Salamanca, Marrakech and recent happenings

Wow, I really am terrible at keeping this blog, I suppose it's a good thing I am a lot better at keeping a journal. Maybe one day I'll be better at being more regular. We'll see!

Salamanca
I went to the beautiful city of Salamanca quite a few weeks ago, it feels so strange. We basically went on tours of the city, seeing the beautiful church and old school. Salamanca has one of the oldest 4 universities in Europe, along with Oxford, Bologna and one other. Of course, everything was in Spanish, so I'm sure I missed out on some of the information. The cathedral was incredible. Absoutely gorgeous and huge, with gold and paintings and all kinds of other symbols everywhere. We were only there for one night, but it was crazy. The night life was a lot of fun, it truly is a college town, so there are a ton of bars and discotecas and even "chupiterias" which are places where they really only serve shots. We went to one that was a euro each, which was insanely cheap. So, we went to another club and Salamanca is really small, so we could just walk home, that was certainly a nice change from Madrid, I didn't have to worry about getting home before the Metro closed or trying to navigate the night buses. I really loved the architecture there, it was so beautiful. Very old European style, and everything was really crammed together, which would have made a claustrophobic shudder.

Marrakech
Marrakech is a bit more recent, I was just there last weekend. It was beautiful, and although it is really quite close to Spain, it felt like another world entirely. I was catcalled a lot in the market, but didn't enjoy it much. It's hard to enjoy people yelling for you just because you have blonde hair. But, I did buy some awesome stuff in the market, but had to barter for everything. The places we went, were really cool, our second day was completely packed with tourist attractions/ sightseeing. It was all extremely beautiful, and I loved the architecture. I love old architecture so much more than most modern stuff these days, it just feels like there is so much more detil, so much more work and history, and it feels more personal because you know someone made everything by hand. It was interesting to be in a Muslim country for the first time in my life, it made me curious as to the differences between the women who were able to show their faces or not, or to cover their hair or not. If I could have, I would have loved to have taken portraits of these people. They were so beautiful, and you could tell that if you could really speak to them, they would have so much to say. I was surprised at how few beggars I saw in Marrakech, there were a few, but less than there are in Madrid, and less than there are in San Diego, or at least it feels that way. I learned that I love Whisky, which is a type of black tea with mint and sugar, it is so deicious It made having given up coffee for lent easy! I can't wait to bring it back to the states and drink it in my traditional tea glasses.

Recent Happenings
I suppose the most pertinent happening is that on Wednesday, my backpack was stolen. It had my computer, notes for classes, textbooks, bible journal, wallet and Madrid book in it. Plus, it's a prety nice backpack by itself. So, I'm working on replacing those things, I have ordered a new computer and it comes in a week and a half from today, which is of course right before I leave for Spring Break. It either comes the day before I leave or the day I leave, we'll see. It doesn't matter much because I wasn't planning on bringing it on Semana Santa with me (that's just asking for it to get lost/damaged/stolen). I have been able to stay pretty positive about it, and this week has actually been really good. Everyone I have told has been amazed at how not panicked I am, but I had just backed up my hard drive the week before, and any pictures that might have been taken since then are on my camera still. Yay! So, I can be positive, and really all I hope for is that my bible and journal are somehow returned to me, my address is in both of them, and they are the things with the most sentimental value to them. I pray for the people who snatched my backpack to have mercy on me and have grace and drop them off or send them or for someone to find them and send them to me. Stranger things have happened, right? I don't want t start a new journal because I had just started that one, so I may wait another weekish, or until Semana Santa. This weekend was fun, I spent parts of it recovering lost things (like a notebook to write down stuff from Madrid and new school supplies and the like), I need a new backpack, but I'm reluctant to buy one becuse I want a decent one to keep my stuff in, that will last longer than a week, but those can be pretty pricey. Maybe I'll stop at the Rastro next weekend before church (if I'm here). I went out Thursday night to Kapital, and ended up doing the typical Spanish style all-nighter. I stayed out until 6:30am, went to sleep at 7am, and woke up at 5pm that night, oops. Friday I just hung around and relaxed, and got my new computer ordered, I'm hoping it will be here sooner than they think! I also left my driver's license in my pants pocket along with 10euro and when I went to look for it it had disappeared! But after another load of laundry, it magically appeared stuck to the door of the washing machine, I was so excited because I thought I had lost it on the way home. Ugh, crazy! Anyway, this week has been surprisingly peaceful, despite the craziness with the backpack and all. But, slowly but surely, I'm recovering the things I can, and hoping that those which cannot truly be replaced will be returned to me somehow. I'm thinking about going to Barcelona this weekend, depending on how expensive it is that is. We'll see!