Welcome to AUI

Al Akhawayn University is situated on the fringe of the resort town of Ifrane. Ifrane is known for its ski slopes in winter, so around this time of year the town hosts many Moroccan tourists. It's a quaint town situated in the Middle Atlas and yes, it is cold.

Also returning this time of year, are the students.

I have been in Morocco for 2 weeks now, and it certainly has been an experience. I arrive January 10th in the Casablanca airport, where I would get two connecting trains from Casablanca to Fez, the city where representatives from the university would pick me up.

I quickly became grateful for my French knowledge. Morocco is a multi-lingual country, most Moroccans speak specific dialects, Arabic, French, and often English as well. For me, that was extremely useful. As a non-Arabic speaker, having a common language in which to converse with the Moroccans I interacted with during my trip was extremely helpful.

I arrived in Ifrane in the evening, and the following 4 days were filled with  orientation sessions informing us about Morocco and the university. There are about 40 other international students, most from the United States with a few from Japan, China, and Canada. All the students are very nice and we easily began to get along. After a lot of paperwork to get out Moroccan residency cards we entered the weekend and the fun activities they had planned before classes started.

(Campus week 1)

On Sunday I went on a hike organized by the university to a place called Hebri in the Middle Atlas Mountains. It was an absolutely gorgeous hike, up and down the mountain slopes and between the narrow valley passes and wide plateau expanses. We stumbled across men chopping wood in the forest with their pack donkeys and dogs. The student guides took us to see Fox Hole, a large hole in the earth that opened suddenly in the midst of the wide plateau. Down far below I spotted two of the foxes for which the hole was named.

(Beside Fox Hole)

After building a fire and roasting some marshmallows we headed back from the enchanting mountains to the University campus.

Orientation ended, classes began.

I am taking five classes, two anthropology, public speaking, and a French and Arabic course. I was excited for each one, and from the first introductory classes each sounds fascinating. For anthropology I am taking Gender and Islam, and Women, Society, and Politics. It is truly interesting to be able to take such courses in Morocco, with fellow classmates who were raised in a society, religion, and culture very different from my own.

The week was progressing smoothly, I was beginning to better understand the campus, how things worked, and was being introduced to my courses. On Thursday the snow began and did not stop until Sunday, and even then there were a few flurries. It was gorgeous to see the snow weighing heavy on the leaf clad branches of the campus trees. I have traded one cold place for another, though I had not suspected that one day I would witness snow in Africa.

(Campus week 2)