Recap: Morocco

So as the past few posts have demonstrated, I was really not a fan of being in Morocco by the end of the semester. The problem wasn't with Morocco itself so much as the stupid school. If it were in a city somewhere it would have been much more bearable, because there would have been things to do. Ifrane was really quiet, really small, and really far away from everything, to the point that you had to take a 1-hour taxi ride just to get to a train station. And AUI was also so small and closed in and nothing happened. Having been at VCU and Savoie, where everything is wide open, I found AUI really suffocating at the end.

The food in Morocco was pretty good, the sights I saw were great. I could/should have done more travelling but that's a moot point right now I guess. I would like to go back some day, if only to take a week or two and see everything I didn't see. It's harder when you only have a weekend and everything is so far apart and you have to get back to your home in the middle of nowhere. At best you have maybe a day to see things, and you have to spend most of the weekend travelling and you wind up spending a lot of money on food and hotels and whatever. If I could just go back and plan on seeing it all and spending that money I've be perfectly happy. And I could speak French, fusha, and darija and get lower prices. =P And know where to look for the cheaper stores, restaurants, etc.

I know I complained a lot about it but I think it was more out of pent up frustration than anything. Even getting out of Ifrane for a few hours to go to Fes or something was a good time, which leads me to think that really it was just Ifrane and being stuck at AUI. I don't think I'd want to live in Morocco for an extended period of time. I could do it, but nowhere did I ever look around and think "Yeah, I could live here." I've felt that way about France and right now I kinda think that about Amman. Morocco just never hit me that way and I couldn't tell you why.

It's strange. When I left France I wished I'd decided to spend a year there instead (not at Chambéry, of course, but had I spent a year there I'd likely have spent it at a different school); when I left Morocco I wished I'd only done a semester. But then again, some of the people who left AUI at Christmas said they wished they were staying. First semester was a lot of fun so who could've known I'd get so tired of it? Ah well.

I know I could have travelled more. A lot more. But I also don't like doing tourist things, so that cuts out a lot of what there was to do. I'd rather find things off the beaten path, so to speak. Like hiking in Chefchaouen. That was infinitely more fun than just going to Chaouen and hanging out for a day/weekend. I actually didn't even like the town for the few hours we were there. So yeah, if I had the time to spend there on my own I'd probably like it more.

Okay at this point I'm just rambling it seems. Cutting this off here before I start repeating myself even more. Yalla bye bye!