Pilot

          Where in the world is Morocco? It is the country farthest west in North Africa, whose northern coast makes up the Straight of Gibraltar, which separates the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. 

It is also where, in less then 72 hours, I’ll be off on my big adventure, the experience of a lifetime, ect, ect. It’s strange to think that by this time next week, I’ll be at Al Akhawayn University, starting into my nine months of school in Ifrane, Morocco. 

Many people have asked, “Why Morocco?” To which I answer, “Why not Morocco?” Me being, well, me, I decided if I’m going to go through with this experience, I’m going to make it as epic as possible. When I applied to study abroad through the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), I spent hours researching my options. It soon became clear to me that I didn’t want to go to the “usual places” i.e. anywhere they spoke English. However, I didn’t have the Spanish, French or German to go to countries where those languages are spoken. So, that left the unusual places. My application ended up with my top three places as Morocco, Bulgaria, and the United Arab Emirates. The opportunity to learn about Islamic culture, civilization, and the Arabic language made Morocco my top choice, and the relative freedom of a “Europeanized” Islamic country appealed to me. Going abroad I have the world at my fingertips, and in Morocco, I will have the best of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

I feel both excited and terrified. For someone only 19, I have traveled a fair amount: Spring Break in the Galapagos, Easter in Moab, solo trips to New York City to visit my sister, school trips to DC, Nashville, and Salt Lake. But I have never, a) lived in a foreign country and b) traveled this far alone. My fears are both practical and irrational: What if I can’t get to my school? What if I commit some cultural faux pas that gets me in huge trouble? What if I get homesick? (I’ve never been homesick before, not even as a little kid). But I’m also excited. I want to shop in the souks (marketplaces), ride a camel, and travel through the desert. I want to hike in the mountains and haggle for carpets. I even want to be called “the foreign kid”. I want this. And I can’t wait.