Morocco!!

Our trip to Tangier started with a bus ride down the coast from Granada to Tarifa, featuring naps and a review of our sheet of Arabic phrases (as an aside, this trip made me really want to learn Arabic). The ferry over was so fun, the morning was cloudy enough that we couldn’t see Morocco until we were almost in the port! After checking into the hotel we divided into our groups (we were the rabbits!!) We walked through the city to a rooftop for our first tea of the trip, and chatted with some really nice Moroccan students before walking back to dinner. After a quick round of cards we got ready for bed.

Our first morning in Tangier the rabbits drove up to the Casbah, which in addition to being stunning and having incredible views of the ocean, was being used as a filming location for the upcoming Mummy movie! Then we walked down to the Darna center, a non-profit community center that gives skills training and resources to local women and their kids. They sell incredible textile pieces, and I still regret not buying a tote bag. After lunch we drove down the coast, stopping on the beach to see the camels before making it to Asilah. We visited a community stove (the last one in the town), looked at some incredible murals, and watched teens jump from the fortification into the ocean, before getting back on the bus to finish our drive to Rabat. The fog coming off of the sea was insane, it felt like we were driving into another dimension. Our host sister met us at the pickup stop to walk us to her home in the old Medina. Our parents were so kind, showing us merch from their other exchange students and pictures of a recent wedding. I’m also now obsessed with the Turkish soap opera they were watching (at time of writing I’m halfway through the first season 😭)

The next morning we drove to the Orient-Occident Foundation, another non-profit that provides essential services to refugees, migrants and local communities in Morocco. The short film they showed us was incredibly moving, they do such meaningful work. If anyone is interested in making a charitable donation this holiday season, I highly recommend their mission. Then we drove to the Mausoleum of Mohammad V, where we had lots of fun trying not to fall off of the pillars, and I almost cried at how beautiful the woodworking of the mausoleum’s dome was. After lunch we walked up to the Casbah and my friends and I met Yasmeen. She had just finished a Masters, and was so hilarious and fun. She walked us through the old city and market while we talked politics and history, then got tea and henna with the other groups. To round out the night, the girls in my group and I went to the neighborhood hammam. I boiled myself within an inch of my life and had the best time.

On our second to last morning we repacked our bags, said goodbye to our host families, and drove up through the Rif mountains to meet with a mother and daughter. They made us a phenomenal couscous, and then were incredibly generous in answering our questions about their experiences in rural Morocco, their emphasis on education, migration, and their hopes for their futures. My friends spoke so eloquently about the parallels between immigration in the US and Europe, and I was so moved by the similarities between “España vacía” and rural Morocco. After saying goodbye we made it to Chaouen just before sunset, and had some time to walk around and shop before meeting back up for dinner. I found a lovely watercolor for my mom, a vintage postcard for my dad, and playing cards for my sister. We had a really phenomenal dinner with the full group before meeting back up with the rabbits in our hostel to reflect on the trip.

Our last morning we woke up at 6 to hike to the Spanish Mosque across from the main city and watch the sun come up. Then after breakfast, a bus ride back to Tangier, a ferry, another bus, we got back home.

I had an unparalleled time with the rabbits. Everyone was so curious, and funny, and caring, and respectful, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group. I’m immensely grateful for all of the work that went into planning a trip of this scale from everyone on the IES Abroad team (especially to IES Granada admin, who clocked that I hadn’t actually submitted the signup form longgg after the deadline passed and still found a spot for me with my friends.) Our photographer Yunes was so incredibly kind, answering our questions and taking incredible photographs. I’m especially grateful to our guide Sarah. Because of her leadership and intention in organizing the trip, and our specific activities, I feel like we got the best of both worlds. Our group covered so much ground without treating Morocco like a playground. I feel so grateful that because of her we got to speak to so many different people across each city we stopped in, and I felt genuinely humbled by how open and willing they were to share their opinions, homes, and histories with us. I’m already dreaming of going back. Morocco is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life, this was genuinely the trip of a lifetime, and if you’re coming to IES Abroad Granada I can’t recommend it enough.