PDX –> JFK –> CMN – بداية الرحلة

I have finally made it to Hotel Mercure in Rabat with the Fulbright group. The journey was long but surprisingly not too stressful from Portland to Casablanca. I was the first to pick my bag off the luggage belt and passed through customs without hassle. A large tourist bus was waiting with our extremely accommodating director at the airport and after about an hour and a half though some very dry-looking countryside we arrived in Rabat.

It has already been a long day: though it is still Ramadan here in Morocco, the hotel restaurant prepared us lunch (nothing to write home about, but still very satisfying after a day of travel), we signed more documents, were taken to the cell phone store where I dropped the equivalent of $35 on a nicer model than one I have at home, and went on a walking tour of Rabat.

I’ll be in Rabat until Thursday, listening to lectures and ironing out more details. Then I’ll be dropped off with the rest of the Fulbright researchers in Fez where I’ll meet my host family and start up

It is hot here in Rabat and humid too, and have been sweating through my conservative clothing, but other than that, I must say so far, so good.

About Laura McAdams

Laura McAdams is a Master’s student at University of Pennsylvania studying International Educational Development. Her experience in the MENA region includes 15 months as a Fulbright student researcher to Fez and Ifrane, Morocco in 2010 and 2011. Her project was interested in understanding the disconnect between the policies of technology usage in education and the reality of how these policies unfold in the classroom. Summer 2012 she returned to the Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco to work with a women’s weaving cooperative. She is excited to learn more about other countries in the MENA region and issues involving education policy and reform, technology usage in curriculums and gender equality in education. One of Laura’s lifelong goals is to one day be able to sit down and leisurely read a newspaper in Arabic.

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4 Responses to PDX –> JFK –> CMN – بداية الرحلة

Amy McAdams says:

September 7, 2010 at 5:14 pm

Sounds great. Papa and I were watching your plane on a website. We are glad that you made it ok. Can’t wait to see the videos. Ramadan…great way to pig out at night. I bet you’re excited for that! Drink some mint tea to feel snazzi with a hijab (sp?). And…please get a video of the call to prayer. Does it sound different from Egypt?

- Laura says:
  
  October 14, 2010 at 10:12 pm
  
  Hi Amy,
  I promise to get a great video of the call to prayer soon. In the right time at the right place, it still takes my breath away. The muezzin, or man who recites the call to prayer, recites the exact same lines here in Morocco as a muezzin would in Egypt, or any country where there is the call to prayer. (Although technically, there is a small difference between the Shia and Sunni versions.) As for the hijab, I won’t be wearing it. The hijab is a complex issue: it is more than just a headscarf. It can be a religious, cultural, and/or political symbol and each woman who wears the hijab has her own reasons for it. Since I don’t have any reason to wear it, I won’t even go there.
  
Alex Schroeter says:

September 7, 2010 at 10:34 am

Yay Laurs!! You’re there! Excite!

Aunt Suzanne says:

September 6, 2010 at 5:05 pm

Janelle and Aunt Suzanne say Hi! We hope all goes well and will be thinking of you every day!