Presentations in Casablanca, Reflections on American Higher Education, Finding my Passion

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 American 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 obtaining 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.

Arrival to Morocco, First impressions of Rabat

Morocco!

I have now been living in Morocco for a month and am settling in quite nicely. On my very first day arriving in Casablanca I was met at the airport by two Amideast representatives holding a hand-written sign that read "Amideast Intern". I instantly felt welcomed into the country. I was very excited to meet them and get to know basics on Moroccan culture during our one hour drive north to the capitol city of Rabat. I met the Amideast host family coordinator as soon as we arrived into the city, and then we drove to my host family's house. They live in an apartment in Rabat Centreville, the main downtown area of the city. I can see the walls of the old medina, or historic neighborhood, and a large public park from the third-floor balcony. It is a 15 minute walk to the beach, and a simple 10 minute bus ride to the more lively part of downtown with cafes and fancy shops. There is always lots of traffic outside our apartment building with the daily market and main busroute nearby, which makes for an exciting place to people watch.

In my host family I have a host mom who is a retired custom's officer and a host sister studying finance at the local university. She is in her early 20's and goes out with her girlfriends often to cafes and to the medina to look for fun things to buy. It has been great to hang with her and meet her friends. They speak French and Arabic at home, and my host sister has an intermediate level of English to help me out if I get stuck somewhere. Each day I take the city bus to work at Amideast, where I am working as the Educational Advising Intern. Although I am interning for the same organization, my tasks here in Rabat are more focused towards educational outreach and maintaining our resources in the Advising Center. When students come to the center with questions on studying in the US, taking the TOEFL exam, or getting a scholarship, they come to me. I am able to advise them in English, and am also slowly working my way into advising in French as well. I make mistakes of course, but generally the students understand my main ideas and are happy to receive the information. I also have the opportunity to travel as an Amideast representative to college forums in the region, which has been a fantastic experience.

Rabat is an interesting city to live in, and I am making the most of my evenings and weekends by venturing out and exploring new places. I love the mix of French architecture and traditional Islamic architecture than can be found sometimes in the same neighborhood. The mosaic designs are incredibly beautiful, and can be found in many places of the home. Moroccan textiles reflect a similiar busy pattern with wonderfully vivid colors. My favorite part of the city so far has been the corner shop juice stands where you can get a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice for about $.40.

Again, great people watching and friendly guys who run the shop. Before coming to Morocco, I honestly did not know much about this North African country. I have done some research since I have arrived and now have a better understanding of the political system and the country's foreign affairs. I am learning more and more about the culture every day through meeting new friends and making new connections. One thing that is important to remember is that Morocco is a safe place and that there are no talks of "revolution" here. Life is good and I am enjoying every moment of it.

Welcome to my blog!

Asallamaleikum, hello, and welcome to my online journal outlet. For the next few months, this will be the forum for everyone to keep up with my activities and travels in Tunisia.

A little about myself and my upcoming trip; I am pursuing my B.A. in International Studies through the University of Oregon with concentrations in French, African Studies, and Arts Management. My position at AMIDEAST is part of an IE3 Global internship program through the Oregon University System. At this particular site, there are between three and four interns per year, so I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity.

My goals for this blog include:
1.) maintaining communication with family and friends who desire to share my experience
2.) offer perspectives of North African culture through journal entries composed of my interactions and observation of the people and the culture
3.) gain and share insight on how a developing Muslim nation operates and interacts with other countries politically, economically, and financially to remain economically competative and culturally diverse
4.) represent an American woman's perspective in a Muslim nation including learning to effectively function in a tri-lingual society and work environment consisting of French, English, and Arabic

The AMIDEAST internship (www.amideast.org for more information) originally caught my attention in the winter of 2009 as I searched through my university's database for study abroad programs that would fulfill the requirements for the completion of my major in addition to my personal and career goals. I was immediately intrigued by the language combination of French and Arabic needed for the position and the opportunity for direct work between interns and Tunisian high school and college students preparing to study abroad in the US. As a former Rotary Exchange Student (France, 2004-2005 sponsored by Salem Sunrise Rotary), I am very passionate about exchage programs and am very interested in working on the "other" end of the process as a support of students embarking on similar journies of self-discovery and cross-cultural learning.

My journey to Tunisia begins next Tuesday as I fly from Portland to Frankfurt, Germany, then take a train south through Switzerland in order to catch a ferry from Genoa, Italy to Tunis. This will allow me to break up the trip and do a bit of sightseeing on the way to my new home for six months. My intership begins on October 1 and lasts until March 31, after which I will travel up to northwest France in the Loire Valley to work on an organic farm as part of a program call WWOOF, or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (www.wwoof.org for more information). Why northwest France? I wanted to be able to visit the same host families that i stayed with during my Rotary exchange program, and this opportuntiy seems like a great way to gain experience working with organic products in addition to spending time with the families and friends that were part of many fond memories during my year abroad.

For now, I am packing and saying goodbye to friends and family as I prepare for this incredible journey. I have a feeling that the experiences, interactions, and networking that will take place in the next few months as part of the internship and volunteer work will define several paths for future career and education opportunities. I am nothing less than extatic to begin this next chapter in my life, and appreciate all the support and encouragement from my friends, family, and colleagues. Thank you for believing in me and sharing the journey with me!