Morocco

This post is very late - I actually went to Morocco in late April. Nevertheless, I still think the trip was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I went with three friends from the program - Megan, Dan, and Josh (from left to right).

It was a mammoth trip. We decided to go to Fes, which is the best-preserved city from the Middle Ages. To me, this seems true - the city really seems like it hasn't been improved since the Middle Ages. At one point in history (supposedly), it was the biggest city on Earth. Aside from that, it is known for being the home of the hats which bear the same name.

To get there, we first flew to Malaga, which is on the southern coast of Spain. Then, we had to take a two hour bus ride to Algeciras, where we could catch a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar. The ship landed in Tangiers, which is a six hour train ride away from Fes.

This was the first time I had been in a third-world country, and every minute I was there was eye-opening. There is very little tourism, which made us stick out even worse.

The people of Fes are really interesting. Street smarts are a way of life - we had ten-year-olds trying to take advantage of us, using their smooth-talk to convince us to let them guide us somewhere. People were generally warm and inviting. They wanted our money, but many just wanted us to feel welcome. For example, Josh arrived a day late. When we asked him if he needed food, he told us that he had already had dinner with a Moroccan family he met on the train.

Dan, Megan and I also met a man on the ferry who helped us find a taxi, food, and then the right train in Tangiers. Trusting him was probably not the safest idea, but I've found that trusting people can lead to some wonderful relationships. We had a really good time talking to him about Morocco at dinner and later on the train. Here's a picture of Dan and Megan with Bouchaib Dahib, who taught us the most important Arabic phrases and some very important things about surviving in Morocco:

One thing that amazed me was that, despite the poor education level of the country and the poverty, everyone knew at least three languages, usually being able to dabble in a fourth or fifth. Arabic and French are musts, and people usually also knew Spanish, German, or English. In a really awesome conversation with a man that worked at our hostel, he told us that the prophet Mohammed instructs Muslims to learn languages, because being able to communicate is the first step to loving someone. I've rarely heard such true words, which also gave my study abroad experience so much meaning.

Fes is also famous for its tanneries, where leather is scraped and dyed. We went to see the largest tannery in Morocco, and the smell was terrible. Here's a picture from a nearby balcony; those tubs are pools of dye which in which the workers push the skins with their feet:

The city is centered around a large market, called the Medina. We stayed in a hostel near the main gate. We spent most of our time in Fes wandering around the market, in which is absolutely impossible to not get lost. In the market, I saw mules actually being used as pack animals, huge buckets of live snails for sale by the kilogram, and chickens being killed to take home for dinner.

I learned a lot about people on this trip. We spoke with many locals, and everyone was sad to hear we were scared to tell people we were Americans. I got a lot of real-world proof that the great majority of Muslims are loving, nonviolent people. Most everyone we talked to did not care about politics, but rather the people they were able to interact with.

I will never forget my time in Morocco, though it was brief. It really seems two worlds away, though the people are in many ways similar to everyone else in the world.