Annie and I were two friends from America. For some reason the owner of the osteria we ate at seemed convinced that we were sisters from Germany. We kind of decided to just go with it.

After Siena we headed to Florence for another three days. One of my professors had lived in Florence for some time, so I had an email from him with extensive restaurant and museum recommendations. Florence was incredibly beautiful. It's a very walkable city, and the architecture everywhere is straight out of the Renaissance. We definitely earned all the gelato we ate there with all the stairs we walked up! The view from the Duomo was more than worth it, though. We also saw the Medici Palace, the Galleria de l'Accademia, and there was pretty much a beautiful old church on every corner. The other highlight of Florence was the woman we stayed with. She was an artist named Liana and she made us feel so at home; she invited us out to a concert with her and her friends, gave us some insider restaurant tips, and insisted on driving us to the train station when the time came for us to leave. She also had a dog, Loren, who took a bit longer to warm up to us, but by the end of our stay we were pals.

The view from our (Liana's) balcony.

Made it to the top!

Medici Palace

From Italy, we hopped on a plane to Morocco. In Marrakech we put on our bargaining faces for the souks (markets) and traded in all our carbs and gelato for mint tea and tagines. We spent five days in Marrakech--this is where the sunburns happened--and it was an all-around incredible experience. The first time I heard the call to prayer being blared from speakers at the mosques all around was so surreal. I obviously understood nothing, but the Arabic words being sung were so beautiful and it was fascinating to see people around us stop what they were doing to pray then and there.

Our home for the week.

Breakfast and sunbathing (sunburning) nook.

Moroccan sunset

We hired a guide one day, and he took us to see the Koranic School, the Bahia Palace (Bahia means favorite--it was named after the Sheik's favorite wife) and the Jardin Majorelle where Yves Sant Laurent is buried. We also took a day excursion to see the Ouzoud Waterfalls, which was probably the most beautiful place I have been in my life. There were a couple other NYU kids who happened to be staying in Marrakech at the same time as us, so we also spent a couple days trying to conquer the markets and just generally exploring with them.

Koranic School

Bahia Palace

Jardin Majorelle

Hiking to the falls

We jumped from there and swam! 

Marrakech was overwhelming for a number of reasons, but not in a bad way. Walking around was definitely a sensory overload. People were constantly yelling out deals on their goods for sale--piles of fragrant spices, oils and lotions, bright pashmina scarfs and handcrafted ceramics. We had to dodge motorcycles, bikes, carts piled with food, donkeys (yes really, donkeys). French was widely spoken, but we heard a blur of English, Arabic, French, and the local language Berber. Everywhere we could smell couscous and tagines being prepared, and we saw women dressed in everything from miniskirts to jeans to full burkas. It's very hard to describe exactly what it felt like to be there, but it was just such an interesting blend of cultures and traditions versus modernity.

My bank account might still be a bit sore at me, but all in all spring break was an amazing opportunity to get out of my comfort zone--it's funny realizing how much Paris has become so familiar to me--and experience some amazing places and people with my future roomie! I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store. Lots of love and big hugs to everyone back home. Thanks for reading!