Alive in Morocco!

After arriving at the airport 4 hours early, taking an 8.5 hour flight to Paris, having a 4 hour layover in Paris, taking a 3.5 hour flight to Casablanca and a 4 hour bus ride to Marrakesh… I HAVE ARRIVED!!!

**View of Paris from the plane**

And hence begins my month long study abroad to Morocco. I’m here to learn about Islam and Arabic, both of which I’ve already been fully immersed in. And it turns out when I thought I would look both ignorant and out of place if I didn’t know any Arabic…I was right! Two people in my “family” speak English but other than that I just sit and smile and nod.

Traveling here wasn’t much of a pain but until I went to bed I had been up for about 32 hours straight. Jet lag and I are already in a fight.

We’ll be staying the entire time with our homestay families. Mine consists of our “host”, 19 year old Nadia (said nah-jia) who speaks fluent English (LUCKILY!), her 2 sisters ages 17 and 2, and her 2 brothers ages 15 and 11 months. As soon as we came in the 2 year old girl ran over to me for me to pick her up. We’re gonna be best friends I can already tell. Aside from the 2 year old, all the women of my family cover their heads until bed time. I asked Nadia about it and she said that it’s a personal decision and some people put off covering it until they are married but most people of the faith choose to start covering their heads when they enter high school. Speaking of homestay- this villa is UNBELIEVABLE. Picture “Moroccan” and that’s what it looks like.

**My villa! So homey and wonderful!**

The ceilings all have intricate henna-like carvings, there are multi-colored glass chandeliers in a few of the rooms, and the walls in my room are tiled with brown designs. I even have a mattress this summer!

**My beloved mattress!!!...and the rest of my room**

**Close up on the ceilings carvings in our guest room**

They have a room called the “guest room” but instead of it being where a guest sleeps it’s just where they have company over. The room is shaped like an L and has about a 2’ couch running around the perimeter of the entire thing.

**Our guest room- the couches continues around the parts of the room you can't see**

They have rod iron gates that are, again, intricately designed and run around a small garden in their backyard. Dinner was ready for us when we got “home” and it was delicious. We were told that one boy managed to gain 30 lbs in one summer here on study abroad and I’m starting to believe it. We had chicken legs that literally fell off the bone in a tangy orange sauce with peas and carrots and lima beans on top of it, served with a side of something between what looked like beets and Thanksgiving cranberry sauce that had mayonnaise on top. Looked weird. Tasted weird. But I’m here for the experience right?

The ALC (American Language Center- my school for the month) has Wifi so I should be able to update pretty frequently. Hope all is well!