Friday after classes I rushed home to eat couscous with vegetables and chicken with my family (finally, for the first time - it was delicious!) before heading to the train station. I got there around 20 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave for Casablanca, and purchased my ticket only 5 minutes before departure due the long line of people traveling home after Eid. Thankfully I made it on board in time for the three-hour ride, and I snoozed and chatted with the other passengers once they found out I know Arabic while I was talking to Amine on the phone.
Most people I’ve talked to about Casablanca - Moroccans and non-Moroccans alike - have neutral feelings towards the city, and while I was there I could see why. It’s sort of modern, with no traditional beauty. I was lucky enough to grab a Petit Taxi driver when I walked out of the train station who offered to drive me to the Hassan II Mosque (the only place I wanted to visit there), show me around and take a few pictures, and drive me back to the station in time for the next train to Rabat. His name was also Hassan; he showed me pictures of his family and his 7-month old baby boy on our way to the mosque. The mosque itself was huge - it’s the largest in Africa - and I got to see it both in daylight and at night since I arrived at sunset. Hassan got a few pictures of me standing outside of it, then we rushed back to the train station where I just barely caught the train to Rabat.
Casa and Rabat are only an hour apart, although that was enough time to make another friend in my first class compartment. Amine and his dad picked me up at the main city station and brought me to their house in Sale. I didn’t know this before but my host uncle is an expert in the art of traditional Moroccan tiling - his work is present throughout their home! With three floors and more than three rooms, their residence is way bigger than ours in Meknes. That first night we walked around Sale a little before hanging out, eating a late dinner, and heading to bed “early”.
Saturday Amine and I met some friends of his in the morning at Magic Park, an “Adventure Park”-esque theme park in between the two cities. They were very welcoming and it was a fun day filled with rides (such as a mini roller-coaster and bumper cars), food, and laughter. I especially bonded with the elementary school kids - although unfortunately I can’t remember their names since I met so many people at once!
Amine and I left the park around 6 PM to go walk around Rabat. I rode the tram (which is way newer and nicer than the DC Metro) and saw the tomb of Hassan II and Mohammed V (the past two kings, or the father and grandfather of the current king), a Catholic church, the Parliament building, and part of the Old City before it got dark and we took a Grand Taxi back to Sale, where we ate dinner and watched the wedding entrance of a bride and groom from our balcony before bed.
Sunday I headed to the Sale train station around midday via Amine’s motorcycle and bought my ticket to Meknes before we rode around the city a little bit. I saw the beach and the ocean, which as always was beautiful. Soon after I took a train home and met a man in my compartment whose parents are Moroccan but he grew up in France and now he is working in Ireland for a year - his English was excellent and he was very friendly!
Overall I felt that my solo trip was a success - I didn’t miss any trains, coordinating with Amine’s family went without incident (and they were so hospitable, I’m very grateful to them), I got to see two new cities, and I spent the whole weekend using Arabic! Could I have asked for anything better?