Today was
full of more boring meetings and sessions, but those days are drawing to an
end. School starts on Wednesday, and I am genuinely excited to get homework and
start learning here. I want to know what the professors are like; Louise, who is
from Denmark, wonders what kind of coursework we will have. Apparently in the
Danish system, you are assigned readings and at the end of the semester you
write a term paper or take a test. The idea of busywork is unwelcome, and we
all hope that classes will be engaging.
I’ve been
having trouble with the Moroccan sense of things. For example, their sense of
time is far less strict than our own. We have yet to have a session start on
time, and the norm is for it to start some ten or fifteen minutes after it’s
scheduled to start. But we still get out early, so it could be worse.
Their sense
of space is also something I will have to get used to. Apparently Americans
have a far larger personal bubble, because the Europeans have no trouble with
how close Moroccans stand. Physical contact is also far more common, although
contact between members of the opposite sex is far less and mostly occurs with
the younger generation (ie the students). People here greet the way that some
Europeans do, by air kissing on the cheeks. I haven’t greeted anyone like that
yet, but I don’t know that many Moroccans yet either. Eye contact is not as
prevalent, and doesn’t carry quite the same notion of friendliness that it does
in the states. It is a more powerful form of communication than in America, and
I keep catching myself making eye contact with people.
I keep forgetting that the campus is at 5,000
feet until I walk the 60,000 steps back to my dorm. That may be a slight
exaggeration. The air here is much crisper and colder in the evening than at
home. The air is also dry, even when it’s really hot, so I pretty much love the
weather here.
I’m
finishing this piecemeal entry in front of my “wherefore-art-thou-Romeo”
window, thrown open to tempt the slightest mountain breeze. I just came back
from karaoke with the freshmen Moroccan students. Which was a complete success,
and a ton of fun. Anyone well acquainted with me knows my – well, let’s call it
exuberance. Two of the international students thought I was completely off my
rocker, but I only got weird looks from maybe two or three Moroccan students.
I sang
Teenage Dream with one of the girls, and another girl has promised to
Facebook-friend me. I ended up dancing with three or four Moroccan girls after
the majority of the international students left. The pace of the karaoke was
very different. Everyone crowded around the screen, so it was hard to see or
hear who was singing. In between songs, technological difficulties often
resulted in random pauses. After a while a ring of chairs formed around the
crowd as kids stood on them to get a better view.
The
greatest part was that they knew ALL THE SONGS. I kid you not. From Brittney
Spears to Rihanna to Katy Perry, these kids knew all the words to every song.
Even songs that I thought wouldn’t be popular here, because they’re so
provocative. It was great to see them all so excited and full of movement, and
the international kiddos tried mingling. One stubborn corner of international
students stuck to themselves, but all in all it was a great time. It’s the
first time I’ve felt like I clicked with any of the Moroccan students, and I
even recognized some of the kids from my scavenger hunt. Even better, most of
them recognized me! Though I suppose I do stand out more than they do…
So far life
in Morocco has been a crazy mix of ups and downs, excitement and wonder mixing
with the tedium of paperwork and the frustration of a language barrier. School
starts on Wednesday, and I can’t wait to see what new challenges that will
bring. (Luckily they’re taught in English, haha!)
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