From Morocco With Love [Study Ablog]

This blog post was written by senior Pooja Shivaprasad, a peer advisor in the Elliott school majoring in Middle East studies and minoring in biology.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have the opportunity to spend four months in Morocco for a semester abroad. My decision was made quickly without much thought, and I had no idea what life would be like across the Atlantic. My Arabic language program with AMIDEAST gave me the opportunity to take insightful and challenging classes ranging from Islamic Women’s Studies to Political Science and everything in between.
 
 
 
 

Rabat, the capital city of Morocco, is situated right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. My homestay was just a few feet from the shore, and I enjoyed running down to the beach in the evenings with my roommate, Haley. Life in Morocco was unlike anything I experienced back home in DC. Every weekend I was in a different city and sometimes even a different country. There is only nine miles of water between Morocco and Spain, so it was easy to take a weekend to travel to countries throughout Europe. Having the chance to interact with new cultures provides you with knowledge and skills that transcend a classroom setting.
 
 

Morocco was not short of beautiful scenery, incredible people, or fascinating cultural experiences. I had the opportunity to teach English in a small school in the Middle Atlas Mountains, where people traveled hundreds of miles by donkey to get to the next town. On another weekend, I found myself camping out in the Sahara with a family of Bedouins just on the border of Algeria. One of my favorite cities was Chefchaouen, which was a city in the mountains painted entirely in a stunning ocean blue. Studying abroad makes you incredibly independent and it can even give you reverse culture shock when you come back home.
 

There were certainly many cultural barriers and language miscommunications; however, people were always more than happy to help you. Morocco is oftentimes seen as one of the “go to’s” for students learning Arabic, but I highly recommend this program for French speakers as well. The awareness you gain from traveling to a country like Morocco is invaluable, and I’m so glad I didn’t think twice about going there!