It has now been a few weeks since my return to the United States. My study abroad program in Spain and Morocco was a surreal experience that I will never forget. I met so many different people while abroad. I was immersed in such vastly different cultures that gave me so many different perspectives and insights on sustainable development.
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Hello again, but now from Spain. Yes, I have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the great country of España. Spain is so rich with culture and history it is hard to pick what to see and do here. It is the last day for us in Madrid as the study abroad program is ending tomorrow but I have been in Sevilla and Granada as well this past week.
I thought this trip could not get any better but I was wrong. After driving through the gorgeous Dades Valley, we arrived in Merzouga for the experience of a lifetime, a camel trek into the Sahara Desert. Riding the camels was remarkable, despite them not being the most comfortable to ride, and when we arrived at our campsite destination, the enormous sand dunes were surreal. To say the least, it was beautiful, especially at night when the moon lit the desert. The only downside was even though we all had head scarfs, most of us received a sizable amount of sand in our eyes, nose, ears and mouth because of the intense winds.
Following Merzouga, we made our way to the mountain town of Boumia where the family of Hakim Akki, a Moroccan ASU sustainability student, prepared an elegant multiple coarse meal and dessert for our group. After the delicious lamb, couscous, fruit and desserts, Hakim’s family showed us their organic apple orchard which was a topic we also discussed in regards to sustainable development. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for his family as they were some of the nicest people I have ever met.
It has been a busy and fun-filled past 10 days in Morocco and I am loving every minute of it. We have traveled to about four cities, one town, one village and one riverside hotel. The first city we arrived in was Casablanca because that is where most of us flew into to get to the lovely country on Morocco. After some frustrating loss of luggage and phone issues, our problems were sorted out by the end of the afternoon and we headed off to the capital city of Rabat. In Rabat we stayed in the Balima Hotel which was right across the street from the parliament building located in the heart of the city. There were quite a lot of activities prepared in Rabat including a bus tour, light-rail tour and various meetings with Moroccan NGOs and organizations. One of the meetings we encountered included a workshop with the Moroccan NGO Mena Policy Hub which works on promoting high-quality education for Moroccans as well as creating policies to influence the government. Rabat was a nice city to transition into Moroccan culture.
Henry David Thoreau once said, “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave and find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
Arizona State University is an island of opportunities. The Walton Global Sustainability Studies Program creates an enormous opportunity that was too generous for me to pass up. I encourage anyone who is reading this that is also studying sustainability and has not traveled abroad yet to go and study in another country, as it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
