First though, I should rewind to the past few days leading up to our departure! Tuesday afternoon is when I left for pre-departure orientation in DC. I checked into a nice hotel in Dupont Circle - with complimentary breakfast and a complimentary happy hour in the evenings but yet no free Wifi? which is why I didn't post sooner - before leaving with Stephen (who was nice enough to assist me with my luggage!) to meet friends for dinner in Chinatown. It was so nice of them to come send me off and I can't wait to share my adventures with them when I return! Then I came back that night to talk to my orientation roomie - she is from MSU and preparing for the full-year program, which I'll take on next year - before falling asleep at a reasonable time.
Wednesday was all-day orientation during which we sat through several info sessions detailing what to expect while abroad. I finally met my group - there are 7 of us, 6 girls and 1 boy. I'm the only one from UMD (as previously mentioned) but there are 2 each from UT, MSU, and UArizona - and I'm also one of two rising seniors which means that everyone else is younger! That made me nervous about my Arabic skills but of course everyone has had different experiences in terms of study abroad and summer study. Everyone in the group has been really friendly and easy to talk to so I think we'll all get along just fine. We also found out what families we'll be staying with!! My family has three kids - 2 girls, ages 13 and 9 and a 4 year old boy - and we're (as in me and my American roomie in the summer program) within walking distance of AALIM (where we'll be taking classes). After the long day we went out to dinner as a group and then split up for the night. Some went to bars while I bought some DC-related gifts for my host family, read for a bit, then crashed.
Thursday was day 2 of orientation, same deal. We ended around 3 PM and had some downtime (in which I lead a group to the Islamic Center of DC) before we boarded a shuttle to Dulles around 6 PM. Our flight to Frankfurt boarded around 9 PM. I had a window seat and the seat next to me was empty, so thankfully it was a comfortable flight. After we took off at 10 PM, I watched "Rushmore" (gotta love Wes Anderson, although "The Royal Tenenbaums" is still my favorite) and ate dinner, slept for three hours, then woke up to watch "Wadjda" and eat breakfast before we arrived at noon local time (around 6 AM East Coast time). Since then I've just explored the airport and talked with friends, and had a lunch of Bratwurst, Brötchen, and Apfelsaft! We've still got a few hours to go but thankfully boredom hasn't hit yet.
Can't believe we'll be in Morocco in less than 12 hours! Once we get there around midnight Moroccan time, we have a 5 hour bus ride from Casablanca to Meknes and then we'll stay at AALIM until our host families pick us up around 9 AM. I hope they'll forgive me for being tired and disheveled after all the travel!