Month 1

I’ve been traveling for a little over a month now and I’m finally getting settled. The first month was much more chaotic than I had anticipated. My first stop was Italy. I had flown from Seattle to Milan to visit my host family that I lived with from high school. Each time I visit them is always a heartwarming experience since I consider them real family. I’m lucky that I have gotten to visit them and see them as much as I have (5 times now including this trip) since I lived with them eight years ago. 

Host family selfie (missing my other host sister, Ari) at Duomo in Milan

Spending time with my Italian family is always like I never left. I have my room, I take naps on the couch with my orange blanket, I watch the news with my host dad, I help my host mom in the kitchen, I see my host sisters when I can, I bike around my village, I visit family friends and friends from school, and I eat a lotttt. My heart and tummy are so full every time I revisit. _________________________________________________________________________________

I spent just short of a week in Milan and then I had my flight out to Morocco. This is when things start to get overwhelming: 

To preface this, I had packed one small backpack with my laptop, camera, passport and other valuables, and one large 65L pack with all my clothes (For this trip I packed all my worn out clothes I’m ok with destroying and leaving behind), shoes, and liquids. 

My flight was out of Milan in the early morning on a Tuesday. My host family and I went out to dinner in Milan and I was going to head to the airport after dinner and get there around midnight. Before heading to dinner I pulled my smaller pack out (with valuables) and then locked the car. My large pack didn’t have valuables and it was too heavy to bring (it was left covered in the trunk). After a tasty last supper together we came back around 10pm to find that the entire car was gone.

We were just all in shock and in complete disbelief. I think normally I would have been upset but I don’t think any of us could have ever imagined that would happen. I mean, I know people can steal cars, but now that it’s actually happened to us I just wonder, how the f*** do you actually do that?!__________________________________________________________________________________

Anyways, in Milan there are no shuttles that go to the airport between 11pm and 4am. So my host sister just looked at me like, “Rachael, we’ve lost the car, we've lost your bag... You can’t lose your flight too!” And she rushed me to the station as I barely caught the last shuttle. Our goodbyes were rushed, but I’ll see them again in August. I just couldn’t believe what I had just happened. Six days into my trip around the world and there goes all my stuff!!

As I sat on the one hour shuttle ride on my way to the airport without my luggage, all I could immediately think of was how I felt at blame for the loss of the car, and the loss of my prescriptions. While all of this is far from ideal, I also felt incredibly blessed at the same time because—1. I knew my mom would be coming to visit me in Morocco in 11 days and she could bring me some of my things, 2. I was fortunate to not have my valuables like laptop or passport stolen, and 3. I was in transit between two countries I’d lived in before, meaning I knew people and was lucky to have help being rushed to catch the last shuttle and lucky to have help on the receiving end when I arrived to Casablanca in Morocco.  There, one of my closest friends from university (when I studied abroad in Morocco nearly four years ago) greeted me, welcomed me into her home, immediately fed me, let me shower, and let me borrow her clothes. I felt so blessed and grateful. 
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I came to Morocco having 10 days to just visit and see friends before my mom would come to visit. She has always wanted to go to Morocco and wanted to see where I had lived. 

I didn’t make any plans for those ten days. I just wanted to stay in between Casablanca and Rabat to visit friends. While it was great to see so many friends from university in Morocco, I was also hanging around waiting for my mom and clothes to arrive. I think the biggest pain of it all was having to be awake on Seattle time (8 hours difference) to skype my mom to coordinate her repacking my whole pack, and reordering all of my prescriptions. 

While everything that happened was far from ideal, I feel lucky that it happened this way. I’m forever so grateful for my friends and family who helped me through all of this, taking me to help me get my Moroccan SIM set up (another fun surprise since I have an international phone plan and I was supposed to have service), taking me to get underwear, etc. When I showed up in Casablanca at my friends’ house, all I wanted was to shower and change to a clean set of clothes. This would have been so much more difficult had I gone to a place I’d never been to before, or had I been entirely on my own and not known anyone, or the language. ________________________________________________________________________________

After 10 days between Casablanca and Rabat visiting friends, my mom arrived with a whole new backpack for me full of clothes and my new prescriptions. I’ll tell you, moms are the best and they work miracles. My mom was such a savior for bringing me a new pack. I finally felt clean, and like myself with my own clothes. 

My mom and I embarked on our 10 day trip around Morocco. I had planned a packed itinerary from Casablancaà Tangierà Chefchaouenà Fesà Rabatà Marrakechà Sahara Desert. We did it all. It was exhausting but I think she was happy to finally get to see where I lived for a bit. It’s always special whenever she gets to visit a place that was home for me. 

Mom and I at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. Morocco's largest mosque, Africa's second largest, and the world's tallest minaret. 

Our trip ended in Marrakech where my mom and I parted ways. She left for the next leg of her vacation around the Mediterranean, and I started work in Marrakech. ___________________________________________________________________________________

In efforts to immerse myself or find some sort of comfort, routine, and make friends wherever I go, part of what I am trying to do as I travel is to stay for at least one month in places where I can find reasonable accommodation and also find work/volunteer work that interests me. This would likely help me establish a routine/life there and likely provide ways to meet people. 

In Marrakech I found a Moroccan/US non-profit that works on sustainable development projects around Morocco. I’m not quite sure if I’m interested in pursuing development but I know I like international studies, economic development, migration, and geography. These are all subjects I’m currently considering in a graduate degree, and I’m hoping some of these gigs I work along the way will help me navigate which career path I take. ____________________________________________________________________________________

Currently, I am in Marrakech. I've been here for awhile and have a few weeks left. I am spending my time here continuing my Arabic studies in the morning and working at the non-profit in the afternoons. While work and classes have been great thus far, getting my apartment situation set up was a nightmare. I had originally found an apartment above an Arabic school that had good ratings. I realized soon after showing up that it was a scam. I ended up losing about $100usd. 

While the beginning of this trip had a rocky start, between getting my clothes and prescriptions stolen, my “international” phone plan not working, and getting scammed with my apartment/Arabic school, I’m finally getting settled. Though I spent about a week floating between couches without hot water or Wi-Fi, I am all situated now. I’m finally in an apartment with my own bed (and it came with a pool!), with hot water, and my phone/Wi-Fi/data all work. Everything is good. 

If you’ve made it this far, you’re awesome!!! That was a lot but I just had to recap on what was going on and why I have been MIA this past month. Last week I finally got settled and I've been starting to enjoy my transient life in Marrakech. I’m making new friends, I’m getting to see old friends, I’m learning a lot, I’m seeing new things and visiting new places, I'm getting to experience Ramadan and break fast with friends, I’m back to getting to drink Moroccan mint tea nearly every day (Something about Morocco I missed a lot), the weather is beautiful and I enjoy my walk to work and class every day, I love my Arabic classes and teacher, I’ve found my coffee spot, I’m learning how to haggle with the prices for basic things in this touristy city, I’m enjoying work, and I am inspired by those I am surrounded by. Things are getting settled I finally feel like a functioning person here. 

Here are some photos from last weekend (at a beach town called Agadir) so those of you are worried about me can rest assured I am alive and well.