Morocco

Last week I accomplished one of those “Gotta-accomplish- this-before-I-die” milestones: I trekked onto the African continent. Between the 12th and the 15th of March, Jenny, Monica, Bryana and myself traveled with an agency called DiscoverSevilla to the north of Morocco in the Rif Mountain region. On Friday morning we left Palma for Sevilla and met up with the bigger group there before we embarked on hour journey. Thinking we would be the only students in a group filled with old, wrinkly tourists, we stepped onto the bus confidently and quickly realized to our shock that we were just 4 of 55 American college students heading to Morocco. I guess we all think alike. If you think culture shock in a new country is bad, try reverse culture shock after spending every waking hour speaking and living the epitome of Spanish lifestyle…scratch that, Mallorcan lifestyle. We didn’t know how to act! Everyone else was just…so…American! Which isn’t a bad thing, but one should know when to drop the Blackberry or the “Bro” act and prepare to soak up the radically different culture that we were about to experience. Let’s just say that we were proud to be part of the HC Palma Study Abroad Program by the end of the trip.

From Sevilla we drove to Tarifa, Spain and then took a ferry across to the Morocco. We arrived in Tangiers and then drove to our beautiful hotel in M’diq. The first day we spent in a mountain town called Chefchaouen, whose streets are all painted sky blue and white according to Islamic tradition. There I bought myself a traditional Moroccan mini-djellaba (sweatshirt-type thing made of wool…i think). The next day we spent in one of the biggest cities in Morocco, Tetuan, where we explored the markets and sidestreets and got to sample some products at a local farmacy and view, but not buy, the handmade Moroccan rugs at a local vendor’s shop. In our last few hours in Morocco we got to ride camels and spend some time on the beach, which we had great weather for. Upon our return to Sevilla, we made our way to the Sevilla airport where we had decided to camp out for the night to save a little money since our flight was at 7:30 in the morning the next day. Little did we know that the airport would close for 3 hours between 1:30 am and 4:30 am and we would be forced to sleep on the ground halfway inside the airport and halfway outside (in between 2 sliding doors) during that time. We looked like homeless bums…me especially because I was wearing my Moroccan frock and carrying my extra clothes around in a big plastic bag. It was definitely a hilarious experience that I won’t ever forget!

Experiencing Morocco was amazing; it was unlike any other lifestyle I had ever witnessed before in my life. African countries in general are known to be very undeveloped but you just can’t understand the extent of the situation there until you see it–and Morocco is one of the more wealthy African countries. Streets are tiny and in the big cities they’re filthy and people crowd around make-shift stores in the open-air marketplaces and sell their crafts, foods, clothes and other goods. Bathrooms are the big shock–in public areas, they are usually just holes in the ground separated into stalls. Coming from such developed countries as Spain and the U.S. and then witnessing Moroccan lifestyle is definitely a huge transition but it was one that I was prepared for and ready to experience. As a group we were able to look past all the differences and take Morocco for what it really is: a country with beautiful landscapes, friendly people, great weather, delicious cuisine and unique lifestyles.

I’ll leave you with some photos of the trip. In a couple days I’m heading to Berlin to meet up with my good friend Maura who’s studying in Leon, Spain, and see a Cranberries concert (old Irish 90s band that’s great–remember that song “Linger” that’s always randomly on the radio? maybe “Dreams” from the Ireland commercials?). It should be a good time and expect another update soon.

Oh, and my family is coming wicked soon–April 2nd! Can’t wait.

Hasta pronto

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