MOROCCO!!!

Nov 29, 2018

Ya know how before new episodes of shows its like "and here's what you missed on the last episode of _______". I am about to give you a super lame short summary so if you wanna see the cool stuff scroll down to the part about life change or the pictures.  Heres what you missed on the last episode of Adventures of Me...

We drove 3 hours from Sevilla to the ocean!! Then we took a ferry to Tangier! The ferry ride was beautiful and only an hour! Then we drove to a women's center and talked with college girls about social and cultural differences from USA and Morocco. It was really great to hear the perspectives of different people. Then we got in the car and for a THANKSGIVING SURPRISE we got to ride camels on the beach. It has been a dream of mine for years and I almost started crying! We then went to see a famous mosque and then ruins. It was all so beautiful! Next, we went to meet our homestay families for the weekend. The girl was so sweet and excited for us to live with her for a short time. We ate amazing food and got to attempt to speak Arabic.   We then went to Rabat and got to hang out with some local university students and talk about social differences and similarities and just hang out.  We also got to speak with a peace core volunteer after about how he helped start projects in Morocco and how Morocco changed his life.  The next day we drove to the Rif mountains and ate lunch in the house of a village family and asked them questions about healthcare, marriage, education and social norms in country life versus life in the city.  Next we drove to Chefchaouen and took a walk through the center of the city to our hostel (we prob looked really crazy because we were a bunch of loud american teenagers with big backpacks and only a few adults with us haha).  Then we got to explore and I went and bought a bunch of souvenirs for my spanish and american family and friends.  Next day we headed for the border in car (3 hours).  When we got to Ceuta we had to cross the border on foot to a Spanish city (in Morocco but not actually) then we divided up and all took taxis to the port.  We then took a ferry back (everyone slept on the ferry haha we were so exhausted) and drove all the way to Sevilla (3 hours).

I wanted to first explain the logistics of it all to give everyone an idea of what we did.  In my opinion, the best part of the trip was the change within me and all my friends (the other 26 CIEE students).  I personally went on the trip without a whole lot of expectations  except from what I gatherer about North Africa in Tunis.  Morocco surprised me so much.  First off, the people are SO WELCOMING.  We stayed in host families houses and they fed us and tried to make us feel at home even though they didn't speak any english.  Every time we went to a women's center or house the people would make us tea and just be so so so excited to show us their culture and meet us.

They viewed us as people.  Americans who don't live abroad much think that everyone wants to live in the US and live our amazing "american dream" life.  My eyes were opened to a whole new world when one of the village women told me about how her dreams and opinions changed.  She said it in arabic and our translator translated so I am going to paraphrase.

"In Morocco, for the most part people don't judge you because you are American.  We separate the people from the government.  Each of you are people and very different and we appreciate that.  Many people in Morocco used to dream of living in the US with a stable job and great house but now it's impossible to go no matter how hard we work because of the government and fear.  As Muslims and Moroccan, we are scared of the government. The American Dream is dead"

I am putting all political beliefs aside because sometimes it shouldn't be about policies and it should be about the people an about love.  I just want to share how my eyes were opened to the changing views of the US government; however, they don't placed these views on the people which is sooooo different from most countries.

On the other hand, you have people in Morocco with such pride for their country and unique culture that couldn't ever imagine moving away.  Everyones love for their country though was showed so clearly with all the different types of food cooked and traditions shown.

I have to admit I had some prejudices before I went to Morocco.  They aren't those big out in front obvious kinda things though because I genuinely thought I didn't have any.  It became obvious to me as we talked with some college girls about how they have equal education and rights as men.  One of the girls also mentioned that because she wears the hijab people assume she's less fun or boring.  Sometimes she can't get jobs because of the hijab (such as flight attendant), but because of her faith and tradition she still wears it.  We also met girls of the same faith who didn't wear it because they chose not to.  They told us that in the cities it's normally a choice to wear the hijab and they are required.

All of my American friends on this trip each had a different breakthrough, some about equality, or education, or housing.  For me it was about the hijab (headscarf).  The headscarf doesn't change who that person is or anything.  The hijab shouldn't have stereotypes because the hijab isn't the person.  It's a part of the person and her religion but it isn't her.  This trip overall judge broke my stereotypes and I am so grateful because although they aren't big it's never okay to have a stereotype of prejudice.

My final piece of advice...

NEVER JUDGE A COUNTRY UNTIL YOU'VE BEEN THERE AND TALKED WITH THE REAL PEOPLE. NOT TOUR GUIDE. NOT RESORTS. THE REAL PEOPLE AND ASK REAL QUESTIONS AND MAKE FRIENDSHIPS.