The Sahara!

I spent one of my long weekends traveling to the Sahara. It was one of the most amazing experiences. Merzouga is about an eight hour trip from Ifrane by taxi. By bus it is about a 12-hour trip; in most cases, it is much longer. A Grande Taxi holds six passengers. As a group, we decided to take a taxi. I believe this was the best way because we were able to stop numerous times throughout the journey to Merzouga.

 We made many stops for picture opportunities on the way to and from the desert. It is amazing how many different environments exist throughout Morocco.
We finally arrived in the desert. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like it. Everywhere you look, mountains of sand are on the horizon. We rode camels to the campsite, we walked around taking pictures, sand-boarded, and emptied our shoes multiple times before dinner.

Due to the fact that we traveled in early December, it was a perfect temperature during mid-day, but as the sun began its descent, our coats came out. Our campsite consisted of many fancy tents and plenty of blankets. 

When you spend the night in the desert, you need to remember to bring jackets and shoes that you will not mind if they have sand in them until the end of time. I still find sand in my shoes. However, sandy shoes were completely worth the excitement and beauty of the desert. 

As the sun set, our camp-host ushered us to the top of a sand dune to take pictures. Pictures will never capture the full beauty of this sunset. 

After we took our pictures and ate a wonderful Tajine, we sat around a fire. At first we just talked quietly. Then they brought out many musical instruments and sang Berber songs around the fire. It was lively and vastly entertaining. They taught us how to play the instruments, at which I failed but I still had fun. Once some of my friends learned how to play the instruments, we sang English songs that we could all remember the words--this was much harder than one would think.

The next morning, I woke the girls up an hour before sunrise because I had a feeling that many of them had never seen stars in the wilderness--without light pollution. We brought our blankets to the top of a dune and huddled as the sun rose and the stars disappeared. That is one of my favorite moments of the day. 

After the sun was fully in the sky, we rode the camels away from the desert and back to the main building. We enjoyed an amazing breakfast and then laid on chairs in the sun--defrosting our frozen toes and soaking up the beautiful desert rays. 

The time we all rued had arrived--it was time to leave Merzouga. We began our eight-hour trip back to Ifrane but stopped at a few beautiful locations on the way. One of the locations was a hot spring, sadly I do not know the exact location nor the history behind the spring. 

Take Away Tips:

~ It is better to travel in a group of six because you can take a Grande Taxi for a reasonable price

~Bring jackets because it gets cold at night

~Wear shoes you don't mind getting sandy

~Charge your phone or the device that you plan to take pictures with

Thanksgiving: Sharing Cultures and Long Lasting Friendships

It's always hard when the holidays come around and you can't be with the ones you love. The best thing about this study abroad experience is the fact that I have found, yet another, group to call family. To me, Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have, helping others, and spending time with those you love. The university had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner; however, I did not attend. Instead,  I traveled to Rabat with a friend.

As an exchange student, you are always told never to travel alone. My friend had to go to an internship interview in Rabat. The timing of the interview was not the best. No one could go with her because many of us have Friday classes that we can't miss. After feeling obliged to not allow my friend to travel alone and weighing the pros and cons, I decided to skip my one Friday class and travel with her. [*I am in no way condoning class ditching.* Reasons for skipping that class: 1. I am ahead in the class, 2. I turned my homework in ahead of time, 3. I gave the professor notice].

So our trip began Thursday evening, Thanksgiving. We took first class tickets on the train so that we could have space to work on homework. As you can see in the picture above, I had to do research on the Rwandan Genocide. It is difficult to work on a train, as it is always swaying from side to side and is a rather turbulent ride. Therefore, I took many breaks that consisted of staring out the window. One thing that I absolutely love about Morocco is the various beautiful sunsets.

Because it was Thanksgiving, we took every possibility to eat. Starting at the train station, we sat down to enjoy some fancy hot chocolate. Side note, I came here to learn Arabic, but I find myself learning French...the hard way. I ordered the hot chocolate from the dessert menu thinking that it was ice cream. It wasn't until I reached the bottom of the whipped cream that I realize this was, in fact, hot chocolate.

 This amazing woman across from me is French and this was her first Thanksgiving experience. She also has been essential to my understanding of all the French everywhere I go. Sometimes I try to figure out the meaning of French words on menus but, as you can tell from my ice cream- hot chocolate mix up, I really should stick to asking for her help.

 For our actual Thanksgiving dinner, we found a small restaurant down the street from our hotel. I am not sure if it was a Lebanese or Syrian restaurant because the online advertisement for it said it was Lebanese, but the sign outside said Syrian. Either way, the food was phenomenal! We got everything in the two pictures below and tea for such an amazing price.

 That night we spent some time on the rooftop of our hotel talking and enjoying the city lights.

 

The next morning we got coffee and pastries at the cafe right below our hotel. This was the big day: her interview. We left the cafe two hours before her interview. Neither of us knew exactly where the office was located, so we began our journey. 

  It was my first time on a tramway so, as good friends--and tourists--do, she took my picture to commemorate this moment. The photobomber in the background was very amused by us and turned out to be a nice young man.
 The tramway only took us so far. As broke college students do, we walked for forty minutes the rest of the way to the location of her interview. It was hot and humid, so walking may not have been the best decision. I wanted her to look as professional as possible so I carried her suit jacket in hopes that she would get hot. We made it. I sat in a cafe working on final papers and presentations for two hours while she prepared for and then went to the interview. Traveling as an exchange student isn't all play. We work hard most of the time so we can spend the little moments enjoying Morocco.

 I think she impressed the interview panel because she was the only candidate who made the journey for an in-person interview. Therefore, we rewarded ourselves with Starbucks--because you can only get Starbucks in the big cities.
 After her interview was over, we decided to be tourists and see the recommended sights. We started with the fountains directly outside of the Medina, The water was pink in recognition for a  movement: "No Violence on Women."

 

 We traveled to the famous Hassan Tower--an incomplete mosque.
The picture below is overlooking the city from the grounds near the Hassan Tower.

 Our next stop was the Casba and it was abosoutely beautiful. The picture above is the Casba from the viewpoint of the Port right next to it. 

 This picture is one of the streets in the Casba.  

 The Casba also had a garden and this was one of the walls in the garden. 

We watched the sunset from the beach and then went back to our hotel. The next morning, we returned to campus.

 
 Upon my return to campus, I was greeted with these sticky notes on my desk. My roommate had brought me a small bird (I am not sure what kind of bird) in order to make me feel more at home during Thanksgiving. It was an amazing gesture and this food tasted absolutely amazing.