February 3, 2019 original date of post
I am approaching the second week of classes and I am starting to adjust really well to everything here so far. I am loving my roommates and our apartment. Classes are going well so far and they are really interesting. The first day we moved in, we were given a warm welcome from our housekeeper Moona. She cooked us a lovely meal and we have gotten to do a lot of bonding with one another. Unfortunately, I do not know the names of a lot of the dishes we have been eating. There is definitely a language barrier between us with our housekeeper. I am very interested in looking up some of the dishes she has made us and maybe learn how to cook it too. I will say I am very open when it comes to trying new food and have loved everything she has made us. I was surprised that most of the dishes include, rice, potatoes and vegetables which seem to be flavored with olive oil. We eat a lot of bread with our meals and Moroccan tea is an essential. Moroccan diet I could definitely live with and am loving it. I cannot say how thankful I am to have someone cook us meals, it was extremely unexpected.
Here is our lovely first meal she prepared us. Sooo delicious. We haven’t had any true Moroccan cultural experiences thus far, which is a bit of a bummer. I didn’t realize that our program was just the ISA students enrolled in the courses. That just means we have to go out and try to meet people. We have done some walking around the Hamaria, which is the area near our apartment.
We found a cute plant shop and got some plants for our apartment. I named my cactus sunshine :).
Also, it is very easy to navigate at the supermarkets to buy food and snacks. Everywhere I go I want to get the Moroccan mint tea because I am in love with it.
We have visited the Medina in Meknes and it was very interesting to experience. The medina is very lively, busy, and filled with locals everywhere. There is a lot of fresh food to buy such as, fruit, vegetables, olives, nuts, and freshly made pastries throughout the medina. Also, the different shops are very beautiful with their different products including – linens, clothes, carpets, and anything you would want to buy. It is important to know how to bargain and have a good idea on what things are worth in the medina so you don’t get ripped off. I plan to visit the medina more and learn how to navigate around more with their winding roads. Meknes might be my favorite place in Morocco so far. There are a lot of cafes and the environment is more relaxed compared to the other cities. There are many new things I am looking forward to trying and will be blogging more now that I have gotten more settled in.
Salam!! xxx