Nothing short of thankful

I am sitting here in my room, about to pass out, and thinking back to my whirlwind week. And what a whirlwind real first week it was.

Classes began this week, which means Monday-Friday a 6:40 am wake-up call, breakfast, and a 40 minute walk to school. I'm not complaining by any means, though I also wouldn't complain if I could sleep a little bit later :) The first week of school is shopping week when all the students are allowed and encouraged to attend the classes they are interested in and then by the end of the week be decided on which classes he/she will take. So I did just that. Classes were for the most part interesting, some more than others. Wednesday in a class called, "The Islamic World and the West", we already had a guest speaker, a friend of the professor. He had just flown in on an evacuation flight from Tunisia. He gave us some history of the country, background of the events taking place there, and told the story of his first-hand experience there. Pretty amazing stuff. In my, "Islam and Gender" class we are already reading about the concept of "gender" in the Arabophone or Arabic speaking world. In "Contemporary Moroccan Culture" we have read about Ramadan in Morocco as well as a short story entitled "The Merchant of Heaven" about Brother Lemon and American who tries to bring christianity to Ghana but does not understand the culture and is not open to the people. Then there's Arabic, Fusha everyday at 8:30 in the morning and Darija Monday and Wednesday. The Foosha teacher is wonderful but I am quickly discovering I have a LOT of work to do. Let the studies begin!

Family time this week was also wonderful. I am beginning to feel more and more at home in my room, the apartment, and with my family. Each day I find that Brittini and I seem to want to return to our welcoming host family and comfortable home. I love nighttime here when we all gather in the "living room" after our long days to eat from communal dishes of food, share our days, and usually laugh and giggle together about silly Soap Opera's or Arabic comedians. One night they brought out family pictures of a cousins wedding and took great pride in showing each one too us. We were amazed at the extravagant dress and the number of times it seems the bride changed, I swear it was more than 10 times! Another night we were all mesmerized by a Bollywood film that had the favorite actress of my host sister in it. My host sister Fatima is proving to be not just a new sister but also a teacher, she encourages us to practice or Darija and even tests us. She helped me practice reading through a dialogue I need to learn for class. Last night we looked through a book about Morocco and planned a weekend trip for the beginning of February to a beach town called Agadir with our host sister Sara. Perhaps the funniest and most Universal moment occurred last night with our host sister Fatima, who is the smallest person and is always leaping up and running across the apartment for something. She of course jumped up and ran out of the room but just as she was rounding the corner we could see her little feet catch the rug as she went tumbling to the ground. Of course she was fine, we were informed that it happens all the time, and we all cracked up laughing for a few minutes. Perfect unity.

Random adventures, this week I seem to have had plenty. Wednesday night I went for my second time to Up Stairs to meet two other girls and one of the two boys in our program. We shared some wine and

had good conversation and I was planning to head home pretty early but soon enough we all ended up in taxi's on our way to the Kasbah. We followed Nate, who has already been here a semester, through the windy deserted streets and stumbled down the dark rocky backside of the Kasbah. It was worth it. We sat atop the ledge of an ancient wall looking out over the water where the ocean meets the Oued Bou Regreg river.

It was a full moon, the lights of city were twinkling, and we all were overcome with, what may sound like a silly realization, that we are in Morocco. After, on our way out we looked back at the Ocean and offhand I mentioned that I had never touched the Atlantic Ocean, ever. We hesitated for only a moment before turning back and heading to Ocean. Once we hit the sand I took of running and touched the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, ever. It was a magical night. Then on Friday the whole group met up at Mega Mall for ice skating, which turned out to be one of the fanciest malls I've been to. We hit the ice with Moroccan pre-teen couples and skated our hearts out. Some had never skated, many fell; we danced, we sang, we had tons of fun.

So I can rightfully say that I would not want anything different from my first real week in Morocco. I am nothing short of thankful...for the Avett Brothers who say it better...

I know I’m up and down.
Please, try to (accept)
Apologies for the sadness that I’ve found.
The years we’ve (spent)
Nothing short of grateful for our trip.
And those we’ve (met)
Nothing short of thankful.
Nothing’s gonna change my mind,
I’m travelin’ a different highway.
Nothing’s gonna change my mind.
I’m walkin’ a different line.
Oh, nothing’s gonna change my mind.
You’ll find what you need if you want it.
Nothing’s gonna change my mind.
I’ll find mine.