Grand southern adventure.

It seems that I am doing too many things to be able to update you about all of them. I haven't had the time to post updates about lyon and I am already off somewhere else for easter break.

After promising my parents that I would provide them with a rough idea of where in the world I will be for the next 10 days, you will all be treated to a rough itinerary of what I plan to do.

April 6th-9th.

I will be enjoying myself in the south of France. I am traveling with a friend and she has relatives who live near Perpignan who have invited us for Easter week-end. I am really looking forward to this part of the trip and I am told we have lots of stuff planned for us. I understand we will have a chance to visit the coast and that a bbq will be involved. We will also be going to the Salvador Dali Museum which is in Figueres, it is supposed to be very cool, and since my friend knows a lot about art I imagine that she will be able to tell me details about Dali that will make the museum that much more interesting.

As you can see, it's about 400km's from Grenoble to Perpignan, however the train is quite quick and it is only going to take us about 5 hours (including the 2 transfers we have to make). Girona, the city I have underlined in blue is where we are catching our flight from to head to Morocco.

April 9th to 11th

Barcelona! I will get to experience my first taste of Spain and I am quite excited about this. I was just reading over the guide that I have on Barcelona and its sounds like there are a ton of things to do. Our hostel also seems to be in quite a central location so we won't waste too much time coming back and forth. I have no idea what exactly we will do but it will undoubtedly be interesting. With a population of just over 1.6 million in the city center, and night life that doesn't begin until I am asleep (12am) I imagine there will be no shortage of things to do.

April 11th to April 15th

Its time for Morocco. This is possibly the portion of the trip I am most excited for, probably because it seems the most exotic and interesting. We are flying into Marrakesh and leave from Agadir. Though we have no definite idea of how we will be getting from point A to B (I mean by which route, not the actual mode of transportation) we have two travel guides that will help guide us in this process. I imagine the 5 hour train ride will be a good time to work on this.

I was initially a little worried about communication, as I speak no Arabic but since Morocco was once colonized by the French it appears that many people speak French. As far as people who are worried about my safetly you shouldn't. The guide books all seem to repeat the same things which I think, if respected, will make for an enjoyable trip. Key points include learning at least a few Arabic greeting, and brushing up on French. Since I have point number two, I just have to learn a few greetings, helpfully located in the front of the guide book. The guide (by lonely planet) also says to not wear shorts or tee-shirts, at all. Morocco seems to be very centered around respect, and wearing shorts and tee-shirts is disrespectful and only done by ignorant tourists (the words of the guidebook). This applies to men as well as women. Though this will probably result in me cooking alive, I'm glad that I know this before I leave so I can properly plan my wardrobe.

This is photo that I found of Marrakesh, I am really excited to have my own version soon!

I will not be bringing my laptop with me, so will be at the mercy of my iPod keyboard and internet cafes if I happen to find any. As you can all imagine, this does not mean good things for my blog. I am however thinking of keeping a journal. If that goes well I am hoping I will simply be able to transcribe my adventures, which will hopefully expedite the process of me updating you all upon my return.