In between these two weeks, Stephanie and I are heading up north for one last beach trip! Most of the group including my roommates are going down south to Essaouria for good shopping and food/the annual Gnaoua (type of music) festival but Steph wanted to avoid the crowds and I didn't want to deal with the 10+ hours of travel. We booked a room at a hostel from Friday to Monday and I'm looking forward to getting some sun and seafood.
Other than that, I hope to make it to Rabat for one last day trip but also spend as much time as possible with my friends and teachers here in Meknes. We are having a final party all together sponsored by the program to celebrate our "graduation" but a significant part of the celebration will also be devoted to thanking everyone who has worked with the program this year, so I'm hoping to get some good one-on-one time with everyone before we leave!
One of the most special moments of this past week is when I went over to Loubna's house for lunch and in addition to all the food they packed up for me to bring back to the apartment they gave me going-away gifts - a candlestick holder, teapot/cup holders sewn by Loubna's mom, and an abaya. It was so sweet and I feel as if I can't ever possibly repay their kindness for welcoming me as part of their family. I'm hoping to visit them at least one more time before leaving, especially in order to give them the pictures my mom printed and sent to me of our Rabat weekend adventure together.
Some of you may be wondering about my future plans - I am happy to say that I very may well have employment related to Arabic in the DC area! I don't have many details yet but I'm hoping to confirm everything after I come home. I plan on living at home for the next year in order to save money, which I'm looking forward to since I haven't really been home for long periods of time during college - every summer was spent either in College Park or Morocco! Plus I'm definitely going to need some help navigating adulthood now that I'm out of school.
As to the fate of this blog, I definitely have a few posts left in me concerning my final thoughts, advice to pass along to the next group, and general Morocco info for all travelers - plus I hope to do some traveling around the US in the next year! Stay tuned!