World, Come at Me Bro!: Spring Break 2012, not very springy, but plenty breaky

The past two weeks have been my spring break here in Paris. This past week has been relatively uneventful, half working while just relaxing and recovering from the first week, since the first week was INCREDIBLE.

Market in Tangier: semi sketchy but so much exploring to be done

After a visit from Mike "Milkman" Dairyko the first Saturday of break, on Tuesday I once again headed to the RyanAir Beauvais Airport, which was once again a pain in the butt. This time, though, I decided to switch it up on Europe and head down to AFRICA (Tangier, Morocco to be more specific). I travelled with my friend Hannah from my program. Because of the wonders of the internet, we found a Groupon deal for a four-star hotel in Tangier for only 25 euro a night per person; it was worth it. Upon arrival, we decided Tuesday night was the perfect night for using up the 3 COURSE DINNER that was included with the deal. My pics came out bad, but trust me, it was one of the best meals of my life that included appetizers covered in Moroccan spices, a main dish of lamb and dried fruit, and a flakey pastry dessert thing that was perfect. Day 2 in Morocco was one of exploration: we bartered with a taxi for a reasonable price to take us to Cape Spartel (where the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet!), Hercules' Grotto, and Assilah, a petite walled city that was touching the ocean. Quite the amazing site seeing day trip that would have been even better were it not for the monsoon-like weather conditions. After some delicious Moroccan mint tea, we settled in for the night, and the next day we travelled to Madrid.

Port of Tangier, KAPOW

I could eat this for breakfast every day

View from hotel room, livin' that 4 star life

Cape Spartel, WEST SIDE

inverted Africa! in Hercules' Grotto

I believe I can fly! (also I promise it is not a toupée, just windy)

Thrilla in Assilah

This guy's fishing business isn't too hot.

Thi

Overhead waves in Morocco... not. Mediterranean raging

Moroccan Mint tea, tee hee hee

Initially, our trip to Madrid was only supposed to be about 26 hours, but our flight was delayed for nearly 4 hours in Tangier, so our first day in Madrid was basically shot. Luckily, there were/are people from Pomona in Madrid and they showed us to a super cool restaurant where we sat in the sand on pillows. Quite the experience! We went dancing at some huge club, then decided to pick up some churros at six in the morning (spanish style with melted chocolate, not Mexican style with cinnamon sugar). We stayed in a hostel that was amazing (we even had our own room), and Jake, who goes to Pomona, showed us around Madrid that next day, day 4 of the vacation. Love the relaxed vibe in Madrid, nothing like Paris. It is a shame that I don't speak Spanish because the people there were extremely outgoing and willing to talk, but most did not know English.

Plaza del Mayor, Madrid

Late night/early morning churro place

M0d3rN aRt

Although Madrid was great, we only had a day there, so we were only able to see so much. Luckily, we travelled to a place that I instantly fell in love with, a place that I could see myself moving to very easily: Barcelona. I tried to explain to someone that Barcelona is a lot like Paris, if in Paris everyone was extremely nice and open-minded, the entire city was chilling, the architecture was modern and it was on the beach. So, I guess it really isn't like Paris. I love Paris, but could never live here; I'd move to Barcelona on the drop of a hat. The main stretch, called La Rambla, is just a large street with a walkway in the middle, filled constantly with locals and foreigners alike, all happy to be in the sun. Our first day, we arrived at night and went straight to the hostel. After a quick dinner and some new acquaintances, we hit up a club on the beach. Now, when I say on the beach, I don't just mean you can see the beach: I literally stepped off the back porch of the club onto sand. Yes. The next day, we saw La Sagrada Familia, one of the most amazing churches I have ever seen, and a true work of modern art. It strangely resembles the Fortress of Solitude from Superman, but is more like a Fortress of Catholicism. We then hit up a market in front of the Arc de Triomf that made my entire trip. It was like an art fair, a produce market, and a world food market all rolled into one. There were artisan crafts, objects, and the most delicious looking foods and drinks from Spain, Brazil, Morocco, Jamaica, etc. It also made me want dreads sooo bad, since half of the guys there had super fluffy pants and dreadlocks and all looked like such cool people. The majority of the architecture throughout Barcelona is made by Gaudi, a Spanish architect that they basically just gave pieces of the city to so that he can do crazy things with them. That night we hung out with more awesome people we met in our hostel, and I watched the sunrise from a couch on the roof of the hostel with a dude from the east coast and a guy who works at the hostel. Such a perfect way to end a perfect spring break.