It’s been about a month since I’ve updated this blog. So much has happened since then. First and most importantly, I GOT A PLACE TO LIVE!!! Over the last month, I’ve been speaking with a German and an American about living together next year. The problem being that they are only going to be there for first semester while I’ll be there for a year. The best option seemed to be to stay with them for the semester then move/find people to move in to this place in February. After much fandangling over prices and locations and me trying to google translate webpages in both french and arabic (read: I’m gonna die because zero arabic and almost zero french) we found a place for less than half what I’d be paying in Kingston. This place looks over the ocean and is fully furnished, plus it’s close to the train and the school. Here are some pictures of the place!



Secondly, visas are an absolute...

Very bored at work today and daydreaming about Morocco!

Five things I’m excited about for Morocco

1. Living by the sea
2. Meeting new people and making new friends
3. Travelling Morocco and the region
4. Learning Arabic and French
5. Moroccan Food

Five things I’m gonna miss most about Canada

1. Tim Hortons
2. Family and Friends
3. Home cooked food
4. The mountains
5. Christmas

Five things I’m taking with me

1. My Queen’s Snapback
2. Laptop and cell phone
3. A camera
4. Flip flops (whaddup warm weather!!)
5. Passport

Five Cities Outside Morocco I Want to See

1: Lisbon

2: Tunis

3: Barcelona

4: Zurich

5: Paris

And here’s a selfie in a cowboy hat because why the hell not :)
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Rabat is the capital city of Morocco and the home of King Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco

Rabat is a city of approximately 1.6 million people (just slightly bigger than Calgary) while Morocco has about 34 million- almost the same as Canada!

The majority of people are Muslim (surprise surprise) and most people are either Arab, Berber, or a mix of the two.

The Moroccan Flag is a green star on a red backdrop. Red represents the ruling monarchy in the country and green represents Islam, the dominant religion. Each of the points on the star represents one of the major pillars of Islam; Shahadah (that there is no God but God), Salat (daily prayer), Zakat (Charity), Sawm (fasting for Ramadan), and Hajj (visiting Mecca once in one’s lifetime)

The official language of Morocco is Arabic, however the lingua franca is Darija, a mix of Arabic and Berber languages. French is also commonly spoken...

I know I touched on this in my first post but I think this deserves a post unto itself. The reason I picked the school (aside from all the cultural and fun stuff) is because the school is perfect. It’s located right in the middle of the university area of Rabat and is basically brand new. It opened in 2008 and accepts 230 students TOTAL. Like that’s the size of most of my second year classes! It’s unreal. Most of my classes will be capped at ten kids. TEN!!! I have never had a class that small. It’s crazy to think about how much professor-student interaction is possible there but at the same time it means I actually have to show up to class…

In terms of classes, the school focuses almost exclusively on contemporary Middle Eastern and North African Politics, so things like the Arab Spring, Terrorism, post-colonialism etc. All of these are things I am really interested in so it fits...

This quote from someone who will remain unnamed describes an all-too-common reaction when I tell people I’m going away to Morocco on exchange. The most common question I get is “why Morocco” or “why not somewhere like England or France”. Truth be told, that’s where I thought I would end up.

When I first started looking at exchange, Morocco was never even an option. I had my heart set on England or Scotland- the more typical or “safe” exchanges. Places where you would get a little bit of culture- different accents and cool buildings- but didn’t have to worry about the language gap or any sort of culture shock.

As I started looking further into exchange however, I reexamined what I wanted out of it. Going away for a whole year, I wanted something that would change the way I saw the world; change how I saw myself in the world. I started being a bit more adventurous and looking at...