Weekend in Asilah!

Hello friends and family!

Last weekend I traveled to Asilah, a coastal city in Northern Morocco. It was AWESOME.

Happy by the ocean :) 

My friend Camila had this idea to rent a house there for the weekend via Airbnb, a very inexpensive place (made possible by the fact that 11 of us split the price so that it was only $30 for the whole weekend) with great location overlooking the ocean!

 On Friday we all packed our bags and took grand taxis to Meknes, and from there the train directly to Asilah. The train ticket (a four hour ride) was only $7. I love this country.
Special shout-outs go to the beautiful Hoda, the charismatic Molly, Camila (the amazing person who found the house) and the extraordinary Man Ny!!!!!!!  

View from the top!

We arrived in Asila at around 6 or 7pm that evening, and walked through the medina to get to our riad-style house amid the narrow and twisting streets. This.. house..It was insane! The place was gorgeous and completely open with lots of natural light and tile all around. The best part? The roof had a terrace with a view of the ocean! We arrived just in time to watch the sunset over the waves. <3

Food, glorious food! 

As the others joined us, we decided that our starvation was too much to bear, and wandered out in town for dinner and I was finally able to eat some amazing couscous once again. (Chicken couscous has easily become one of my favorite meals in Morocco). The meal was delicious, and it was so fun just all being together! However, for the rest of our meals that weekend, we went shopping for groceries at the market nearby and cooked all of our own food! THIS WAS A GREAT DECISION.

Sunset in Asilah <3

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, beach walking and swimming, taking pictures, shopping in the medina, cooking, and just straight up laying around.
I have put some pictures in, but they honestly don't do Asilah justice. This was such a special and beautiful and chill city, and I cannot wait to return one day.

By the time Sunday came around, none of us were ready to leave. We took a late train out so that we could spend as much time as we could in our paradise.

My beautiful friend Mary Kathryne and I!

Anyways, now it's back to campus and back to work! Only a few weeks left here in Morocco, including finals...and I am still trying to figure out how this could be. Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Lots of love from Morocco!
Sofia xoxo

Trip to the Sahara Desert!

Hello all,

Last weekend I took a trip with some awesome people to the Sahara Desert! This is something I have been waiting to do since I got to Morocco, and it was truly and amazing experience!

We all woke up at 6:00 in the morning and climbed into two cars we had rented for the trip; this was such a fantastic idea and I am so lucky to have friends who worked it all out. By driving ourselves there, we were able to save lots of money, have a more comfortably paced trip and stop wherever and whenever we needed to!

Our destination: Merzouga. Merzouga is a small town in the south of Morocco, bordering the Sahara. It took us about 6 to 8 hours to drive here from Ifrane! The trip was a beautiful one, and I have a couple shots I will insert here to show just how picturesque it was. Unfortunately, I can't lie. The night before, I (very idiotically) went out partying and needless to say, was feeling the winding roads and fast paced traffic more than my friends. My bad!

Our camp in the desert!

Driving Views!

It didn't matter in the end, though, because after plenty of water, a quick stop on the side of the road (thanks again, Taylor) and some food back in my system, I found my energy once we found the sand dunes.

First glimpse of the desert!

Our first glimpse of the desert was pretty magical. You can see this golden horizon from miles away, and I, once again, remembered why I chose Morocco.

We arrived to our hotel, but we weren't staying the night here. After about an hour and a half of freshening up and some tea, we were getting all ready to go for our camel ride!

Camel Yvonne and I

RIDING A CAMEL WAS A DREAM COME TRUE. For anyone who knows me back home, they know that this adventure has been on my bucket list since forever. I was so happy in the Sahara sun (so so so hot).
I named my camel Yvonne, in honor of my best friend back home - who also loves camels. And was awestruck as I looked out at the endless sand dunes that seemed to go on forever. I couldn't believe I was actually there.

Once we got to our camp in the desert - yes, we spent the night in the desert - we dropped our bags off and played in the sand for a bit. Later, we ate a glorious meal with the other travelers set up by our hosts. The meal consisted of bread (of course) and rice with vegetables, kefta and chicken tagine (yummm) and fruit for desert. We had good conversation and then went out to the dunes to look at the stars. Again, I don't even need to explain, because I am sure you can imagine how beautiful and bright they were!

Personally, I was exhausted from the long day of traveling and hot sun (and hangover) so I went to bed a bit earlier than the others, but not before enjoying some Moroccan drumming around a campfire with the others!
This was a good call on my part, because we woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise over the dunes! I had another one of my cheesy 'Sofia moments' while watching the sunrise. You could watch it lift up and over the horizon; it moved so quickly we almost missed it! The desert is so peaceful and open, you can't help but feel like some life was put back into you.

Sunrise over Sand Dunes

After the sunrise we hopped (very sorely, I might add) back onto our camels and went back to the hotel in Merzouga for breakfast! The boys had this great idea to rent and ride AT-4s' in the dunes! At first I was pretty nervous about this, I'd never ridden one before! But my friend George, whom I was riding with, assured me it would be amazing and he was so right! THIS WAS SO SO COOL TO DO!!

 After riding AT-4s we went back to get cleaned up at the hotel...I have never enjoyed a shower more... Sand gets EVERYWHERE! Before we knew it, it was time to hop back in the cars and head home to Ifrane. Even though this was a short trip, it was still enough time to really enjoy what the Sahara has to offer. This was probably one of my favorite places to see in Morocco (as far as the scenery and experience goes). The ride home was lovely, and Raul did an awesome and brave driving job in the dark corners of Morocco! We got home late Sunday night, and I fell asleep quickly.

Thanks for reading!! Hope everyone enjoyed the post and pictures!!

Sof xoxo

Lazy weekend post and trying to be present

It’s a beautiful and sunny Saturday here in Morocco and I finally have some time to sit down and catch up on work, rest, and…everything!

This weekend I decided not to travel anywhere, even though I had a couple opportunities presented to me. Instead, I am taking this weekend to reflect and get some research work done!

Sushi date with beautiful Lauren

To my surprise and delight, research is going really well! I have finally started my interviews and have received lots of help from my Moroccan friends here. (*PHEW*) On another note, today - after attending a charity lunch with some friends - I am planning on getting in a Saturday homework session. It’s been a while since I've had one of these, but the way I am hoping to slide through my next, and final month here, I have to be on my game with work. There’s no time like the present!

As far as reflecting and me-time goes… I have to be honest. It’s been a rough week for me emotionally and mentally. There are some personal things happening in my life both here in Morocco and back home I wish I could control more. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to remember to be present and try to not dwell on what we cannot control. Most importantly, to remember that there is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

Last night I had a sushi date with my great friend Lauren Boyd. She is such a special person to me, (a fellow Gemini, as well) and it had been a while since we’d had a chance to catch up. It was wonderful and I went to bed feeling loved and refreshed.

Milkshakes!

Besides Lauren, I have been reflecting a lot on the good friends I have met here. Many of you may know how important friendships and relationships are to me, so I have been doing my best to make nothing gets in the way of spending time with the people I care about. Trying not to let the negativity or petty drama influence my thinking. (That was a very vague and loaded statement, but humor me.)

As for what’s coming up, next weekend we have some very exciting plans; a trip to the SAHARA!!!! I am so, SO excited to head to the south of Morocco, as it’s somewhere I have not been on my trip yet.

Another thing I want to address is my spring break post, I have been exceptionally busy since I returned from my trip. My cousin was here for 10 days, I got food poisoning, and have had massive amounts of homework on top of it all. But I promise, the spring break stories are currently being worked on, and that should (theoretically) be my next post.

That’s all for now! Off to enjoy some sunshine!

Love,

Sofia xo