On August 19th I landed in Morocco to find an extremely hot country in the midst of Ramadan. Knowing no one in the country, there I was, surrounded by a new language and culture, everything foreign to me. It was one of those moments when I realized how big the world was and how little of it I had experienced.
I was overcome by regret for not better preparing myself for this experience. I hadn’t practiced French in years, didn’t bother to prepare myself with the dialect, and could barely tell you anything about Moroccan culture. Words like “labas” “bzaf” and “mzyan” just frustrated me because after 4 years of studying Arabic, I was pretty sure that they weren’t real words. There I was, thrown outside my comfort zone, completely lost, with no one to lean on. I had no choice but to make the most of the experience and slowly swim to shore.
The lesson?
Things just always work out. You readjust to your environment and meet amazing people who are willing to help you along the way. It just takes a lot of faith.
So after four months in Morocco and a lot of learning, it has become a part of me. As homesick as I was at points, I now yearn for the smell of couscous on Friday afternoons and friendly kisses from everyone I meet. Not only did I learn the dialect (to the point where people sometimes would mistaken me for a Moroccan) but I also truly bonded with my host family and made lifelong friends.
I could not have asked for a better study abroad experience. I fell in love with the city of Rabat, which is situated right along the ocean with the perfect mix or development and traditional culture. I was never concerned about what others thought of me, but only that I would miss an exciting adventure. For the first time in my life, I got to spend quality time with myself. I learned that perspective is the key to life.
Disconnected from technology and stress, things just felt a little easier. The pace of life is what I will miss most about Morocco. People value relationships and make time for each other. They just aren’t as stressed as we are here in the States. It’s a concept that’s difficult to articulate, but let’s just say that I will certainly miss eating fresh bread at every meal.
Now that I am back at Penn, Morocco almost feels like a dream. As much as I felt like I grew while there, I am most afraid of losing sight of it all when tossed back into the hectic life on campus.
Memories are deceiving, the ones that have pictures always stand out in our minds and the little moments that meant so much at the time get buried away. That’s why I wanted to make a list of those little memories before they feel so far gone.
It’s sort of in chronological order, but not really…
- Arriving on the first day at my host family to find a packed house with all the extended family visiting
- Shaking my host dads hand after every taraweeh prayer before walking back
- Going jalaba shopping with my host sister before Eid
- Getting a pair of yellow shoes for Eid, and more importantly my host mom’s excitement when she gave them to me
- Visiting Othmane and his extremely hospitable family in Casablanca and praying at the mosque that was packed to miles outside with Shabneez with no room to pray
- Jet skiing in Aseelah
- Drafting “operation mission happiness”
- Spontaneously deciding to go to the Jazz festival in Tangier
- Sitting in a carpet shop in Fez for over an hour trying to bargain down the price. He didn’t budge on the price but offered me some tea and then proposed
- First arriving at my tajweed teacher’s house, except she had no idea why I was there or who I was, and I had no idea that she didn’t know. Yep, most awkward 15 minutes of my life
- Climbing the Eiffel Tour tout seul and taking pictures for all the couples up top
- Searching through a used book store in the heard of Paris
- Starting tennis lessons
- Kicking butt at darts
- Always leaving youtube songs open on my computer because it would take hours for them to download
- Trying to learn how to cook couscous with my host mom
- Revising my coffee order at every café, trying to find the perfect combination of coffee and milk that made it taste most like American coffee
- Teaching an SAT course to Moroccan high school students and grading really really bad essays
- Pastel drawing along the marina and in the l’oudaya café
- Karaoke kayaking
- Trying to make a piñata for a friend’s birthday
- Spontaneously going to the hammam for the first time in Chefchouen, completely unprepared
- Hiking along slippery rocks in the pouring rain looking for the “Bridge of God”
- Covering 4 cities in 6 days with my Mom when she came to visit
- Discovering the National Library and curing my home sickness there
- Visiting my Quran teacher every day after her 22 year old daughter passed away
- Walking along the beach towards the sunset
- Always looking at the sky because it was so beautiful
- Retail therapy in Agdal
- Banana juice and harsha at the “juice place”
- Becoming an expert on all the cookies in “hanoots”
- Jumping on a train with Tunuka while heading to Ifrane
- The two boxes of sweets my amazing friends brought me to take home to my family
- Leaving the country with only ½ a dirham after an entire day in the medina buying gifts, almost missing my flight because I was at the wrong terminal and then finding a driver to take me to the right terminal pro bono.
This and so much more is what I hope to remember whenever I think of Morocco!
