Morocco 10

In three days I leave morocco and go home to the states. Class is coming to an end, we have several exams and speeches to give in the next few days before we depart. In our group we've discussed the goods and bads of leaving and what we feel currently. Most of us are glad to be leaving marrakech but are sad to be leaving the people and friends we've made on our journey. I am fine with leaving morocco, but it will be hard to be apart from everyone. I've fallen in love with my host family, Moroccan friends and american friends, the thought of possibly never seeing them again is a difficult thought but at the same time, I'm ready to see my American family again. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again, getting a kale avocado salad, skating, eating goldfish, having all of my cloths back, and getting to wear shorts and tank tops again! I've started thinking about everything I want to share of my experience with people back home and am really looking forward to it. Also, giving gifts to people is going to be amazing! With this trip, I feel as though I have accomplished quite a bit. I have learned more that I ever thought possible and have enjoyed just about every second of it. Class in morocco is fun, interesting, and challenging and I can't imagine going home to American school. Having 4 hours of Arabic class everyday can be tiresome, but I can't imagine having spent this summer in any other way.

Morocco 9

Just got back from the best place on earth (essaouira) and am now back in marrakech. The last night of being in essaouira a group on Moroccans came into our dining area in the hotel and played music for us and danced. The music is meant to put Muslims in a religious trance, but is also great for Americans wanting to dance around and have fun. One of the dancers was amazing, he would do a squat than jump up and do a split 5 feet in the air and then come down into another squat, the whole time keeping beat with an instrument in his hands. The dancing is mostly quick feet and squats, it looked like lots of fun to learn. Tomorrow is a day off from school, the second total day off I might add. It's starting to hit me that in a week I'll be away from all of my new friends and back in the states with my old, whom I've honestly started to forget about. The Americans I've met here have become my true brothers and sisters, it's crazy that it took going across an ocean to Africa to find true friends from back home in the states. Several of us on the east coast have already started discussing ways to get back together as often as possible, inshaala it happens!

Morocco 8

Yesterday we traveled from marrakech to essaouira morocco. The trip was through a desert like region surrounded by low mountains and then suddenly there was the ocean. The second I stepped foot off the bus my hair was tugged from the wind and I could feel myself being moved, the sun was brilliant, the temperature 30 degrees cooler than marrakech, and it smelled of the ocean, which you could also hear in the distance. We were right outside the walled in Madina where a game of soccer took place and right away I know that I had found the perfect place. To get to the hotel we walked through many narrow cobble stone streets meant for only walking or biking in. We passed many nice street vendors with many wonderful things being sold and then reached the hotel. From the outside it looks like an average white building, like all others in the city. But from the inside it is the most beautiful Moroccan themed building I have ever witnessed. I lucked out also by getting the best hotel room available, it's the biggest with the best things in it including a view of the city on one side, the ocean on the other with large cutout rock and waves washing over them. We also have a fire place, unlike other rooms, and the best bathtub too. Also, we have a room close to the ground floor and can jump out the window to walk around the outside of the building on the ocean side so we can get down onto the rocks, which are unreachable from any other point. Needless to say many people have come through our room to get down to the rocks. For meals, we go to the roof of the hotel. Part of the top floor is indoors for eating and the other side is outside and overlooks the ocean with a lounge area. When getting to this hotel and seeing everything here, I got tears in my eyes from the beauty surrounding me.

School is inside the salon of the hotel on the ground floor, I've never had class in such a nice place, it's distracting sometimes. For lunch today we went to a crape place and had a nice lunch and then went shopping. The vendors are all nice and are willing to lower prices, I can successfully get them to lower the prices in Arabic now, which is exciting. Many of them will lower their prices a lot and joke around, I've been called Berber many times now because I never pay a high price for things. Later on sometimes I'll see vendors I know walking down the street and even if I didn't buy from them, they'll stop and chat happily with me. The clothing is beautiful and very hippyish here, there is a lot of wooden boxes, pottery, boots, and bags as well as good fruit and bread. You can get a huge warm loaf of bread for 10 us cents on the street here, and the bread is amazing! The first day in the madina some of us walked to the beach, it was cold and super windy but still very beautiful and worth it. Tomorrow morning we are going to do sunrise yoga on the beach with me teaching and after school are going to ride camels on the beach and go kite surfing. Wish me luck!

Morocco 7

Just journeyed to the high atlas mountains with some Americans and Moroccans, the first thing we did after getting off the bus was to go down to a creek. We collected rocks, dipped out feet in, took pictures and walked along the shore. The shore was made up entirely in little rocks of all colors and the water was clear and chilly. After walking a little ways down we came to a donkey bridge used to carry heavy loads over the water and a small village with people washing their cloths and bathing in the stream. There was one little boy that watched us as we walked by and seemed really curious. The next day we passed by him again sitting in the same place as the day before. I wonder what little kids do when their parents are farming and they live in a small village on the slopes of a mountain. Do most sit in one place day by day and watch the time go by? That night we decided to sleep outside where it was cool and beautiful, there was a roof for girls and a roof for boys to sleep on. We brought out our big mattresses from the rooms and brought them to the roof. It was amazing sleeping under the stars and listening to the owls, stream, and frogs, I would have liked to lay there for ever. The next day we went on a hike over a mountain. We used the paths used by locals and passed through several villages as we climbed. The terrain was very dusty and rocky with little to no ground covering. It was beautiful and lifeless at the same time. That night a local burber man talked to us about their culture and lifestyle. We were informed that everyone is to marry at age 18 to someone arranged to them and that school is optional. School is hard to get to because there aren't many around and it can take several hours to walk to. They got electricity 6 years ago and all live in little clay and rock buildings. They fence in their animals with cacti or other plants and grow all sorts of delicious fruits. Most people living in the mountains there are nomads, they live in the mountains in the summer and live in the Sahara desert in the winter. Also that night, my roommate and I got to talk to one of the Moroccans about his religious views. He is a nonmuslim with much more westernize views than most in the area which made an interesting conversation while looking up at the stars. Hearing religious views here have been mostly similar, most are strong Muslims with some slightly different views, but they are very similar overall so it was nice to see a completely different view for once.

Morocco 6

The other day my host sister, American room mate, and I went to the hamam. For those of you who do not know what a hamam is, it's a public bath where people gather together to bath. They undress, sit on the floor of a steamy hot room and use buckets filled with water to cleanse themselves. First we used henna and put it all over ourselves. After a few minutes we washed it off and covered our skin with black soap. After rinsing that off, you scrub yourself all over with all of your energy with a scrubbing kit and see skin coming off. After reaching all places you can reach, someone else will scrub your back for you (which feels amazing) and then you use your normal shampoo etc. After rinsing again, another round of henna is put on and rinsed one final time. The process took us almost 3 hours and seemed strange at first but was very interesting and nice by the end. We plan on going back each week for another scrub.

Morocco 5

A week and a half into being in morocco I have grasp some of the culture differences at a decent enough level to share about some of them. First off is the food, everyone eats off of one dish and drinks from the same cup. They do this because they believe that to share a meal, a meal should truly be shared, not just passed around. For some dishes there are spoons but for the most part everyone eats with their hands. Another cultural difference is that there is food served all the time. There is breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack, predinner, and dinner and if any guests visit, another meal is put together, it is polite to always serve a guest food. So there are about 6 or 7 meals in a day, with dinner tending to be around 11 pm or midnight. Now about the food, breakfast tends to be bread and tea, brunch is bread and tea, lunch is a tajeen with veggies on the side and a desert of either fruit or sweets, pre dinner tends to be more sweets and tea, and dinner is another tajeen with veggies on the side and another desert with tea. Dinner also comes with juice. Not just any juice either, it's the best juice in the world, freshly made at each home. Tonight we had pomegranate juice and orange strawberry juice, to die for! It's probably my favorite thing to have with meals so far, especially strawberry juice. There are lots of olives, oranges, nectarines, and tomatoes here so we eat lots of those and there are many varieties of breads for each meal. On a side note, they Blanch almonds here, which I had never heard of before. Very interesting concept that I don't yet understand but will attempt to gain knowledge about it.

Morocco 4

The Medina! It's a crazy crazy place that I have been to twice now. For those of you reading who don't know about Medinas, they are basically shuks (stores) all together with tiny passage ways between them. There's some open areas for food vendors, snake, henna, and monkey people etc. It's very unsafe, especially for people who look like tourists. I managed to take some pictures of what it looked like but didn't get to get many since I'd rather my camera not get stolen. So these little shops are all really interesting, there's different areas of the passage ways for different types of vendors. For example, all of the shoe vendors are all next to each other, that way the shoppers can compare products and prices easily. There are many colorful interesting shops, many selling products like shoes, clothing, spices, cloth, metal, lamps, leather, bags, and rugs. There's stuff hanging about the walkway as you pass and everywhere around you, no space to walk by, and you never know when a snake man will put a snake around your neck and ask for money (which has already happened). supposedly the food in the Medina is the best around, but you have to be willing to get sick if you try anything. Today I got my first sign of meebs (amoeba) from food that I ate yesterday. Here you never know where the food comes from and what's been done to it.

Morocco 3

Time to talk about arabic school. first of all, the building is spectacular. It's quaint but at the same time it's tiled beautifully with little twists and turns everywhere. There are little kids running around everywhere and there are tea breaks every hour of class. the class rooms are outside so we always get to walk out side to get everywhere and it's wonderful. There are palm trees and fun colors and a ping pong table and more crazy tile! In could not imagine a better school to come to every day,if I were in a school like this one everyday,I would enjoy school quite a bit more,luckily I'll be going there for 5 more weeks! The lunch room is my favorite, the tile is the best there and it looks like a formal Moroccan sitting room. There is a keyboard in there too and many talented americans to play it! The atmosphere here is very laid back and is so pleasant, today I finally went around the school taking loads of pictures. Class is difficult at the moment but we will switch from Moroccan dareja to Arabic farha which I know some of which will be wonderful. The day I came to morocco I lost my voice so speaking in dareja has been impossible, its hard to learn a new dialect of a foreign language when unable to speak but it shall get better soon ashahala. People have been very kind about my not talking and have told me in Arabic to feel better. 

Morocco 2

Two days ago my host family had a family party. They call it 40 memories, which is celebrated 40 days after a loved one dies. In this case it was my host familie's grandfather. I assumed that there would be maybe 50 people and that it would be a small dinner with some talk of the grandfather. I could not have assumed so incorrectly. There were 140 relatives there and it lasted 5 hours, until 1 am. the event took place outside my host uncle's huge villa. There were wait staff, large tables for everyone, bright colored traditional clothing, and tons of people! I got to wear a head scarf and traditional Moroccan clothing and got to talk in dariga to the family. There were men singing and tons of food. The next day I went back to the dame house and got to see it for what it really is. It was bigger than I had thought. Originally it was large, but after seeing it during the day, the house was the most beautiful home I had ever seen. The yard was huge with a swimming pool next to a gazebo, many sitting areas, and unlimited possibilities. We went over with a cousin, brother, sister, and the other american student staying with us and went swimming. It felt wonderful to get out of the conservative clothing and to wear a bikini again. It felt even better lying out tanning with everyone, watching the palm trees swaying back and forth and laughing. My host family loves pictures so my sister took many of us around the pool. I could not imagine a better time.

Morocco

I could not imagine a more different place. It's all so completely different! The ride from Rabat to Marrakesh was interesting, I'll post pictures later of it but the land was so completely empty. There was dirt, dead grass, sheep, and the Atlantic ocean and mountains in the distance. There were rocks piled up and a few palm trees here and there. No houses really, not even fences to keep the sheep from wondering off into the road. The biggest difference was reaching Marrakesh. Everything is red. The other cities aren't red like this one, this one is known as the entrance into the Sahara and the red city, I didn't take it quite so literally until actually reaching it. We soon found out host families and walked to their house. On the walk, we encountered cat calls, stray cats and dogs, and donkeys walking on the streets with carts. The sidewalks are all tile and stone and everything is walled in. The houses all have thick red fences with gates of interesting colors and designs. The red fences lead to red houses. We walked up to the apartment and found our room. My host family is wonderful, I have a host sister who speaks english very well, a brother who speaks some english, and parents who are wonderful. the family also has a maid who lives there with them. Currently a cousin of theirs is staying with them for a few days. The first day we learned some dariga ( Moroccan Arabic) and then got to attempt to use it at a party we later attended.

Start 5

Flight:
7 hours on the largest commercial jet in existence, it was amazing. Everything about it was spectacular. A boy in the group told some of us all about the plane before we went on it and mentioned that it holds over 800 people! Naturally, I sat next to him on the flight. He also happens to be my state buddy (only other person in the group that's from North Carolina) so it was cool to talk about home also. The other person I sat with on the flight was just as cool but hails from Portland Oregon, which I never thought was all that interesting until he told me about it. Everyone in this group comes from somewhere interesting with different backgrounds, also very cool. Anyways, on the flight the food was amazing for airplane food, they served a few different kinds of meals and everyone got to choose which they wanted. They served dinner and breakfast, both good. The screen attached to each seat were touch screen with games, tons of movies and shows, and even a chat room for the passengers. Each chair had a remote with a keyboard attached to it to type messages with. I tried watching a movie but halfway through the movie got distracted by the two guys next to me and stayed distracted the whole trip, making the time fly by quickly. We walked around the two floors of the plane and took pictures on the stairs going up to first class, the people working on the plane even took the pictures for us. Newt Gingrich was even on the plane! We saw him before getting on, again when walking around first class, and a third time when getting off. He took a picture with some of us and waved a different time.

Getting off the plane, we were delayed for our next flight for 14 hours! Which we had to spend staying in the airport (aka not seeing Paris, which we were in) we did however see the Eiffel tower from the windows and played around some. At that point I got sick, which has made the last few days a tad rough. Our plane was then supposed to go to Rabat because of storms but the flight still took 2 extra hours because the plane had to go around the stormy area to reach Rabat. On that plane I talked to a lady near me in Arabic. Reaching rabat wasn't as eventful as I had thought it would be, we were all so tired that the thought of reaching land was more related to the want of sleep than to actually being in a different country across the ocean.

Start 4

I've been in morocco for 4 days now, which is actually enough to write an extremely huge long article about the orientation in DC, plane ride, and the first few days in Morocco so i'll just start with the orientation.

Orientation:
I flew into DC June 16th, missing part of father's day AND my brother's birthday. The plane ride was about 45 minutes. Getting off the plane, I was alone and had absolutely no idea where to go. Like a lost puppy, I started walking towards baggage claim thinking maybe someone could be there to find me, if not at least I could get my baggage. Before I got there, I was intercepted by a group leader, who would be going to Morocco with me and all of the other kids. Getting to the hotel, I walk in and see 10 pairs of eyes staring at me. At first they all seemed really creepy but after the first few minutes went by it got better, we went for a walk around Arlington Virginia (just us kids) to get to know each other, which was definitely worth it because our walk ended up being 4 or 5 hours of sitting and socializing with the group of 10 people. We got back to the hotel and found many more people, who over time we got to know as well but initially it was nice to start with a group of a smaller number and then working up. Meeting all of the new people all at once was absolutely the coolest thing I have gotten to do in a long time. Everyone in the group has the same drive and desire to learn Arabic, which I have never seen before, making this fresh, new group of people a very special group. After a few days of games and lectures, we left to Paris to change flights to Casablanca.

Start 3

16 Days until all of us from Legacy depart from home and go to the capital. It's less than 3 weeks away, close to 2 weeks actually :) and it hasn't hit me yet. My exchange student leaves in 2 weeks, I leave my beloved post 5 (tv/news group at WRAL) in the hands of the vice presidents for most of summer, finals are this week and I haven't had the time or energy to think about them yet. All that's on my mind is going to Morocco. Do I have enough clothing, do I need to make any more skirts, do I have the right shoes, what gifts should I bring to my host family(!!!), What books should I put on the tablet, it just goes on and on. And on. Tonight is a North Carolina NSLI-Y meeting and I can't wait! This trip is one of the few times I feel like I actually truly deserve it happening. I base so many things in life off of luck but this I worked hard for and yes, there's luck involved, but not as much as usual. A week or two ago I did a test in Arabic on Skype with someone and it was scheduled for 8pm, I thought it would be in EST but it was Moroccan...  totally unprepared when he asked me to get on Skype earlier (at that point I didn't even have a Skype set up) but it went okay. I answered all I could and said la arif or asif quite a bit but overall I guess it went well :)

start 2

I have a countdown app on my phone. It's counting down to prom, summer break, and MOROCCO! It looks just like that too. I leave for the orientation in 68 days and leave for Morocco 2 after that. At this point, I've most definitely worn my friends out with all of my rambling about how glorious summer is going to be in Morocco. It's like I'm a busted record player saying the same stuff over and over again. As the record player, I'm as happy as can possibly be repeating it over and over and over. Those listening... maybe not so much :p

I'm feeling very crazy lucky this year.
First I get nominated with my team for an Emmy
a few days after that, I get accepted into NSLIY ( the program taking me to Morocco)
and soon after, I'm asked to take a French exchange student into my family for a month or two. I don't know yet if the French Girl is coming but it's a pretty good chance :) Her name is Zoe and I can't wait. I've had an Exchange student from France before but this time it was perfect timing. Not only will I get to have a little sis for a bit but she'll help me relearn some of the French that I've forgotten over the year before I go to French speaking Morocco. I took French for all of Middle school and part of High school then went to France to study it but alas, I've started losing it.
More good news= good grades all this year, two internships (one of which I'm president at). I'm a published photographer, and have fun classes. Junior year has been absolutely the hardest and best year so far. Summer across seas will finish the best year off with a bang and will welcome a whole new year into my life.
I couldn't have dreamed of such a life, a year ago I would never have thought of speaking Arabic or going to Morocco and here I am doing both :) -Spontaneously Shannon

start

Hello :) so for starters, this blog is for a trip to Morocco for 6 weeks this summer. I'm going to study Arabic (and French a tad) and improve my linguistic skills as well as experience the culture and take lots of pictures.

How: The US government has a program for teens to study abroad for free. I got lucky and was accepted.

When: June 19th- July 26th, 2013

Why: I've been taking Arabic at school and plan on Majoring in it as well as Communications. I will create a documentary traveling across Africa then after I shall use the language skills for a career.

Fears?: That my battery for my camera will be unable to recharge. It's always a fear.

-Spontaneously Shannon