Friday morning I had to wake up bright and early to catch the bus for Morocco.Of course Mike was running late, as always, so I almost had a heart attack trying to get there on time.We finally made it and got on our bus to Tarifa.We went through customs and got split up into our groups for the rest of the trip.Next, we got onto the ferry to go to Africa!!The water was a little rough but not too bad.We spent most of the 2 hour ferry ride going over our itinerary and talking about some social norms that we had to be aware of.After that we were able to wander around the boat and even go up to the top to take some pictures and try not to get blown away.We arrived in Tangier, Morocco and got to meet our bus driver Mohammad.We rode in the bus for about an hour then arrived in Darna to go to the Women's Center and speak with several women.At the Darna Center, women who have lost their jobs or been divorced can go and learn to read, use computers, sew, and weave.This way, within several months they should be able to find a job to support themselves and their children.After a tour of the Center we sat and had tea and cookies with one of the women and a man who organizes many of the programs there.We were able to ask them about whatever we wanted.We asked about all kinds of social things and their views.It was very interesting to be able to see their views on many things such as marriage, homosexuality, manners, and the way to act in public.

After we left we started to drive to Asilah.On the way we pulled over to the side of the road and our guide informed us that we were going to ride camels on the beach!I was so excited I could barely keep from running in front of everyone to the beach!When we got down to the beach there were about six camels all set up and ready for us to ride.Tommy went in the first group, Mike, Kyle and I went with the second group and Cat and Kaitlyn made up the third group.We figured by all going at separate times we would be able to take pictures of each other.It was so much fun!It was pretty scary though when the camel got up because he's all knobby knees and lifts his back legs then his front legs after.I thought I was going to go flying forward and fall off and break my arm or something.Even once the camel was up and walking it was a little awkward because they lean so much each time they step.It was so much fun though.On the way down, the man walking the camel gave me some tips on which way to lean while the camel was laying back down.This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

Next, we finished our drive to Asilah and wandered through the Old Medina.It used to be an old market area, but now it is filled with houses.Anna, our guide, gave us a tour of the Medina while we waited for the restaurant to prepare our lunch.All of the houses are painted white and once a year they have a festival where local artists can come paint murals on the sides of the houses.There were a few houses that still had paintings on the side of them, but not many because the festival was actually going to take place in a few weeks.When we got back to the restaurant our lunch was ready.Because it was Friday we had couscous.Apparently in Morocco, every Friday is "couscous Friday".I have never had couscous before but it was pretty good.It's sort of like tiny little pasta balls, they cook it in chicken broth usually and in mine there was also pieces of chicken breast and lots of steamed vegetables.I haven't had steamed vegetables in so long so it was delicious.After lunch we started the long drive to Rabat, Morocco's capital city.It was about a three hour drive but it passed pretty quickly.I slept a little bit but mostly just talked with all our friends.The six of us (Mike, me, Kyle, Kaitlyn, Cat, and Tommy) sat in the back two rows of the bus so we were those rowdy kids in the back!

Once we got to Rabat we were given a tiny bit of history, but it was dark out and we were a little behind schedule so we quickly went to the house where we would be split up into our home stay groups.Kaitlyn, Cat and I were able to stay together and we actually got to be in a house with a girl who was 20 years old.So that was pretty neat that she was the same age as me because I was able to see how people my age views things there.It was very interesting talking to her and the family.I learned a lot about the culture that I never would have thought of.When she brought us to the house she showed us a big room and then walked away and we thought we were supposed to wait there.So here Kaitlyn, Cat, and I were just standing in the center of the room wondering what we were supposed to do.I didn't know whether we were supposed to sit or not so the three of us just stood in the center of the room with our backpacks on.A few minutes later Rislan, our 20 year old host, came in and started laughing because that was our bedroom.We were supposed to set our stuff down and come out into the rest of the house to have dinner!Because it was Friday, for dinner we had, you guessed it, couscous.Which might seem like a little much but our host mom was an absolutely phenomenal cook!We had couscous with both chicken and lamb.We had roast chicken breast, grilled vegetables, and roasted potatoes.For dessert we had fresh fruit.Rislan's sister-in-law came over for dinner too to talk to us.She was 26 and a lot of fun to talk to.I think she knew a little more English than Rislan because she talked a lot more.But it shocked me how good their English was.Rislan had only been learning English for two years and she was really good.Her sister-in-law had studied it for four so she was better, but they both spoke really well.Every time I travel somewhere and other people know English and have learned it in such a short time it makes me feel bad that I don't really know another language very well.

After dinner we were full to the brim.We went into our bedroom and the beds were already made up.The rooms are really neat.There's like a large couch that wraps around three of the walls in the room and during the day they are used as couches, but at night they make them into beds.We each had about a million pillows which we threw into a giant pile in the corner of the couch.Rislan turned the TV. on for us on a channel with English and American Idol was on!So we watched American Idol for about two hours while I wrote down a couple notes about what we had done that day.Finally we passed out so we could get a good night's sleep because we had a lot to do the next day.