May 18, 2011
DeAndre Jones, a redshirt junior linebacker from Memphis, left last week with other Vanderbilt students to study abroad in Morocco, located on the northwestern tip of Africa. Here’s DeAndre’s first journal from Morocco.
Salam America,
We have spent the last five days in Rabat. It has been amazing. It took me a day or two to get used to tastes of some foods, but now I can’t get enough of the couscous and tagines. One thing I have noticed here is that they eat a LOT of bread. Each meal is served with bread from the local bakery. Each loaf cost about one Durham, and 7.33 Durham equals one dollar. Items are a lot cheaper here as well.
One thing I’m really still trying to get used to is English not being the main language. One of our students from Egypt (Aladine) knows Arabic and another (Katherine) has taken French courses so I do a majority of my conversing through them, Professor Barsoum, or our tour guide (Nabil). However, I learned a little Arabic so that I can do some bargaining in the market (which is a lot of fun).
One thing I really love about Morocco is dessert. They served fruits instead cakes and pies, and it’s ten times better here than in America. The orange juice here also tastes more freshly squeezed.
Drivers in Morocco are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE LANES! And even where there are lanes, they only suggest places where one should drive. Luckily, I have only had to ride in a taxi once, but as a walker I have to make sure I watch where I’m going.
In Rabat, we walked through the Medina to get to our class in the CCCL (Center for Cross Cultural Learning). It’s amazing seeing how everyone works so well with each other here. In America, we work hard every day to get a lot more money. Here, they work hard just to feed themselves that day. A lot of the people living here only make around $4,000 a year and the unemployment rate is high. It makes me grateful for everything we have back home.
Photo from Rabat
Just arrived at our hotel in Marrakech and it is even more beautiful here than it is in Rabat. Later today we are going to the square where they have live music, snake charmers, cafés, and things of that nature. I’m really excited to continue my journeys.
Shokran Americanis!
DeAndre