After living in Morocco for the past four months, I continue to be fascinated by the overall sense of community found in each city I traveled to. Whether you look like me, you’re African American, Asian, or any other race, you’re more than welcome to be apart of the North African community. On the streets, people act as though they know each other because it makes them feel good. If you go to a friend’s home and anyone in the family decides to cook a meal, you’ll be joining the family for a home cooked meal. The sense of inclusion and hospitality are two takeaways from my trip that I’m grateful for and have already implemented into my life in Florida.
One of the most incredible experiences I had was one that started out rather precarious, until I was reminded of the wonderful hospitality. During a trip from Ifrane to Rabat, I found myself without hostel reservations as a result of a fake hostel on booking.com. To my dismay, I discovered the news while I was already at the Rabat train station ready to get in a taxi to locate my bed for the night. Instead, I needed to make other arrangements. I walked over to the concierge to ask for some help and he told me that it’s almost impossible to book a hostel reservation on short notice. After the gentleman shared this information, he followed his statement, “You know, you can just stay at my place tonight if you’d like?” To that I said, “Really? You don’t even know me!” He assured me that I seemed like a kind person who just needed some help.
And so I did just that. I waited for my new friend Zakaria to finish his shift and we took the train over to his stop where he gave a bed and some food for the night. This is something that would never happen in the US, but is what Moroccans are known for – being kind, giving, and hospitality oriented. The most beautiful thing about this particular experience is that Zakaria didn’t want anything in return, he just wanted to do something to help me.
It’s difficult to compare the US and Morocco, but my knowledge of the US and Morocco suggests that both countries could learn a lot from each other. Americans could teach Moroccans how to respect your neighbor, especially women; Moroccans could teach Americans how to be more open to society and treat others as friends instead of strangers. All in all, I wouldn’t trade my experience in Morocco for anything else. In fact, Morocco has opened my eyes to so much more than I thought it would before I left.
My experience has prepared me for the future in terms of keeping an open mind to others. It’s helped me realize that no one truly knows what they’re doing in their life and that we’re all simply people trying to enjoy and figure out what makes us happy. I’m grateful to Morocco as I see myself as a global citizen and ambassador of Morocco to the US, as I only have positive things to share with my peers about the North African country.
Thanks to Morocco, I hope to one day venture abroad again and be a part of the Peace Corps. As a child, my mom always expressed to my sister and I that the best way to learn about the world and the people that live in it is to see the world and meet people with different cultural backgrounds. Thanks to my mom and my study abroad experience, I plan to continue my trend of visiting other countries throughout the rest of my life.
