I can genuinely say that the first 2 weeks of this program have been nothing short of eventful. Because I was here with my family for a while before the program start date, I have been here for almost a month now. Strangely, that feels like too long and too short at the same time. My time with my family was great, my sister and I only fought a few times and none of them were too violent, we visited many different places in Morocco and even went to Spain to see some “family”. We spent Christmas in Marrakesh and, despite the fact that Morocco is predominantly Muslim, we wished everyone we encountered that day a Merry Christmas, thus looking very dumb. Nevertheless, we had a great time during our trip!

Although my vacation with my family was terrific, I feel like the real adventure began the 5th of January, when the program began. The first day, Sierra, Domenica and I had to figure out a way to get to the program center from a Riad in the middle of the Medina. We were aware of the places that IES would pick us up from, and we were nowhere near any of them. Lucky for us, the staff at the Riad was incredible (shout-out to Zenab!!) and they called us a relatively affordable taxi, and a driver that led us out of the maze that is the Medina and brought us to the residence, our home for the next 2 months. We were some of the first people there and the first of the humanities group so we decided to explore around the building, although it clearly didn’t do much good because I still get lost at least once a day. Sierra and Domenica were roommates but my roommate, Cassie, had not showed up yet. We later found out that, for whatever reason, she would not be coming to Morocco this term, that was a bit upsetting because I was looking forward to bonding with her as well, but my new roommate Liz (one of the IQP Students here) is fantastic. I am very glad that I got her as a replacement. That night we had some amazing food at the Moroccan restaurant down the street from the residence and decided that we should go to bed. The next week was a blur of research for my project, orientation meetings, Darija classes, and a LOT of good food. I would say that at that point the biggest blockade I had encountered was the language barrier, but I feel that that will dwindle as the longer I am here. The first weekend the girls and I went to Tangier and Chefchaouen! It was beautiful!

I had a fantastic time with everyone there! It was a great vacation from vacation! After that it was back to reality (Rabat) and back to the weekday flow. Meetings with the wonderful Professor Brahimi (thanks prof!!), more Darija classes, more good food! On Thursday, we visited the Mohamed V University (unsurprisingly, the IQP students were not keen on tagging along) and were able to talk to some students there about some very interesting topics. I feel that we made a lot of friends; in fact, most of us are hanging out with one of them today (Saturday the 19th), but I am far too sick to even leave my room so, unfortunately, I was not able to go. On Friday, we attended an amazing conference that touched on the importance of the young people’s involvement in politics, and the danger of political apathy, among other things. I even got interviewed for Moroccan news! I was asked about why I personally believe political apathy is so strong among the youth. I gave a less than impressive answer but no one aired any grievances with me, so I will pretend that I was great (Celebrity Status in Morocco!) Sadly, I started to feel very sick around mid day, so I left a bit early. Tomorrow, most of the WPI group is going to Fez until Monday! Fez was my favorite city I visited with my family, so I cant wait to experience it with the girls!! Up to this point, I feel that the biggest obstacle I have faced is the language barrier, but I have already began to notice that decreasing a little bit! I am trying my best to order at cafe and restaurants, go to the ‘hanuts’ and the Medina and only speak Darija. One of the things I have been most blown away by are all of the artisanal work here. We went to a pottery place with our Professor, Brahimi, and it was amazing to watch them make the giant clay barrels. They are so talented as artisans, and workers and craftsmen, and they should be paid 10 times more than they probably are. The sheer work they put into making the clay malleable is so impressive, and then they paint everything by hand! Looking forward to seeing more impressive handiwork in Fez this weekend!