MAY 2022

MOROCCO

From May 16th to May 26th, a group of CCS students went on a study abroad to Spain and Morocco.

May 22

Our first full day in Morocco, we spent the day following our local guide, Ouadie, in Casablanca. We visited the Mohammed V Mosque that sat on top of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the third largest Mosque in the entire world. We were able to tour the inside of the Mosque, see the complex architecture that went into building the prayer rooms, the washrooms, and the altars. We then drove to Rabat and vistied the Royal Palaces. The spice girls (friend group) climbed the ruins in front of the Palace to get a quick pic. After dinner that night, Ouadie took The Spice Girls and a couple others from the other college to an underground hookah lounge. We drank and danced to local arabic music and smoked a little hookah! (Don’t tell my parents)

May 23

We left Casablanca early in the morning and started our 3 hour drive to Marrakech. It was a local market city filled with new sounds, smells, and sights. The market had so many cool things, the only thing I was not fond of was having items shoved in my face and being cat-called by local men. Some things never change... Ouadie walked us through narrow paths dug out between buildings. He took us to a local bakery and showed us how they make theor famous Moroccan bread, we were even able to taste test them as they came out of the fire. We ended our day walking through the Palais de la Bahia, seeing the beauiful gardens and architecture left behind.

May 24

We woke up super early again to drive out into the open terrain to ride camels. The camel I rode on was very sassy, and wouldn’t let me down, her babies ran behind the pack trying to keep up! We rode them to a small cafe where we had Moroccan mint tea and bread. After that we went ot a cooking class in this compound-looking place. I was the only one to point out how weird it was that we were in a cement blocked off area with employees at every door. The tour guides seemed fine though, so I let my anxiety ease. It was really fun cooking traditional Moroccan food in a tarjine. We danced and told each other about our lives as we made our lunch! We swam in the pool inside the property as the food was being cooked, it was really delicious and we tried every groups attempt. We went back to the markets in Marrakech, specifically the Medina. I bought some little items from the markets for my family at home. Later that night Bev & Ouadie took us out to see the night life of Marrakech anf went to a very nice night club. We danced with Ouadie and Bev all night!

May 25

This was our last full day before we left for home. The day consisted of going to the Jardin Majorelle. A botanical garden located in Marrakech eith the most fantastic blue painted everywhere. I bought some of the patented paint to take home. We departed for our 3 hour drive back to Casablanca. We sang songs and slept majority of the ride. When we came back to the hotel we had dinner there and stayed inside. A group of us stayed with Ouadie & Bev, we talked about religion, culture, history, shared baby photos, talked about who annoys us and sang a bunch of songs. We turned in for bed around 3 AM.

May 26

We woke up at 5 AM to head to the airport. It was a weepy eye ride singing songs and reading lovely notes from Hannah. I hope to see her again, and Hanz, Tate, etc. of the lovely friends I made from Tennessee. I have never made so many friends in 10 days. One of the best trips to date.

MOHAMMED V MOSQUE︎︎︎