Well, we made it. These past five days in Morocco have been really incredible. There have been so many new highs and amazing cultural moments, and of course a few rough patches, but the overall experience has been really informative.
Today, Tuesday, was our last day on the African continent, and we spent the morning at a school in Asilah learning about education equality here in Morocco. More often than not, girls are kept out of school to learn how to run a household, so the schools are mostly boys. The school we visited, however, focuses on equality in education, and is comprised of mostly young Muslim women. They come mostly from the rural Moroccan countryside, and live in dorms at the school. I was fortunate enough to get to sit down with a table of five 17 year old Moroccans and chat about their education, culture, and hopes for the future. Most other tables had two or three Preshquitas, but I lucked out and had a table to myself. The girls were really excited to practice their English and learn about my experience at Smith and how my life in the United States is both similar and different from theirs. Yet again, Justin Beiber came up in conversation, and one girl wanted to know if I personally knew him- sorry to disappoint, chica. They were also really shocked to learned that at the ripe old age of 21, I'm not married. I tried to explain the concept of dating different guys before getting married and getting to know them one-on-one, but it's so different from how these women get to know boys in a classroom and chose a husband by only chatting in group settings at school, etc. It's a question of which comes first in personal and cultural priorities: marriage or education. I guess it just goes to show that despite the girls hopes to go to university in Tanger, culture reigns supreme, regardless of global location. The education of women can help foster their independence outside of the family and significantly improve a country's economic circumstances, but native culture will always prevail, at least to a certain extent. My coversation with the girls was definitely one of the highlights of my trip though.
After our school time, we had an hour of time to explore the Kasbah before leaving Asilah. While standing outside the Kasbah wall, a group of us spotted a guy with a camel, so we went over and asked to take pictures and have a quick ride. The camel's name was Ali-Baba, and it was awesome. I know it's such a stereotypical African experience, but it really was fun and we got some hilarious pictures. Ali-Baba was the man; I had such a blast. After the camel rides, we stopped at a little ceramics market where I bought two handmade, hand painted mugs for the equivalent of 8€. They're so pretty, and I can't wait to drink my Moroccan mint tea out of them.
And from Asilah, we hopped on the bus and went to Tanger to catch our ferry back across the Straight of Gibraltar to España. Unfortunately the ferry was delayed two hours though, so we're going to get home to Cordoba around 1am. On the bright side, however, we got to relax on the top deck of the ferry and watch the sun set over the ocean.
When we get off the bus, Maribel is taking Kim directly to the hospital to get checked out, and our host dad Carlos will meet them there. I called Maricarmen to let her know what's been going on, so she's ready to wash all our stuff and Carlos is going to get me some medication and anti-itch cream in the morning. Yay!!! I feel so lucky thy Carlos is a doctor. Seriously.
So we'll make it home in the next hour or so, and then I have 36 hours to reboot for 5 days in London. As for Morocco, however, I've learned a lot about myself. As I expressed to the girls this morning, I so appreciate my life both in Spain and the Unites States, but I also feel somewhat guilty for the opportunities I have. I did before, too, but I do even more now. I know that I am really fortunate to be getting such an incredible education, but that's also easy to forget when stressing about gluing an architecture model together or writing massive papers; Morocco reminded me to be thankful for absolutely everything, everyday. There were some parts of the trip that I could have done without, such as the bugs, bites, and Sarah's laptop getting stolen, but that's not anything Preshco could have anticipated and is not a criticism of Esteban or the program. Like most everything else in my life, it was an opportunity that I was fortunate to have. We have to write a reflection paper on our experiences, but I think I need a few days to go through my photos and to stop itching to process everything. Maybe everything will solidify a bit more after some sleep in my familiar bed in Cordoba. In the meantime, I'll practice one of my new Arabic phrases and say a big "shukran" to Morocco. Thank you, y adios.
UPDATE: Carlos met Kim and I at the bus stop, and took us both to the hospital where we were evaluated. We had to bend over next to each other and gets shots in out asses. There's something new. And we got cream for our skin and pills. Its 3am. Ugh bed AHORA bye.
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