The beginning of ISP

Well ISP has officially started and I haven’t exactly hit the ground running yet. My parents and Nina showed up on Thursday evening, and I couldn’t have been happier to see them. It was getting to the point of the program where I needed a small taste of home and seeing my family definitely provided that for me. With impeccable timing, some of the Italian side of my family was passing through Casablanca on Friday, and they took the train up in the morning so we could all tour Rabat together. We had a great lunch, complete with couscous and tajine (it was couscous Friday after all…) that we finished up with some traditional Moroccan tea. My goal was to give Nonna and the Italians a small taste of Morocco for the short amount of time they were here, and I hope they were able to understand why I love this country so much! Taking them through the souk in the medina was my favorite part of the day because too often I’ve walked through there in a hurry to get to class or meet up with friends, without noticing the intricate details. The crowded streets, lined with stands of brightly colored fruits and vegetables, can seem overwhelming at first, but I’ve become a professional people dodger over the past few months. There’s always so much commotion…the old lady yelling at the fish man for trying to rip her off…the two young boys throwing down their bags to wrestle…the orange vendor attempting to have a philosophical discussion with me in darija…all of these quotidian activities seemed novel at first, but after time went on, I unfortunately became more immune to them. Having family come visit, made me realize just how incredible it is that I’m actually living and studying here in Northern Africa!
I’m meeting up with my parents tomorrow in Fes, where we’ll go on to Ifrane for a couple days. It’s supposedly a nice lake area with some good hiking, so I’m looking forward to some pretty fun adventures with the fam. Then it’s back to reality with more ISP interviews…