Celebrating Eïd in Toulouse (Student Takeover)

Every session, we program leaders can invite students to post blogs and share their student perspective on the program.  For my student takeover blog, I chose Yasmin and asked her to write about what it was like to celebrate Eïd (the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan each year) while in Toulouse.  I was very eager to know how Yasmin felt about being far from her family during this important holiday in the Muslim tradition. Please check out the gallery and read Yasmin's blog to see how she was able to maintain this important cultural tradition even while away from home.

Celebrating Eïd  in Toulouse 

Joining session 1 in Toulouse, I knew that I would have to sacrifice some things. Although I know it was definitely going to be worth it, I had one big discomfort which was Eïd (عيد). Ramadan is always one month and this year it was during the last half of May and first half of June, which would mean I had to celebrate Eïd (which is a huge deal in the Islamic community) alone.

I, along with my parents, weren’t that happy about it because Eïd is all about having fun and giving thanks with all your family and friends. I had planned to ask my host mom if she knew about any nearby Mosques that I could join in for the morning and continue on with my day. But when I asked she said she didn’t know of any, but was glad to help me look for some.

Meanwhile, Eïd was coming up in three days and that’s when Program Coordinator Mathilde had approached me and asked me what my plans were. I was surprised she even knew about the holiday, but also felt so relieved that there was someone who cared about how I spent that day. I explained to her that I didn’t think I was going to do anything. I didn’t want to keep bothering and asking for permission to go places so I just decided to leave it alone.

Being the amazing and caring person that she is, Mathilde made sure I was going to celebrate one way or another. To see someone else other than myself trying to make Eïd work finally made me excited about celebrating the holiday away from home. I remember that every year up to now, celebrating Eïd has always been the best day of my life, the highlight of each year... 

...the joy my sisters and I had when we’d wake up in the morning to the sound of our father waking us up, with music coming from the kitchen downstairs, and our prettiest dresses in our closets. Then slightly looking down from our staircases and seeing my aunts and uncles waiting for us so we could eat breakfast together. It is one of the best memories that I have of my family. And I guess when Mathilde said that she would figure something out and that it wouldn’t be fair for me to miss such an important holiday, it gave me a piece of that excitement that had seemed to be lost.

I was then placed with Olivia’s host family who was absolutely amazing! Her host siblings are so funny and extremely kind. I laughed so much during my time with them. And the mom was so sweet the entire time, she reminded me so much of my aunts back home! We all got so comfortable with each other, and I even got to meet their many extended family members. Their whole family was so intrigued at the fact that we were American so we all shared stories, compared our cultures, and differences in our everyday life.

First, we stopped at the mosque. We had such a long and eventful day, and I dinned out to Moroccan food which is so delicious. I got to continue the celebration with my usual Eïd traditions which aren’t that different from theirs. And on our way back we got to stop at beautiful chateaux (castles) and take pictures! Overall that day was so much more fun than I had expected to have.

I am very thankful for the opportunity and for CIEE because if it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t have had such a great Eïd nor met such amazing people.