Hi everyone! It has been a while since I posted on here. Life has certainly become busy here. My last post was an update about our trip to Fes. Since then, there has been two weekends of fun and travel. The weekend right after Fes, 1/31 – 2/2, was eventful! We decided to stay in Rabat since we were tired after a few weekends of travel in a row. On Friday, a few people in my group had interviews to do so we had a quiet day finishing up work from the week. Saturday was the fun day: 5 of the girls in my group along with our Darija teacher (a Moroccan woman) went to the hammam. A hammam is basically a group bathhouse, but in Morocco it is a social center for women and men to gather (separately of course!). The 6 of us got heavily scrubbed down by one of the women who worked there. So much dead skin came off and we got a mini massage as well! It was a very interesting experience, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. We all took this picture after!
After the hammam, we ate lunch and relaxed for a little bit before going to the beach – we went surfing!! One of the surf schools gave 6 of us lessons on the Rabat Beach and we actually did really well. I discovered that surfing is one of those things that you think is going to be a lot harder than it is. I got up on the second or third try! It was a ton of fun and we stayed out there for almost 2 hours. Most of us were able to stand up but we all had a great time.
After surfing, we were starving. The only logical food after swimming and strenuous exercise is pizza. Lucky for us, there’s a place just around the corner from our dorm that serves pizza by the meter. We were so hungry, 7 of us ate 1.5 meters of pizza in 20 minutes flat. It was awesome.
That was a great day. The rest of the weekend was uneventful, which was nice. We needed some relaxing time!
The next week was filled with work. I got a lot done and shifted my project to be a bit more focused. I now have a good plan for the rest of it!
This past weekend was lots of traveling. We took the train to Casablanca on Thursday night and checked into our Airbnb. It was really nice – 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a huge kitchen, and a really nice living room. Seven of us slept very comfortably. On Friday (2/7), we went to the Hassan II Mosque. This is the biggest mosque in Africa and one of the most stunning things I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to go inside but even just seeing the outside was amazing. After a lunch in the Medina (couscous of course), we went to Rick’s Cafe. Play it again, Sam, anyone? It was so cool to see! Our next stop was the Morocco Mall. This is the second largest mall in Africa. Friday was a day for big things! It was interesting but a lot of the stores were very expensive so there wasn’t much to do besides walk around. It was a truly awesome day that ended with some poorly made Mac and cheese. It made for a good story, though!
We woke up early Saturday morning to travel to Tangier, up north. This was about a 2 hour train ride that I slept the whole time for! At this point, the group split up. Some went back to Chefchaouen, some stayed in Tangier, and me and 3 others got on a bus to Tetouan. Tetouan is a city between Tangier and Chefchaouen that is not very touristy – it is more of a place that Moroccans go on vacation, rather than somewhere tourists go. It was awesome to visit a place like this and get a more authentic Moroccan experience. We checked into our hotel and our host was incredibly friendly. He loved helping us find places to eat and things to do. Our main reason for being here, though, was the Flower Cafe. The Flower Cafe is a brand-new women-only cafe. It is the only one of its kind in Morocco and it is a huge deal! Cafe culture in Morocco is very male dominated, so this was a big step for women. One of the girls in my group is studying cafe culture in Morocco, so she really wanted to go to this cafe. It was tastefully decorated in LOTS of pink and flowers. It was so pretty and so fun to be surrounded by women for a few hours. We experienced the cafe for a bit before heading back into the city and wandering for a few hours. The rest of the night was just getting dinner and resting.
Sunday morning, the 4 of us in Tetouan got up and went to Tangier for the day! We first went to Cafe Baba, known for famous poets and actors visiting to smoke weed and drink tea (we only drank the tea). My group then wandered around the Medina of Tangier for several hours, doing some shopping and sightseeing. After lunch, we decided to head to the Caves of Hercules, just outside the city. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the views for a few hours before the rest of our group joined us. The 7 of us then watched the sunset from the caves. It was so beautiful! After the sun had set, we headed back to Tangier and got on our train to Rabat.
Now, here I am! Wednesday morning, all WPI is leaving for a 5 day trip across the south of Morocco. We are making a lot of stops, but the biggest being an overnight in the Sahara Desert! I am so excited! I’ll try to update more often. I get overwhelmingly busy sometimes, but honestly I would rather be busy than not. It keeps me from missing home too much! Anyway, I will post soon. Layla saida kulwahed!
Morocco in 7 Weeks 