No me ha dejado, Sevilla

For those of you unfamiliar with the city of Seville, this is the symbol displayed on the municipal flag, the manhole covers, the communal bikes, the signs, the buses; every where you look there's NO8DO. Where else have you seen a city proudly present their symbol and logo, or have one at all? Once you know Seville you will understand.
The figure eight in the middle is bundle of wool, or a madeja. Saying it all together in the Sevillan accent creates the phrase: "No me ha dejado". This translates to: "It [Seville] has not abandoned me".
To those who have visited the unforgettable city of Seville, this phrase strikes a chord. And now that I have been out of that Andalusian paradise for three weeks now, I am really feeling the ache. Those orange-tree-lined streets! That distinctive flamenco compas! Those fried anchovies Maria made for Miranda and me! The graceful Guadalquivir! I know I will make it back to that gorgeous southern Spanish city sooner or later. I would not be the same without having had this experience.

I have made so many amazing friends and have learned so much in Seville and from all of my adventures in these past four months. I wish I was still out there... There's a whole world waiting!! A special thank you to my mom and dad who trusted me enough to send me out into it!

This concludes Haley's Happenings and Adventures Abroad. Thanks for reading :)

La Feria de Abril

Instead of going traveling this week, I decided to stay in Seville and soak up all of its Sevillan-ness. And what better way to do that than to check out the Feria? April Fair is everything you think of when you think of Spain. Flamenco dresses, dancing, drinking, bull fights, horse-drawn carriages, bright colors, fried fish, music... Plus fair rides, gofres and churros, casetas, and an environment you're not going to find anywhere else.

The Feria starts on Monday night at midnight with a band playing and the ceremony of "alumbrado", when the huge arch (different each year) lights up and everyone cheers and begins the festivities. We went to see the ceremony and then went to the fair to eat gofres and ride the Ferris wheel, giving us a great view.

Later in the week, I went out with Miranda, Rhianna, and some other friends to see the Feria during the day. A friend of a friend told us to come to the Communist Party's caseta (aka tent), and at first we thought they were joking... they were not. Apparently her host dad is associated with them somehow. But it was a good time and a good story to tell. They were all very nice there. We drank the traditional rebujitos which are a mix of manzanilla and Sprite. They were pretty good.

Later in the evening, we went to the Discover Excursions caseta, and that was a good time. I didn't dance, but some of my other friends did.
Another day, I went to the Feria just to take photos. I went at a time which was pretty dead, but there were still lots of horses and some people dancing!

These ladies were clapping and singing on their way to Feria. So Andalusian. 

Discovering the beauty which is Lagos

If you can recall, I won a free trip to Lagos with Discover Excursions at the very beginning of the semester. I had been on the fence about going, but eventually decided to go for it and I'm glad I did. I just love the Iberian Peninsula.

The bus ride only took a few hours and after changing in the hotel room, we headed straight to the beach to relax and sip some sangria. Some people went swimming and jumped off the big rock a ways from the beach, but the water was soooo cold.

That night we took the bus out to Cape Sagres, otherwise known as "the end of the world", to watch the sunset. It was so so windy but beautiful.

The next day was the sail boat tour. It was a little chilly, but it was nice to relax. Plus once we anchored, they took us out in small groups to go through the rock formations along the coast.

After the tour, we headed back to meet the rest of the Discover people on a beach to hang out. I was a little tired of just laying around at that point but it was fine. That night I broke my abstinence from eating American food. I know, I almost made it the whole time, but this burger has been rated in the top fifty in the world, so I think it's forgivable. It's not like it's McDonalds... The thing was massive with bacon, pineapple, and bbq sauce. So worth it.

On Sunday, we went on a kayaking trip out to a tiny beach and back and then hung out at the hotel until it was time to head back to Seville. The guide led us through some tight rock formations which was pretty terrifying since the swells would toss us into the other kayaks and the rocks, but we made it haha.

The weekend left me tired and sunburnt but it was a good time and really beautiful.

Back across the strait of Gibraltar

As-salamu alaykum! Another trip to Morocco!
This time I went for the weekend with my interest group (Cultural Expressions) from CIEE. Very  early on the morning of April 10 we took our bus down to meet the ferry. The waves were say worse than my first trip across the strait. SO many people were getting sick which was pretty unpleasant, but I was fine. We arrived at Ceuta, a Spanish town on the coast of Africa. Through the gates and we were in Morocco. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed by the organization of the trip. Before we left, we were warned that we would be moving nonstop from Friday morning to Sunday, but in reality there was a lot more waiting around. After devouring as much couscous as our bodies could handle and waiting around for a bit, my group started out by going to an arts school in Tangier.

 After waiting around for our guide, he rushed in saying he didn't have much time but led us around to several workshops including woodworking and tiles.

Then our guide sat us down in front of a video that seemed to be advertising Tangier as a tourist destination... even though we were already there. Plus it definitely did not look as clean and sunny and beautiful in real life. Next we went into the upstairs art gallery to watch a rehearsal of a group playing Moroccan music. It was actually quite good! I enjoyed it. The players all seemed to be having a lot of fun and communicated well.

The next day, we started out with a tour of Tetuan. We saw people setting up produce stands, mounds of dates and nuts, chickens stuffed into small wire cages next to their headless friends (these guys smelled so bad), so many stray cats, food vendors, and sacks of powder paint.

One of the most interesting and most revolting parts of the day was the tannery. They passed out mint leaves that we held to our noses to block out the smell. There were skins and soggy wool everywhere.

After that appetizing experience it was time for lunch! And then we were off to Tangier to ride some camels, have a short tour, and then free time in the town. We got this amazing cross between a pancake and a tortilla slathered with peanut butter and it was so so good. I hadn't had peanut butter in so long!

The last day I finally brought my camera for our trip to Chefchaouen. We had much better weather for this trip and it was beautiful. We actually had the same guide as I had with Discover, but we had a more in depth tour of the town.

Where is that barking from? Oh hello there.

After the tour, we had some free time before lunch and our ride to the ferry to go home so we wandered around a bit, looking for blue doors to take pictures in front of and I bought a hand of Fatima. We saw these turtles and starting "aw"ing over them and this guy comes up and is like, hey you should try turtle soup. I don't think they understand that we don't want to eat what we aw over. (Same thing with the camels! Aw look at the cute baby camel! Guy comes up with handbags "camelskin bags!" yeah right)

Anyway, we were wandering around Chefchaouen and we got very turned around... We were completely lost. And out of nowhere these three dogs show up. They were the cutest little trio and were so friendly. They followed us through the windy blue streets and, I swear to god, they led us back to the city center where we needed to meet the rest of the group. Once we found the right street, our doggy guardian angels disappeared down another alley. I'll never forget those guys.