Marhabikum fi al Maghrib! Welcome to Morocco!

After more than 24 hours of security checkpoints, flights, first meetings, and little rest, all 10 students in the Leadership Through Outdoor Education program landed in a very hot and dusty Casablanca. Morocco, always full of surprises, welcomed them with a rare coastal heatwave and impressive Saharan duststorm blocking most sun from the sky and giving the morning an eerily orange hue. Quickly whisked away on a cool bus, the students were on their way to their new homes in Rabat, the capital city of Morocco. 

After a quick pitstop in Mohammedia for logistical updates, the bus pulled over just outside the massive, ancient walls of the fortified imperial medina (city) of Rabat. Luggage poured from under the bus, and with a quick turn, the students stood, face-to-face with their new host families. Smiles, laughter, awkward embraces and fist bumps abounded! A few hours of the relative comfort of meeting all of their new American friends were interrupted by the uncertainty about what the rest of the day would hold with these unfamiliar faces. All those months of research, discussions, planning (and re-planning after COVID changed every single of their destinations!) were finally over, and the experience had arrived! 

Whether or not the students heard familiar words or not, it was clear from the joy in each of host family members' eyes that they were going to be well taken care of and safe in their new homes. Off the each went, disappearing into a white labrinyth of ancient sandstone and wooden doorways. More family members and meal after meal of delicious Moroccan foods awaited them!