August Update

I’m officially 4 weeks away from leaving on exchange (fingers crossed nothing changes). We leave in the morning of the 16th to Montreal, then fly overnight to Paris, and finally fly to Rabat to arrive at about noon the next day. I am so excited but there is so much to deal with now.

As it stands now, I have ten days between when we get there to when “orientation week” starts. In that time, the biggest thing is getting a visa. Being Canadian, I get an automatic visa for 90 days, but that doesn’t cover the entire time I’ll be there (obvi). The process to get a longer visa is an absolute pain. Firstly, the government needed to make sure I’m actually a student, so I had to send the university my HIGH SCHOOL transcript and diploma as well as Queen’s transcripts to make sure I’m legit a student (weird right?!). The Moroccan Government also needs NINE passport pictures (selfies do not count… I may have asked), numerous banking docs, medical records, a police check, and the fee to do all this. It’s been a pain already but at least it’s almost done now.

In the meantime, I’ve been spending lots of time seeing friends and enjoying Calgary since I won’t be back for another year. It’s a weird feeling that there’s still another month and a bit before school actually starts for me. Everyone is leaving for school now and I’m still working. I’ve also been coming to terms with the idea that I won’t be home for nine months. I think what will be weirdest of all will be not being home for Christmas. I think I’ll have to find lights and string them up on a palm tree while wearing a Christmas sweater and singing carols to celebrate haha.

For the next 28 days, I’ll keep on Morrocin’ in the free world!