All roads lead back to Rabat

I feel like I’ve been MIA for a quite awhile, but for good reason: I’ve been on a nearly month long vacation, living it up as a jet setter. My parents came out to visit me in Morocco after my fall semester in Rabat with Amideast and from there I felt like I was moving constantly.

Here’s a little rundown of the places we made it to on the Greco family vacation 2010-2011:

–Rabat (showed  my parents around my city, introduced them to my host family and some Moroccan friends)

-met up with my good friend Westrey (who I’ve known since middle school) in Fes (did all the major Fes things and had a hamuk (crazy) guide named Aziz who I’ll have to post a pic of)

-made it over to Meknes, Volubilis, then Moulay Idriss (some of the most stunning landscapes in Morocco. Think vineyards and olive groves, Roman ruins, and old Moroccan town built in to the side of a valley)

–Marrakech (did the touristy stuff, had monkeys thrown on us, explored and shopped, Westrey separated from the Greco’s on our last day in Mrrksh to go back to Vienna)

–Casablanca (we made it to Rick’s Cafe, inspired by the classic Casablanca, visited the splendid mosque Hassan II, one of the largest in the world after Mecca)

-Tangier (met up with a friend, walked the city with our suitcases, ate some seafood)

-Ferry over to Spain (it only takes 35 minutes!)

–Sevilla (spent Christmas here!)

–Barcelona (toured city, art & architecture, Picasso musuem and a lot of eating)

–Istanbul (spent New Year’s here, visited major sites like the Blue Mosque, Turkish Bath, Whirling Dervishes show, Bosphorus cruise, and so much more!)

–Paris (met up with my Dickinson College roommate Kim and wondered about the city for a few days and stayed with some of her family friends!)

And finally, back in town. All of my travels were fantastic and certainly expanded my travel experience. Being in Turkey was like nothing like I’d ever done before and it was quite enthralling to see a city literally straddling two continents with such a rich and fascinating history that I had only read about and discussed in class). Oh, and everyone thought my dad was Turkish? How funny is that? To me he looked like an American tourist (love you Dad) but when he was around the Turkish, they would just flock to him and start speaking to him in Turkish! Rich!

Though these travels were incredible, I found myself missing Morocco, my host family, my friends in Morocco, and the city of Rabat itself. Being away really enforced how at home here I’m starting to feel. Though I will jamais (NEVER) fit in and pass for a Moroccan, no matter what I wear or how I comport, or how well I speak Arabic and French, I really have started to put roots down here. Even though I continue to turn heads in the street and I always get a susprised look from taxi drivers and waiters when I start addressing them in the Moroccan dialect, I have noticed that everything is going much more smoothly and there’s just so much less friction during my interactions with Moroccans. I am beginning to learn things like the streets of the city better, where to get the best sandwiches, nuts, and chicken, the best cafe to spend an afternoon sipping a cafe creme and reading, and which hamam I should frequent. However, a trend that I noticed since I got back that tells me that my roads lead to Rabat for at least the time being (meaning I’m here, where I genuinely believe I am meant to be for now, loving it, and fitting in), is that I started running in to people! In the last week and a half since I’ve been back I’ve ran in to a number of people when I was just walking around the city, something that didn’t really happen to me last semester. Now I leave my house and I see friends, host family members and extended family, acquaintances, etc. Rabat is starting to transform from a new mysterious and intriguing place to my city, home, a place filled with wonders and many things I have yet to understand, but still a place that is deeply a part of my life.

I’m looking forward to the rest of this semester to see what’s in store for me, if I will continue to feel such a bond with Rabat, and if I will continue to consider it as ‘home’ as I have been lately. And thus, I have made a New Year’s resolution (which I must keep!) to write more prolifically while I’m out here. Yay!

Keep in touch!