Everything is better in Morocco

Now that I am back in America my family likes to make fun of me because I claim that everything is better in Morocco. I’ve said it all. The oranges are better. The tea is better. The sushi is better. The sunsets are better. The cafes are better. The weather is better. The list goes on.

What can I say? I am head over heels in love with the country.

Let me try to tell you why.

First off, the people. There’s so much to love about them, but I am especially drawn to their كرم (karam). It is a word that really can’t be translated into English. Some say it means generosity, hospitality, or kindness, but I prefer to translate it with stories: I got in a taxi and the driver immediately asked me if I wanted some of his tea. Another day I showed up at my friend’s house to drop something off and her host mom insisted that I stay for teatime and come back for dinner the next night. My best friend Othmane left work multiple times without us asking to help several of us on the program who’d lost money due to language breakdown that landed us with useless train tickets. Once I walked into a shop and greeted the shop owner in Arabic, and he made me stay for tea because I was speaking his language. When we were in Tangier, we asked a random guy if he knew of a place to get old jewelry, and in response, he walked us around the old city showing us shops for the next hour. Karam is the value that makes any person feel welcomed and at home, even in a place so far from home.

I also can’t help but be in love with the cities. I could go on about all of them, but I’ll stick to my favorite, Chefchoauen. I went there three times over the course of my six months and fell more in love each time. Life moves slowly there. It’s not a big city with modern technology and a western feel like Rabat. It’s what 70% of Morocco is like. The walls are blue bringing a sense of pure calmness. No cars are allowed in the medina. Tourists come and go but the locals are always there with their community, living a simple, but happy, life. They say they don’t need much, just their people and their city. I find that I start to live like the locals do when I’m there. My favorite thing to do is to go with Imami, the CIEE excursion leader, to an old mosque on top of the city to watch the sunset. We sit and we talk, and then when the call to prayer starts, we quiet down and listen as the call starts from one mosque on one end of the city and then continues,one by one, at every mosque in the area, echoing off the mountains and drowning everything else out. It is the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed.

I could go on forever about why I am in love with Morocco, but I should stop here. I was heartbroken when the Coronavirus ended my Morocco journey early, but I can’t help but be thankful for the time I had. Thankful for my host family. Thankful for the CIEE staff, who became my second family. Thankful for my Moroccan friends, especially Othmane. And thankful for all people I came across who filled my days with joy. Morocco, I’ll be back. And I love you.