Jbel Moussa

Bright and early Saturday morning, after a late night with friends, we boarded our bus to head off to our planned hiking trip. As you can imagine, I was not as excited as I had been when i signed up for the trip, but none-the-less I packed up my hiking gear and prepared myself for a nice hike with good company. After about an hour on the bus, down windy roads we neared the famous Jbel Moussa; a beautiful white mountain with just its peak hidden by the clouds. 

Our bus stopped at a small village, and we lined the streets in awe of the beautiful nature in front of us.

Mourad handed us each a bad of trial mix for the hike, and we started off into the village. As we approached the trail, we hugged the side of the mountain and took in the beautiful mediterranean that was next to us.

The hike started on a nice flat walking trail, with gravel and yellow markers leading the way.

Breathing in the fresh air was refreshing. The wind was strong an the sun was warm. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.

The Mediterranean is such a peaceful body of water. The view we had from the trail was breathtaking; a view that will never be erased from my memory. 

We often passed a heard of friendly sheep or goats.

As we started to go up along the mountain the trail narrowed and the terrain got a little more rough.

 We walked on large pieces of unsteady gravel and at one point I was using my hands to keep me from sliding down the steep path.

After the treacherous climb, the view was well worth it. We finally approached a second village as we reached the end of the trail. This time we were on the opposite side of Jbel Moussa. We were greeted by a small cove along the beach of the Mediterranean, where we decided to relax and eat a picnic lunch. Some students jumped off a large rock into the water, while others played soccer with a few young boys who were also on the beach.

As much as I love being in the city, it really is nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of it all. 

a whole new world

With the abundance of things to see in the city, it is easy to look past some of the smaller essences that make the city its own. From the moment I stepped foot in Tangier, I've noticed one thing in particular that sets it apart from any other city- the smell.

The city air surrounds me as I walk down the street, past busy people walking by. The culture hugs my body, allowing me to feel welcome to the new city I've arrived in. As I start to feel a sense of comfort within the foreign land I stand on, something completely new hits me. The pungent smell of spices rushes into my nose. Kosher, ginger, black pepper, white pepper, sweet paprika, hot paprika,  cumin, cinnamon, saffron, turmeric, anise, nutmeg, gum arabia, fenugreek, bay leaves, Ras El Hanout. These scents are unfamiliar; so different from the smell of spices at home. Bins are filled with spices along the streets of the city, within the souk and of course behind the walls of the medina. The people, the places, the things all carry the smell with them wherever they go. This is the smell of Morocco. The one things that sticks to the air, reminding me just how far I am from home.

A walk in my shoes

Walking through Tangier is an experience in itself. I come from a small town in Massachusetts on the border of Connecticut; what you could consider cow-town. I am used to backroads, farms, no street lights and only the sound of peepers at night. Being exposed to the city life has opened my eyes up to another world.

Living in the city has been more of a culture shock to my senses, than it has been to myself. The city is always full of new noises- like those of sirens of ambulances, "bee doe bee doe bee doe.." that remind me of nothing more than the minions in the movie Despicable me. New smells- like abundance of spices used in traditional moroccan cooking. New sights- city lights and an orange glow illuminating off the clouds at night.

Upon leaving campus, I find myself one of the more quiet streets with only a few houses. I take a right and walk up a steep hill towards the American School Gates and the wall of the Spanish consulate. When I reach this main road there are many cars creating a traffic jam as parents impatiently wait for their children to get out of school. I take a left and continue walking uphill and pass a small bakery with homemade treats full of nuts and sugars very different from those in the US. The bakery is followed by a day-care center with colorful gates and windows that look like children's toys. Petite taxi's speed by and look like a turquoise blur to pedestrians. I come to the intersection of the next main street at a rotary- a Moroccan roundabout is one of the scariest things i've witnessed since i've been here. Theres no speed limit, no right of way. The cars beep to claim their order in the traffic circle. Quite frankly, I think most drivers would be more safe if they were to close their eyes and just go for it.

I continue walking to the right this time, and the city life starts to unravel itself. People fill the streets, and the sound of cars swallows me. I become part of the city; not just a pedestrian, but one more aspect making the city more diverse.  Men, young and old, stare and often make comments towards me. I'm never surprised when strangers wave to me or call me a "beautiful flower". These men will often shout "mama mia" or "hola" as many people from Spain come to visit the area. Women in this culture, however, are not as vocal as men. Women often do not make eye contact with me. When they do it is beyond mysterious. Their glare is one like no other; one of disgust or maybe the absence of thought at all. As I have now been here for a month, I understand that our culture is a lot different than that of the Arab nation. I now try to smile at the women here whenever eye contact is made. I believe that a gesture as small as a smile makes me less vulnerable to the stereotype of a "typical american". I am here not to intrude on the culture, but rather to understand and embrace it. I have found that this is, in fact, a universally understood gesture as more and more women will look at me and smile back- which is more welcoming than speaking at all.

As I approach the mosque, I find myself at another rotary and am almost in the center of the city. I wait for the green light before I cross the road, as pedestrians do not have the right of way. The streets are packed with petite and gran taxis driving as many as 6 passengers to their various destinations amongst the city. Men walk towards the mosque as the call to prayer is announced over the entire city in a disconsolate manner. When the call to prayer first rang through my eardrums it sent cold shivers throughout my body.

Men take their shoes off, and enter the mosque. The follow one person and pray toward the direction of Mecca. It's not as common for women to pray in the mosque, but when they do they must enter through the back door, where a wall separates them from the men. When someone cannot go to the mosque to pray, it is not uncommon to pray on a mat wherever they may be.

A few minutes down the road from the mosque I can head towards the medina, or towards Mexico Street, but those are both a story of their own which must wait for another day.

Cultural Insight

Mourad put together a small presentation for us, to help understand the culture and society we are now living in. The presentation taught us about the food, history, education, safety and other cultural insights. 

Moroccan artifacts!

Crushed stones, such as these, are used to make eye make-up.

Eyeshadow

Argan seeds used in skin and hair care. 

Homemade blush

Rose petals are used on skin, eyes and the body in general to freshen up.

moment in time

We're becoming friends, we're becoming family.

A mosque is seen in the distance. The houses of the city sit back to back. Clothes are strung out to dry. People stand upon their rooftop terraces.The colors of the buildings mix together to make a sea of color.  This picture is simply a perfect way to show that the differences between countries is exactly why each culture is beautiful.

"We all become great explorers during our first few days in a new city, or a new love affair." 

-Mignon McLaughlin

Starting on a good note!

Upon arriving to campus, we were all overjoyed by the hustle and bustle of the workers rushing to finish up campus for us. We settled in and our sight-seeing started right away. We started our first real trip as a bus tour.

This is  Cap Spartel, a light house found at the entrance to the straight of Gibraltar. Often considered the most northern point of Africa, Cap Spartel is a beautiful place to take pictures of the open ocean.

& of course there were photo opportunities such as this one, seeing as this is such a tourist attraction. Two young boys, around 10 years old or so, walked their donkey's over us and expected money after we enjoyed taking pictures.

While on the bus, we enjoyed seeing the beautiful coast line of both the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

We then made our way to Hercules Cave, another landmark in northern Africa. As we walked into the caves the walls were lined with handmade Moroccan artifacts such as clay bowls, keychains, rocks and other small trinkets.

When this photo is flipped, the shape formed by the natural rocks is a replica of the shape of Africa.

& of course we had to take pictures within the other caves! I think these pictures speak for themselves.

For a windy & rainy day, the ocean still looked beautiful.

Cats. Everywhere.

From here, we enjoyed taking pictures of the rock of Gibraltar over in Spain that we could see just across the pond.

Wild cats and dogs are everywhere. This guy was hiding in the grasses from the wind and rain.

For lunch we stopped at another lighthouse, however i'm not sure what the name of it is. It was beautiful, nonetheless.

Thanks for a great trip, Anouar!

ZzzZzz

Well, since posting last i've finally gotten the chance to sit down again, and write. I looked over my last post, and I realized that I must've been very tired, as it was full of grammar and spelling errors. So, I want to apologize- being so busy absorbing the new culture day-by-day drains my energy very quickly. My days often consist of short naps whenever the chance is available. However, I am now adjusted as i've been here for about a month. I will be updating a few more posts today, and sharing picture from each of the adventure i've had. Enjoy!

Honeymoon Stage

Today is the 5th day I have been in Tangier, or the 6th day since i've left. I have uploaded plenty of pictures, but i haven't really written much about my experience, so while i have some free time I decided to update everyone on the adventures i've had.

The plane ride overseas took us from JFK in New York to Madrid, Spain. The flight was overnight, and was around 6 1/2 hours long. I know the flight probably seems like the least important part of my trip, but there were a few things that made it special. As I was trying to sleep, I looked out the window. The night sky seems so closer when you're flying through the atmosphere. The shooting star that I saw as I looked out, made me realize how incredible flying from continent to continent really is. As I started looking around for more shooting stars, I noticed that the sky changed. The stars were in different places, and I couldn't find the constellations that normally seem so easy to find. That's when it hit me that we were far from home.

When we finally arrived in Morocco, and got through customs we were immediately greeted by Anouar Majid, the Associate Provost for Global Initiatives. Anouar took our picture and we boarded a bus to bring up to campus. As drove through the city it was obvious that the people on the streets knew that behind the windows of the bus were "the Americans". Two little girls walking by waved to us, and blew me kisses. A few blocks later, I was greeted by the same gesture as a man blew me a kiss. I guess you could say that I immediately fell in love with the city.

We got to campus, which was not completely finished and brought our belongings up to our room. Many workers aided us in finding our rooms and moving our luggage; we were treated like royalty. After settling into our rooms, we all ventured around campus to explore. We went into the academic building, to find a beautiful mosaic fountain in the lobby and a rooftop terrace to spend time on. After we took the beauty of our new home in, we met up for lunch & a walk around Tangier.

The walk was lead by Anouar, and took us to the nightlife of downtown Tangier right by the beach. The city was full of people, families and their children, street venders with horses to take pictures with. It was beautiful, but we were exhausted. After a long day of traveling, what seemed like a 20 mile walk was not what everyone was looking forward to. Eventually we made it to the architects office, where were looked over the city of Tangier. He showed us pictures of our campus being built and also the new soccer stadium.

We then headed to go eat dinner, walking further around the city. We walked through old markets and ended up at a traditional Moroccan restaurant. The restaurant had beautiful carpeted walls, and couches surrounding a table to eat at. A band played traditional Moroccan music with instruments such as guitars, bongo drum, fiddles, and tambourines. We were fed a lot of food.. to say the least! We were given bread, vegetables, cooked vegetable dip, Brochettes (shish kabobs) were the main meal, followed by chicken pie, and finished off by honey comb desserts and sweet Mint Teat. I supposed i should add, I was chosen to dance to the music with Chase, in front of everyone. It was surprisingly fun! :)

The next day we went on a walking tour of the market where we could buy water and hand soap, and we were also shown where the internet cafe is (seeing as we don't have wifi). That night we went out for dinner where live musicians came to play for us, and then were taken to a club. We got to the club around 11:00 pm or so, and were the only ones there. In Morocco, people eat much later- usually around 10 pm; so therefore, they also go out a lot later. After an hour or so, people started arriving at the club and we decided to start dancing. At first we were looked at as silly americans, but eventually got the Moroccans to start dancing with us. It was fun and quite an experience. The music was somewhat different than the music in the states, and was similar to spanish music. The dancing too, was different from the dancing in America. Dancing is face to face, with spinning eachother around and moving with each other- its more laid back and fun. People started getting tired, and decided to leave the club, but a few of us decided we wanted to stay as we were having a good time. This is where the real adventure starts...
We left the club around 2:30 and got in the car with one of our security guards. He took us on a tour of Tangier, and we were having a great time blasting music and dancing and taking pictures. Then i looked over and saw a huge spider on my shoulder. I freaked out, jumped out of the car, but was told "No problem. You're in Morocco- no problem!". We then ended up at a second club called 555 by the beach. Getting into the club took a long time, but we eventually passed through security and got in. As we walked down the stairs to the patio, a huge pool was to the left, but we entered doors to the right.  The club was much bigger than the first one, with loud music, lots of lights, lots of people, and a huge LED robot dancing on the dance floor with everyone. We got on the dance floor and found more people to dance with, and had sooo much fun. Eventually we were dragged out of the club and headed back to campus. When we returned we ran to the rooftop terrace where we hung out with a few people. I didn't go to bed until around 5 am, but the lack of sleep was worth the night we had.

Yesterday we had a bus tour of tangier- Hercules cave, Cap Spartel (lighthouse) and a few other sightseeing places. We took pictures with donkeys and in caves, and had a picnic lunch. We then went out for dinner and to a club called The Underground with Rita and her friends.

Today we took a map and got lost in the city. We met a guy from Georgia, who is here to play professional basketball. We had Shwarma for lunch, and used a compass to navigate our way around the city. It was fun, and was a good way to learn where everything is. We walked through a lot of small farmers markets, and little stores. After dinner we talked with Mourrad for a while, and he taught us some of the Darija language. He gave us a great presentation on the history of Morocco and the food and the dos & don'ts and the makeup. He has done so much for us and i'm so thankful he's the campus manager.

So enough with the stories- i'll tell you a little about the culture.

People here are so friendly. So accepting. Every religion is accepted whether your are muslim, catholic, christian or jewish and everyone is welcome. Call to prayer is announced to the entire city 5 times a day from the mosque, which seemed very unusal at first. People are also a lot closer to each other. When greeting eachother, everyone kisses eachother on each cheek- even men. When walking around with friends, most people link arms or at least have their arms touching. Men also express their feelings to girls a lot more vocally than at home, and have no problem telling a girl she is beautiful. Often men will blow kisses to girls. In this culture, it is more beautiful to be heavier rather than really skinny. There are many abandoned cats and dogs here. They roam the streets like squirrels do at home.

Everything here is so different, but i honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else studying abroad. (:

Food Friendzy

 Airplane dinner

 Airplane breakfast

 Coca-Cola

 Couscous, beed & vegetables

 Cookies with nuts

 Shishcabobs & vegetables

 Chicken Pie

 Mint Tea!

 Honeycomb desserts

 Fish, rice, tomatoes & cheese

 Apple dessert

 Nos Glaces: Passion Fruit Homemade Ice Cream

Mint Tea after every meal