Today marks the second week of classes. I'm thrilled that it's Thursday and that the weekend is officially starting. The weekends are, of course, my favorite. Classes are good, but tough. Intermediate Arabic is proving to be quite the challenge, but slowly but surely...I'm getting it (I think). On the weekends, we travel around in our very touristy charter bus and see some really awesome things! Last weekend we saw Meknes and Fez. This weekend we'll go to Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Merzouga, the Sahara desert, and Imlil. No worries. I'll take more pictures. Morocco is amazing so far, and I can't wait to see more of it.

Doorway in Rabat

In front of the Palais Royal

Volubilis

Fez

Monkey in the Ifrane Forest/Park

16 Days Until Departure!

! مرحبا

Hello!

I can't believe that in 16 days I'll be on a plane to Morocco. Just thought I'd let you all know what my trip will look like. The study abroad location is in Rabat, Morocco where we'll be studying at Amideast--a school in the center of the city. I'll be taking 2 French courses and 1 Arabic course

--let's hope I remember my Arabic from 101/102...

We'll all be staying with host families near Amideast. Anyway, so apart from classes 4-5 days a week, we'll be traveling on weekends. Here's a sample of what we'll see and do:

-Marrakech

-Climb sand dunes in the desert

-A visit to a Berber village

-Fes (the cultural capital)

-Meknes (imperial city)

-Volubilis (Roman ruins)

-Casablanca (economic capital)

-Tangier & Tetouan (on the Mediterranean Sea)

-Atlas Mountains

-Camel riding??

And who knows what else!

...And of course the trip to Casablanca wouldn't be complete without stopping at Rick's café!

(Insert typical Humphrey Bogart line here)

I'll try to keep the blog updated as I go through my travels as long as there's internet--which I know there will be at the school, but other than that, I'm not sure. Alright, well, signing off for now.

A plus tard.