It’s been quite an emotionally difficult week for all of us here in Madrid. As we struggle to make sense of all that happened in Paris a week ago, we have had countless decisions to make regarding our study abroad experience. Europe does not feel like a safe place right now. We all watch our phones vigilantly for breaking news notifications almost as if we expect another terrible thing to happen. I am supposed to go to Paris this Thursday, and I still haven’t decided if I should go or not. It would be a significant financial loss if I don’t, but then again, is money worth risking your safety? No one has answers right now and it’s been frustrating beyond belief. As much as you can talk to others and ask their opinions, in the end, the decision has to be your own for how you decide to move forward in this dark era of uncertainty in Europe right now.
Though I wanted to mention this, since I feel it is necessary, I don’t want to talk about Paris in my blog post today. As you could probably imagine, we have heard nothing but stories of this horrific tragedy and its aftermath for the past nine days. We have talked it to death, to the point where bringing it up makes me feel sick. Instead I want to focus on some lighter things that have happened that I didn’t get a chance to talk about last week, for obvious reasons.
Last week, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Africa for the first time in my life. Since the continent is so close to Spain, I felt that I’d miss out on an opportunity I might not get otherwise if I didn’t take advantage of it. So I hopped on a plane for an hour and a half and landed in Casablanca, Morocco, a city that was once colonized by the French and also has a significantly large Arab population (the two main languages are French and Arabic). The moment my friend and I left the airport at around 8:00pm, the drama began. We had to take a regional train from the airport to the main train station in the center of the city. Once we found that train, we vigilantly stared out the window so as not to miss our stop, since everything was in French and Arabic and we couldn’t understand it. We almost did miss our stop. When we got off the train, we had to take a cab to our hotel. We had been warned by multiple people that cab drivers in Morocco will try to rip you off if they can tell you’re foreign (which, clearly, two blondes from the United States definitely stood out). The cab driver that took us to our hotel REFUSED to turn on the meter and severely overcharged us – the cab ride that we were told we shouldn’t spend over 30-50 dirhams on (3 to 5 euros) ended up being 150 dirhams (15 euros) because the driver kept trying to cheat us. We got so upset that we just threw him a 100 dirham bill and walked away when we got to our hotel. It was quite the first night.
I am definitely glad I went to Morocco for the sake of saying I got to have that experience. Did I like it? Not really. The one part I did like was when we went to visit the Moroccan Jewish Museum, which is the only museum dedicated to Judaism in the entire Arab world. It was beautiful to see a place where I could connect with my heritage in a region that is so torn with religious conflict and discrimination. The rest of the trip was very difficult, though. The Moroccan society is extremely patriarchal and it is very normal for men to yell very vulgar things at foreign women, and even touch them. My light blonde hair and complexion made me stand out significantly and I often felt very exposed and uncomfortable when out in public. Even though it was very hot during the day, women are expected to cover themselves with long sleeves and long pants, which I was glad I knew before I went so I could prepare myself. I have never felt so much like an alien before, even in Spain. The language barrier was also difficult, since I don’t know hardly any French and I cannot speak a word of Arabic. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I touched down in Madrid two days later and I could use my Spanish again!
I thought a lot about my experience in Morocco and how it impacted my identity and my understanding of this new part of the world for me. Sometimes I felt guilty about the fact that I perceived the culture so negatively. But I am just not accustomed to the way of life, and it makes sense why I felt the way I did there. I know what it’s like to be catcalled but not to the extreme extent that I received it in Morocco, to the point where I sometimes felt like I was in danger. I was disturbed by the fact that when you have to buy something, especially a taxi ride, you have to negotiate the price. It’s almost like set prices don’t matter there. Some taxis don’t even have meters and you have to negotiate the price with the driver before you get in the car, or he’ll rip you off. I noticed that men have free reign of almost anything and women are expected to step aside and accommodate them. It was culture shock like I’ve never felt before, and being there made me feel all the more fortunate to have been born in the United States with the opportunities I’ve had.
I cannot believe that I have less than a month left in Madrid. The next few weeks for me are filled with more trips and new experiences, and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you all. Hasta luego!