The End

December 30

Hello beautiful people,

I hope you haven’t forgotten about me! I am ashamed to say that after my return, blogging became the last thing on my mind. Thankfully, my wonderful mother reminded me that one must never leave a chapter unfinished… especially when I have so diligently disclosed every moment of my Moroccan adventure.

This past Sunday, December 28, marked exactly TWO WEEKS since I have been home. My has time flown! I can’t believe that just 14 days ago, I was on the other side of the world, living a completely different life. I can say for sure that it took me this long to truly process all that I had experienced and what I will choose to take with me into my final semester in college and for the rest of my life.

Despite the ups, downs, friends made, friends lost, and sickness, I would not want to change this experience one bit. I have learned how to handle myself, problem-solve, and most importantly handle the never-ending stomach bug that seemed to afflict every person in my group. This trip has given me a lot of confidence to try to apply to things that are even more challenging. Life is a progression and for every moment of comfort, you must step out of it.

 If I had to pick one thing I miss the most? Obviously Naget, my wonderful host cousins, and all of the other amazing Moroccans who have left an impact. Insha’allah, I will see them all again. I have been to Italy three times, Kenya twice, Costa Rica, and Fiji, but Morocco has its own place in my heart.

Moving forward…

The past two weeks have been interesting. I know “interesting” is the biggest cop-out word there is, giving absolutely no explanation, but it’s just so perfect. However, you all know I will fully explain myself!

My time home has been one huge, ambiguous and overwhelming lump of time. It started off with Jet Lag that just wouldn’t quit! Being my longest stay out of the country, perhaps Morocco did not want to leave my system. I spent my first week and much of my second in a frustrated and grouchy state. However, I was able to see my Lehigh Men’s Basketball family at their game at Quinnipiac the fourth day. It was a tough loss, but you can’t beat a reunion with friends after nine months (summer break and fall semester)!

Once that was finally out of me, on came the work!

As many of you may know from reading past entries, my graduation from college this coming spring does not mark the end of my studies. I am a girl of great ambition and I have a lot planned. With that being said, there is a lot of preparation for it. I have had my five graduate school applications to contend with. I am thankful to have started most of this work in Morocco, but nevertheless follow-up emails, finishing touches and other communications needed to be done.

I am proud to say that at this point, I am 95% done, I will be taking my second GRE test this coming Friday and have even found a possible job abroad. Faith without work is dead, right? All I have on my mind now is to stay busy, and stay FOCUSED. I am back to Lehigh U in just a couple of weeks!

This brings us to the end! I want to thank each and every person who read this blog, laughed (with or at me), stayed in touch and kept me going through my toughest moments. I honestly never thought that anyone other than close family and randomly interested friends would see this. To be quite honest, I will miss blogging and having funny stories to tell. Who knows? I may even have a new one for you guys in the future.

Stay blessed!

Rae

The Final Countdown

December 6

Salaam, readers!!

Today is quite the exciting, but sad day for this traveler. With only eight days left in country, today is the day I am moving out of my home in Kasbah de Oudayas! It has been a wonderful ride, living on my own, but all good things must come to an end. It’s about time I move out of my wonderful castle with ocean view!

I have learned quite a bit about myself as a person, taking care of my home and how I see living life as an adult. I am technically an adult now, at twenty-one years old, but I mean once I am no longer living with my mom. I will be graduating this coming May 2015, and will be off to Graduate School, so it will be sooner than you all think!

Shoutout to my Lehigh University and other fellow college students! You’re done with classes! Now, go and kick some exam butt! I can’t wait to get back to you all.

Today, my roommates and I will be lugging all of our belongings to Naget’s house. This woman is a saint and a lifesaver! We booked our house only until today, not knowing that we cannot move into our hotel for the end of the program until tomorrow afternoon. Of course, after telling her our sob story of homelessness, she is taking us in for the afternoon and night. We went yesterday to visit and double check the logistics of our arrival and we were met with food, tea and so many laughs.

To top it off, I got to see one of my last amazing Moroccan sunsets!

I will really miss that woman! I have met some wonderful people in my stay here, but none as incredible as she is. I have never felt more at home, away from home, than when I am at Naget’s. I can honestly say I will also miss my loud, hilarious, and sometimes odd, male host cousins: Hamza, Mohamed, Eunice and Abd Samad.

I cannot tell which one is my favorite, because I have had wonderful times and jokes with all of them!

And the epic tea and snack times will be missed as well. I think the excessive tea-drinking is rubbing off on me, so I will be bringing that to the States! Good news for all of my Lehigh people!

Tomorrow, my entire trip will come full circle. The hotel we are moving into is the exact same one we stayed in for orientation. Instead of being lost and nervous, I am moving in knowing that I will be soon leaving a place I love and have been accustomed to living in for the past fourth months. The coming week will be filled with presentations and hopefully some good pastilla, Insha’allah! I am really looking forward to seeing what my classmates have been up to these past five weeks. I know my partners and I have been working so hard!

I am so incredibly happy that I made it through this trip, but the sadness is taking over. There were times this semester that I thought I wouldn’t make it, due to sickness and other stresses of living abroad and meeting new people. Look how far I have come!

Most of you have been keeping up with each and every one of my shenanigans, stresses, exams, and freak outs, but it has been a crazy ride. In just a week, I will have completed this blog! I know I will have to start another, as I am too used to telling all to masses of strangers around the world.

Today, I will FINALLY finish my report and article for my Independent Study. I am so close, I can taste it! That was your cliché for the day! All I need are two translated quotes, and your girl is GOLDEN.

Now, I am off to prepare for the day. It is almost noon here and I should probably get up, get dressed and pack the rest of my things!

Peace out, cub scouts!

Rae

A Moment of Reflection

December 3

Hey everyone,

Happy December! I hope you all are having a wonderful last month of year 2014, and looking forward to the new year! There are a lot of great things in store for all of us, Insha’allah!

The weather today in Rabat, Morocco is dismal, to say the least! It has been raining all day, with torrential downpour every hour or so. I am finding it rather hard to be productive, as all I want to do is curl up and sleep. Regardless, I am still trucking along on my story for journalism and will definitely complete it by the due date, this coming Sunday.

In other news, I am afraid that my mood lately is mirroring today’s weather. As I prepare to make my way home in eleven days, I am met with mixed feelings. At this point, nothing could be more exciting than seeing my family, eating the foods I miss the most, and being back in my own bed.

That being said, I am so deeply disturbed by what is happening in American society these days. Within these last few hours, I learned that Eric Garner’s murderer will not be charged for his crime. Just last week, our nation was shocked by Michael Brown’s murderer avoiding charges as well.

The fact that two black men were killed with no repercussions, and for seemingly no reason except the threat of danger perceived by the color of their skin, really scares me. This kind of injustice occurs every day, but these particular crimes were committed by those who vow to “protect and serve”.

Yes, there is a “race” problem in the United States. The systematic and institutional dehumanization of black and brown bodies has existed since the times of slavery. Yes, I am concerned for my peers and for my own two brothers. Don’t believe me? Check out The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

What concerns me the most, however, is our society’s “accountability” problem, especially in relation to violence. There are many whites and other races of people being harmed, alarmingly from my generation. Little to nothing is or has changed, the cycle continues, and that scares me. When will our society put a stop to ALL senseless persecution?

Having lived in such a peaceful place for the last four months, my mind is unsure of how to cope with coming home. Of course Morocco has its own issues, as all places do, but I feel like I am returning to a war zone.

I will use the lens of race, because I know it best, but people are being killed in their homes, Aiyana Jones, shot on the street, Michael Brown, followed by unstable men, Trayvon Martin, shot down seeking help, Renisha McBride, and mistakenly killed by fifty bullets on the morning of their wedding, Sean Bell.

Late President, and fellow alumnus of my alma mater, Choate Rosemary Hall, John F. Kennedy said,

“I look forward to a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.”

I share this sentiment. I am very optimistic that one day things will change, but when, I am just not sure. Life seems to have these complexities, where no matter how much you think on it, you just cannot come to a solution. How do you get people to change their exclusive way of thinking?

In the meantime, I will just try to enjoy the small things in life: each pot of morning tea, every text message or FaceTime session I have with my family, or even just the fact that I woke up today. Someone, somewhere, did not have that opportunity.

I will keep thinking and praying on this. The Global Studies/Africana Studies double major and Sustainable Development minor are definitely being put to good use at the moment. The literature is astounding. Thanks, Lehigh!

To my readers – you do not AT ALL have to agree with my opinion. I just ask that you respect it. My thoughts in this post come from a place of personal reflection, backed by academic exploration and literature. Until we can all learn to show and execute levels of respect for other lives, we can get nowhere. I welcome comments and dialogue, if you wish!

Until next time,
Rae

For MORE Moroccan Adventures…

Check out my good friend, and fellow program classmate, Alexandra Haines’ blog, Losing Sight of the Shore !

The link is HERE. 

 Enjoy,

Rae