Since sophomore Sydney Cason decided to spend a semester abroad, she has gotten used to answering the question, “Why Morocco?”
On Aug. 31, Sydney boarded a plane and landed in Meknes, Morocco after an eleven-hour flight. She said that she had no nerves at any point before she left, since traveling the world is a dream of hers.
“It’s my life dream to find a career that allows me to travel all over the world,” Sydney said. “I was nothing but excited to get out of my everyday routine. Honestly, it was other people that made me slightly nervous, the things they had to say about Islam, Muslims and living in an Arabic culture. But they were all wrong, anyways.”
During the week, Sydney is enrolled in four classes with her main focus being Arabic. She is also looking for an opportunity to teach English to local women who want to broaden their horizons. On weekends, she tries to travel to other cities within the country.
Sydney says that she is faced with many culture shocks on a daily basis. First, would be the reaction that the locals have to her blonde hair and light skin color. People come up to her on the street and feel her hair and even ask to take pictures with her since her appearance is so uncommon in the country. She was also surprised by the lack of food variety. Although she says that the local food is wonderful, there is no variance of food types like there is in the United States.
Sydney has learned a lot from being in a culture that is so different from what she is accustomed to.
“I’ve learned so much from living in Morocco,” she said. “But two of the biggest things are that one: people are people. No matter the religion, skin color, or way of life. We all have people we love, needs, wants, success and failures. But we’re all good. I’ve learned to trust complete strangers, and it always works out great. Second, I’ve learned a lot about Islam and Muslims as a whole. Living in America, we choose to listen to our TV sets and categorize all Muslims as radicals. It’s actually the complete opposite. They’re some of the most hospitable, loving, and faithful human beings I have ever met.”
Sydney also had the chance to travel to Italy for a week and left on Nov. 14 to spend five days in the Canary Islands, and took a short trip to Marseille, France at the beginning of Dec. She has had the chance to try many new things over the course of the semester.
“I have checked so many great things off my life list,” Sydney said. “It’s wonderful. I’ve swam in North Africa’s largest waterfall, ate dinner in Morocco’s largest Medina, rode camels in the Sahara desert, swam in the Atlantic Ocean at sunset on a private beach, played with wild monkeys, and visited the worlds bluest city, just to name a few.”
When her study abroad program ends on Dec. 15, Sydney will spend three weeks traveling with her dad before returning to Arkansas for the Spring 2014 semester. Inspired by her experiences, she will be declaring a new double major of Journalism and Political Science with a minor in Arabic. After all of her adventures and all that she has learned, Sydney finally had an answer to the question: “Why Morocco?”
“Only recently have I realized that Morocco chose me,” she said. “Not the other way around. I didn’t have a reason to come here other than a young, bored soul seeking adventure. And I definitely got that, and so much more.”
sources: Sydney Cason