Morocco Day 1

We finally made it to Morocco and damn was I exhausted. After a full 24 hours of travel, I was ready to be done, but the thing is, if I slept then I’d be screwed. My sleep schedule was reset and I had to get on Morocco time, so that meant exploring Rabat.

Rabat is the capital city of Morocco, and one of the four imperial cities. If a city has been the capital of Morocco before then it is an imperial city, currently, the imperial cities are Rabat, Meknès, Fes, and Marrakech. We plan on visiting every one of them and then some on our journey.

Instead of going to the hotel to shower as you’d expect, we took a little detour. A large aspect of this study abroad is economic innovation and development, and our professor plus several of his colleagues, are Rotary members. Rotary’s main objectives revolve around bettering the world through philanthropy, and our professor had gotten in contact with the Rotary clubs of Morocco for this study abroad. They set up a few events for us. The first of which is the detour I mentioned, and so we headed to a Moroccan school near Rabat.

This school was only three stand-alone classrooms, a boys and girls bathroom, and a computer/library room. It was within a colorful, sandy complex decorated with palm tree saplings and a Moroccan flag. It was simple, but not plain. The children ranged from early elementary to sixth grade, and we visited each class.

The youngest didn’t comprehend who we were and why we were barging into there classroom taking pictures, and I don’t blame them. It would’ve been strange to anyone. The next group recited a few things to us and it was very sweet. The last group were sixth graders, and this bunch were the ones that made my visit unforgettable.

Once we finished our tour we were served traditional Moroccan mint tea and were told about everything Rotary has done for this school and schools across the country. They provide essentially whatever the school needs, as long as they have a standard foundation of water and electricity through the government. The computers, the murals, the bathrooms, all of it executed by Rotary, a remarkable feat.

Getting back to the sixth graders, at first they sang to us and that was all, but as we walked around we noticed them watching us and giggling. I wondered if perhaps we came off as dumb Americans, but that couldn't be the case because right before we left, the children all gradually came outside, steadily edging closer until they were only a few feet away. Then the strangest thing happened. The girls came up to us and started kissing us on the cheeks. A kiss from each girl on both cheek and we were to do it back. I now know that’s a common Moroccan/European greeting, but it felt so special from these kids. They all greeted us one after another and waved goodbye, giggling all the while. It was a crazy amazing start to the trip, and we hadn’t even checked into the hotel yet, we still had more sightseeing to do.

We headed to the capital palace of Morocco where several generals and important people reside. This is the only place where people can photograph Moroccan Polizia, otherwise, they will take your camera. From there we headed to the unfinished Mosque, which is essentially a religious site they never finished so it's self explanatory. Last, we saw the Mausoleum of King Mohammed the 5th, his sons King Hussan the Second, and Prince Abdallah.

The Mausoleum is breathtakingly beautiful, the detail work is so intricate it makes you think it must’ve taken a century to create. The roof alone is a marvel to behold. It is composed of tons of beautiful small lights and iridescent colors. Following this scenic adventure, it was finally check-in time.

We hectically checked 25 people into the hotel and got situated. My roommate for the trip is Kaitlyn. The hotel was interesting and confusing, at first we thought there was no electricity, but after opening the curtains and fiddling with some foreign switches we managed to get on the lights. It was a pretty nice hotel room, though we found it odd that the twin beds were pushed together and there was a bidet, but the view from our teeny balcony glowed with a city light that was reminiscent of home.

Once I showered and power napped I prepped for dinner, and I tried to look presentable because this dinner was important to the class. We would now be dining with a Moroccan Rotary club. They gave a small presentation about what their cause was and how we helped with a small donation before we departed. The dinner was delicious and I got to engage with a local Moroccan about his country and culture.

The first day was both exhausting and exhilarating at once, which in my opinion is a good way to begin an adventure.