Conducting interviews with limited language has been very difficult. My french comes in handy for interviews and I've translated for several other journalism students, but we need something more! Mary had planned from the very beginning to pair us with Moroccan journalism students for this very purpose and we met them for the first time just after returning from our southern excursion! I was so impressed by their commitment to this cross cultural project and to improving journalism in Morocco!

After lunch one day we set off for ISIC, one of very few journalism schools in Morocco. Following behind Mary like an elementary school class on a field trip, we wound our way out of the Medina to the closest tram stop. We requested a group stop at our favorite cookie vendor, but Mary laughed at us bemusedly; some people still took the time to buy a few cookies quickly. The cookie purchasers caught up with us as we were waiting for the tram to arrive. After switching tram lines at the large white cathedral, a Rabat landmark, we finally arrived at Ifrane, the end of the line. Crossing the street quickly, we entered ISIC.

Khadija Zizi, an English for Journalism professor at the school, had proposed the project to her students. Professor Zizi and Mary agreed that the partnership will be an equal one. Both partners will benefit from Mary's experience and each will produce his own story, working together on research and interviews. So each student introduced himself and then we were given time to talk to each other and pair up.

I found my partner right away! I actually had two partners for a while, but Mary transferred her to Eboni when her partner couldn't dedicate enough time. My partner, Sara Ait Khorsa, is a junior at ISIC. She's 20 and comes from beautiful Essouaira. When introducing herself she spoke about her interest in international development issues. She's interested in my topic, which, by the way, is an exploration of Morocco's democratization through its economy. The country consistently talks about democratization, but can there be democracy without a free economy? I can barely resist saying more now, but I'll have a lot to say about this in coming weeks. I embark on my independent study in journalism (ISJ) in two weeks and during that six week period I'll just be focused on producing this one feature story.

Back to Sara, though. She is interested in working in radio, which is perfect since that is the medium I'll be using for my ISJ. I had a million questions for her about journalism school in Morocco. She says that ISIC is very small; she knows all of her peers. There have been strikes recently over quality of classes. The students are motivated to change Moroccan journalism's restrictive nature. She lives on campus and I hope to learn more from her about life as a student in Morocco. Later that day Mary was giving a lecture at ISIC and I chose to stay and listen. The students loved Mary's anti-colonialism, cross cultural approach. In the question and answer session, they expressed appreciation that Mary starts equal partnerships with native journalists in each area she visits. At the end of the lecture Sara and I parted ways, but before I hopped back on the tram she said to me "we must work really hard on this project", a girl after my own heart!

We came together again for an individual meeting with Mary the other day. This time the ISIC students came to the CCCL. I first picked up Eboni's partner from the tram before she was officially working with Eboni. We had a nice conversation, but nothing related to the project. Later, though, I returned to the tram for Sara and immediately upon seeing me she started talking about our project. We exchanged ideas and excitement. We couldn't help but reaffirm our mutual wish to work our hardest and produce the best story possible.

Having met very few people my age who are motivated about their education in the way I am, I was curious to learn more about Sara's desire to work so hard. She told me that in addition to this project and her ISIC classes she takes classes at Mohammed V University's law school. She feels that journalists should have a deep understanding of the law and should be well rounded so as to better deliver information to their readers...just as I feel!! She also mentioned that she interns for a radio station on the weekends. I asked her what tasks she does for her internship assuming she would say that she is a gofer or perhaps occasionally helps gather research. "Oh, I deliver the news," she said casually. She really impresses me! I'm excited to work with, and learn a lot from, Sara.