Hi all! I believe this blog is a continuation off of my account from my previous blog on my exchange in Italy 4 years ago. If that's not the case, I'm Rachael, a twenty year old Junior, Archaeology major and Environmental Science and French double minor, from Seattle, Washington. Here I hope to blog about my adventures while abroad for this fall semester in Morocco. I decided to come to Morocco because I wanted to go somewhere outside of the western Europe world, where I could at the same time improve my French. So, here I am studying for a semester at Al Alkhawayn University in Ifrane.
My travels began nearly two months ago, but about a month and a half of it was me returning to spend the summer in Italy excavating a Roman site in Southern Italy, as well as to spend time with my Italian family from high school. It's four years later and I still keep in contact with them.
I intended on starting to blog about my preparations and all the introduction stuff about what this blog will be about while I was in Italy. However for most of my time in Italy I was always moving around or had poor internet connection. My time in Italy passed by so quickly and before I knew it, it was time to leave my friends at the excavation, and time to leave my host family and say goodbye.
So, here I am in Morocco! On August 26th I flew out of Milan and into Fez. Today would be my sixth day here. When I flew in all I saw was patches of desert, it was so beautiful. From the airport ambassadors from the University. The campus is absolutely stunning.
I also hoped to be able to blog when I first arrived here, but again I couldn't figure out my internet situation for quite some time, and I was always busy with Orientation. I don't think I've ever heard of such a long Orientation. It was from Thursday until Sunday, today, all day long. There are so many things to see and do and to adjust to this place but I felt like I wasn't given enough time.
Although I came from Italy which is only one hour ahead of Morocco, there was still a lot of adjusting. These past six days have mostly consisted of safety, travel, health info, visa forms, Moroccan culture lecture, student life and activities on campus, and trying to figure out courses. I still do not have a course schedule because I guess I made a mistake on my preference forms prior to arriving in Morocco, so when I got here I had last priority on all courses and all the courses I need for my University in the States are full. This means that even though classes start tomorrow, I do not have classes and instead I will need to go in and get permission forms to be accepted into each of these full classes.
Today we worked on filling out our visa forms, however in the middle of it I became really sick. Apparently this is a normal thing for many exchange students because the food is so different and my body needs to adjust. So pretty much for all of today, despite the numerous things I still have to do, get my course schedule, figure out my student account login, and complete my visa forms, I spent most of the day in bed because my stomach hurt so much I couldn't even move without feeling uneasy.
On a separate note, two fairly eventful or noteworthy things that have happened so far since being here, is first, on Saturday I had my French placement exam and I did a lot better than I expected, considering I had been out of practice with my French and even my English since I was in Italy the entire summer speaking Italian. This may sound weird but it does happen to be occasionally to forget words in English, even though it is my first language. After I completed my exam we were placed right then and there and I was so overjoyed! my French professor in the States would be so happy and proud!
Second, last night I had my first experience in a club here in Morocco. There was dancing techno music, and so many flashing lights you could go blind or feel like you're drunk because you can't see where you're going even if you're not drunk. Despite this I really enjoyed myself! I met a lot of new people, mostly other Moroccan students at my University.
The club last night reminded a lot of clubs in Italy. Actually, the similarities between Italy and Morocco are far more than I anticipated. In our culture lecture they explained that it is because they are countries around the Mediterranean. Which makes a lot of sense I guess, I suppose I just hadn't really thought about that. Just like Italy, and even Spain and Greece, Morocco uses hand gestures, and time here is not used the same way as in the United States. People go at their own pace and even if you are running late for something, it is more important to make sure everyone is ok and taken care of first. People are incredibly kind and hospitable here. They are definitely doing an amazing job on making me feel at home!
Anyways, I'm off to go to the Marche' (the market) for dinner not that I'm feeling a bit better and can actually keep food down. For all those who are reading, I'm alive and well!
