Hey everyone!
Ok this is my first blog ever so bear with me. I don't know blog etiquette and I am terrible at spelling so with that in mind here I go. I'd like to give a little explanation and overview of my trip while I am still sitting comfortably at home in my bed and have plenty of time to write this.
So why did I chose Morocco? I really wanted to study abroad in Africa and made my choice based on the program that happened to be in Morocco, which is fine with me! The program is called "Migration Studies" and goes along perfectly with my passion for working with refugees. I will be studying the legal, social and political aspects of people who are migrating into Morocco from all over Africa and those migrating out of Morocco up into Europe (I know this probably sounds super boring to a lot of you but hey to each his own right?). Basically God designed a program more perfect than I could have imagined and placed it in my lap.
For the 2/3 of you who have no idea where Morocco is (don't feel bad at least you were all together in not knowing, plus I really enjoyed the "Oh that's great you are going there!....where is that again..?") I included a pic of a map. After this you will not only know where the country is but probably more about it then you ever wanted to know!
For the majority of the program, 7 weeks, I will be living (by myself!)with a Moroccan family in the capital city of Rabat, and hopefully they will know some English. God is so good to me, placing me in yet another beautiful coastal city, He knows I don't like straying too far from the ocean. The last 4 weeks is an independent study/internship so at this point I have no idea where I'll be. There will be a few different excursions on the weekends around Morocco and one up into Southern Spain. I'm taking Intensive Moroccan Arabic (yikes!) and a bunch of other classes w/ migration in the title that you could care less about :o).
Some things you should know about Morocco:
-America's earliest and longest ally
-Monarchy ruled mainly by the king, who is also the religious leader, the queen is lower than the king and women in general have less rights than men
-It is the only African country to not be part of the African Union but is a member of the Arab league.....(hmmm bestfriends with Saudi Arabia and America...think about that!)
-capital is Rabat but biggest city is Casablanca (go rent the movie)
-Official language is Arabic, but French runs a close second.....hopefully some people know English
-A simple way of thinking about Morocco is that it is Europe's Mexico, Moroccans and Africans get into Europe via Spain, work in Europe and send the money home to their families in Morocco. Plus Europeans vacation there, think Cancun Muslim style.....
Ok I think this should answer a lot of questions and probably create some new ones. I am so excited to go and my main concern right now is packing. I know God has so much planned for me on this trip and please please please pray for me! I wish I had the time and energy to sit down with each one of you personally and tell you of my experience but since that isn't possible (b/c you are all spread out across the world!) I figure this is the next best way to at least stay connected and give you some idea of what I'm doing over there. I don't know how much internet access I will have while I'm there but I'm hoping to be able to do updates a couple times a month. Feel free to comment and ask questions b/c sometimes I can be very ADD and not finish my train of thoughts. Oh and Kaeli thanks for inspiring me to do this. I loved your blog when you were in Egypt!
"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." -Zephaniah 3:17
