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The Scarlet & Black

The Scarlet & Black

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Day in the life abroad in Morocco: Claire Eide ’19

CONTRIBUTED+PHOTO
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

5:24 a.m.—Wake up to the Fajr, check Facebook, calculate how much more sleep I can get. Not a lot. Go back to bed.

7:45 a.m.—Get dressed and inhale the chocolate croissant Baba Mohammed set out for me. Throw back some chai and a lot of coffee.

8:02 a.m.—Eye the breakfast baguette. Resist the urge to play with the breakfast baguette like a sword.

8:15 a.m.—Head to the tram to get to class.

8:24 a.m.—Tram crowded af. There are hand rails, but I can’t reach them. I ponder my luck that the sheer amount of people keep me upright. Very glad I remembered deodorant.

8:26 a.m.—Shuffle my “chill” playlist, first 3 songs are by Lil Uzi vert, Playboi Carti, and…Enrique Iglesias. Question my ability to accurately name a playlist.

8:51 a.m.— Pretend to not be out of breath after walking two blocks and up five flights of stairs.

9:00 a.m.—Arabic class.

10:01 a.m.—Head hurts. Why am I trying to learn this language?

10:02 a.m.—No time to contemplate further. Need to pay attention to Darija (Moroccan dialect) professor.

11:00 a.m.—History class. Geek out for a bit. Am generally intimidated by how smart my prof is.

11:34 a.m.—Mind wanders from the lecture. Book my plane tickets to visit [clarkjoh] ’19 and [fuchstul] ’19 in Madrid.

11:35 a.m.—Tune into class. Engage in some intellectual debate with the white man who said his reason for coming to Morocco was to ‘end’ the ‘war on terror’ (stares into camera).

2:20 p.m.—History class finally ends.

2:21 p.m.—Smashed the croissant I packed for a snack earlier. Am sad. Proceed to eat the smashed croissant, sadly.

4:32 p.m.—Go to a café for three hours to do homework. Instead chat with the other students. Stare at passerby. Drink a lot of chai.

7:42 p.m.—Hop on the tram to get back to my homestay.

8:11 p.m.—Struggle trying to unlock the door.

8:13 p.m.—Succeed in unlocking the door. Am greeted by my Moroccan fam — Mama Karima, Baba Mohammed and host-sister Zupida — plus the delicious smells of dinner.

9:24 p.m.—Consume an unhealthy amount of tajine and bread. Lounge with the fam in an attempt to digest. Try to understand the Moroccan soap opera playing on the TV — fail.

9:56 p.m.—Actually start homework.

11:45 p.m.—Finish homework. Watch some Gilmore Girls in bed.

12:56 p.m.—Reflect on the day to the sound of my roommate snoring. 

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