Anna, Cat, and I signed the contract to our apartment last Monday and met our landlady (who is super sweet) and we are expected to move in before break starts on Friday. I know that staying in a homestay is considered more beneficial in a lot of ways but trust me when I say I did the positives and negatives a bunch of times and I think for me this is the best decision. My homestay experiences from last summer (lived in a small apartment with kids and no personal space) and this summer (living in a villa with an older couple with too much personal space) were wonderful but also encompassed both extremes. I've done a pretty good job of pursuing opportunities to practice Arabic outside of class via speaking partner meetings, staying in touch with my host family from last summer, and spending time with the Egyptian and Moroccan teachers, so I think as long as I am able to keep that up and maybe even create an immersion environment of our own in the apartment we should be good to go!
Our apartment is in central Hamriya, which means we should be able to walk to the academic center - but we are also close to all means of transportation if we were to need it. We are also right around the corner from the gym we have visited a few times this summer, which is great because I really want to make exercise a priority here (plus another opportunity to use Arabic!). I'm looking forward to having our own kitchen and cooking our own meals, and being able to have guests over. Of course apartment life will require a bit more work such as paying water and electric bills, cleaning and doing laundry, and grocery shopping but it's all part of the experience.
Healthwise I can't seem to catch a break! I had an allergic reaction to the black henna I had done in Assilah - just pink inflamed skin in the pattern of the henna, no pain or itching - and I thought I was using the right medicine after checking in with a pharmacy but after two weeks my hand wasn't any closer to getting back to normal. This was slightly annoying because every time a Moroccan saw it they would either stare (no one really has any reservations about that here) or ask about it, then scold me saying black henna isn't natural, don't get henna done on the street, etc. etc. (which was fine once but I ended up getting the same lecture literally 20 times). It was also irritating because this was my first time doing black henna so of course I didn't know it would irritate my skin that bad - and the other girls in the program who also got it done had no issue (thank goodness!). So this week I went to a different pharmacy who recommended a different cream - yay for easy access to medicine for simple things like this - and the reaction is 90% gone now!
Around the time that was clearing up though I felt really bad stomach-wise for a couple days - my first time being that sick in Morocco so I'm pretty lucky. I'm not quite sure what exactly it was - I had lunch in the Old City the day before (which my host parents lectured me about for 30 minutes) with others from the program but no one else was sick from said lunch. I had also been eating a lot of figs (apparently that can make you sick) although I did wash them, and I had eaten a washed peach from the Old City the day before. Regardless, I just need to be a little more careful with what I'm eating/how much I'm eating of it. Feeling a lot better now though!
In terms of the fall, our schedule is still not 100% clear. We will be taking university classes (still TBD) but they won't start until October so we will have an MSA Club in its absence during September. Internships have been decided, however we don't know how we determine our weekly schedules for that yet either - it sounds like we will have plenty of free mornings plus a free day in which to complete the eight hours per week, but it's unclear if we have to determine/present a specific schedule to the organization or not. There will also be classes at the center, though times are still TBA. I think we will be getting more information before leaving for break so no worries.
If you haven't yet, check out the video on Facebook that my friend Nikki made of our summer experience - our program seems to be the epitome of "work hard, play hard"! I still need to do a write-up of the wedding I went to but if I don't get to that by the end of the week I'll see you in September!