In Morocco, you’ll have the chance to interact with local communities on a daily basis in personal and professional, analytical and intellectual ways. These experiences help you differently perceive of the world around you and your role in it. You’ll integrate yourself into the world community, becoming a more empathetic, compassionate and understanding global citizen.

But it’s not an intuitive or easy experience, to be sure. Living in another country, particularly one in which you may not be in the majority and in which you likely won’t speak the language, is surely overwhelming at times. The Morocco Project Center staff, including IGSD, its co-directors and its advisors, work diligently to ensure that you have the skills necessary to not only survive but to thrive personally and professionally.

In the term preceding your departure, you’ll take a 1/6-credit PQP course. In addition to getting to know the students and faculty with whom you will travel, you’ll also spend part of it learning some Darija (Moroccan Arabic) and  the political, religious and historical context in which you’re about to land. Or, said differently: we don’t want to throw you in the deep end of the pool without also making sure you have a giant floaty.

Classroom education will only take you so far, though. In addition, you’ll be able to draw on and further expand your language skills and your knowledge of Morocco as you navigate the city: you’ll learn how to buy a SIM card from the hanut (bodega) around the corner, how to chat with the taxi driver as he takes you across town and to navigate the tram system, which you can use to get to your favorite qahwa (cafe). There, you can order your favorite beverage – coffee, tea, fresh-squeezed orange juice or  avocado juice – and sit for hours working on your project. Interacting with the city and with Rabatis in this way will help you better understand where and among whom you’re living, to better understand what you’re studying and to better internalize all of this new “data” as you apply it to your research.

The Morocco Project Center ensures a logical progression from a traditional structured learning environment in a classroom setting to a substantive in-country experience in multiple ways, including:

• A term-long pre-departure orientation (PQP) in which you’ll learn context-specific research methodologies and and gain an understanding of the religious, political, cultural and linguistic structures that make Morocco unique.
• A thorough in-country orientation through with the Global Projects Program, including health and safety information and tools for cross-cultural adaptation.
• Language study that begins before you depart and continues when you arrive in Morocco. We’ll teach you the communication skills you need to interact with the Moroccans around you, to explore the country and to achieve your academic objectives.
• An extensive network of Morocco Project Center alums: WPI students and alumni who are willing and eager to share their knowledge of and experiences in Morocco.
• Center co-directors with direct, substantive knowledge of Morocco. One was born and raised there; the other has lived there for many years!
• Project advisors who fundamentally believe in the global project experience and look forward to helping you weather the many different facets of your in-country experience.