Just about the Halfway Point here..

A week ago was my halfway point being here. It's kind of crazy to think about it that way. There are still so many things I want to see and do. These last two weeks we went to Casablanca and saw Volubilis. But there are still only seven weeks left and at least five or six more places I want to go to.

Knowing that it's the halfway point, it kind of gives me a weird feeling. This is the point I should feel like I want to go home, and I should be missing everything. I was a bit homesick and adjusting a few weeks ago, but it never came to a point where I felt like I needed something from home because of an intense culture shock. It's just hard for me to say that I'm getting an intense culture shock here on this campus.

These past two weeks have been a bit hectic. Midterm week two weeks ago was really overwhelming for me and I became a crazy lady. School is a huge priority for me and when midterms and finals come around, nothing gets in my way or wastes my time because I know that any of that time could be contributed towards studying. I know, I'm intense. So during that week I mostly shut people out for the majority of the week so that I wouldn't get all crazy on them. It also drove my insane that the library closes at midnight even during midterms week. What is that? So I stayed up multiple nights in the computer labs which are open 24/7 but they are really loud and distracting. But at least it was a place to work. I worked my ass off that week and ended up pulling all A's and B+'s of the midterms I've gotten back so far. So I'm pretty happy it was well worth the work. The weekend rolled around and even though I had one paper left to write and a presentation due the next Thursday, I decided to give myself and break and take a spontaneous trip to Casablanca with my two main girls and a friend with whom we stayed at her house.

We left Friday afternoon and caught a petit taxi (small taxis that fit 3 people and go within the local town) to the grand taxi station. From here we took a grand taxi (big taxis that fit up to 6 people and for the whole cab is a set price and can be anywhere from $3-6 from one main city to another which are generally an hour away. It's an awesome deal.) to the Meknes train station from where we caught our train to Casablanca. When we arrived in Casa we took a petit taxi to our friends house. She had already left campus earlier that morning so we met her at her house.

Driving through the city was really hectic. Moroccan driving in general is pretty hectic but I don't mind too much because sometimes it happens in my own city and I'm pretty used to it in Italy. However, it was worse in Casa. Casablanca is Morocco's biggest city, and it certainly showed that driving through town from the train station to my friends house. The city was busy and full of people and cars. I mean all cities are like that, but Casa made me think it was like a Moroccan version of New York a bit. The neighborhoods varied though, some were really small and run down, other full of huge buildings and you could find anything you could need, and others were very traditional with Moroccan architecture. We finally made it to her house and we got some rest and when we woke up, Couscous was served! I love couscous so much. The university restaurant serves it every Friday, and that is the only thing they make that is edible and Friday is the only day I eat there. I get so excited on for Fridays for Couscous, except often times I don't get to eat it because we start traveling on Fridays for weekend trips.

Couscous in general is amazing. My school makes terrible food and their couscous is still edible. But my friends homemade couscous was to die for. Couscous is only made ans served on Fridays because it is the food of the prophet, and Fridays are the holy day. So if you come to Morocco and think that's all you're gonna eat, know that you are probably only going to be able to find it on a Friday.

After dinner we got ready to go out. My friend had some important matters to get to that night, so she left us with a group of her friends who took us to this amazing Brazilian restaurant for "aperitif" which is similar to happy hour, but isn't quite the same. I know what it is in Italian, but I don't think such a thing exists in the States. Or maybe I just don't know because I'm not yet 21. Anyways, for aperitif you just go and order a drink and pay for just your drinks, and you get unlimited food throughout the night. This place had live entertainment, lots of music, singers and dancers. At one point some of the dancers pulled us up onto the stage and made us dance with them. I was terrified because I just had being on the spotlight, so I went up for a bit but then left after a couple songs. It was still cool that they did that and made the night awesome.

After we had eaten plates and plates full of some of the most amazing meat I've ever had, and after drinking drink after drink, the restaurant closed shortly after midnight. Then our friends took us to a bar right on the beach and got us more drinks there. I ended up disappearing outside onto the deck of the bar and just started at the ocean and it's high tide. I couldn't believe that I was on the Atlantic Ocean. How neat is that? After awhile a pair of Italian men came along and they were from the same region my home in Italy is! We began speaking in Italian and it made me so happy. Except I felt the Italian words in my mind flow slower than usual because at this point in my experience here, even though my French is far from fluent, I am still thinking in French much more than I usually would at home. It was a strange sensation to know that the words in my head were French and I actually had to think to speak Italian. It was exhausting but still amazing and it made it easier that they were from my region and we have the same ways of speaking.

A couple hours passed by there and we decided to head home, since Saturday would really be our only full day in Casa to do whatever we wanted to do, and there were a lot of things we wanted to do.

Saturday morning we woke up, and one of my friends didn't feel well so she stayed the morning in bed. The rest of us went to get haircuts. I've been needing one for awhile, but everyone tells me not to get it cut in Ifrane, so the idea of it sort of terrified me so I waited until we were in Casa.

After our haircuts we went back to the house to get my friend, hoping she was better. She seemed okay so we brought her and went out to lunch along the beach. At lunch I just ate everything, because in cities they are more than likely to have good food, and food at school is disgusting. I was beyond excited to eat ravioli and it was amazing, I ate everything. When we all finished lunch, we headed straight to the Hassan II mosque. Being in my Islamic Art and Architecture class this semester, I was beyond ecstatic to see this mosque. I knew all the terms and functions of it. This Hassan II Mosque is the Largest mosque in all of Africa, and it's minaret (the tower) is the 7th tallest in the world. It was a gorgeous sight to see. If you ever go to Casablanca, this is a must see.

Next we went to the Morocco Mall, which is Africa's largest mall. I personally despise shopping and malls but we had to see it, and I really needed a scarf. If you needed anything, this was the place to get it. This mall seemed to be a pretty big mall, but I hadn't seen all of it. I saw a giant fish tank in the middle of it which was really cool.

But after I quickly bought my scarf I left to try get wine before the shop closed. Two of us left and two stayed shopping at the mall. We ended up not making it in time because the shops that sell alcohol close at 8. So we turned around, picked up the other two girls, and went out for dinner and got ourselves some wine there. It was a successful day in Casa, so here we were enjoying a last supper and celebrating with some wine and beer. The weekends are two short, I wished that we could have stayed longer. But it was a successful weekend and night. In the morning we woke up and all made breakfast together. Following breakfast we left my friends house, and headed toward the station to catch a tram, then our train. Leaving her neighborhood, her neighborhood guard came out and helped us with out bags all the way to the tram station. It was the sweetest thing and he was adorable. I hadn't realized that these were real jobs before, but it made us sad to think of how lonely these jobs are.

We caught our tram, then our train, and made it safely back to campus in Ifrane by night. The weekend break was over and I immediately went back into student mode stressing about my paper due that next Monday afternoon.

I ended up heading straight to the library and worked there for a few hours until it closed. The rest of my classmates who were also stressing about the paper headed to the lab but I couldn't work there for a paper. I ended up heading back to my dorm building and working there until 4 am and tried to sleep but didn't really. I got a few hours of sleep and worked again at 7am until 10am when I finished my paper. I felt so proud and successful. It didn't even feel like a crappy paper, I was just so happy I got it done but it also felt like a good paper. I submitted it on time, and I still haven't gotten it back, but we shall see! This paper was my last of five midterms. It almost could have felt like a moment of liberation, except for I happened to have a presentation due that Thursday. This presentation wasn't a midterm, but for two of my classes it is just a part of the class to give a presentation. Mine happened to be scheduled during midterms period which made it more stressful.

This presentation was for my International history class, a class I couldn't know less about, and that I couldn't care less about. When I first got here on campus they gave me like ten minutes to pick classes for my schedule without me being able to consult my advisers back in the States. I got four other decent classes, but this as my fifth was the only history class on the list that I could pick from. Even though it's modern history, I picked it hoping that it could possibly fit into my major (Archaeology) and that I could get credit, but I probably wouldn't. I just hoped there was the slightest chance. This university has 3 days of an Add/Drop period and I heard back from my home institution too late, so I got stuck with this class. I also, am one of the few International Students here who is actually taking letter grades. Most Exchange students couldn't care less about their academics because their taking pass/fail. Which in my opinion is completely incorrect because even though you are abroad and want to try new thing and travel, that's just traveling you might as well take the semester off and just travel. To me this is completely wrong because you are on exchange, you are given the opportunity to have a home base and immerse yourself. You should make local Moroccan friends and be a real student. Yes, your studies should not be so intense that they become more important and stressful than the experience as a whole, but if you're not being a student, what the hell are you doing with you life here? Work hard, and Play hard. Make local friends, even if that means you travel less, understanding the people and culture and its ways is so much more important than traveling and seeing a famous structure. You can see a picture of that on Google. You are here to learn, meet people, and establish relationships. I'm sorry, I went off on a little tangent there, people frustrate me.

It's just hard for me to compare this exchange to mine in Italy where it was a full immersion. With the lack of opportunity to improve my language by lack of immersion because this campus is so Western and everyone speaks English, I am trying my hardest to make new friends and understand so much about this culture, and learn the language. I'm putting all of my efforts to get something out of this and I see other Exchange students only hanging out with each other, only speaking English, never interacting with Moroccan students, and always traveling. It frustrates me to see that, they don't know what their missing. I know what I'm missing and I'm trying to so hard to get it.

Anyways, my presentation for International History was not difficult. But presentations in general stress me out because I know I am not a good public speaker. It was not hard material, I just end up getting anxiety throughout the entire week because I'm so nervous to public speak. Thursday came ad my presentation went. I stuttered a lot but I think the material that I presented was more important despite how poorly I spoke. Oh well, it went.

Finally, I had a break. So a couple friends and I went out to the club in town on Thursday night, which is always a chill time. Nothing too much to say about that except that whenever I go out on Thursday nights my mind gets messed up and I go on thinking that Friday is Saturday, and Saturday is Sunday etc. We decided to stay here this weekend because one of our close friends was throwing a big party, and we didn't want the stress of planning to go somewhere last minute. Friday after classes our friends took us to a spot where there is an absolutely amazing view. It was this little spot about ten minutes away from Ifrane. We thought we were on our way to go see the Monkeys in Azrou, but they took us here instead. I guess we'll have to do the monkeys another time.

Friday night we went out to our friends house first, played with their puppy, then went to our other friends house party. The house was enormous and gorgeous. For the most part I had a good time, I also spent the majority of my night next to the chip table because lets face it their chips here are bomb.

Saturday we got up and I got my two friends to come to Volubilis. FINALLY. It's been like 3 weekends that we stayed in the area, not traveling and all and we've never made it. We usually end up sleeping in or just goofing off. It was getting really annoying people finding out that I'm an archaeology major and that I've never been to Volubilis yet, especially since it's so close. We left at around 1pm and first took the petit taxi to the grand taxi station, then the grand taxi to Meknes. We ate lunch in Meknes and decided to be super American and eat Mcdonald's and Pizza Hut just because we missed this kind of food. I know, we're gross. But unless you've studied abroad before, you'll begin to crave things like Mcdonald's even if you don't ever eat it normally when you're home. So anyways, that happened.. Then we took another 20 min grand taxi ride to Volubilis...

The site was actually a lot bigger than we expected it to be and it was a good trek up and down around this hilly site. This is a Roman site that whenever my professor in my Islamic Art and Architecture class starts talking about mosaics, he talks about this place. He was so right, I've seen a lot of archaeological sites and even worked on a Roman site this last summer, this place has some of the most amazing mosaics I've ever seen. The archaeologist in my cried a little bit they were beyond stunning. Even if you're not interested in history or anything related to archaeology, you still need to see it because it is amazing art. 

The site was so big I don't think we actually got to see all of it, but we saw the main parts. Our cab driving was waiting for us so we had to leave after about two hours. We headed back to Meknes, then caught a grand taxi back to campus in Ifrane. That was our Saturday, yesterday. If you have not yet gone to Volubilis, you need to go because these mosaics are the most beautiful I've ever seen. I just want to go back and look at the closer but too bad we can't touch them or get closer. 

Saturday night we really didn't do too much. It was a holiday here so there was no alcohol served anywhere. I still don't really understand this holiday, but I'm going to ask. Anyways, those were my past two weeks, and I'm so grateful midterms are over. And I'm happy we finally went to see Volubilis, I want to go back already.

Today is Sunday, I'm not doing too much except I'm going to start prepping my presentation for next week for my Politics class, and I'm going to go to the library to find French books that I can practice reading. Wish me luck!

Adjusting to Life Here. Feelin' a little down.

I've been so busy getting adjusted to classes and life here on campus, and traveling as much as I can on weekends that I haven't really sat down and written about how things are here in Ifrane.

But first, here's a quick post about my last weekend in Barcelona, Spain:

Last weekend the University gave us a long weekend from October 4th-7th off because it was Eid al-Adha, a Feast of Sacrifice to honor of Abraham willing to sacrifice his promised son, Ismail. Basically every family comes together and they all slaughter sheep as the sacrifice. I kind of wanted to experience this because it is such a unique tradition in this part of world that I could probably only experience while studying abroad here, but at the same time I knew that I couldn't be around when they slaughtered all those sheep. I really just couldn't do it.

So me and two other friends decided we'd go to Barcelona for the weekend. Morocco is ridiculously close to Spain, so much so that many people in the Northern part of Morocco speak Spanish. It was just a short of two hours flight. We left Friday morning and when we got there my friends' cousin (whom we stayed with. She is currently studying abroad in Spain) picked us up and brought us to her apartment in the middle of the city. Her apartment, and the city as a whole is so beautiful. It made me miss Europe a bit, but at the same time made me remember why I chose Morocco.

I've lived in Europe before (Italy), and I've traveled through much of Europe (Including Barcelona, so I wont blab on too much about the city) throughout the past years. It is the definition of Western. Although Europe is beautiful, I knew that I wanted something different, somewhere different in the hopes that I'd be able to immerse myself more because I would be forced to do so because it is so different. What I mean by this, is when I lived in Italy with my first host family, it was so easy to escape from the culture that I was presently in. I was able to get by with English, I was able to sit inside and stay on my computer, I was able to go out and find the same things(food, shops, etc.) as I would find back home in the States. Yes, there is still a huge culture difference, but I didn't fully experience that until my second semester in Italy with my second and wonderful host family. But what I mean is that, In Europe I could get by without changing any of my habits, finding things I was already used to having, and I would be able to stay in my own shell and my own little world. I knew that if I went somewhere completely different, I would be able to fully immerse myself. At least I'd hope so.

Anyways, throughout our four days in Barcelona, we spent our time at the beach, eating, bar hopping, going to clubs, and eating some more. The food on campus at my University in Morocco is the worst food I've ever had. Literally every time I eat something from there I end up sick with a stomach-ache or I begin vomiting. I've never had such terrible food in my life, nor did I think it was possible to make such disgusting food. So before we even left for Spain, I was determined to eat as much as I possibly could. Don't get me wrong, Moroccan food is AMAZING and I could eat it all day. But that is not what is served on campus, and I only get to eat it on weekends when I leave the campus and go out or travel.

@ Sagrada Familia

Being toursty and went to Opium night club.

Our time in Barcelona was a lot of fun, and my friends cousin was the best host we could have asked for. She showed us around a lot, and took care of us. Returning to Europe was awesome, I really missed it. Especially food. Food to me is one of the biggest part of a culture, and I'm really sad about kind of missing out on that during my time in Morocco (except for weekends). But it's alright, I get by.

Back in Morocco (October 6th):

We returned to Morocco on Monday (we still had Tuesday off for the holidays but we couldn't find flights that came back on Tuesday) and flew into Fez, then taking a grand taxi cab (the best things ever) to campus in Ifrane.

Campus was completely dead, except for a bunch of international students who either stayed on campus over the holiday, or they also went somewhere but could only find flights to come back on Monday. The campus was kind of spooky because it was so empty. On Tuesday I tried to go to the library and study because this week, and next are midterms. I got there and all the lights were completely off. Are you kidding me? I know it's a holiday, but it's the night before going back to school during midterms week.. This happens on several occasions where I just get fed up and don't understand how this university functions. It's supposedly the best university in Morocco, which I believe. But.. Let me just go off for a sec on some of the frustrations I am having here, at the university specifically.

-This university holds high expectations and assigns a steady amount of homework. however, just like this midterms situation this past Tuesday, when Sundays roll around (which are supposed to be homework days), the library doesn't open until 2 pm and it closes at midnight. Actually it closes at midnight every night. Oh, and often times a lot of assignments you are given can only be done with resources in the library, or at least resources that are supposed to be in the library. I've gone to the library multiple times to read a book on reserve, and they let someone check it out... I really don't understand that.

-I'm also incredibly frustrated with how bad the INTERNET here is. I have not been able to make a single Skype call or phone call over Viber or Whatsapp without it going in and out multiple times. I kind of forgot how bad the internet was because I was also getting bad internet over my entire summer before coming here as I was staying in a hostel in Southern Italy. But, once we had gotten to Barcelona and I had experienced good Wifi for the first time in about 4 months, I realized how bad it was here. But at least the university does have Wifi on the campus, whether it works sometimes or not.

-FOOD. I can't stress enough to you how much food is a part of my life. When I got here the first day and started eating the food, it was bland and room temperature. Ok fine. But a couple days after it caught up to me and I got really sick. I continued to eat the food and realized that that was the cause of my sicknesses. I was pretty much having stomach problems nearly everyday for the first three weeks until I gave up eating food from the campus restaurant and began to just live off bread and french fries (because those are pretty hard to mess up) that I could get at the student store with my meal points. It didn't matter to me whether or not this was an unhealthy choice, my stomach became neutral and for the first time in three weeks my stomach didn't hurt. So now I've stopped eating the campus restaurant food except for on Fridays when they serve couscous. Friday is couscous day and it's kind of hard to mess that up as well I would think.  The only real food I get is when I travel on the weekends and leave campus. But when I do get real traditional Moroccan food, man, that stuff is the best I could eat it all day everyday. Couscous and Tajines are my favorite. When you eat out here, small appetizers of olives, bread, lentils, etc, are provided before your meal. And when your meal comes, you eat it all with bread. It reminds me a lot of Italy, how you sandwich your food bits in between pinches of bread. Basically you eat with your hands most of the time.   
Real Moroccan food. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Onto observations, not frustrations:

-How people DRESS is so interesting to me. Ifrane is up in the mountains, and is does not really reflect the rest of Morocco. Ifrane is one of the few places where it snows, the rest of Morocco is insanely hot, Well, at least for me. For many Moroccans it's quite the opposite, it's now October 11th, and in the middle of the day it still feels like summer. It's probably around 70 degrees Fahrenheit most days and I'll be out walking from class to class in my summer shorts and a tshirt, meanwhile others in long pants, winter coats, and girls in ugg boots. This makes me laugh every time, but I'm sure they laugh at me too. I've been called out multiple times and people think I'm crazy. No, this is just normal weather for me, but cold for them. Another comment on attire here on campus, is that because this university is supposedly modeled after American universities, it has a very western mindset. Same with this town, the town the campus is in is very small. But because it snows and it's so different from the rest of Morocco, it's alright to go out dressed however you like. People seem to dress more revealing than most people I know even in the States, which was an extremely shocking thing for me when I first got here because I was prepared to wear long skirts and be covered and be modest. Many girls here wear short skirts and even crop tops revealing their stomachs or their full back. It's shocking, but interesting. However, in the rest of Morocco, people should be dressed more modestly as I have understood. Many of my Moroccan friends tell me that for me as a foreigner (I clearly don't look Moroccan) it doesn't even matter how I dress because people will stare at me anyways, people will cat-call me anyways, and however I dress doesn't matter as it would for normal Moroccan women.

-Privilege. It is a privilege to be able to attend this university, and to be able to study in Morocco. This university is the top in Morocco, and perhaps one of the top universities in all of Africa. Many of the people who attend this university are very privileged, people have multiple houses, and their own cars, etc. We even have cleaning ladies that come into our dorms and clean our rooms for us once every two weeks or so. There are also women who do our laundry for us, as long as we bring it to them. It's interesting, I'm really grateful for it, but at the same time I wonder what I am learning. with this town and University being so western, I chose Morocco in hopes of being able to escape that. Even our courses are taught in English, so just speaking to people everyone will respond to me in English, just because its more convenient. I get it. It's just difficult adjusting to what I had not anticipated. I feel like I'm in a mini-America on this campus an in these mountains. I mean, thankfully I am making a lot of Moroccan friends who have invited me into their homes and will sometimes speak to me in French if I ask. At least there's that, and it's not fully an American university with all Americans. I try my best to hangout with just Moroccans aside from my two American friends. I want more of an immersion. For now, I'm trying and doing what I can.

-LANGUAGE. People here know numerous languages and I can't keep up. Some people know Berber, which is the ancient language of true Moroccans, some people know Spanish, which is a very Northern thing, and people know Moroccan Arabic (mix of classical Arabic and French), French (levels of fluency vary because some people were educated in Arabic and others in French, and vice versa with Arabic), and then there's English, which everyone on this campus knows. People here in a single conversation will throw around words of any language they know. It's really hard to keep up with. Some people who don't know French as well will speak just Moroccan Arabic, and vice versa with people who don't know Arabic as well, they'll speak just French. I knew coming into this that Moroccan was multi-lingual and very multi-cultural, it has influences from so many different cultures because at one point in time or another it was colonized by someone different, like the Spanish, or the French, etc. I never expected it to be this difficult to pick a language up though. Just because I know some words of Spanish and lots of French and I'm fluent in English and Italian, doesn't mean I'm just going to start conversing with someone using words from four different languages. I really didnt expect people to talk the way that they do here. So learning French and improving it has been difficult. It definitely is improving because I learn by hearing it, then once I hear it I will speak it. And I am definitely hearing it more here in Morocco than I do at home in the States. But still, I thought I would be fully conversational by now. I just have to keep working on it. I'm trying to find another way to fully immerse and try start speaking it more. People speak to me in English, but I would only speak French if they spoke French to me first. I just get really nervous about my speaking abilities in French and will not do so unless I hear it enough and know how it is supposed to sound. I hate talking and sounding like an idiot, but I guess practicing like that and trial and error is the learning process.

-HOMESICK. I've never really been homesick before. In all the times that I've traveled.. I started traveling in 2008 and I've gone from Canada, Mexico, Peru, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, England, China, Monaco, Iceland, and Morocco. I've been away from home for significant periods of time traveling on me own and this has never happened to me. I guess, despite the friendships I'm making here, I'm still feeling a bit alone. I miss my home, I miss my family in Seattle, I miss my puppy, I miss my family in Italy, I miss my Pernosano Osteology family, I miss my Pi Phi family, I miss Oregon and my life there with my loved ones. I guess until being abroad again, and finally feeling like I have these families everywhere, and that I've established these intense relationships with my loved ones, I never felt this. It's probably a mix of things going on here in Morocco, and finally feeling like I have these family relationships, that are making me feel this way. Being abroad really makes you appreciate the real strong relationships in your life, and at times, being abroad can also make you feel the most lonely you may have ever felt. This is definitely what's happening. It's just weird to experience it now, and know that I didn't when I've lived abroad multiple times before. But now I'm at a different point in my life with different people in my life. I need to understand that, and move on.

I know it does seem like I am really down right now. I mean I'm not going to lie, I am a bit. But it doesn't mean that Morocco in any way hasn't been amazing. That's not what I'm trying to convey. It is significantly different than what I had expected to deal with, that is part of my adjusting. I am so happy to be here, and it really is such an amazing experience. I'm so lucky to be here, and Morocco is one fo the most beautiful countries I've ever been to and seen. The people are such beautiful people as well, so kind and friendly and welcoming. I wish that I could stay here forever, live here and be outside of this Western, different than the rest of Morocco, town. Because really I've never been to such a place with such history, that is so multi-cultural in this way, that is scenically beautiful, artistically beautiful, and with such beautiful and warm people. After my exchange, I definitely will be coming back. I know that for sure. I'm in love with this country, just not my university and some of my experiences here. I wish I could be immersed more, and that I could learn more. Instead of getting by each day with just English here and there, everywhere. On such a Western campus, it's so easy to get by doing my normal thing. Just like I said what was doable in Europe.

Oh well, I'll work harder on what I can, speaking more French, making more friends, trying new things and food, and traveling when I can so I can see the rest of Morocco and its beauty.

For now, I'm off. I have to study for the rest of my midterms. I just had one last Thursday in my Politics course. I read hundreds of pages last minute because the library was closed and I felt like my body was drained because it took so much coffee for me to stay up and read it all. But I think it went alright. I submitted an Art research assignment on Friday. As for next week I have my French midterm on Monday, my history midterm on Tuesday, and Art on Wednesday. The following week I'll have an hour long presentation in my History class as well. As you can probably guess I'm staying in town in Ifrane this weekend because of midterms. So last night since we aren't traveling this weekend and can't go anywhere to eat, me and my two friends went to the super fancy hotel in Ifrane (and super expensive) to treat ourselves for a delicious dinner. It was a nice dinner date. It'll be a chill weekend here, which is good to have sometimes. Anyways, wish me luck on studying and midterms!

Treating ourselves last night. Wining and dining

I love and miss you all back home!! I miss my families <3


P.S.
Moroccan friends, if I'm getting any of my information wrong, let me know and correct me please :)

Sorry Not Sorry Life In Morocco Has Carried Me Away

Hey there,

It's been a long time since I've taken the time to sit down and reflect what's been going on. Morocco really is an enchanting place, there are always new friends to make, new things to try, new things to do and see. I've literally only been on my computer less than ten times this entire month to check my email and to skype occasionally, aside from that I've refused to let myself escape from my Moroccan surroundings and not let myself hide away and sit on my computer. I want to experience being here.

In the past month I've traveled a fair amount, seen an abundance of history, tasted various and delicious Moroccan dishes, and have had the time of my life. I already can't believe that a whole month has gone by. I've made so many friends and they've shown me so much here. They've brought me to to see new places (so far my friends have taken me to Rabat, Fez, and Assilah), they've opened my eyes, and made me try new things that I know otherwise I wouldn't have if I didn't have them.

My first week of school was a bit rough. I showed up here without any schedule and everything for me was malfunctioning, I guess I was just unlucky. My room door couldn't lock, my shower was broken, my email password wasn't working and had to be reset, and I for some reason didn't have a student account until later on into the first week and got some of my classes late. It was really hectic given that at Al Akhawayn University you are only given one week for the add/drop period. Since I got my classes late I only had three days in which I was able to communicate with my home universtiy about credits and such. After the first week I finally got settled and situated. I've met a lot of new people and many who've become dear friends already. Sharing food is a huge part of social events or just welcoming people to their home or out and sharing food. This got me so stoked, and from these experiences I've tasted so many amazing dishes.

From classes to going out in the town or just meeting new people from mutual friends, everyone has shown me something new. The people here are so kind. Nearly everyone I've met has welcomed me into their homes and everyone takes such good care of each other. Just like in many parts of Europe, they do the kiss greeting here. It feels just like home in Italy. Actually there are many parallels from Morocco to Italy. Here I feel really at home, and I guess because of the parallels I'm not having an as intense culture shock as I did when I studied abroad in Italy 4 years ago. The warmth people have and the sense of time. It feels just like Italy.


September 5th-7th: RABAT
My second weekend in Morocco one of my friends from school took us to his home town, Rabat, and we stayed at his home. He showed us the old Medina, which is the old city, the market, Hassan II (where the Royal family is buried), a Roman archaeological site called Chellah, and then we went to the beach. It was the most perfect first weekend. We saw so much and everything was so beautiful.

Chellah, Rabat

Rabat market

Bouznika Beach, on the Atlantic Ocean

Chicken Tajine and Salad

In the evenings our friends brought us to nice restaurants and pubs. Loud music was always playing and people were dancing everywhere, it was such a cheerful atmosphere. The people weren't afraid to dance all out, it was just people dancing having fun. 

Our weekend in Rabat was so amazing, they took such good care of us, looked out for us in the streets, fed us like royalty and it was the best. I love the food here. I love the people here. I love Morocco. 

At the end of the weekend when we returned, it was homework time. School here seems to have similar expectations in terms of assignments and attendance as my home university so I'm not really finding it too challenging. In terms of the quantity of homework I'm finding it much less here, so during the week I end up having more time to hang out with friends than being stuck in some room studying all day like I how I am back in the States at my home university in Oregon. 

At school I have five courses, and I've already had one paper due, two quizzes, and one presentation due. It's a fair amount and school is going well. I'm content here, it's the perfect amount where I feel I have enough that I'm still learning and it's not just "studying abroad and  not doing school" like many other programs are, but that it's not too heavy of a workload that I can still have the time to experience being here. To experience Morocco. 

The following weekend we went out Thursday night and rented a house to stay at. People do this all the time here because the university has a midnight curfew (applicable only for week nights). To work around this many people live off campus of rent apartments and houses whenever they want to go out at night. We went to the club in town which for me is average but it's something to do. It was fun. 

September 13th : FEZ

On Saturday, me and two of my American friends and a bunch of Moroccan guys went to Fez, one of the oldest cities in Morocco. It has the largest old Medina. You could spend the entire day in there and get lost. Literally there are local people jut hanging around in the Medina waiting for someone to ask them to direct them somewhere, and they direct you and bring you there. This is their real job that they get paid for, it's crazy. By now I've gone to Fez 3 times and every time we have to pay someone to help us find our way. But getting lost in the Medina is enjoyable anyways because all the architecture is so beautiful. You could turn any corner and find markets, or find yourself at the front door of a palace. While in Fes in the Medina we went to see three main touristy sites, the world's first leather tannery, where Moroccan Argan Oil is made, and how the famous carpets, blankets and rugs are made. These were such fascinating factories to visit, to see the processes the material goes through. The people working there use such basic techniques without any machinery. 

Entering the old Medina walls in Fez 

Casual working donkeys in the Old Medina of Fez

The leather Tannery (Pigeon crap is used, so before you enter the tannery the guides always offer you a handful of mint to cover your nose and cover the smell. It's so strong!!)

 

Allll the Argan Oil

Here are the women grinding the Argan seeds to make the various Argan oil products

How they make the rugs and blankets

Delicious appetizers. In Morocco it's common to be given appetizers before your meal. Often times it's lentil soups and olives :) All the food!

Fez overall has been an amazing and beautiful city. It's busy and full of different people and I could get lost in it over and over again. I'm so grateful that I live so near it (about an hour away) because Ifrane (where my University is) is so small, there's nothing to do. Fez is a really great place to escape, it's what a foreigner would typically imagine Morocco to be like. I love it!

September 19th-21st :ASSILAH

This weekend me and a group of friends, half international students and half Moroccan students, all took a trip to Assilah. It's a small beach town to the west of Tangier, the furthest north city in Morocco, you can take a 30 minute ferry boat from Tangier to Spain. It was about a four hour drive north from Ifrane, but well worth the drive. When we arrived at our apartment Friday night, all I could think about was crashing on a couch. Instead there were at least 6 bedrooms and it was the most beautifully decorated home. It was in the middle of the old Medina and there was a view of the Atlantic Ocean from our bedroom window. 

Middle of the Old Medina in Assilah

In front of our apartment standing on the edge wall of the Medina overlooking the beach and Ocean

 

The upstairs balcony of the apartment                 One of the main living rooms of the apartment

Friday night most of us ended up crashing. The next morning we woke up and headed straight for the beach. It was the most perfect day, a bunch of us together drinking beer on the beach on a sunny day, playing soccer, a family of camels walking around, horses and donkeys to play with, and lots of rocks to climb and go exploring. 

The beach at Assilah

Camel family and horses on the beach

We swam for some of the time there but a I ended up going exploring and climbing all the rocks. Turns out there was an area in the rocks where you could find clay that was apparently good for your skin. I'm not really sure if this is true but we saw numerous people walking around covered in green clay. We decided to partake in covering ourselves as well. 

Me and the camel family

 
                                                                                  Clay body paint party

The day at the beach was one of the best days I've had here so far in Morocco. But it was a long day and we all needed a nap. We headed back, cleaned up, many of us took naps but I headed into Tangier for the night for dinner (about a 40 minute drive from the apartment we rented in Assilah) Tangier seemed like a hectic city. In fact when we went to the one of the shops, inside was so crowded I waited for my friends outside. As I was waiting outside someone tried to steal my purse by tugging on the strap. It was being pulled from behind me with great force so I couldn't see who it was and my strap was choking my neck. I realized what was happening gripping tight onto my purse, and all three of the guys that I was with chased after him. He ended up tearing the strap but he didn't steal anything and I was fine. My friends and the police caught one of the two guys that were involved, I guess the other escaped. 

It was an interesting experience. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. It kind of shook me a bit but I was really grateful that I was okay, and that I had my friends there, and that nothing ended up being taken. I was really lucky. I'm usually always very careful about watching my stuff, but I guess it was a lesson that you can never be too careful. Always hold tight onto your belongings and be aware of your surroundings especially in busy areas. 

Before heading back we had dinner. From the balcony where we ate dinner we could see city lights from Spain across the sea. It was absolutely stunning. I loved it there and wanted to stay all night. Instead, after dinner we ended up heading back to the apartment in Assilah and partied the night away with everyone. I can honestly say it Assilah overall was the best time I've had. I already miss it. It was a great group, with beautiful weather, and the most relaxing and enjoyable time. I want to go back right now. 

September 26th-28th : Chillin' at home in IFRANE

Last weekend was a chill weekend. I ended up staying in Ifrane for the weekend, just relaxing, hanging out with friends here, and saving travel money for next weekend ( Next weekend is a holiday in Morocco, kind of like their version of Thanksgiving or Christmas. Everyone gets together with their family and each family slaughters a sheep and they eat it. Sounds cool kind of, like it would be a once in a life time opportunity to experience it. But I know that if I was present for this holiday I would become vegetarian..). Thus, me and my main two girls are going to Barcelona, Spain for the weekend of October 3rd-6th. 

Anyways, this last weekend we spent here in Ifrane. Mostly hanging around all day, watching movies with friends, eating a lot, and going out to the bars, clubs, some house parties, and just hanging out at friends houses. It's fun to travel and see the rest of Morocco, but it was also a really good idea to spend the weekend here, relaxing and with friends from school. It was a successful weekend I'd say. 

September 29th

Today was a usual weekday. Morning classes, afternoon classes, and early evening classes. My first class of the day was French, then Popular Cultures in Africa, then Islamic Art and Architecture. This morning in French we had a quiz and an oral presentation. I think it went really well and in general I think my French is improving a lot. People hear speak a range of languages, most commonly Moroccan Arabic (which is Arabic mixed with a lot of French), French, Berber, English, and some people speak Spanish. It's crazy! And I am insanely jealous of them. I wish I was born and raised in an environment where the need to know multiple languages was absolutely necessary. It is my goal in life to be able to speak at least 4 languages before I die. I'm workin' on it! English, Italian, getting French down, and can understand 80% of Spanish. I came here with the mindset that I will learn to speak French fluidly while I'm here. It's not quite there yet, but it's significantly better than when I was at home in the States. Just having the opportunity to utilize it more is helping me so much!

Although the languages that are spoken around me day to day vary, I'm still hearing a lot more French than I do at home. Just from this I'm learning to understand everything better, and learning to pronounce things how they should be pronounced. Also because many people are afraid to speak English and some do not know any at all when I go out into town (on campus, because lessons are taught in English, whether or not people are comfortable speaking English, they know it) my French has been coming in handy a lot lately. I'm really proud of myself and I hope that it will improve over the remaining time I have here. 

I can't believe a third of my time here has already passed by. The time really flew by and I'm having the time of my life. I can't even wait to see what these next two months hold for me. 

If you've made it this far, I applaud you. I will try to keep up with my blog better. Life really has carried me away here. Sorry I can't help it! For now, A' plus tard! 

Wanderlust brought me to Morocco

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!