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Exploring the Fez Medina
Fez is the second largest city in Morocco, behind Casablanca. Fez has different sections, including “Old Fez” (Fez el Bali) from the 9th Century and “New Fez” (Fez el Djedid) from the 13th Century! Yes, you read that right – “New Fez” was founded in 1276! Fes el Bali, Old Fez, is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inside the walled city, there is a maze of winding streets filled with vendors and merchants. University of Al-Karaouine, the world’s oldest existing (and still operating!) university is within Fes el Bali. Fez is still the most intact, least modernized medina in the Arab world and one of the largest car-free urban…
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Cherry Blossom Festival
It’s that time of year folks! It’s Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC! Every year around this time, people from all over come to DC to see the coveted cherry trees blooming around the tidal basin and other areas. This also sparks a festival with various events in the city. The trees were planted beginning in 1912, but new trees have been planted regularly since then. Peak bloom was Monday, April 1st! This was no April Fool’s joke, because I brought my puppy and walked around the basin on Monday and indeed the trees are blooming! Peak bloom is supposed to be when at least 70% of the trees are…
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An Afternoon in Essaouira
After spending time in Marrakech, my fiance, Reda, his parents, and I drove to the Atlantic coast for a few days along with the family puppy, Paco! En route to Agadir, we visited Essaouira for an afternoon. As we pulled into the town, I saw a coastline full of beach-goers and surfers! My future Mother-in-Law, Rachida, grew up in Essaouira so it was really nice to have her show us around. We ended up parking right beside her high school! Whereas Marrakech has all red/pink hues, Essaouira has more whites and tans with splashes of bright blue throughout the city. We spent most of the afternoon walking through the Medina,…
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Marrakech, Morocco
We stayed in Marrakech for the first several days during my trip. One of the first things I noticed was the driving – the roads are pure chaos! Yet, it is an organized chaos. In traffic circles, no one is following the lanes. The road is shared by trucks, cars, motorbikes, sometimes even mules. I don’t know how they all share the road without crashing, but it somehow just works! The contrast of coexisting extremes also surprised me. I saw motorbikes with several people piled on sharing the road with expensive sports cars. That’s not something that I see every day! La ville en rose We all know Edith Piaf’s song “La…
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Firefly Festival 2018
Firefly Music Festival was the first camping festival I attended, in 2016. I went with a handful of friends and we camped on a 30-person lot. I had so much fun at this festival, I’d been dying to go back! Last summer I was still broke from living in France, but this summer I was committed to going again! I paid for a 6-person camping site, because I thought some friends would be joining. Note to self, you probably should not spend money on a shared camping site unless your “fellow campers” actually buy their festival tickets as well. As we got closer and closer to the festival weekend, it…
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Life Is What You Make It
Hello! It’s been several months since my last post – have I mentioned I am a procrastinator? As of May 15th, I have been home for a full year! I’m still very happy with my decision to stay rather than return to teach in France again. There is just something about financial stability, am I right? The past year has flown by! Especially once I became employed again. I’ve been in my current job for six months, and I really enjoy it! I’m excited about the work that I do and I am learning a lot – in my preferred career field, no less! Thinking back on my year as a…
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Well I Guess this is Growing Up
I’ve been listening to a lot of Blink 182 recently, and I felt like this phrase was a great way to sum up the past several months of my failed adult-ing. In a previous post, I described various reasons that I decided to decline my contract to teach in France again. One very real reason was that I used all of my Savings account last year to travel and to live more comfortably. (Y’all it is hard to live on a disposable income of 400 euros per month!!). Also, I had to start thinking about my future. I turned 26 this winter, officially losing the ability to be on my…
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Solo Travel: Why am I Comfortable Traveling Alone?
This spring, a group of my close college friends came to visit me. On the first night back together, we obviously had a lot to talk about! One of my friends asked me how I feel so comfortable traveling by myself. I had, after all, just traveled through Eastern Europe for two weeks by myself. Her question is natural – it does seem strange to feel comfortable doing such a thing. As I answered her, I realized that at some point over the past couple of years it had just become normal for me. When I studied abroad for 6 weeks, I made sure to coordinate with another student so that…
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Do I Stay or Do I Go?
When I first returned, it was so nice to be surrounded by my amazing friends and family. I wanted to enjoy their company as much as possible during the summer, knowing that I would be leaving again. However, after a few weeks I started getting what I can only describe as a gut feeling that I did not want to leave. I surprised myself in even considering staying! Then the more I reflected on the options, the more it made sense to me. When I first returned, it was so nice to be surrounded by my amazing friends and family. I wanted to enjoy their company as much as possible during…
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TAPIF Takeaways
As I finished my last week of work, I felt it was an appropriate time to reflect on the past seven months working here. Despite the difficulty getting settled in the beginning (thank you, French administration), I have had a pretty amazing year! I feel so lucky to have met so many amazing people! Although I am very happy to see my family soon, I’m really sad to be leaving this community. Lille has certainly become my home away from home. I feel like I hit the jackpot with my school assignment. I really can’t envision a better group of colleagues to have welcomed me. When I saw I was…
