So I lied slightly when I promised two posts upon my return from Morocco. Sorry about that. I've been incredibly busy writing papers and traveling around Europe with my family and my roommate, Becky. It has been fantastic. Morocco was AMAZING. I had so many cool opportunities and I completely fell in love with the country. More about that later, first a quick summary of what I did before I left for Morocco.
 |
| Mary and Becky Reunited in Switzerland |
As I mentioned a few posts ago, Becky came to visit me from Ireland. As most of you already know, Becky and I might as well be attached at the hip. We weren't really sure how we would last an entire semester away from each other and luckily we didn't have to find out. She came with one of her friends from her program, Hannah, who also goes to Saint Mike's. It was so great to be reuknighted (see what I did there?). After being in Switzerland for a month, I was really beginning to feel the homesickness settle in, so it was nice to have a little piece of Saint Mike's around, even if it was only for two days. The first day we went to Montreux, a beautiful Swiss city at the end of lake Geneva. On Saturday, I gave them the grand tour of Geneva. That night we went to a Geneve-Servette hockey game, which is part of the National Swiss Hockey League; it's the same league Tyler Seguin played for during the NHL lockout in 2010. It was a very different experience than going to a hockey game at home. During intermissions, they drove cars on the ice and the fans were singing soccer chants throughout the whole game. They also make the top scorer from each team wear a bright orange jersey and helmet, which was an interesting twist. Even though there was a Swiss spin on the game, it was fantastic to watch hockey again and the game ended in a full on-ice brawl (including the refs), which is always a plus. I was sad to see Becky and Hannah leave on Sunday, but we made plans to visit Rome in late October, so I had something to look forward to.
 |
| Our Seats at the Hockey Game |
The next week consisted of a visit to a chocolate factory with my French class and visits to various International Organizations. We went to the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Development Program (UNDP), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the International Red Cross (ICRC). With every agency we visited, I could feel the political science nerd inside of me majorly geeking out. At times it was tough to be the only policy lover in a sea of public health majors, but I was too excited about visiting all of these agencies to be bothered by it.
 |
| The Crisis Room at the WHO |
That Friday night, I wrote my first crunch-time paper of the semester. The paper was due at 11:00 pm that night and in typical Mary fashion, I turned it at 10:56 pm. So in case you were worried, I haven't changed a bit. The next morning I was up early to attend Desaple, or the cow festival as I've dubbed it. This festival takes place all over Switzerland on the last Saturday of September. All of the farmers in the mountains dress up their cows and bring them down from the mountains to prepare for the Winter. The festival was complete with lots of cheese, traditional yodeling, and Bernese Mountain dogs, as any festival should be. After a long morning at the cow festival, I went home to pack for Morocco!
 |
| The Classiest Cows I've Ever Seen |
I had to wake up at 4:00 am to catch my flight to Rabat. As a result, I slept for most of the flight from Geneva to Paris and then most of the flight from Paris to Rabat. The heat was noticeable from the moment we got off the plane. Since the majority of the country practices Islam, we had to dress conservatively, which meant I wore pants in 90 degree heat. Not ideal conditions for most Americans, let alone a Mainer who practically melts in 70 degree weather when wearing shorts. Needless to say, I was a long way from the cool fall air in Vermont. After we got through customs, we grabbed our bags and headed to the center of Rabat on a large tour bus. I'm convinced I've never looked more like a tourist than I did in that moment. I found myself snapping pictures of every sign I saw, just because I was so fascinated by the Arabic script. I was excited because I had officially crossed off another continent on my bucket list.
I don't want to punish you for my laziness by writing a super long post and I have so much to say about Morocco and my European travels that I think they deserve their own posts. I'll attempt write again tomorrow, hopefully it'll be a better attempt than last month.
Á Demain!
Mary
