September 19-

This first full week in Rabat has been great.  I am staying with a host family who speaks Arabic, French, and some English.  They are very nice people and the cooking is amazing.  Rabat is a cooler city than Meknes temperature wise since it is situated on the coast of Morocco.  As I said previously, Rabat is one of the four imperial cities and it is also the administrative capital of Morocco, since it is the current capital. Today I am heading to Casablanca with other students from my program to explore the city.  I have personally heard of mixed reviews of Casablanca, positive and negative, so I am interested in seeing how Casablanca truly is.  The train ride is about an hour or so from Rabat to Casablanca.  As we explored the city, I was definitely able to see how these drastic opinions formed.  Casablanca is a very touristy city and is the most western-oriented city that I have been to in Morocco.  Apart from having the largest mall in Africa and the enormous and beautiful Hassan II mosque, there is not much to take away from Casablanca that is significant other than it is a tourist trap.  Hassan II mosque is actually one of the only mosques in Morocco that non-Muslim people are allowed in.  Unfortunately, we were unable to make the tour times for the mosque so we were unable to admire the interior of this magnificent structure.  The outside though looked unreal in how huge it actually was and how intricate the designs on the building were.  If I were to return to Casablanca, I would make sure that I tour the Hassan II mosque.

September 7-

Today we went to the Volubilis ruins and Fes.  The Volubilis ruins are ancient Roman ruins about 30 minutes away from Meknes.  These ruins are situated on top of a hill that over looks vast farmlands.  The part of the ruins that we saw was the remains of the temple/basilica, the hammam (also known as a Turkish bath), and a machine that produces olive oil.  There were other ruins there as well, the houses that were lived in by the townspeople.  Unfortunately we were unable to see them because most of the houses were still be excavated.  Taking a tour of these ancient ruins was very interesting especially because they have been preserved for centuries.  After taking the tour of the ruins, we boarded the buses and headed for Fes.  Fes is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco: Fes, Meknes, Marrakesh, and Rabat.  The reason behind why these are the four imperial cities are because they have all been the capital of Morocco at least once.  Once we arrived at Fes, we were led to a restaurant to eat lunch that consisted of Moroccan salad, bread, chicken and vegetable tangine, and fruit.  After lunch we had a tour of Fes.  According to the tour guide, Fes has over 1 million streets.  Fes is also built on a slope on all sides of the city, in a shape of a bowl and because of this, it is impossible for anyone to see into the city from the outside.  Since the city is constructed like a bowl, the hot and cold weather is intensified in the summer and winter respectively.  The main stops on our tour of -Fes is one of the oldest universities ever, the University of Qarawiyyin.  This university was founded by Fatima Al-Fihri in 859 CE.  This university served as a mosque, a university, and sleeping quarters for the students.  In order to be admitted to this university, you needed to memorize the entire Quran and a person would be able to attend as early as the age of 12.  This university has been converted into a museum for the public to admire how beautiful it truly is.  We also visited a place that wove scarves and various other linens from cotton, wool, and silk.  All of the designs were very intricately made.  A third main stop on the tour was a tannery.  Before entering, we were each given mint leaves to smell in order to counteract the horrible smell of the tannery.  Here we were able to see the various steps that the hide goes through to finally make the leather product.  The entire tannery store was stocked to the ceiling with countless leather items and designs.  After our tour we ate dinner at a famous restaurant called Café Clock.  This restaurant is actually famous for their camel burgers, which is a very interesting specialty.

September 1-

September 1^st marks the second full day in Meknes.  We all have settled in from the prior two days (Sunday evening and this past Monday).  I am partnered with two other IES students in the homestay in Meknes.  The family that we are staying with is very kind and I feel as if I will enjoy living here in Meknes for our orientation.  The host family live in a house that is situated in the Old Medina, that is near the central marketplace in Meknes.  The house is two stories and is a typical Moroccan design.  This design (as I briefly alluded to in Rabat on the second day in Morocco) has a large courtyard in the middle of the house with all of the rooms surrounding the entire courtyard.  We are staying on the second floor of the house and some extended family of the host family is living on the first floor.  This is very normal in Morocco actually for extended family to live together in the same house.  As I mentioned before from my previous post as well, Moroccan cooking is wonderful.  To help ease us into eating off of the same large dish, our host family gave us small personal plates to eat off of.  Additionally, September 1^st also marks the second day of our CMA (Colloquial Moroccan Arabic) classes at the IES Meknes school.  We will be taking these CMA classes for the duration of our orientation in Meknes.  These classes are geared toward helping us communicate more efficiently with our host families (especially if they do not understand English at all) and to familiarize ourselves with a different Arabic dialect.  Even though I have taken MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) in college, I have had to relearn many key words that are completely different in Moroccan Arabic.  I am however, able to generally communicate with my host family using MSA and what I have currently learning in my CMA class.  In the past few days we have also been exploring the Old Medina in Meknes.  In the following days we are scheduled to attended a henna and tea party and have a field trip to Fes and the Volubilis ruins.

August 29-

I woke up early and ate breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of crepes, honey, dates, and other fruits.  After, we all walked to the IES center from the hotel.  While at the center we were oriented with the center, which we will attend daily once we all return from Meknes.  The general orientation took place here as well (including safety and housing).  For lunch we all attended one of the future host family’s of an IES student.  This was situated in an alley in the Medina section of Rabat.  This alley was not the nicest looking by far, however, once we all stepped inside the house, it was a whole other world.  It was beautiful.  All of the walls were of mosaic tile design.  Eating was very interesting.  In western culture, we are used to eating off our own personal plate; however, here the food was served in one large plate where everyone eats (eating what is in front of them, not what is in front of someone else).  And the food was delicious.  After eating, we had some more orientation at the IES center.  For dinner, we all ate at the hotel and were told to be sure to pack a 10-day bag for Meknes for tomorrow.

August 28-

Arrived from Paris, France around 7:30am and had a layover until 11:30am.  While waiting at the airport for the plane to arrive, I met several other IES students who will be my classmates for the next three months.  I then (alone with the other IES students) arrived in Rabat, Morocco around 1:30pm.  Meeting the other IES students at the airport in Paris eased my nervousness dramatically because I knew that I was not the only student going through something new like this.  The day that we arrived in Rabat consisted of loading all of our luggage into two IES vans at the Rabat airport to transport everything to the hotel in heart of Rabat that we will be staying at until Sunday morning when we head to Meknes.  After settling in the hotel, I walked with a small group of IES students to explore some of the Medina marketplace.  After returning, the entire IES group ate at an authentic Moroccan restaurant.  The food was delicious here.  We also drank Moroccan tea at this restaurant after dinner and it was amazing.