Class of 2008
Major: Society, Technology and Policy / International Studies (Double Major)
Project Center: Ifrane, Morocco
Major Qualifying Project: Moroccan migration to Spain and its economic and political ramifications on both countries.
Virginia Ward
August 29, 2007
I'm Virginia Ward and for this A-term I will be blogging about my experience in Morocco. I will be completing my International Studies MQP at Al-Akhawayn University (AUI) in Ifrane, Morocco. First, I should tell you a little bit about myself. I am a senior, double majoring in Society, Technology and Policy and International Studies from East Haven, Connecticut. While at WPI, I completed my Humanities Project in London, England and my IQP in Windhoek, Namibia this past D term. Studying abroad has been an important part of my WPI experience and I am very excited to be able to complete my third and final project in Morocco.
A group of about 15 WPI students will be living and studying at AUI in Ifrane, about 60 kilometers from Meknes and Fez. The university is in the Middle Atlas Mountains and all classes are offered in English. The university draws students from all over Morocco and hosts many international students on either exchange or study abroad programs. In addition to working on my MQP, I'll also be taking classes in Beginning Arabic and Islamic Civilization.
Since this is my third project overseas, some parts of getting ready to leave are quite familiar. I have packing and planning for my trip pretty much down to a science at this point, but every journey presents its own set of challenges. Since the cities we will be visiting this term will be in more arid regions and Ifrane will be cooler, fitting all the right clothes into one suitcase has been tough! Since I'm leaving right after summer break and was away the last quarter of this past school year, I haven't seen many of my friends at WPI for quite a while, so leaving is a bit easier this time. My biggest concern before leaving is the language barrier. French and Arabic are the predominate languages in Morocco and I know about half a dozen words in each at this point. I hope that once I'm on the ground, I'll pick up a few useful phrases quickly.
The flight from New York to Casablanca was a little over 7 hours and uneventful. Even though it was an overnight flight, I was far too excited about the upcoming term to sleep. It was quite apparent from the second I stepped off the plane that I wasn't in New England any more. Casablanca was hot, bright and dry, but a nice change. The first major adjustment I had to make right after arriving was getting used to seeing signs and documents in French and Arabic. It was a little odd at first, but I got used to it pretty quickly.
We stayed in Casablanca for two nights and had a chance to see some of the major sites in the city. We visited the Hassan II Mosque which is the third largest mosque in the world and one of the few that non-Muslims can visit. The architecture was amazing and the whole site was huge. Later that day, we took a train to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. We visited the medina and walked through the narrow winding streets. A medina is a walled city common in large cities in Morocco. They were built centuries ago and are filled with shops, homes, and an abundance of beautiful architecture. We had the opportunity to have a traditional tajine lunch with the family of one of our advisors, who live in the medina. After traveling so much with just our group, it was great to meet Moroccans and practice a little Arabic. After visiting a few more sites in Rabat we returned to Casablanca to get ready for the trip to Ifrane the next day.
Ifrane is a bit isolated, so the journey from Casablanca was a little long. We had a four hour train ride to Meknes, one of the closest large cities to Ifrane. From there we had a beautiful 45 minute ride to the university. AUI has an elevation of 5000 feet and it was amazing to see the landscape change from an arid brown, to a lush green.
Both Ifrane and the campus are beautiful!! The city is fairly small with about 12,000 full-time residents, but many more visit during weekends and holidays. The town is surrounded by forest, a HUGE contrast from Rabat and Casablanca, and is a popular vacation destination for Moroccans. The university was founded in 1995 so everything is new and meticulously maintained. The buildings were modeled after mountain chalets, so it doesn't really feel like I'm in Morocco when walking around campus. We are living in residence halls on campus which are quite similar to the dorms I have lived in at WPI.
One of the biggest surprises since arriving at AUI was the number of international students. There are about 80 foreign exchange students, almost all from the US. At our orientation sessions for international students, I got to meet students from all over the US and a handful from Europe and Asia. It was great to meet some of the people I'll be in class with this term.
My MQP is focused on Moroccan migration to Spain and its economic and political ramifications on both countries. Spain and Morocco are separated by only 23 miles at the Straits of Gibraltar and large numbers of Moroccans move to Spain each year to seek work. I'm excited to conduct this project in Morocco because I'll have access to one of the most important resources when performing research on a culture and what impacts it—people. I hope to be able to talk to both the students on campus and some of the faculty about migration, their opinions on it and how it affects their country.
I'm really looking forward to letting you all know about my stay in Morocco! I'll be writing about my project, life on campus, as well as our weekend trips throughout the country. Check back next week when I'll write about life on campus, our trip to Tafilalt Oasis and how my project is progressing.
-Virginia
