Dawn of the First Day (Rather, Evening of the First Day)

By Heather White

After around 60 hours of little sleep, thousands of miles of travel, and exhausting amounts of social navigation, the only coherent thought running through my mind right now is something along the lines of “Wow, why am I not asleep?”

This morning we landed in Madrid, ready to face a layover that would bring us closer to the ultimate goal of Morocco. Of course, being the sleep-deprived Americans we are, we ended up sleeping at a table in Starbucks.

I cannot properly describe the feeling I was left with after stepping off the flight to Casablanca and into the fresh air. The slightly salty, cool coastal breeze somehow managed to simultaneously calm the nerves and invigorate. To welcome us to the country, we got to enjoy CTM’s production of “A Custom’s Line” in which we witnessed no fewer than three shouting matches – one of which ended in a man being escorted away by police.

While waiting for other members of the program to arrive, we piled our luggage outside and sat enjoying the sunshine. I reached some kind of peace (although if it was truly introspective or just exhaustion induced, I’ll never know) by listening to the bustle of the airport. Families saying tearful goodbyes, loved ones reuniting, tour groups assembling, and other students eager to begin their programs. The fact that most of these words were spoken in unfamiliar speech did not deter from the calming effect they had.

You’ve seen “An American in Paris”; I only hope that the upcoming adventures of “An American in Morocco (and Her Daunting Research Project)” proves to be half as entertaining. If anything, this will prove to be an incredible learning experience and I could not be more grateful here at the start.