Morocco at 13,671 Feet

Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.

-Kurt Vonnegut

I’m not going to say I entirely believe this is true, and will leave a theological debate to a much later (maybe never) blog post.  However, getting to travel in unusual ways is most certainly similar to dancing- it usually requires physical effort and sometimes you don’t know all the steps- Or in this case, take A LOT of steps. 

         The first time I heard about Jebel Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa, it sounded like a trip the Extreme Sports Association would take sometime late this semester. Somehow that turned into happening this week, so by Friday I paid my fees and was ready to climb. The weekend went something like this:

Friday: 4pm

I learn that our plan to leave a 6pm that night had fallen through due to transportation issues (these things happen on Moroccan time), and that the new plan was to leave at 1am. So after some excellent climbing advice from my lovely sister (just keep going) and a great skype chat with the rest of my family I was ready to go. The fifteen of us dragged ourselves outside to the van and prepared for the 12 hour drive to the Mountain.

Saturday: 2pm

         We arrive at the village of Imlil at the base of the trailhead, delayed only slightly by our stop for breakfast in Merrakech. We loaded our baggage on the donkeys, had a quick lunch, and headed on the hike. We boogied on up the mountain (me to the soundtrack of the musical Cabaret) and made it to Refuge Toubkal by dark. Our guide told us this was quite impressive, as our group cut about an hour and a half off of the average time.

Saturday: 7pm

         When I heard there was a place to stay on our way up, I assumed it would consist of some makeshift tents, maybe buckets of water. I was pleasantly surprised to find Refuge Toubkal very similar to a decent hostel, which in terms of mountain climber lodging is par to a 4-star hotel. I was a bit amazed, since I did not have to spend the night unpacking my backpack, freezing in a tent, making food or even building a fire! Instead I used a real bathroom, slept in a real bed, and had dinner of a full Moroccan style meal, complete with mint tea.

Sunday: 5am- Summit day!

         Our early morning departure with our guide had us stumbling in the dark up towareds the summit, but gave us one of the most beautiful sunrises I had ever seen. As the daylight reveled the peaks around us, the climbing got steeper, but not technically difficult.

10am:

         Only 600ft from the summit, I realize something: its damn hard to breathe at 13,000ft! I had not experienced the altitude issue up until that point, although several in our group complained of headaches. The last bit of climbing was sheer willpower, just one foot in front of the other. But we finally made it, every single person in the group up to the summit. We stayed up there for about a half an hour, congratulating ourselves, snacking and snapping photos. The chocolate bar I ate was the best tasting chocolate bar ever- because I worked so hard for it!

1pm:

         We had picked out way down the steepest part mountain, which was the most dangerous part of the climb. It took a lot of concentration to step carefully on the loose gravel, but the high we were on from summiting made it seem easy. By 1pm we were back at the Refuge for a delicious lunch and a nap.

8pm- and darker than the inside of a cow:

            Finally on flat ground! Only a few places on the way down were exceptionally steep, and all were beautiful. I had a great chat with our guide about his philosophy studies and large family- I love meeting new people while traveling, both natives and fellow travelers. We piled our dirty, smelly, sore selves into the van and drove back to Merrakech for a quick dinner.

Monday: 5:30am

            Finally back to campus, since our driver took the National Highway and drove like a madman. Made it to class at 10am, and more impressively made it up the stairs without crying. My body is still in recovery mode, but I predict full mobility by Wednesday!

Our summit photo! More pics to come.

            Getting to do things like this, with such wonderful people, makes me so grateful I have this opportunity. From the top of North Africa to the deep blue sea (rumors of a scuba trip abound!) I can’t wait to see more of this amazing country! 

Monkey Business

    My week went something like this: Class, study, work out, study, free time, study. Until the great Friday of the monkeys! When I first came here, I heard from several students about the place where the wild(ish) monkeys are. In a slightly random and unexpected encounter, I was invited by a group to go see the monkeys and tour outside Ifrane. A fifteen-minute car trip took us to a place similar to not very well maintained state park- outhouses, a parking lot, and litter seemed to be the main features. 5 Dirhams bought a bag of peanuts to feed the monkeys, which were happily mooching from day-trippers everywhere. If given a peanut, they would happily crack it open with startlingly human-like dexterity. These monkeys had it figured out: free food and few predators.

Big Ape on Campus

Mr. Monkey

After donating all our peanuts to the monkey cause, we meandered back to Ifrane, stopping on the way for a short hike down to a river (my flip flops were NOT the appropriate footwear for this!). Finally being in the great outdoors, after almost a month here, reminded me how much places outside feel like home. The sky, the fresh air, the sounds, all reminded me how much I love being outside. I also spent much of my time wondering about the flora and fauna. After two summers “counting grass” I have become familiar with many of the native Montana species, but here it is a whole new experience. I intend to buy a book about what I’m seeing here- Chuck and Lorna, I hope you’re proud. :D

What tree is this? -I think I've become a plant nerd

Witnessing the vast mountains of garbage that are near every public outdoor space, I see the necessity of littering laws. When I asked a Moroccan friend if he had heard of such a thing, he seemed confused- “You get charged for throwing things on the ground?” he asked. 

This made me wonder about Environmental Indicators (such as pollution and litter) in my own country, and where we rank world wide. Turns out, according to the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), released by Columbia and Yale University, the US is 61th in world environmental performance. 61^st? ouch. But that is not all- Morocco, the country people told me not to go to because it was dangerous and foreign and dirty, ranked 52th. So therefore, according the objective scientific data, my home country has worse Environmental Performance than this tiny country in Africa. That is a difficult fact to swallow, and encourages me to continue my Environmental Policy degree. 

Note the trash- it was everywhere!

You can check out the data for yourself here.

I feel the study is as objective as possible, but what you find is up to you. 

I am seeing that immersion into a new place means not judging by what you see, but by observing, analyzing, and researching what you find. Traveling to other countries makes you wonder about your own, and all that stuff about seeing things in a new light is more then propaganda. 

What I learned in School Today…

So, as I kid, I would come home to the same question almost every day. “Deeje, what did you learn in school today?” I would usually reply with the standard “Nothing”, since really the things I learned were rarely academic. (No one wants to hear about the kid who put pepper up his nose, which was really way more important to a 3^rd grader then how to spell ironic.)

Therefore, to reward my very patient parents, who have been waiting almost 15 years for me to tell them what I learned in school, here it goes.

Why the Belly Dancing Costume does not originate in Arabic Culture:

The following is a picture of a belly dancing costume commonly purchased by tourists in the souks. Ask any native Moroccan, and they will tell you that this is not in any way traditional grab. See photo.

                                                        

Typical costume sold to tourists 

You can then trace to costume to Egypt, where, in the late 1920s, a very famous "belly dancing" club was opened by Badia Masabni. The original costume she dressed her girls in was much more “traditional” and full coverage grab, similar to that seen below:

Note the full coverage body suit

The customers of Masabni, mostly British soldiers or American tourists, told her that her belly dancing costumes where not “real”. Of course the British and Americans figured they knew Arabic culture better than the people who actually lived there. So why did those British and Americans have a preconceived notion of what middle eastern women wore?  Why, Hollywood of course. Early TV and films featured women in skimpy, exotic clothes similar to those from this movie:

Son of the Sheik, 1926

Hollywood, was not the first to dress "typical Arab women" in such garb. They were inspired by paintings from the 19^th century, paintings such as the following: 

Sabre Dance at the Cafe by Jean Leon Gerome 1876

Gerome HAD actually visited Turkey and painted many scenes he found there. However, it is doubtful that the costumes above were commonly worn by women there.  

From Fes to Cairo, to Hollywood and back to a French artist from the 19th century, the Belly Dancing costume has made quite the journey. I’ll leave the history of the dance for another time.

 PS.. I’ll probably come home with one of those British inspired, Hollywood created, Americanized, Arabic Belly Dancing costumes. No Halloween party would be complete without one!  

Camel- The other red meat

Last Monday our little group of exchange students had planned to spend the weekend in Tangier laying on the beach and exploring the city. We thought we had arranged everything, but as often happens in this country, “Insha’Allah”  just didn’t happened. 

As an alternative plan, Saturday morning we left for Fes, only an hour away by grand taxi. We spent the day in the souk, which was a large, happy contrast from the souk in Merrakesh. The shopkeepers were much less pushy, the streets were cleaner, and it had a unique mix of the usual tourist shops and modern stores. After several hours exploring the maze of the marketplace, we were convinced by a young boy to visit the tanneries “for free” where his “father worked”. (Note: nearly every Moroccan will claim that they are not trying to cheat you, and that they need the money for their brother/uncle/kids. Beware of liars- they are everywhere).

The market

Fes is famous for it’s leather, and we walked to a rooftop to see the process of scraping, tanning, and dying the leather. The mint they gave us to hold to our noses still did not cover up the stench of dead animal skins. To leave the rooftop view, we had to wander through a warehouse full of leather goods of every size, shape and color imaginable. The shopkeeper there were quite insistent he had something made of the “Best leather in Morocco” for each and every one of us. After FINALLY locating the exit, we were informed the view was only free with a purchase from the store. Tommy, an Arabic major, gave them a few choice words and we left in a hurry.

Birdseye view of the tannery

Exhausted from the experience, we decided to meet the rest of the group at a restaurant. The special of the day? Camel burger! Of course we couldn’t pass that up. It was surprisingly tasty, with a unique, very juicy flavor. I was informed afterwards, however, that that was an “Americanized” camel burger, and that next time I go to Fes I need to eat a camel sandwich. Challenge: accepted. I am realizing that many of my experiences here are going to involve food, and that if I don’t exercise I’m going to be paying for two seats on the plane home. I am having quite a love affair with Moroccan food. 

Camel Burger! 

On another note, this weekend gave me an interesting view of strangers in Morocco. Sometimes I feel like every single person out there is trying to either a) cheat me out of money or b) buy me for camels. I know that by using basic common sense I can avoid both of these things, and that the likelihood of dying in a car accident back home is FAR greater then any of sort of “stranger danger”. Nonetheless, it is frustrating after awhile to always feel defensive and distrustful. However, there have been a couple of experiences that have shown me not all strangers are this way. In the afternoon, we spent all day looking for a pair of soccer cleats for one of the guys in our group. After searching three stores with no luck, we were directed by the shopkeeper to a store about ten blocks away. One of the customers in the shop not only gave us directions, but walked ten blocks out of his way to make sure we didn’t get lost.  He had no hidden agenda other then to help a few non-natives find what they were looking for. When the cleats were still not found, he was genuinely apologetic, and the exchange ended with him asking to be facebook friends.

Going abroad gives you a very unique perspective on how people treat one another. It teaches you the difference between being open to new people and being taken for a fool.

As far as my school life, I’m not going to say that it is impossible to make friends here, but it is defiantly harder then I anticipated. I have never been shy, but when it seems everyone who is not an exchange student has already made friends, and is always speaking a language I don’t understand, it becomes overwhelming. My usual get-to-know-everyone policy has taken sabbatical. If I were only here for a semester, this wouldn’t bother me as much, but since I’m here for a year I’m really trying to make friends with people who aren’t exchange students. As part of that effort, tonight I am headed to the club meetings for the Horseback Riding club and the Extreme Sports Club. I hope this will give me a chance to meet other students, find hobbies I love, and continue to adjust to life here. 

On the road back to Ifrane

GREAT NEWS!

I just received an email from the Rocky Mountain College curriculum committee, stating that my Arabic Studies Minor proposal has been approved. Although Rocky does not actually offer an Arabic Studies minor, the college allows you the option to design your own minor/major if you can prove that a) the proposed minor/major is comprehensive and well thought out and b) your proposal is similar to a major/minor at other universities. I'm not sure how many other colleges have this option, but I'm sure many of them would consider it.
This summer I did all my research, typed up 10 pages of why I should earn this minor (including mapping out what classes I will take every semester until I graduate, which is a really nice thing to have anyways). I then discussed my proposal with my academic advisor, who signed off on it and submitted it to the curriculum committee.
So for an future study-abroaders out there, remember that with a little planning, you can gain more then you ever dreamed possible.

Images of Essouria

So those are goats. In a tree. They climb up there to eat the argan nuts,
which grow only in the western region of Morocco.

Next to the goats was a camel, just chillin.

The city of Essouria 

Me, Sofia and Alice from Italy- they've taught us all some Italian words
and are the unquestioned experts on pizza and pasta 

another camel, owned by a guys selling rides on the beach

The first exploration- Or, If a man throws a monkey on you, he will ask for money

We’ll get to the monkey part eventually, but first we need some background. I arrived here on the 23^rd and we had orientation from the 25^th until the 27^th. (See orientation entry for exciting details! Lol). Classes did not start until the following Friday, so a group of us decided to take a trip and explore the city of Merrakesh.

            Quick background on this group- Imagine picking seven people from four countries who have known each other less than 48 hours. Now have them travel for almost six days together. In theory it sounds like a recipe for disaster, but actually turned out to be amazing. We didn’t have a single disagreement, and now I feel like I have 6 close friends, even though I’ve only been here two weeks.

            So a rundown of the trip: we took off from Ifrane Saturday evening in a taxi to Meknes, with the plan to catch the 3am train to Merrakesh. While waiting in Meknes we went to a restaurant that served Tajine de Cervelle, or Tajine with cow brains. (See photo!) This started a challenge to each as many unusual things as possible, which I hope will continue for the next nine months. (Cow utter anyone??)

            After a rather chilly sleep on the train, we arrived in Merrakesh around 10am, and were met by Kamal, a language teacher from the city. Elliot, an exchange student from West Point travelling with us, had attended Kamals class at the intensive language school before coming to AUI. First thing we did upon arrival was go ou to eat an amazing Moroccan meal: tajine, brocetts, chicken, couscous, dates, olives… you name it. We spent the evening exploring the main square, or the Djamma el-fna. This square was like an all-day, every day, fifty-ring circus, with no ringmaster and every act happening at once.

            And that’s when the monkeys happened. It’s not every day you see a man with a monkey on a leash, and being the greenhorn I was, I made the mistake I making eye contact. Next thing I know, there are two monkeys on my shoulder, my friend snaps a picture, and the monkey man asks for payment. I threw 10 dirhams on the ground and ran away. The snake charmers could also be like this, but I got smarter and made it very clear if they came near me with a snake they wouldn’t fare well.

            Our next two days in Merrakesh involved seeing the sights in the morning, resting in the afternoon, and staying out late at night. (It was Ramadan, so that’s when the city comes alive). Our group saw the Saadian tombs, (a sultan made himself a pretty sweet resting place in 1603) and the Bahi palace (another sultan in the 16^th century needed a place to keep his 4 wives and 28 concubines, so they built some pretty fancy ceilings and 150 rooms). We also spent time in the market, where we ate snails, the cheek meat of a sheep, and drank delicious fresh squeezed orange juice.  Kamal went with us everywhere, like a protective father, and even stayed out late with us even though it was a holiday for his family.

            Tuesday morning was Essouria, which had an entirely different feel. Originally a fortress, the town is now the surf capital of Morocco. Everything there was so laid back. Shop keepers weren’t as pushy, the beach was nearby, and the whole place had a beautiful sea-breeze feel. We spent lots of time playing in the ocean and eating fresh seafood. Late Wednesday night we headed back to Merrakesh, spent the night, and traveled back to Ifrane Thrusday morning.

yes, that is brain tajine

A traditional Moroccan Meal 

and those are snails

The main city gate

I thought it was a great idea to get a tattoo on the street--- Just kidding mom, it's henna

One of the many ceilings in the bahi palace

The market.. it was so colorful! 

            The contrast between the two cities I visited couldn’t be greater. One was a wild, almost human jungle, and the other was laid back and refreshing. I loved both places for different reasons, and cannot wait to see more of Morocco! 

The mosque in the city center

Most of these were some sad, sad looking carriage horses

Big, Pretty ceiling in the tombs

Tajine Pots

I'll include more pictures from Essouria... Look for the goat tree!

Goals are necessary

So I swear I’m not spending all my time sitting in my room blogging. But today was, I’ll be honest, a little rough. The enormity of my decision to live here has really hit me, and in some ways nine months seems like nine years. To remind myself why I’m here I reviewed the goal list I wrote right before I left. It is as follows:

Make every effort to adapt and integrate into the university, even when I miss home. On the flip side, I won't forget about home and all the wonderful people I have there.

Admit that there will be things about this lifestyle and culture I will never fully understand, and try to be as flexible as possible in those circumstances. 

Approach new experiences and diverse beliefs with an open mind, and not judge anyone based on their background.

Ride a camel

Learn to cook a traditional Moroccan dish. Can you say Tajine?

Travel as much as possible (as much as I can afford) both inside Morocco and in Europe.

Never pass up an opportunity to do something new and exciting.  

 Some of these seem a little self-explanatory, but they are immeasurable comfort for those “freak-out” moments. I'm sure more will come the longer I am here. 

Views of AUI!

So my travel adventure was quite amazing, I spent three nights in the city of Merrakesh and one in Essouria. My next entry will describe those bits of excitement, but first I thought I'd post some pictures of my campus here at Al Akhawayn. 

 The front entrance of my dorm. Theres like 15 of these dorms on campus (gender separated) and they all look quite the same. 

 The sign outside the entrance to campus- Which is fenced, and has guards, by the way.

 This is actually just outside of campus and is some sort of summer house I believe. The University is set on the edge of town, and the town is mostly fully of fancy summer homes and the like.

 The center of campus, the big thing on the lefthand side being the mosque. They don't have call to prayer from the top of it like they do in town, and classes are not scheduled around prayer time. I haven't met any students yet that pray 5 times a day.

 The ceiling of the student building. They love their ceilings here. More ceiling pictures will probably come.

 Buildings on campus. Fun fact: Moroccans are much more strict about their "formal space" so all that nice grass you see is NOT grass that can be walked on.

Oh yea, and theres a fountain. I didn't ask, but after hearing the grass rule- I'm pretty sure it's not ok to play in the fountain.








Overall campus feels clean, pleasant, and VERY safe. Hopefully soon it will start to feel like home...