Catch Up

Tomorrow, which happens to be my birthday, I will have been in Rabat, Morocco for a week so let me catch you up with a stream of consciousness style. Now, as my sister, or anyone who has ever heard me tell or hear a story knows, I love including absolutely every detail. To ensure that I actually experience Morocco, rather than sit inside writing about it, perhaps in the future I'll try to pick certain adventures and elaborate.

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The journey to Morocco was a difficult one. I planned to leave home on saturday, January 28th, but my flight was changed at the last minute. The new flight plan would have gotten me to Rabat too late so Delta/Airfrance helped me switch to an earlier flight as my family and I frantically drove to the airport. The rush made for a lot of confusion, but, after connecting in Madrid (where we were loaded onto the tiny commuter plane only to find that the baggage door wouldn't close and we would have to switch planes), I finally arrived!

Stepping into the Rabat airport, everything felt right! The airport is small and the design is modern, but with a Moroccan motif. Some fellow students and I were met by Fadoua, one of the SIT program assistants (PA). She was so kind, stylish, and confident as she helped us onto a chartered bus and provided us with snacks. We drove through Salé (a small suburb across the Bouregreg river from Rabat) during 'the golden hour', just as the sun was setting. We passed by parks where a sea of families played and picnicked. People streamed through the highways to and from the green spaces and I smiled; this is how I had imagined Africa. We drove to the Berlin Hotel where the twelve journalism students stayed during orientation. All sixty SIT students (there are two other programs besides journalism) met to share dinner on the first night at a beautiful restaurant where a PA had to herd us around a praying man on the way to the tables.

The six day orientation mainly consisted of programs geared toward helping us adjust to the academics, life in Rabat, and our homestays. The journalism group met Mary Stucky and Taieb Belghazi, our academic directors (ADs). Mary, a veteran journalist who founded Round Earth Media, will teach us from a more practical point of view, while Taieb, a professor at Mohammed V University, will provide a more scholarly and Moroccan point of view. Our schedule is very full: a field study in journalism, a seminar on journalism in Morocco and North Africa, a French for journalism class (other students will be in Arabic, but from 8:30 to 11:45 Louis and I will take French), daily work in our very own newsroom with frequent deadlines, multiple excursions, and a six week independent study. I'm very excited!

During orientation, I particularly enjoyed our Drop Off Exercise. Badr (our PA), Mary, Taieb, and their twelve students boarded a bus to each be dropped off in an unknown part of the city. Each student had a topic to explore and had to find their own way back to the Center for Cross Cultural Learning (CCCL, our host institution) via taxi. My topic was pollution and green spaces. As each student was dropped off, everyone cheered "Go Eboni!! Whooo!! You can do it Marie!!". It was such an interesting feeling to come off the bus glowing with the support of new found friends and advisors into an environment where you were just another stranger going about your business on the street; I felt like a real reporter. I was dropped off near the Rabat Ville train station where I saw a broad street with a lush, palm tree lined park in the center that ran for a few blocks. My observations had given rise to many questions so I gathered courage and tried to speak to a woman standing next to me. She denied me, but I found success soon after with a girl about my age. We spoke in French and I learned a great deal about city pollution and Rabatis' love for, but lack of, parks. Satisfied, I flagged down two blue petit taxis (can't leave the city borders, as opposed to les grand taxis) before one driver agreed to take me. The drivers can take three people at a time so if a new client's destination isn't easily reached from their previous clients' they will wave you on. After being dropped off I entered the Medina, where the streets are too narrow for cars, and navigated its windy streets to find the CCCL. The drop off gave me such a sense of independence and confidence, qualities I thought that I already had good stock of. It was an incredible experience!