"Expect Nothing. Live Frugally on Surprise."

Well, I promised to create a blog for study abroad, and, with only a week left in country, I figured I'd better get in a practice entry. Nothing too exciting to report; it's been a nice, lazy summer, in which I've baked far too many things and called way too many home improvment contractors. As I have told some of you, I basically did an internship in "housewifery" this summer, since I made dinner for the family and cleaned and ran errands, and other miscellaneous June Cleaver-esque activies (I've decided it's not really the career path for me).
It was nice to be home and catch up with friends and family, and take a few midwestern road trips.

I leave Sept. 1, and it will be a very long travel day; St. Louis to New York to Paris to Rabat--awesome. I don't know the names of any other students on the program (or even how many other students there are); I just have to wait until I get to New York and meet some of them on the group flight. Once we get to Rabat, we'll be staying in a hotel for several days and doing crash courses in Moroccan Arabic ("Derija"), which is nothing at all like the Modern Standard Arabic we will be learning in class. After this, we move in with our homestay families in the Medina. The families have all hosted SIT students before, but communication standards will vary significantly. Some families speak only Derija (though they will understand MSA), and others speak Derija, MSA, French and even some English. I have not been told anything about the family I'll live with; I sent them a letter with my SIT application, but don't have any information. Basically, I know very little about the details of the program--thus the title for this entry.

One of my big challenges this summer was to start eating meat again after 4 1/2 years. (I know I already told some of you about this, but I guess it will give some continuity). They eat a lot of meat in Morocco, and though they probably could have accomodated a vegetarian, I didn't want to be a pain, and I would have missed out on a big part of the traditional foods (especially during Ramadan, which starts in September). I kept putting off eating meat all summer, until I accidentally chowed down half a beef burrito at Taco Bell (somehow it had been switched with my cheese one in a car trip--I suspect foul play). Well, after eating Taco Bell "meat," and not getting sick, I figured I could handle anything. I've since had chicken, turkey, salmon, and I even tried caviar for the first time.

I'm mostly packed, but probably need to buy some compression bags for all of my clothes. I'm not bringing any of my huge earrings--conservative, conservative. Everything comes below my knees and generally to my wrists. I think it will depend from neighborhood to neighborhood in Rabat what I can wear, and I'll hopefully learn quickly. Obviously, there will be a ton of tourists, so tank tops and shorts may be just as common as scarves, but since I'm staying with a Moroccan family, SIT requests pretty conservative stuff out of respect. I'm also not bringing my own computer, so these entries may be a little spotty. There are internet cafes everywhere though, so it really shouldn't be a problem.

Ok, I've still got four required reading books left to read in a week (as well as last-minute packing concerns), so I'll hopefully get back to this once I leave. OH, another issue--I'm still waiting on AUC for the spring. Tim and Shams (if you read this, of course), I sent in the application on June 11; did it take this long for you too, or do I have really good reason to be nervous? Maybe I'll know more by the next post. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll update you again from MOROCCO! (SO EXCITING!)