It is HOT, okay! day 3-Ourika Valley

On the third day of our trip, we adventured into Ourika Valley. We hired a 20-passenger van to drive us there (1.5 hours each way and stay and wait for us while we climbed the mountain). It was an all day deal which cost us about $15 per person to put some prices into perspective. The journey there was absolutely beautiful and our driver stopped along the way for us to take pictures, see how argan oil is made and eat lunch.

 Charlotte, me, Natalie, & Carolyn

 I LOVE camels!

 Moroccan women making argan oil

This is where we ate lunch. And yes, we did cross that bridge & no, I did not trust it. 

After we arrived to Ourika valley, a man instantly approached our van and asked to be our tour guide for 500 Dirham, so like $5. Carolyn had read blogs about seeing the '7 waterfalls' at the Ourika Valley and told us that we did not even need a tour guide as it was just a trail. So we then got the man to agree to 300 Dirham= $3 per person. Looking back, I cannot remember our guides name but he saved all of our lives and we paid him more than $3 each. 

 Starting the journey off! this is when we still thought it was a simple trail. 

 This is when the trek got interesting. We had to pay this man 20 Dirham to climb his ladder. Total Oregan Trail move. 

 View along the way. We still went up but you can see the small town we came from in distance.

Family Photo!

Tajine Tajine & More Tajine!

Well I have not written in a while due to finishing classes, my dissertation proposal, my parents coming to England, AND going to Marrakech, Morocco!!! Last Monday @ 3:40 am, my adventures began as Charlotte, Natalie and I trekked it to the airport. At the airport, we met our fellow Moroccan travelers including Carolyn, her 2 American friends, her boyfriend and his friend. And from this post you will see that it was truly a party of a group!

After arriving to Marrakech, we were escorted to our Riad in town. A riad is a traditional Moroccan house or more like palace with a garden in the middle. While it was Africa, I am pretty sure that I am experiencing more culture shock returning to my tiny flat where I have to cook myself meals and can't eat them on the roof.

 Our room. With the lovely Nat

 view from the roof looking down

our living room. We never sat here but it was pretty

At our riad, we had a cook, a maid, and a full-time anything-we-needed guy. He was so nice and always walking us to the cash machine or the supermarket and helping with calling taxis and speaking to locals. Arabic and French are the languages spoken so luckily we had some French studiers with us as I was no help with my spanish.

Traditional Moroccan food is meat and veggies cooked in a tajine or a clay slow-cooker. We are now experts in Moroccan food. And by that we ate it until we got sick. Literally. Remember, Morocco is still in Africa. 

 First- The 'salad'. Or just cold vegetables

 The Tajine!

The reveling of the tajine! always very exciting. Beef, Chicken, Goat...we experienced a variety

The markets or souks were also a highlight of our trip with natives and pushy sellers trying to ask ridiculously high prices and then working their way down to sometimes the equivalent of $1. 

 Shoes, shoes & More shoes. Marrakech was actually the place of the filming for Sex&theCity2 and I met the shoe seller who sold Carrie her pair. 

 Beautifully dyed scarfs hanging in the slums

 Carolyn & Michelle with their Coke

Carolyn LOVED the snakes. And after taking this photo, the man wanted 300 Dirham (Moroccan currency) but I worked him down to 20 after threatening to just erase all of them! 

More to come! this was just day 1&2...........

Photos from last week {APRIL}

Pictures from last week:

 Carolyn & I enjoying high tea at The Wolseley! still thinking about the yummy scones

 Charlotte & Natalie

 Charlotte and I leaving the library last Saturday. Obviously, you can see that we were glad to be outside and free with this awkward photo of us. 

AND......MY SISTER IS ENGAGED! So Pretty. Cannot wait to see it in person. Probably right before your wedding but still! What a big week. 

Tea Time at The Wolseley

yesterday, my girl friends I felt truly classy & british-esque....we went to afternoon tea at The Wolseley in Piccadilly. It was by far one of my favorite things I have done in London. Maybe it was because I just recently got into Downton Abbey & felt like a proper character from the drama. Regardless, it was an afternoon full of cream tea, homemade strawberry jam, & clotted cream. delish. when I told my roommate about my day, she replied that no one has ever been as happy about tea. true statement. It could have only been better if we had seen a celeb! Still, I am excited that my parents are coming in 19 days & I am going to make at least my mom go back with me :)

loving me some tea,

cate

It's the small things

Yesterday was a day that I will always remember. It was a turning point in life at my current flat. For Bianca and myself, it was a great day. And by all of that I mean, yesterday was the day we finally broke the kitchen fan.

Sure, a kitchen fan. Doesn't sound too terrible. But that is where this fan proved that theory wrong. Since moving into the flat in January, we have had it out for this fan as it has ruined worsened our lives. In the mornings, I would walk into the kitchen, prepared, to perform the task in there most time efficiently. I knew that after I turned on the light, I would have 1 minute and 50 seconds until the fan would stir. I would immediately have to flip the light switch off and then back on for silence to be mine for the next 1 minute and 30 seconds (shorter after the fan had been woken from its hiatus throughout the night). This process of me trying to out beat the fan by finishing my cooking, boiling, making in the kitchen with 1 minute intervals to flip the switch would continue until I could no longer bother with it and the fan would win. This fan was most annoying as to the sound it produced. Imagine the worst sound possible. For me, I always compared it to a cow dying but maybe that is a bit dramatic. Regardless, the sounds coming from this machine were comparable to nails on a chalkboard. And the sounds were of course, audible throughout the flat. I will now give you a mental image of "the fan". 

 As you can see, the fan looks lovely in our kitchen! Really brightens the place up. Regardless, we had taken measures of fixing the problem upon moving in. I told the letting agency twice that it was broken but little did they care. In my mind, as long as they thought it was broken when we moved in, it would be broken when we moved out. Bianca had also asked the repair man fixing the leaking bathroom ceiling to fix it or at least shut it up. His response was "wow, that is old, dirty, and sounds awful but it is technically not broken so I cannot help"......welp

I guess it should not matter because after 2 1/2 months of that fan, we will no longer have to torture ourselves or our ears. All in all, I am ecstatic and ready to use my kitchen in longer periods with less adrenaline. I will now leave y'all with one last and final picture of the fan (close up). It is somewhat scary and I think my mother, who is allergic to mold,dust, etc., would have a cow if she saw that in my living conditions. So here it is....

R.I.P fan. I am sure that the tenants after us will not appreciate the kitchen silence as we do now.

Yours faithfully (learned that this is the way to properly end a cover letter in the UK this week and now want to try it out for a while)

Yours Faithfully, 

Cate

Kony, Ice tents & Marni

So this morning I woke up to a Facebook and twitter full of "Kony2012" or "Stop Kony" posts. I was instantly intrigued to watch the video but saw that it was 30 minutes and didn't have enough time. 
On my way to school, I looked over at the bus window and in the fogged window (it was of course raining in London) I saw 'Stop Kony' written from someone's finger. 
At school I asked my friends about it. Some had seen it on Facebook, some had watched 1/2 the video but were confused about Invisible Children, and some didn't know. 
I came home after a day complaining about professors, school work, and dissertation to watch the following video. 1. Me thinking as a marketer and the fact that this really shows you the power of social media but 2. More importantly- the change we need to make and the power the world has. 3. We are all the same. All over the world. We are connected. 


Please take time & watch if you haven't. You won't regret it.


http://vimeo.com/37119711

Now, On a lighter note- Tonight, my friends Charlotte & Siri are at my flat. 
(picture of them below)

They are just beauties. 

We are having a slumber party and waking up at 4 am to go to the release of H&M's new line from Marni. Anyways, at dinner we were talking about Norway and hiking and Siri informed me that in Norway, there are empty cabins in the mountains for hikers to stay in for the night. The cabins have food and everything one might need. When leaving, the hikers are supposed to just leave the amount of money that they thought they should. I was incredibly impressed by this long tradition that Norwegians have. She next informed me that over Easter, there will be lots of hikers and if the cabins are full, one just builds an ice tent! Now, this may not be as amusing to some of you but for a southerner, I was just amazed that my friend Siri builds and sleeps in igloos. Like an eskimo. 

& now, I would like to dedicate this blog to Charlotte and add, "You had me at Nutella"


<3 cate

Life Long Learner

So I haven't really been too good about posting updates lately and that is because I have had nothing to update on. Unless you wanted to see a picture of me in the library attempting to explore the strategic world of business because that is what I have been doing. In an attempt to put off more writing on that topic this morning, I was inspired by my roommate, Bianca, to post. Last night I walked past her room and she told me that she was playing a really fun game. I looked at her on the computer and assumed it was 'Family Feud' or maybe even like 'Farmville' or 'Tiny Tower'.....those type of games that people get really into. I asked her about it and, to my surprise, she was playing the 'States/Capital' game on some website. There was my 20 year-old, Italian roommate playing a game that involved her learning the location of the states along with their capital, capitals that I even forget most of the time. I was inspired because of her ambition to learn. I guess it makes sense as she knows 7 languages. My dad is also the same way. Last weekend I texted him to see what he was doing. Response- going to Spanish class and then to a First Aid Survival Class at REI to prepare him for his motorcycle trip to South America. 
With this I just encourage everyone to learn something new today & as my friend, Kelsey, would say, "be a Life Long Learner!" 


Also- shout out to Green River Ordinance. One of the band members is my friends' brother-in-law. They just released a new album-Under Fire and it is great! I am listening to it now so you should check it out, buy it, and spread it on. 


Happy 1st of March,
cate