Journey to the Irish and Land of the Britains: Spring Break 2012
Day 1.5: March 16, 2012
Well, here we are. Aboard the ferry and waiting for the moment when we will feel the engines come to life underneath our feet and the pull of momentum as this gigantic boat (and a fancy one at that) makes its way across the Mediterranean from Tangier Med in Morocco and take us to Algeciras, the port where we will land in Spain. My excitement level is pretty high right now. As I try to wrap my head around the fact that I am going to Europe for a week, and not just Europe, but Ireland and England for 8 days… it just hasn’t hit me quite yet. I feel that it will take me to actually be on Irish and English soil in order for me to realize that I am not in Morocco anymore. That there are people that I can communicate easily with and not stare at them stupidly when I don’t understand what they are saying to me. Just being in Tangier today has blown my mind: our taxi from our hostel to the Ferry port spoke Spanish, which is the language he spoke to us the entire ride because we all understood it! I didn’t realize just how amazing it feels to be able to understand what people are saying. I’ve gotten so used to people having to translate for me and using gestures to get my point across that being able to use words and holding a conversation with people feels amazing! Again, going back to the French language thing, I regret not taking some classes or signing up for the French class at Al Akhawayn so I can talk to people more, but I get what I get, right? Haha.
Yesterday morning , I finished my essay for my MENA region class at 10:30am and went for a 30 minute treadmill work out at the gym. Returning to my room afterwards I showered and packed my backpack to get ready to take off for Algeciras (if we left early enough) for the night to make our way up and over to Spain on Friday. Sara, my roommate, graciously offered me her duffel bag for use during the week, and I accepted as it was better luggage than my backpack, especially with having to bring my computer to work on my presentation for my Sub-Saharan Africa class for next Monday (26th). We hugged and said goodbye and I headed over to the restaurant/café area for lunch. Had lunch with Yasmine (the dear, can’t tell you how great of a person she is!) and then turned in my paper for Ethnicity and Minorities. After that, I had no restrictions keeping me on campus, so I hung out with Maiya by the café waiting for Gabby to get done with her midterms. Many people stopped by and hung out with us: Nour, Amed, Lena, Seth, Seynab, Martina, Austen. All hung out for a while and we all said goodbye when they either took off or headed off in another direction (it was funny because we would say bye and then run into each other 15 minutes later on campus, haha). By 2:30 pm, Maiya and I were starting to worry. If we left any later than 4pm from the grand taxi station in Ifrane, we would not make the train to Tangier. Noticing that we needed to print all of our RyanAir boarding passes before leaving Ifrane, she and I ran to do that while we finally got a hold of Gabby. We waited for her at building 7 so she could print her boarding passes off as well. By 3:45 we were out of there and in a petite taxi to the grand taxi station where we got in a taxi for Meknes. We didn’t know if we would make it to the train station on time as we did not know for sure when the “5 o clock” train would leave the station. On the way down, I thought to myself, “well, if this is anything like my process applying and coming to Morocco, we’ll get there when were supposed to.” I was completely calm throughout the entire process, surprisingly. It didn’t bother me at all that we might not make the train. Fortunately, we made it to the train station at 5:25pm, and the train didn’t arrive until 5:40pm. Getting to the platform we saw Nour and IDriss boarding the train to Casablanca- final waves and smiles were exchanged and Maiya, Gabby and I sat and waited for our train. Boarded at 5:50pm and enjoyed playing scattergories and watching Hercules with Maiya for the entire ride. We arrived in Tangier around 9:30pm. Stepping outside the train station and into the city, a young man approached us and offered us a ride to the hotel we were recommended. Gratefully we accepted and headed to his car (I thought he was a taxi driver at first, turned out he wasn’t). The taxi driver parked in front of this man decided to tell him off and we were taken to his taxi. When we told him where we wanted to go, he said some words in French to Maiya and started driving, pulling out his cell phone at the same time. Two minutes into the ride the taxi driver pulls over, parks and gets out of the car, walking around looking lost. The next thing I know, the first guy who offered us a ride stops ahead of us and gets out of the car. Our taxi driver starts yelling at him, and fists start flying. I decide that it’s not a good idea to stay in the taxi, so Gabby, Maiya and I leave and head in the other direction, looking for another petite taxi to take. No one knew where the hotel we were recommended was, and so we decided just to ask for a cheap hotel (hostel). The final taxi we talked to took us to the Hotel Manama, where we got a triple room for 50 Dhs each (basically 5 buck a person). Went to the restaurant down the street and got some jus, and then decided to walk to the beach. By ourselves was not the best idea as we were bombarded with males of all ages trying to get our attention. This little kid would not leave me alone- he kept "hitting on me" and wouldn't leave me alone, even after I had walked away from him, across the street and back again. I had the biggest urge to punch him, to somehow get the idea across that I was not appreciating his actions. Finally, a man my age got him to leave me alone, to which I was super grateful. Then we met Marjuan, and he took us to the beach and taught us a karate workout at midnight by the water. That was fun haha. But he kept trying to invite us to have couscous with him and his mother the next day, which we politely declined. He walked us back to our hotel, where he got somewhat protective because the hotel guys who showed us to the hotel earlier (and who I trusted more than Marjuan) came up to take us back to the hotel. After all the pesky attention from males that night, I just headed to the hotel, Maiya and Gabby behind me. And apparently Marjuan is a drug dealer.
After a good night’s rest we woke up this morning and walked into the medina for breakfast. Nothing was really open yet, so it wasn’t too exciting, but we got some good oranges and some bread and ate in this park in the middle of one of the streets. We returned to the hotel, packed our belongings, and caught the grand taxi to the Ferry where we spoke Spanish with the taxi driver for the entire ride. It was a gorgeous drive. He helped us get our tickets (though the entire exchange was in Spanish!) and dropped us off at the Tangier Med door, where we said pleasant goodbyes. Now we are on the ferry, it is almost 12:30pm, and the engines have just started to roar. The next time I write I will be in Dublin or somewhere in the European continent. Bon Voyage!
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