Al Akhawayn- Two Brothers

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Welcome to Al Akhawayn Universtiy

Today is day two of the International Student Orientation which had started yesterday and is supposed to go on for four days. Oof. It's quite similar to what you might expect any orientation is like back in the States. We started with the course selections where the school took our preregistered courses and put together the "first draft" of the schedule. We were able to add or drop courses according to what we wanted, and once it was finalized, we were officially registered as students at the University. The whole process was very long since we couldn't just register online, and instead had to fill in a form by hand and bring it in to get it approved every time we wanted changes. Al Akhawayn is such a modernized school compared to most places in Morocco that I forget that the technology is sometimes not as advanced as it is back home.

Al Akhawayn does a very good job with their student ambassador system where students at the University comes a week early to help the international students settle in and help them become familiarized with the school and the area as well. I was very lucky to have become really good friends with the student ambassadors that I met here. They are so willing to help with whatever we need and are happy to show us around the places that we want to travel.

The student ambassadors also organize fun events that the new students can participate in such as a karaoke night, which was very fun, and a couscous lunch at the center of town. They also organized all of the events during orientation such as teaching the international students how to take the grand taxis and cabs from the city of Azrou back to campus.

Major credit and thanks to all the 

Al Akhawayn student ambassadors!!

History of Al Akhawayn University

I guess one of the relatively more interesting things we learned during orientation is the history of the school itself. In 1995, under the rule of the Royal decree of Hassam II, there was a major oil spill in the Atlantic Ocean. So Morocco asked Saudi Arabia for assistance, thus Saudi gave Morocco a huge sum of money to try to clean up the oil spill. However, the oil spill never became a hazard for it was taken care of by natural means. Therefore, Hassam II decided to use the money to build a university, called Al Akhawayn, which means Two Brothers in honor of the Kings of Morocco and Saudi Arabia, King Hassam II and King Fahd respectively. This school puts emphasis on cultural differences and diversity.

The campus is known to be one of the most beautiful in the world and it is known as one of the top schools in Africa. Al Akhawayn has the biggest library in all of Morocco with a large variety of books and sources. Currently, I am sitting outside in front of the library, in a roman theater stage area that is built right next to the mosque. It is absolutely peaceful here and so beautiful.

The most fascinating thing about this University is that almost all the students and faculty are multilingual. Most know french, colloquial Arabic, classical Arabic, and English. It is so apparent to me that most of these students are driven to do well in both their academic lives as well as their social lives as well. They understand the hierarchy in Morocco and what it means to be grouped in the smallest percentage of being in the middle/upper class, in which most of these students are. Most are very well-learned and are driven to learn more and strive to get good grades. By speaking to the students here, I can tell that they are very ambitious.

Every day I feel more and more blessed to be able to study at a University like this one.

First 24 Hours

SOOOO HOTTTTTTT. As soon as I stepped foot outside of the airport it was as if I was stepping into an oven.  

Region

The region of Morocco I am in is located more towards the center of the country and it is mountainous. Unlike New England, there are no oceans around, therefore, the weather tends to get very hot but there isn't much humidity (which I like). The town of Ifrane is located about an hour outside of the major city of Fez and the landscape has a desert feel to it, but it is unique in a way that there is a lot of vegetation. There are rows of this certain type of tree, I have yet to ask what kind they are, that are grown in a very uniform way, as well as pine trees that are along the side of the road.

As we continue towards Ifrane, the houses that are around us appears somewhat run-down,  but there are lines of laundry hanging from them which signals that they are a home. As many would expect, I do see women and men dressed in the traditional robes and the scarves around the women's heads. These scarve-pieces are very beautiful, some with a lot of color in and designs. I met a girl today telling me that when a woman comes of age, they can choose to practice their religion by wearing the scarves around their heads and wear long dresses. I need to do more research on this and what exactly it represents, but so far this is what I have.




Ifrane

As we entered Ifrane, the feel went from desert to more of a European town. It had a lot of green and the buildings looked more clean and well kept. There were more people in modern clothes that I noticed in this town where women did wear shorts and a t-shirt as well as jeans and a nice top. Men dressed a lot like how the men in the states dress, with khaki shorts and a graphic t-shirt, polo, or button downs. The feel to this town is very modernized and I got the sense that people in this area were very used to foreign exchange students coming to their town.


The People

So far, everyone I met here are super friendly and very hospitable. Many seemed to be very open to different cultures and always gave a friendly smile or nod back whenever I made eye contact. As soon as we arrived on campus, we were greeted by our two student ambassadors named Reda and Marouane. They were, to my very surprise, just like any modern teenager living in the States. They like all the same things that we college students like back in the States, and they know all the popular music as well, even the throwbacks! Right from the start we were very comfortable with each other and were joking around just like I do back home. They took us into town where the market, called the marche (this is in French), is where we got out cell phones to use with the sim cards as well as our power converters and foooooood! The food was DELICIOUS. Reda and Marouane ordered the dishes for us and we ended up getting a very famous dish called Tijine Kefta, which is meatballs with eggs and tomatoes, as well as a salad that was topped with mayonnaise and tuna. We also had roasted chicken with rice and french fries! After the main meal, we finished with a sweet tea with mint leaves. The tea was VERY VERY sweet. Reda and Marouane told us that Moroccans love sweet foods therefore they add a lot of sugar to all of their meals. For me, it was a little too sweet, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Oh and the bread. YUM...!! More on the food later though.

Tajine Kefta (Meatballs, Eggs, and Tomato Sauce)

Salad with Corn, Cheese, Lettus, olives, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, mayonnaise, and olives.

Sweet tea with Mint Leaves

Night Life

Surprisingly, the night life here isn't that much different than it is from the States. Except for the fact that Moroccan nightlife goes for much longer! Things don't usually start till about midnight and it ends around dawn. In towns such as Azrou, all their shops and restaurants remain open until very very late, or should I say early?, in the morning. There is a bar that is within walking distance from the University called Aguelmam that students here go to on the weekends, or for causal drinks. We had the opportunity to watch the big soccer game between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Aguelmam where we were able to get drinks and food, just like the bars/pubs in the states. It was such a great experience. 

More on this later as well, it only has been about 4 days. ;)

Flying to Africa

It's been a little over 24 hours since I've arrived in Morocco and so many things have happened already that had exceeded way beyond my expectations!

First though, I need to tell you about my experience flying over to Morocco. 

My flight literary went like this: 6:05pm flight from Logan to Madrid, 9:00am flight (EU time) from Madrid to Paris, then 1:00pm flight (EU time) From Paris to Fez, Morocco.

Starting off in the wrong foot:

NEVER BOOK THROUGH ONETRAVEL.COM TRAVEL AGENCY!

In the beginning I ran into some minor problems... well, it would have been major problems actually if it weren't thankfully fixed right away. I got to Logan at around 2:30pm for my 6pm flight and went to check in my bags. When the check-in lady was checking for my ticket, she had told me to hold on one second because she had to check something. She was gone for a good 20minutes, and when she came back, she had told me that my travel agency, onetravel.com, which happened to be fraudulent, had cancelled my flight through their end; I had checked the day of to see if my flight was still booked and online it said it was. Thankfully, she said that this has happened before through their site and therefore, was able to fix my problem rather quickly. 

CHECK WITH BANK BEFORE GIVING OUT ANY CARD INFO!

Just when I thought I had everything under control, I received a phone call from an anonymous New York number saying that my debit card was deactivated and I needed to give them information in order to reactivate it. So I hung up right away to make sure that was correct and, again thankfully, I thought twice to call my bank before I started giving out such confidential information. When I called the bank and told them the situation, they told me that my debit card, according to their records, was fine and ready to be used. They told me that it was a good thing that I checked with them and thanked me for sharing such information. So I gave them that anonymous number so that they could check for any suspicious activity, and they said that that number may very possibly be fraudulent as well. 

...yes. That was how I started the first few minutes of my trip. 

LESSON LEARNED: GET TO THE AIRPORT AT LEAST 3 HOURS AHEAD OF TIME!

People I met traveling:

Gabby

The rest of the trip, fortunately, was smooth sailing from then on. I met a couple of great people that had helped me through the process. On my way from Logan to Madrid, coincidentally I ended up sitting next to a girl from Babson that is studying abroad in Spain as well. We were able to talk about our schools as well as what we were to expect while studying abroad that really got me thinking about what I really want to get out of this whole experience. She was also, very ironically, interested in the type of work that I want to do after I graduate. I am thinking about being a marketing major and with it, work with non-profits to help people that are in need to make a sustainable living for themselves. She and I got to talking about different types of companies out there and she really got in interested about the Grameen banks and what the founder, Muhammad Yunus, represents. I want to work in a field that really helps the small people be able to develop and prosper. It was such a pleasure to meet her. We even had lunch together afterwards in Paris before we went off on our separate flights! 

RIOT. That is the one word that can describe what it was like on the flight before it even took off from Paris to Fez. The flight was delayed over 2 hours because there were many handicapped people taking that flight, so the flight attendants and workers had to help them on one by one which caused such a delay. Because of this, people on the flight were not happy so they started to complain to the flight attendants and soon it grew and became a huge fight among the people on the flight! It was scary at first since I couldn't understand what they were saying! But thankfully, a man that was sitting right next to me named Mikhail explained to me the whole situation and kept talking to me about different things in Morocco to keep my mind off the chaos that was going on in the plane. 

Makhail

Makhail is a Moroccan who's family lives in the city of Meknes. He, however, lives in Paris where he works in a very fancy hotel. (I cant recall the name of the hotel.) He suggested places that I should go and things to eat, and even offered me to have dinner with his family once I get to Fez. I have yet to call him but I'm still debating whether it is safe to do so or not. But once we arrived in Fez, he helped me with my bags and exchanging of the money. I even got to meet his family which consisted of his father, his brother, and his 10 year old niece. They seemed very friendly. My ride which was coming from AUI (the school) was late, so he even helped me look for my driver and when we couldn't find him initially, he let me borrow his brother's phone. He was very helpful and I was so thankful to have met him. I am thinking about giving him a call tomorrow, just to thank him at the very least. 

Morocco .... is unbelievably and truly a beautiful place with such beautiful hearted people. (so far!)

OH! And I got to go into the cockpit of the plane that went from Paris to Fez! 
The pilot thought it was very strange and interesting that I chose to study abroad in Morocco when all the others want to leave the country and study in the states. So he invited me into the cockpit to meet his co-pilot and we talked about the cultural differences between Morocco and US (which I will get to in later posts), as well as about flying a plane. haha It was such an amazing experience.

20 Minutes Before Boarding

I have approximately 20 minutes before I board for my flight but it still doesn't feel like I'm going still. It's been such a hectic morning... I did some last minute shopping for face wash, school supplies and such.

There were some unexpected occurrences that were pretty stressful that happened today. During my baggage check-in, apparently I bought my flight ticket off a fraudulent site called onetravel.com (DON'T USE THIS SITE EVER) and they cancelled the flight on me without informing me before hand. So it was somewhat stressful but the check in lady was super nice and helped me out. I was so thankful.

After that incident happened I received a call from some random number from New York saying that my debit card was deactivated so I hung up on them without giving them any further information and called my bank right away. The bank said that that number was fraud so it was a good thing that I called and informed them.

I just literally thank God that I got here almost 4 hours before my flight time and everything worked out okay in the end.

I have three layovers during this trip, I fly from Boston to Mildred, Mildred to Paris and then Paris to Fez.

Well I'm boarding now!!!!!

24 Hours to Go!

I have a little over 24 hours left until I board the plane for my exciting adventure and I'm starting to feel a little more of the jitters. It scares me a little because I am aware I am leaving tomorrow but it hasn't really hit me yet that I'm actually going to Morocco..... MOROCCO?!?!

Many people have asked me why I chose Morocco and each time
I am asked I have such a hard time answering it. There are so many reasons that it's hard to put into words everything that factored into my decision. I really want a culturally eye opening experience and go through something that not many people would be willing to do. Another reason is I really wanted a place where English wouldn't be a primary language. Those I guess are my two most primary reasons why I chose this particular location.

Last night I did most of my packing- I tried to limit down the amount of clothes to bring over because of the limited bags I am able to bring. I'm brining one large suitcase, a rolling carry on suitcase, my school backpack and a purse. My friend was really nice enough to let me borrow his space bags which allowed me to cram more things into my big suitcase.

Because Ifrane, Morocco has all four seasons that match ours, I chose to bring 4 outfits for the summer, 4 outfits for the fall, and 4 outfits for the winter. I of course am bringing my big winter coat because it says in the handbook that it will get really cold towards November. I am bringing one pair of boots, a pair of sneakers, and 2 different types of flats that I can dress up or down.

As far as hair products go, I'm just bringing my straightener and hoping for the best that I'll be able to get my hands on a hair dryer. If not, eh well. I'm not bringing anything big since I figure I can just get shampoos, conditioners, laundry detergents, etc there as I need it.

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do about the outlet converter... Whether I should wait until I get there or try to find one today.... I guess we'll have to see how that plays out.

It's so hard to wrap my head around that by 6pm tomorrow I'll by in the airplane on my way there. I hear it'll take about a week for it to really sink in that I am studying abroad for 4 months.

Well we'll see how it goes. I'm spending my last day here with my family and saying goodbye to all my closest friends:)

Until next blog!!!

Sincerely,

Amy!

One week and One Day!

I'm currently sitting at a Starbucks near Newbury Street thinking about all the things I need to do before I leave for my exciting trip in nearly a week!

I got to see some of my closest fiends from Bentley last night and most of them are going abroad as well! We tried to figure out when and where we were all going to meet since most of us will be in or around Europe, most likely we'll be meeting up in either Germany or Barcelona:) very very exited!

As far as the school preparations go, I already picked out my courses to study while I am at Al Akhawayn U and it looks like I'll have to change my major from Finance to Marketing, which I feel is more fitting anyways. I'll think of it as fate;)

I have been in constant contact with my study abroad advisor and she has been so helpful, getting back to me with all my questions so quickly. The school, Al Akhawayn U has also been very timely with all my questions as well. We have a Facebook group with all the students from all over the country and even all around the world that is studying abroad this fall and everyone has been posting very useful questions that the administrator as well as other students from the University has been answering on a frequent basis!

At this point I feel pretty prepared for what to expect when I get there but the jitters are starting to kick in!

Stay tuned for more on my pre-Morocco feelings and experiences!

<3 Amy