First days in Morocco

Bonjour tous le monde!

It is now my third day in Rabat and I figured it was time for a blog.

First off: I apologize to everybody who was super sweet and kind enough to send me messages asking me how I am and I apologize for not having replied to everybody. It's just been a crazy few days and I have not had that much time to do anything other than getting to know the city.

Second: As you've noticed by now, I am writing my blogs in English, mostly because I have met so many international students past year as well as the fact that most people I will meet here will speak English rather than Dutch.

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Day 1:

Friday the 29'th was the day my adventure started. The plan was to catch the plane to Paris at 08:00 AM and catch my transfer to Rabat at 10:30. This was, however, not what happened. I dozed off on the first plane (after a kind of emotional goodbye to my parents) but woke up because of an announcement at 08:20, when I realized we still were not flying. Due to "technical malfunctions", we were taxi'ing back to the gate and no further information could be given. I got a little stressed because I was afraid to miss my transfer and around 09:00, I realized there was no way I would ever catch my transfer. The pilot announced that people who wanted to leave the plane were allowed to do so and I called my mom, kind of upset. Missing my transfer automatically meant I would arrive in Rabat at night and that was exactly what I had tried to avoid by getting this plane and my mom told me I could take another flight saturday or even after the weekend, but I refused. Going to Morocco was something I found very exciting but also very scary and I was convinced that if I got off the plane at that point, I would never go so I decided to stay put and see whatever happened.

Eventually, after a little while, the plane did fly and I arrived in Paris at 10:30, precisely missing my transfer. Then, I was informed I had to wait until 19:40 for my next flight. Only a 9 hour wait... I decided to stay at the airport because I did not really feel like walking through Paris with my handluggage so I killed time by watching Netflix and skyping with people. By the time it was 19:40, I was super dead already but just very thankful to be on the plane. I sat next to a lovely lady who asked me "C'est ta première fois au Maroc?" To which I responded "Oui, alors, je parle un petit peu de Français", which she took as an invitation to speak French to me for three hours. I have to say that honestly, I only understood half of it and I wasn't particulary excited at first but I realized it was good practice so I went along. She asked me how I was going to go to my house and when I replied "by Taxi", she told me she would take me because taxi's were very expensive from and to the airport. After three hours, I kind of trusted her and she ended up taking me to my house, which was really adorable and saved me around 30€. This random act of kindness was just what I needed at this point and probably the reason I missed my transfer in the first place.

I arrived home super tired and I met my very sweet housemate, Sandie. She made me some tea and made me feel welcome instantly. I also met the cats, Simba and Filou, which really made me feel at home.

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Day 2:

The next day, I spent the first hour Skyping with several people. It was really nice and comforting and my goal of the day was to get to know the district I live in, called the "Oudayas". I was told it was very nice but obviously I had not really seen it the night before, as it was dark when I arrived. However, quite soon after I woke up, the intern for the Political department of the Embassy (Cornelia), texted me if I wanted to hang out with her. I immediately said yes because she studied in Rabat before and I just was extremely curious to meet her.

We decided to meet at the front gate of the Oudayas, but the Oudayas itself is kind of a labyrinth. It's a very cute little district but the streets confused me a little bit. However, Sandie was extremely kind and she had drawn me a map of the Oudayas as well as of the city so I knew how to walk to the main gate. It was extremely useful and another act of kindness I really needed. I managed to find the front gate and I met up with Cornelia and she showed me several things:

1) The Andalucian garden of the Oudayas. The Oudayas is a very touristic district and apparently it is very popular. It is next to the beach and it is super pitoresque and traditional. I have seen so many groups of tourists walk here and I feel super safe. Everybody has been kind so far and I am generally just glad to live here. I really appreciated Cornelia showing me around my own district, because now I really feel like I know it very well (even though, with my sense of direction, that may be a wrong feeling x] ).

2) The Medina (city center) of Rabat. Although I am still getting to know it, it consists of markets, mostly. (Souks). It was not too crowded and again, I felt very safe. Nobody addressed me and of course I felt people were 'staring' but generally I do not pay too much attention to my surroundings so I was fine. It's kind of like what you see in movies when it comes to markets in Morocco. I liked it. We drank squeezed cane sugar (it's really good) and moroccon mint tea.

After this, Cornelia helped me get a phone card and then introduced me to two of her friends (one of whom she'd met while studying here before). It was very nice just getting accustomed with more people and being able to speak Dutch. The two main languages here are Arabic and French and I have never been able to speak Arabic and I suppose my French needs some working on. And even if I'm eager to learn, speaking Dutch is also kind of nice. I really appreciated this moment and it was nice just meeting new people.

I went on to get some groceries and actually walked through Rabat alone for a while. At some point, even with Sandie's great map, I was feeling like I was getting lost so I got a taxi to take me home. Taxi's are SUPER cheap here so it's my plan to take taxi's a lot. When I came home, I made dinner and watched a movie, super exciting stuff!

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Day 3:

Sunday (today), I went to the Medina again but this time with Sandie. Cornelia had shown me where the Souk was, but Sandie showed me where to get fresh fruits and vegetables. It's amazing because 1 KG tomatoes: 30 cents. 1 KG of strawberries: 90 cents. I didn't buy anything but I intend to go there some time next week and get ALL the vegetables and fruits, haha!

After meeting with Sandie, I met up with Cornelia again, who showed me the mausoleum of Mohammed V (two kings ago) and she explained me a little bit about the history of Morocco. It was nice because I have not yet had a lot of time to look into this so I really appreciated the information. Afterwards, we met up with the prevoius intern of the Political department and just had a talk with him, which was really nice. Turns out he used to live in the Oudayas as well, which isn't so much of a coincidence, since apparently many interns live here as it's a popular spot.

Cornelia and I ended up going back to the Medina because I really wanted a scale and a iron. We ended up finding both for quite a reasonable price. Afterwards, we got some coffee and we were both exhausted because we had quite a long day and it was so crowded in the Medina that our energy levels were quickly drained. I ended up taking a taxi home and spoke to Sandie for a while. I want to improve my French and as she is from France, we are trying to talk French as much as possible. We'll see how fast I can learn!

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Altogether, the past few days were quite impressive and exhausting but that is to be expected whenever you move abroad. So far, my experiences are beyond positive. I have to admit that I had certain doubts or insecurities that are absolutely not met. So far, I feel extremely safe here, very welcome, and I am actually feeling like I'm settling in quite well which is really nice. Of course, most of the time I was outside, I was with either Sandie or Cornelia, but still, I feel quite good here. The weather is nice, the people are helpful and kind and it's mostly pretty around here. Things that I am most excited about are:

1) The fact that you can seriously get anything you want from the Medina/ Marché central. I was afraid I would not be able to easily get everything I wanted, but on the contrary; it's quite easy!

2) In general, the prices. Food, taxi, most of it is fairly cheap! I knew this beforehand but it's just nice to be positively surprised about prices.

3) The people. They are really kind and I feel maybe sometimes we might get a bit misinformed in Europe about Morocco. Of course, I have only been here for 2 days so I must not make generalizations yet, but as I said several times I feel safe here and I'm starting to feel a bit more accustomed!


Tomorrow I start my internship and that is, of course, exciting as well. I've got my outfit picked out and I'm eager to learn.

I realize this blog is quite factual and I haven't read it back but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway. Again, thank you for all your kind messages and I will try to update this blog quite regularly!

xxxxxx Demi