Traditionally, Moroccan weddings take place over seven days with both sides of the family involved in preparing the food, buying seven different outfits for the bride and groom, and hosting family members from out of town. Nightly parties and feasting occur as family, friends, and neighbors gather to celebrate the beginning of the couple’s new life together. AMIDEAST organized a shortened version of the semester abroad students of one evening with musicians, food, dancing, and traditional singing. The students drew random names to determine members of the wedding party, and the day of the wedding the bride started getting ready hours before the rest of the guests.
My host mother graciously lent me her beautiful kaftan, traditional Moroccan dress, which she wore for the birth of her most recent grand-daughter. Kaftans are floor length dresses with long sleeves in beautiful colors and designs. The male version of the kaftan is called a djellaba (jell-ah-ba), and is a less flashy version of the kaftan. My dress was white with silver beading and embroidery detail, and my host mom even lent me matching shoes! I was so excited to wear it that night to the party, and to see the other female student’s kaftans as well.
We gathered in one of the classrooms at AMIDEAST for the event, and were greeted by Moroccan musicians dressed in traditional loose-fitting clothes. The singer started off the first song as the drummers and tambourine player followed suit. The loudest instrument was the set of castanet-like instruments made of iron that were played in quick jumpy rhythms. All of the musicians danced and sang as they played, moving around the room and catching the attention of the guests. Moroccan guests who entered the room began clapping to the familiar rhythms of wedding songs, and the Americans eventually joined in.
As the music continued and guests greeted and complimented each other on their “mock wedding” clothes, a female student ran down the hall squealing, “She’s coming everyone, she’s coming!” Well, this could only be one person…the bride. 
Everyone rushed to bring out their cameras in preparation for her grand entrance. As she walked down the hallway, the musicians changed the rhythm of their song to a heavier rhythmic process-like pace. The bride was accompanied by four female attendees dressed in green and gold robes with matching gold pants and slippers. They carried with them a gold padded platform attached to two long planks. As they entered the room, they lowered the platform, allowed her to step in and sit down, then hoisted the platform up on their shoulders and proceeded to
parade her around the room high above the crowd. She looked absolutely stunning in her emerald green dress with gold beading and gold jewelry. Once the attendants reached the wedding couple’s table at the front of the room, the platform was lowered and the bride disappeared. When it was raised again, the groom had replaced the bride and a second processional began around the room with increased singing and clapping.
After the wedding processionals, tea and cakes were served and traditional henna was available for the female guests. Henna is a plant base
d product that temporarily dyes the skin, allowing the design to last for up to two weeks. The bride’s henna design was created by one of her attendants, and included gold glitter. Both her palm and the back of her hand were decorated, and traditionally the tops and bottoms of the feet are also decorated for Moroccan weddings.
After several group photos, the music and dancing continued until late in the night. It was a wonderful experience and I am sincerely glad that I attended. During the following week, everyone was wishing the “married couple” a happy life!
[photo credits to Doha Ait Ahmed of AMIDEAST-Rabat]
The second week of my internship I went to Casablanca for my first college forum at a private high school. Casablanca, or "Casa" as they call it here, is an enormous city of around seven million people. It is very western in its design and appearance with towering sky scrapers, passive aggressive taxis, and crowds of people everywhere. While Rabat is the political capitol, Casa has developed as the economic and business capitol thanks to the large port.
This port was the first sight (and smell for that matter) that I experienced upon arriving in Casa. I took a combination of train + taxi + interesting directions to finally arrive at the El-Jabr school in time for my tabling session. After arranging the table with my "Education USA" and Amideast materials, I received many questions from interested parents and students on studying in the US: How much does it cost? What is the best school? Can I get a scholarship for sports? What is a good SAT score? Which is better, a private or public university? What kind of visa do I have to apply for?
These and many more questions floated around my table that morning as did my best to provide answers in French. The visitors were very patient with my language skills, which made me feel much more confident about the presentation that I was scheduled to give that afternoon. There were 45 students crowded into the room, and for the first time during my internship experience I actually felt like an educator. I knew that these students were attending my session because they wanted to study in the US, and I had the information to help them achieve that dream. The presentation went well, and my assistant was able to clarify for the students the differences between the American and Moroccan education systems. She assisted me in answering questions after the presentation, but made sure that I had the main floor for the main portion. I was really proud of myself for jumping in and giving it my best.
After the presentation, I visited the Amideast office in Casa and met a few of the teachers who were working that afternoon. It is always interesting to see different branches of the same organization. The staff was friendly and gave me a tour of the offices and classrooms, which are labeled with A
merican states (i.e. the "Washington" Room, the "Florida" Room) and decorated with coordinating posters from the state. I thought it was clever and cute. I was bummed to see that there was no "Oregon" room, as California and New York seem to be more popular and recognizable to international students. That's ok, I see it as my job to represent my state and teach my friends and colleagues at the Northwest US in general. After thanking the office staff and my assistant, I took a cab back to the station and caught the evening train home. It was an exciting day with lots of new experiences to build upon for the future.
Throughout my time abroad, I have developed an emotional readiness scale for myself to determine if I am prepared to experience something new. I call it having a "brave day" in which I do something that is entirely new and different from my previous experiences. The day in Casa was definitely a brave day for me.
This week I traveled to Casa again for another presentation on Graduate and MBA programs at the Ecole Nationale de Commerce et du Gestion (National School of Business and Commerce). Navigating around the city was slightly easier this time, and I was surprised to see the great turnout of 165 students for my presentation. Representatives from the US Consulate and US Embassy gave a presentation directly following on ob
taining a visa for study and travel in the US, which was great for the students. I have found it very inspiring to see so many students who are taking steps in preparing to study in the US. Before going abroad, I was not aware of the popularity and prestige of the American higher education system. After interning with Amideast for several months, I have learned so much about my own education system and the systems in Morocco and Tunisia. I am proud to be a citizen of a country that many foreigners seek to improve their education and skills in order to advance their own countries upon return.
If I have learned anything during this internship experience, it is that I have developed a passion for education, specifically for helping students obtain opportunities to learn and grow as individuals in their own country and abroad. I sincerely hope that this passion and experience will guide me onto the next point in my life, wherever that may be. For now, I am taking the experiences one day at a time and enjoying what life brings me here in Morocco.
Thanks to my contacts at Amideast Casa, I was put in touch with a wonderful English couple who gave me a tour of the downtown area and invited me back to their house for dinner. After a lovely evening with fascinating conversation and more than one "linguistic misunderstanding" between our different dialects of English, I reminded myself that everything really does happen for a reason and sometimes you just have to be open to the unexpected things in life.
