Morocco

Dear Meghan,

I haven't talked to you in awhile, so I thought: what better way to say hey and ask about your wellbeing than an incredibly public forum with a widely varied audience? And so I ask: how are you? How is your study abroad experience?

I have just (well, a week ago, but I'm a tad behind on the blog posts) returned from Morocco, and it was an incredible experience. Having spent so much time in Europe thus far, which is unique but also in many ways similar to the US, it was refreshing to go to a place that's so different. The air was so hot and dry! The flavor combinations in food so unexpected and delicious! The squat toilets so horrific and awkward!

While in Morocco, I did a camel trek organized by Semester at Sea. Our journey started in Casablanca where the ship was docked, and continued from Marrakech through the Atlas Mountains, all the way to the Sahara desert. The trip included a grueling 24 hours of driving round trip to cross the entirety of Morocco, so the best categorization I can think of for the experience is Morocco: eating, sleeping, driving.

I would write paragraphs and paragraphs of unnecessary descriptions to simulate the pain of hours and hours of driving, but I'm a benevolent blog author so let's just say that after two days of driving through beautiful red-orange mountains we arrived at a spot a few hours outside of Ouarzazate where our camels were stationed.

I would love to know the person who looked at a gangly hump-backed camel and said to themselves, "gee, that looks comfortable, I think I'll ride that!" That person should be institutionalized. If anyone ever told you they enjoyed riding a camel, they are lying to you and romanticizing what is generally awkward and uncomfortable. Personally, I loved every minute on the camel and had a great time traversing the desert from high up. Wrapped in my headscarf, swaying side to side as my camel and I climbed sandy, windswept dunes, I had a bit of an emotional experience as I reflected on where I was (Africa) and what I was doing. To be honest, I think I might have gotten a little more caught up in my feelings than the situation called for. While my fellow voyagers were being the loud, unruly American teenagers they often are, I couldn't stop comparing myself to the Three Kings going to visit Jesus. My knowledge of the Bible is limited, but rest assured my imagination ran wild on this camel trek. I'm going to stop here before I say anything offensive in regards to religion. But anyways, that's what was going through my head, and the bottom line is that camels are not at all comfortable.

We rode our camels an hour and a half into the desert to a nomad camp where we spent the night, located only 15 kilometers from the border of Algeria (which to me seemed incredible and unfathomable). I will openly admit that before this trip I was absolutely terrified for this night in the desert, mostly given that I am terrified of the outdoors and everything that comes with it. I spent hours considering whether death by scorpion sting, snake attack, or infected bite from rabid camel would be the worst way to go. Like most things in life, these concerns dropped away once I was actually there. I spent most of the night barefoot wandering through the camp, digging my feet in the sandy dunes without a second thought. The camp was beautiful, shrouded in pale moonlight from a full moon, and so isolated amid a vast desert. It was so beautiful that I forget to be scared.

Other highlights from the trip include the fabulous shower I took the day after the nomad camp visit, bargaining in the market in Marrakech, and watching Arab Idol on TV (in the most disappointing moment in the history of disappointing moments, my favorite singer got voted off). Also, I've been doing a cross-cultural examination of the varying qualities of KFC chicken around the world, and I have to say Ireland still gets my vote for best KFC chicken strips (Morocco is a close second).

Meg, I can't wait to hear more about your time thus far in Chile! Especially your interactions with the local people - I'm so jealous of that experience! Keep me posted. Also, I am finding it impossible to believe our study abroad experience is halfway over! I'm just a tad freaked out since I've been avoiding certain basic questions like: where will I live in the spring? what classes will I take? Will I have friends? and whatnot.

Miss you!

Love,

Nicole