I’ve been putting off writing this post for a few days now. Every time I sit down to properly close out the last eight months, I cannot find the words to explain how much the last eight months have meant to me, and how difficult it is to leave this country.

Day one KK

Before I came on exchange, I had a grand list of places I wanted to see, places I wanted to go, things I wanted to discover about the country, and myself, and so many other things. Confidently I can say I did less than half the things on it. I didn’t see every city in the country. I didn’t experience everything I thought I would. I didn’t eat camel meat… I don’t think. I didn’t even get to stay for Mawazine- the big music festival in Rabat.

Medina Mystery Meat sandwiches

Instead, I made a life for myself in Rabat. I made a ton of friends, became a regular at a couple cafes, developed a sense of routine, and really...

When I first left for exchange, I thought I knew two things. I thought I knew that I would arrive via Paris and Montreal on the 17th of September, and I thought I knew that I would leave on the 15th of June going the same way home. In my mind and my heart, I planned for both of these things, because they were the only things that were solid in my life at that point.

tbt to babyface Khalid’s first day

But life has a funny and fucked up way of changing things. I didn’t leave via Montreal and Paris on my way in- I went around the world, losing my bags in the process to arrive in Rabat and now I leave Rabat 26 days earlier than expected. I have exactly seven days left in Morocco. SEVEN.

On the one hand, I’m incredibly blessed in this regard. I have been accepted to volunteer this summer in Kyrgyzstan, teaching english at a summer camp for high school students. I am also lucky to go to...

Mostar is a tiny town between Sarajevo and the coast, which is home to the iconic Stari Most Bridge. Sam and I decided to stop there for a night because we had heard it was incredibly beautiful. It definitely did not disappoint!

After a four hour drive in a minibus, through whiteout snows in the Bosnian mountains, we arrived to a cold and grey Sarajevo. Being a complete idiot, I brought just two sweaters,which I ended up wearing on top of each other just to keep from freezing! In any event, it was still incredibly nice to see the snow!

One of the courses I’m taking in Morocco is on Political Violence and Reconciliation. In it, we look at different ways political power is used, attempts to reconcile after violent acts, and how the events are remembered, both individually as well as collectively. Because we spent four full days in Sarajevo, it made for a really interesting case study. Sam and I had the chance to talk to people who lived through the conflict, see different exhibitions on it, and just see the physical toll the siege took on the city.

One of my favourite things we did was we took a city tour...

First (real) stop on our travels: Belgrade… Which is apparently pronounced Beograd. We arrived early in the morning after a super cold overnight train, however once we arrived it was like we stepped back in time! The cars, train system, and the architecture were super old school.

Some notes on the city:

1: Some of the most beautiful churches:

No words necessary

2: Remnants of the War: In school, I was taught the Yugoslav war as the story of a federation coming apart with Serbia trying to keep it all together by any means necessary. Going to Serbia, we could see a lot of reminders of the toll of the war.

From destroyed buildings

To preserved bombs and tanks

To even some good ol’ fashion propaganda

Even when we met people, there was clearly a lot of built up resentment from the war and tensions with neighbouring states. It was super interesting to see, but also scary...

I have a friend named Kate who has the absolute worst travel luck. And because I’m the worst type of person, I make fun of her about it constantly. Karma finally caught up with me, and I seem to have caught her luck…

It all started the day before we left when my phone did that fun, pre-April Fools Day thing where it turned off and refused to turn back on. After a frantic night waiting for the guys in the medina tried to figure it out, it was pronounced dead the morning we were planning to leave. Thankfully, I found a pretty good deal on an old model iPhone which isn’t too bad.

When I got home, Sam and I went to pay our rent, but the guy who we pay rent to wasn’t there and because my phone was new and Sam barely uses his phone, we had no way to reach him. After freaking out and trying every option, we finally got ahold of the guy hours later (after missing our intended train to Fes...

Sunday morning (after a very late night the night before), Sam, Ranja and I headed out on an early train to the last Imperial city in Morocco. Here are some pictures:

Ghetto Train

Bab Mansour

Busy and beautiful medina

Lots of doors

Having all the fun in the Medrassa

Loving the views

Moroccan Havana- Beautiful bright buildings

Going nuts for almond milk!

All in all, an excellent day!

This is a mishmash of different elements of Morocco from my eyes.

Cafe Culture: To say that cafes are ubiquitous with Morocco would not be an understatement. Morocco has TONS of cafes- each one with a unique design and clientele. They are a popular social hangout- similar to bars in North America- and are often very cheap. They are also a great place to do work- when they aren’t blaring the football match.

Moroccan cafes are the biggest example of the market not solving. There are hundreds of cafes in the same area. Often right next to each other. My favorite one, Aqua, is next to another cafe on one side and a pastry shop on the other. Yet somehow they all seem to be making money. Unbelievable!

There are four cafes on this block.

Football culture: Moroccans love football, or as we say in Canada- soccer. It is not uncommon to see kids playing in the middle of the street late into...

I’ve tried to stay away from writing this post, because I know it will be problematic. As such, I feel the need to clarify that, like all my blogposts, this is how I see religion in Morocco from my own view. While this may not be the view of all people in Morocco, this is how I have observed it. Furthermore, this is a HUGE topic, and as such I cannot cover every facet, but I will try to cover important topics.

Islam in Morocco Basics

Morocco is one of the least religiously diverse countries in the world today. An estimated 97%-99% of people follow Islam, the vast majority of whom follow Sunni Islam. Of the four major branches of Sunni Islam, most Moroccans follow the Maliki interpretation, which is arguably one of the most moderate interpretations. For an outline of Islam as a whole, here’s the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam

Morocco and Prayer

When I think of Morocco, one...