Pre-Departure Thoughts

I was asked by Bentley to write a series of blog posts about my Moroccan adventure. Who knows if they will end up posting them anywhere but I decided to post my first one here as well. Maybe I'll be fancy and add a link to it if they end up posting it! Don't worry, mum edited it so it should be free of error... Other things I post on here, there's no guarantee. :)

This year, unpacking my belongings from school was a little more complicated. After I realized that having a staring contest with totes full of my things wasn’t going to unpack them, I finally started to take things out and sort out what I would need for the summer. Not only was I trying to keep the essentials, but I also needed to think about what I will need to bring with me on my trip abroad. I haven’t fully realized it yet, but I will be spending June and July taking an intensive Arabic class in Ifrane, Morocco.

I figured I should probably keep some stationery to write home, a notebook for class, a plug adapter, and warmer and conservative clothing. So as soon as I thought I was finished with unpacking, I started thinking about packing things up again. Luckily, this time I’ll bring fewer things.

My love for travel must have begun at a very young age. Growing up in Ireland gave me the chance to travel some in Europe and always to the States in the summer. My passion for the Middle East region, in particular, intensified three years ago. I headed out on my own to Beirut, Lebanon as part of a gap year program I participated in after high school. After considering all the places I could go, Lebanon was the place that stood out to me as different and exciting. I taught in an English school, picked up some Levant Arabic, and fell in love with the people and the culture.

Ever since then I have longed to go back, and just looking at pictures makes me very nostalgic. I have done a lot since then, though, and Bentley University has given me a great education so far and I have continued to grow. Part of my Liberal Studies Major (LSM) requires me to study abroad and take two levels of a language. I was eager to continue in Arabic, and it seemed like a perfect fit to be immersed in the language while studying abroad in an Arab country. I chose the summer program so I can focus on Arabic and I also don’t want to be away from Bentley for a whole semester!

Al Akhawayn University (AUI) offers the exact program I was looking for and I am looking forward to exploring a new country that has African, European, and Arab ties. It has been hard to know what to expect because Bentley students have not gone to Morocco in a long time, and that also made communications with AUI rocky in the beginning. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to this incredible experience and slightly nervous about what to expect, and my parents are glad that I’ve chosen a safer country than Lebanon. But I’m ready. I’m ready to embark on this new adventure.

Fun fact: The movie Casablanca was not filmed in Morocco.