ohmyohmyohmy!

I can't believe it! Actually happening! After months of dreaming, doubting, and trying crazily to put it all together, Spring Break (uh, part 2?) is on its way!! I depart tomorrow after my physiology exam that I spent all weekend studying for, in the middle of crazily trying to finish that report I mentioned earlier. I even found time to pack, clean, and go out one last time with my dance friends to let off some steam!

So, itinerary? Wanna know? Yeah!! Tomorrow afternoon I depart for Nice, then take the 5 am train to.....Rome! Yes, I know a wonderful gal from Alabama who just happens to be studying there this semester, and she welcomed me to come visit! Italy, me? Incredible! I'm so glad I'm getting the opportunity to visit, it's seriously just next door - which kind of feels crazy to say, considering that back home all that can be considered "next door" is Georgia and Mississippi...So, I'll spend three days there seeing the sights, walking like a demon to work off all the food I'll likely be eating, then on the 30th I'll be heading to Pisa for the day. Why Pisa of all places? Well, it happens to have an oh-so-convenient airport with seven-euro flights to....

Morocco!!!!

Yes, I've been dreaming about this since I've gotten here - at first, I was kind of sad because I thought it wouldn't work out - my local friends were either going home to see family or not leaving town or working, and my other international friends had made plans for other places. But finally, a few weeks ago a friend from back home managed to get the money together and come along on this dream vacation of ours! She's probably the ost perfect travel buddy I can imagine, adventurous but still laid-back, responsible but not anal-retentive or prone to freaking out over little things.

So, as of today, the two of us said 'see you later,' because the next time we'll see each other? In the Maghreb! Yes, the two of us are flying in from different airports to the infamous, glorious city of Fès! I'm sure it will finally sink in once I get past customs, or something. But who knows?

Anyway, after that, our itinerary is Fès - Rabat - Chefchaouen - Tanger, where we'll take our flight back to Marseille on May 8th after what's surely going to be one amazing eight days! This is quite a big step here - traveling around Western Europe is one thing, but I get the feeling that this will be an entirely different league. And I'm ecstatic to see what it brings!

And before I go, I've been wanting to show all you folks at home why, in spite of the extra work it's given me, that I feel like it is so totally worth it to take the extra classes I have. Remember that huge lab report I was complaining about? Well, it's not so much of a 'lab' as it is a field report. That's right, everybody in our course is divided into small groups of under 20 people, and since it's a History of the Earth course, what better way to get to know it hands-on than by getting out in the field? Playing treasure hunt, wearing Indy hats?

Look, Marisa's really bad attempt at fossil finding!

Ha ha, so while it's not quite that glamorous, it was definitely super fun and educational. Off went on the bus at 8h00 Saturday morning (nnghhhh), driving north into the real meat of the region. And let me say, I can't possibly describe to you in any sensible manner just how cool of a trip this was. Basically what we did was hop off the bus at our northernmost point for the day, and progressively work our way south - traveling through time as we did so, from the most ancient early Paleozoic periods to as recent as 30 million years ago.

I will never look at rocks the same way again!

Okay, yes, as silly as that caption sounds, it's entirely true. What you see above is, in French, called an affleurement - and the amount of information you can gain from them is astounding. Our professor,

Off the beaten path, overlooking the hills around to get the 'big picture'

shown above, is truly an astounding gentleman. So knowledgeable, and the way he conveys that to students makes you really want to pay attention and, yes, learn all this stuff about rocks. When you learn about how those hills in the distance, despite being at the same elevation, are actually millions upon millions of years older, and then why, it all starts to kind of sink in. Suddenly you find yourself picturing what this place must have looked like 200 million years ago, and just how astounding a place this planet really is. These massive things, grand mountains, are pushed up from below as easy (though not quite as quickly) as you might fold a blanket.

I promise it makes sense.

Right underneath your feet, the earth is squishing itself together slowly but surely - and every earthquake, while it is a tragedy for us who are mercy to its whims, are as natural and expected as the progression of time itself. So, despite how much we like to think we've got life and the universe all under control as the human race, Earth just sits there as does as it well pleases. The continents move apart, come back together, and hey, when we go a bit farther south we find out that where we're standing was once completely underwater - all by examining these affleurements, taking samples, etc...it was a bit over my head at times and the vocabulary definitely got tough, but I swear this professor is the nicest gentleman you can imagine. He seemed to appreciate that despite the natural lack of this technical vocabulary I'd have as someone who neither spoke this as a first language nor has taken a geology class, I was motivated and wanted to learn. He answered any questions I had, which was good, since this wasn't just a show-and-tell day. We had to do our own waypoint-finding, draw our own conclusions, determine what was important information and what was superfluous. In spite of the difficulty, still quite possibly the best "lab" I've ever seen.

Using my carte topo as a place mat as we stop for a leisurely, hour-long lunch. The French do it right!

Prime pic nic spot, middle of nowhere and on the bank of the river.

Alas, all good things must end...back to work!

Last stop of the day, sneaking in a sniff of the flowers.

Got home that day at around 17h30, tired, pleasantly tanned, and quite happy with life. So, in spite of all my complaining, was it worth it? oh yeah. Besides that, Easter Sunday was lovely - got together with some friends and had a biiiiig brunch, complete with hard-boiled egg cracking to see who wins, crêpes, baguette and cheese, nutella, fruit salad, saucisson, and just about anything else we could throw into the pile! Definitely a wonderful way to break up the week end of studying:

But for now, I've gotta run. Sleep is needed before the exam tomorrow! Until next time, guys, two weeks from now!