This time in two weeks...

I will be landing in Morocco!

It looks like it's going to take about a day to get there. I leave around 5 pm in the afternoon and get to Paris for a three hour layover around seven am. Then it's about a two hour flight into Morocco.

I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done before I leave!

I have to ...

• Pack. Obviously. 
• Fill some prescription meds
• Get Arabic dictionaries 
• Take a physics final
• Do a class project
• Learn some Arabic!

It's really the packing that is taking me forever. Still not really freaking out yet or excited. I guess it still doesn't seem real? I'm sitting here procrastinating studying for physics, chatting with my friends about our plans for tonight. It's amazing that in two weeks I won't be speaking English (though I'll blog in a mixture since I don't know near enough Arabic yet haha) and my plans will be Arabic on Arabic on Arabic, meeting my Moroccan friends, and exploring Africa! Let's hope I get it all done and keep it together before I go!

Packing

The madness has begun!

In what was probably a much over zealous trip to the dollar store, I've begun to decide what I should bring over, what I can get there, and what I should probably leave at home.

I guess the general categories are bath stuffs, school supplies, medicines, and clothes. I also decided what suitcase I should take over. It's slightly heavier but it's got the most volume. Still debating whether volume or weight is more of a concern... guess I can always check a second bag on the way back if I need to. And a lot of the toiletries I can ditch over there at the end of the program.

I've also been shopping for a lot of clothes! I've bought a lot more than what I strictly need, but it's difficult trying to piece together appropriate clothes given the rather large difference in what is appropriate both in terms of culture and weather over in Rabat. On the whole, I should cover up from shoulders to knees, elbows and ankles are iffy. I think I'll stick with two dresses, two skirts, and two pairs of pants. And a few tunic style shirts/athletic shirts, and buy a few things over there! My goal is to pack no more than ten pounds of things so I have at least 30 pounds of space + my carry on bag(s). Though the list of what I'd like to bring just seems to keep growing.

Some of the things I got

A dress I might take over!

Arabic Language Resources

Hello!

This is half for me and half for anyone else trying or inspired to learn Arabic!

I'm starting a compilation of online resources to help one learn Arabic. I'll go back and add much better descriptions later but to get it all down for now...

Type Arabic without a keyboard. Basically reverse transliterates English sounding Arabic words to script. It works okay.
http://www.yamli.com/arabic-keyboard/

Dictionary that uses said keyboard
http://quest.ms.mff.cuni.cz/cgi-bin/elixir/index.fcgi?mode=lookup&text=%D9%83%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A9

Bunch of okay quality pdf's about the language.
http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Arabic

Good for vocab and grammar
http://arabic.desert-sky.net/index.html

Not the nicest website but it has some info
http://arabic.tripod.com/index.html

Handy grammar text
http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/jiyad/arabic_grammar_jiyad.pdf

Moroccan dialects
http://www.friendsofmorocco.org/learnarabic.htm
      http://www.friendsofmorocco.org/Docs/Darija/Moroccan%20Arabic%20textbook%202011.pdf
http://www.speakmoroccan.com/

Lots of links to dictionaries and grammars
http://www.ghazali.org/arabic/

Language books
https://sites.google.com/site/soyouwanttolearnalanguage/languagee-books

good links
http://iarabic.tv/links/

http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/arabic/index.html

http://freelanguage.org/directory/arabic

http://aratools.com/

Rabat, Morocco

Rabat, الرباط, is the capitol of Morocco and translates to "Fortified Place." The city rests on the coast of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean (which is a shame, I was hoping to be on the Mediterranean!). Rabat holds the award for second place in "Top Travel Destinations of 2013" which is nice (and hopefully adds to its safety), though I worry that will cause it to be more "touristy" than "authentic" Arab culture. 

According to my program book, Rabat is a relaxed metropolitan community of 1.2 million people. The city is known as one of the four imperial cities of Morocco. There are multiple parts to the city, including the Medine (old city), which has traditional shops, and the modern city, which houses the political and administrative offices, supreme court, and Royal Palace. 

Rabat has it's own flag, which is very distinct from the country's flag. 

Rabat Flag

Moroccan Flag

The country itself is also very influenced by its old ties to the French. Nearby cities also include Fez (فاس‎), Marrakesh (مراكش‎), Meknes (مكناس‎), Tangier (طنجة), and of course, Casablanca (الدار البيضاء). I'm excited to be able to be near the water! 

A view of Rabat

مرحبا

Hello!

Welcome to my blog! I'll be writing about my travels this summer to Rabat, Morocco.

I'll be studying second year Arabic, both Modern Standard (MSA) and Moroccan (الدارجة‎). Arabic is diglossic, which means speakers use one variety to read and write (MSA) and another one to speak (الدارجة‎).  Usually official things like the news or documentaries will be presented on television in MSA, but films and regular shows are often produced in dialect. In fact, watching foreign films is a common way to pick up dialect from another Arabic-speaking region.

I don't know too many details about my program, but I know I'll be in class for 20 hours a week studying the language. I'll have a peer tutor to help with the Moroccan dialect as well. Plenty of excursions too I hope, particularly to nearby cities. I personally hope to get to Volubilis, Lixus, and Sala Colonia, which are ancient sites of Roman ruins. I also can't wait to explore Rabat and visit the souqs and market places and get to know the people!

Rabat is about four hours ahead of Atlanta, so thankfully not too onerous of a time difference. My classes are early in the morning so that might be an interesting transition, but on the whole I'm excited! Looks like I have a pretty packed schedule but I should have time to get to know my host family well and delve into the city.

I leave for an orientation in on June 4th, and fly to Rabat on the 7th! Only 24 more days.

My daily schedule