Posted By: Career Enrichment Network

Photos and content contributed by Alice Greider.

Alice Greider, double majoring in International Politics, and Global and International Studies with a minor in French, spent last summer in Rabat, Morocco. Read more about Alice’s experience below!

I studied in Rabat, Morocco with the IES: Francophone Studies program during the summer of 2015. I wanted to improve my French more than anything, but did not want to study in France. Morocco offered me much more on a cultural scale than France could have done. I got to experience Ramadan, living in an Islamic culture in general, learn a bit of Arabic, experience an entirely new geography, and witness a scale of poverty among Morocco’s poor that was truly shocking. I chose Morocco over France because I wanted to pick a country where the experience of studying and living there would be entirely different from the experience a tourist would get visiting on vacation. The aim is not to be a tourist the entire semester, but to live like a local as much as possible and really integrate into society and learn what ordinary life is like there. I went to Morocco to better my French, when people asked me why, I answered, “Because it’s not France.” Morocco would challenge me more and studying and living there would open me up to more than I would get by just visiting as a tourist.       

    

I chose to study during the summer of 2015, mostly because I have another study abroad trip lined up for spring 2016 so this was the only free time I had. I worked jobs back home for my first summer and thought the whole time about how I wanted to improve my French through immersion in a foreign country during the next summer. However, I would encourage people to study abroad earlier in their college career because your junior and senior year are vital times for leadership positions, research opportunities, thesis work, and to take those classes you’ve only just discovered. Studying abroad earlier also leaves you more room if you discover you want to use your experience to shape your academic or professional career more.

We got to do some volunteering in Rabat that I really enjoyed. First we took plastic bags down to the beach to pick up trash. It was so nice to get calls from males that weren’t cat-calls, but calls of thanks. Multiple people came up to us and thanked us directly, and one bloke even asked if he could help as well. A few people out rightly asked why we were doing this, confused as to why American students would be cleaning up a tiny beach in Morocco. My favorite though was the entire class of schoolboys who swarmed around us and each picked up a few bits of trash to put in our bag on their way leaving the beach.

Then a few days later we went to the Moroccans equivalent of a soup kitchen that makes and serves an iftar (the meal that breaks the Ramadan fast) for those who are homeless or who cannot afford a large iftar. We helped prepare food and set the tables for 144 people. Each table had to be set with dishes, glasses, milk, yogurt, orange juice, a hunk of bread, and napkins, and then we prepared all the plates (with a wedge of cheese, egg, dates, shebeka, those bread cake things, and meat pitas) and bowls of harira soup and set them at each spot in time for everyone to come rushing in. We helped everyone cram into a seat, made sure everyone was taking their fair share, and then went around with tea and coffee at the end. Everyone was very appreciative and thanked up in a variety of languages. However I think that this association has lots of groups come and volunteer for them so the recipients were more used to foreigners helping here. I was in my element because it was essentially a more chaotic and less structured version of the restaurants I work in at home, so it was a brief gap of familiarity for me.

I really enjoyed the fact that we had the opportunity to give back to Rabat a little. People appreciate benevolence anywhere you are, and it was refreshing to be the ones giving; when you’re away from home in a strange place the hospitality of where you’re staying gives so much to you. And it just reminded me that there is need everywhere in the world. While volun-tourism isn’t exactly the most helpful thing for a place sometimes, there is never a time when you shouldn’t be looking to help people. However, it was mostly just nice to be showing people a good and giving image of Americans. I study diplomacy, but I’m convinced that no matter what relations are like between governments and heads of state, the real international relations is between the everyday citizens.

I study international politics primarily and want to work for the UN, the EU, or an international organization, so French, and hopefully one day Arabic, will be vital for me in my career, hence my determination to improve it in the first place. I also will benefit from my broader perspective into a Muslim country and the workings of North African politics, history, and the particular place they are in regarding the European Refugee and Migrant Crisis. I received Enrichment Funding which I used to help pay for my flight.

My French improved by leaps and bounds, particularly on the more practical side of explaining future plans, describing events, and expressing emotions and needs. My other classes, taught in French, also helped quite a bit. My Politics of North Africa class gave me insight into the unique history and colonial experience of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, and I’m using concepts I learned in my Sociology of Migration class in my thesis research already.

Applications for Fall or Academic Year Study Abroad are due March 1st. Spring applications are due May 1st. All Liberal Arts students studying or interning abroad are eligible for Enrichment Funding. To learn more, please schedule an appointment via Network Symplicity or email Jackie Smith,Global Experiences Coordinator (jds54@psu.edu)