This past July my family informed me that we would be traveling to Morocco over my Christmas vacation. My initial reaction was “oh that’s cool. I never thought we would end up traveling to Morocco.” My parents wanted to go somewhere exotic, that they had never been before, so Morocco seemed like the destination that would fit that description. Knowing little to nothing about Morocco this past July, I did some light research to spark my excitement about the trip. Looking at pictures of the places we would travel to reminded me of the scene of some old historical movie about the middle east or even Star Wars. I felt like I had some knowledge about this exotic place I was traveling to, but much still remained unknown. On the other hand, my fourteen-year-old sister didn’t even know where Morocco was, or what it was the day before we left.
As I progressed through my first semester of freshman year, I coincidentally decided I wanted to become an Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies major. Going into my Morocco trip with a deepened understanding of the Middle East made me even more eager and excited to go. I was counting down the days until finals were over to fly out of Boston via Paris and finally to Casablanca.
Morocco was unlike any place I had ever been. The biggest difference was the culture and the people. When visiting countries in Europe, Latin America, and even China, all the people are dressed in a western manner. Most women in Morocco covered their hair in a hijab, and some were even wearing Niqabs, which is a veil that covers the face and leaves a space for the eyes. This is expected in a Muslim country, but in general, the people dressed much more traditionally. Most men and women wore djellabas, which are long, loose robes with hoods to go over other clothing. Another difference was the wide use of donkeys as transportation for goods and people in the villages and even in the large souks. This juxtaposition of cars and donkeys was an interesting sight to see. It really opened my eyes to a contrasting lifestyle. Finally, we drove all over Morocco, and on these long car rides, we would pass ancient Berber villages that are still inhabited today. It showed how old Morocco as a civilization is, which was incredibly interesting in contrast to the United States as such a young nation.
Traveling to Morocco made me even more passionate about my major, and allowed me to discover a culture and world completely separate from mine. While I learned a lot about the vastly different culture in Morocco, I was most impacted by the immense poverty I witnessed. Constantly there were children begging us for money or trying to sell us souvenirs. Witnessing this helped me appreciate what I have, and the education I have been given. Most of all it drew me to wanting to change poverty in the middle east, and use what I will learn at Brandeis in the next few years to do so.