I'M HERE!

Well, I've made it! From New York to Madrid, after 12 hours of traveling, I'm finally in my new home of Tangier, Morocco and I've been here a week already. These past few days have been a complete whirlwind, I don't even know where to start.

The dorms. My room is on the 2nd
floor with the window open.

The academic building.

The campus was practically in shambles when we first arrived. Thanks to a wetter-than-normal rainy season last year (if these past few days haven't been wetter than normal than it is going to be a long month), construction was extremely delayed. They were definitely not ready for us but we made do with what we had. And for me, that wasn't much. First, we were told we'd have no wifi. No wifi meant, few calls home and no way to access our schoolwork. Then, due to a shower leak, my room was flooded and I had to stay in another one of the students' rooms for a couple of nights (it definitely helped that my temporary roommate was super nice). But I had a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in, that's all that mattered. Plus, I was in Morocco, I could not complain.

Within the first week, we've been on two day trips and walked all over Tangier. It started the moment we landed and we've only had our first few days of downtime this weekend. On the first night, we wandered around Tangier for almost two hours and were all taken out to dinner by Anouar Majid, the director of the Global Education Office. Eating at a traditional Moroccan restaurant was an interesting experience to say the least, but we were accompanied by friends and live music. We wound up having a great time despite jetlag, aches and pains, and a severe lack of sleep.

We were spoiled again the second night, a Saturday. Except this time, we were taken to a more modern restaurant. Needless to say, I think everyone enjoyed their dinner much more this night. Following dinner, everyone experienced the nightlife of Tangier. Which is LATE. We arrived at the club at 11:30, and it was completely empty, with no one arriving until at least 12:30 or 1am. At this point, we were full of energy, coming from a time zone that was only eating dinner right about then. As "The Americans," we drew a lot of attention and were able to have fun with that. Thankfully, we hadn't had much planned for the next day and we were all able to sleep in until God knows when.

Cap Spartel

Hercules Caves

On that Monday, we had a tour of Tangier and a trip to Cap Spartel and Hercules Caves arranged for us. The lighthouse at Cap Spartel was beautiful, even with the cloudy day as its backdrop. Hercules Caves was an interesting experience. The caves were supposedly manmade, but no one has any idea what their purpose was. The small beach town surrounding the cave was equally as beautiful. I can't even imagine how relaxing and pretty it would be in the summer. Following the caves, we were able to have lunch and visit one more lighthouse (from which we could see Spain and the Rock of Gibraltar) before having to cut the trip short due to rain.

Ceuta and the Mediterranean.

Mosque in Castillejos.

Castillejos

On Wednesday, we had an excursion to the city of Tetouan planned. We all piled on a bus and rode east, getting a clear view of Spain and the Rock of Gibraltar from the mountain roads. Driving through cloudy and rainy weather for most of the trip, I was a little wary of how the trip would end, but as we caught our first glimpses of the Mediterranean Sea, we descended out of the clouds and into sunny, warm weather. And thank God for that. We drove along the teal blue of the Mediterranean, past Ceuta, a little piece of Spain in Morocco, and into the coastal town of Castillejos. The entire town was painted white and blue, so that it resembled Greece, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen so far in Morocco.

Street in Tetouan.

Archway above the street
in Tetouan.

After driving through Castillejos, we remained on our coastal route to Tetouan. The city is situated and the foot of the Rif Mountains and extends out to the Mediterranean coast. Our first stop in Tetouan was a bathroom, which was much needed after our 3 hour long drive. The bathroom we were shown to was a little bit below our expectations, however. Having no toilet paper, we had to ask the waiter of the restaurant we had stopped in for napkins. However, even having toilet paper was a struggle, being that the toilet was merely a hole in the ground. With most of us having never left the United States, this experience was a first. But, as our new motto says, we're in Morocco "no problem!"

Tetouan and the Rif Mtns.

Door in Tetouan.

Following the bathroom pit stop, we met a distinguished professor from Tetouan, who would lead us on a tour throughout the city. Our first stop on that tour was lunch, which consisted of seafood pizza (apparently they put seafood on everything here) and french fries that were handed out like bowls of bread before the meal. We spent the day walking off our lunch in the medina. Through areas built in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. It was unreal to think that most of the buildings surrounding us were older than our own country. Outside the medina, we followed our tour guide through a hillside cemetery with a view that was breathtaking. From the cemetery, we could see the entire city of Tetouan, the Rif Mountains the loomed above the streets, and the moon rising over the Mediterranean Sea. I could have stood on that hillside for hours, just enjoying the view. So far, it was the single most beautiful view I have seen since arriving in Morocco.

Street in Tetouan.

Inside a home in Tetouan.

After making our way back down the hillside, which was a struggle in the fading light, we were led back into the medina, through pathways covered by homes built above the streets, to a friend of our tour guide's home. The home was more like a museum, centuries old with mosaic floors and walls, extravagant furniture, a fountain with water from the Rif, and a private Turkish bath. From the street, I would never guess that something this large was hidden behind the beautiful front door. We thanked the man (Shukran! in Arabic) for allowing us into his home and our tour concluded there. We were packed back on to the bus and rode the shorter, but less scenic route back to Tangier.

Thursday, reality set in. We began classes.