Hello from Casablanca!

My friends and I arrived in Casablanca, Morocco a couple days ago and it has certainly been an adventure. My friends who studied abroad last semester at the American University of Paris have a friend who lives in Casablanca. The highlight of our trip so far here was when his grandparents invited us over to his house for lunch... twice. We also had a fantastic time walking along the beach and touring the magnificient Hassan II mosque. The evidence of French colonization is incredible and fascinating- the presence of the French language and French cafes being two of the most obvious for me. The keyboard here at our hostel is different because it is for typing Arabic as well as French so I have to type very slowly as I hunt and peck so I cant type a lot because I am short on time.

Merry Christmas!

I apologize to everyone for my lackluster blog recently. Needless to say, as my semester in China wound to a close I had two main priorities that were keeping me extremely busy: my schoolwork and my friends. Everyone always says that the friends you make while abroad are some of the closest friends you will ever have and I would definitely agree with that. As we realized we only had 1 month left together in China, and that we would most likely never see each other again (except for the occasional trip perhaps) we spent every possible moment together, chatting, eating, dancing, and participating in misadventures. I'm going to miss speaking in Chinglish, which is when we speak in a mixture of English and Chinese. I'm also going to miss saying innapropriate things in English in public because no one can understand you. Luckily I will be back in China in Frebruary, but saying goodbye to my friends who will not be returning was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do… I'm extremely, extremely, extremely thankful for the opportunity to return to China next semester. At least I didn't have to say goodbye to my host family yet- I'll be living with them next semester as well. Although I am returning next semester with the same CIEE program, only 4 other students will also be returning.

On my last day in China, I got my hair done with 2 of my best friends, Sharon and Jia Jia. Afterward we got dressed up and went to our goodbye banquet with our teachers and Chinese roommates. Each class did a performace, and my class sang a song called "Goodbye" about never forgetting the experience we had. After the banquet, we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and hung out chatting and taking pictures in my friend's room. We went to our favorite nightlife district and at midnight celebrated my friend Trevor's birthday at a lounge bar. We went dancing for a little bit, but some friends and I were hungry so we went to our favorite 24 hour dumpling restaurant and got dumplings to go. When we got back to the dorms we watched Futurama until 5 o'clock in the morning and I slept on the floor of my friends bedroom. In the morning I woke up, said goodbye to my friends, shared a taxi with my Jia Jia and went to the airport. I arrived at my sister Ruth's apartment 36 hours later.

The next day, I accompanied her to her English classes and talked to them about China. I don't think they understood most of what I said, but Ruth translated for me. It has been so difficult because I can't really speak Spanish. I can understand a lot of what is being said, but I can't respond. I always have an intinct to respond in Chinese but then I remember that I'm not in China. Then, on Wednesday, my friends Adam, Jim, Nate, Liz and Amy came to Albacete! Seeing them at the bus station was up there on my list of the happiest moments of my life. We celebrated Christmas together today; namely we slept in until 1:00 pm, opened presents and lazed around the whole day. We rented Love Actually and watched it together, quoting all of our favorite lines.

Merry Christmas!