Photo / Story / Video Contest

3rd place

My Time in the United States
By Imane, USA High School - exchange student from Morocco

When I first arrived to the United States, I was far from imagining what type of experience I would have with my great host family, wonderful local coordinator, and the remarkable people I would meet along the way. Five months later, I found that I have done things I couldn’t have thought possible before I left home! My story here in the U.S. has been filled with great memories.

To start, last September I experienced my first Ramadan outside of my country and far away from my family. I still can remember the first day I fasted here because I broke my fast, at sunset, with typical American food-cookies and pizza! A week into Ramadan, my Local Coordinator, Genevieve, agreed to try fasting with me and it was pretty exciting to be her personal cheerleader throughout the day. She made it! Joan, my host mom, also fasted with me, not once, but twice! To celebrate their participation, I made both of them a certificate in Arabic for what they had achieved.

I’ve enjoyed the American holiday traditions as well. I had my very first Halloween in October! In the weeks prior, all I could think about was the possible characters I could dress up as, and fortunately, Joan came with the idea that I dress up as the Statue of Liberty by saying: “What is more American than that?!” So she and my host dad, Steve, did an amazing job helping me make the costume to go trick-or-treating with some friends.

Christmas was my favorite holiday. We went to Syracuse to visit my host family’s relatives. My host family was very generous and I received so many presents. As a present to my host family, I had traditional Moroccan clothes sent over, and we later dressed up in them for photos!

I’ve also had some amazing traveling experiences. In the fall, following the advice of a teacher at my high school, Joan and I attended a conference hosted by the Ambassador of Morocco at Brown University. After the conference, I was able to talk to the Ambassador in person and have my picture taken with him!

I had the opportunity to go to Florida with Joan and her friends, along with an exchange student from Slovakia. We spent the two first days swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and enjoying the gorgeous sunsets. On the third day, we decided to bike to the next beach which was six miles away. I hadn’t been on a bike for over ten years, so I fell over at least a hundred times and became the world champion of “People Bowling”; a nickname I was given after I knocked over several old men and women and left a good chunk of my own skin along the way!

I also remember Election Day as being exceptional. I volunteered for thirteen hours for a new middle school for my host town of East Greenwich. Afterwards, Genevieve took me to Political party where I followed the polling results and learned that Obama was to become the next president, staying up to watch the historical President-Elect speech. For somebody that loves politics such as myself, this was a fascinating political moment for me to witness while in the U.S.

Better yet, I was later surprised to learn that I would get to go to Washington D.C. and to be present at the National Mall watching the swearing in of President Obama. Thanks to Joan and Genevieve, I was part of the 1.8 million people present in D.C. that day. It was totally incredible!

Another highlight of my exchange here in the states has been in the educational experiences I have had. I have been able to give eight presentations in front of my fellow high school students, both in French and English about Morocco. One of my classmates has now decided to go to Morocco this summer on vacation! I am exchanging languages by tutoring one of the Spanish teachers here at my school – she is teaching me Spanish, while I teach her Moroccan Arabic, and I can already hear my Spanish improving! I also meet regularly with a mentor, Mr. Preston who is the CEO of a marketing company to talk about business and politics.

Last Weekend, I went to New Hampshire for a CIEE excursion with Genevieve and other students from Germany and Pakistan. It was quite interesting to meet students from other countries and expand my comfort zone by succeeding on one of the scheduled events-a high ropes course!

I am extremely glad that I made the choice to come to the United States this year and I will definitely tell everyone I know, starting with my little sister, to discover and experience the American culture for themselves!!!