Dispatch 1: The eagle has landed

I hit the ground running on Friday afternoon at the Rabat Sale airport and promptly tripped. My baggage was left behind in Amsterdam(n).

No worries. I took a taxi and checked into my hotel. Next step: sustenance. It felt a little like a reality TV survival game where I'm dropped in a land where I don't speak the language, have limited resources and have to rely on basic hunter gatherer skills to survive. I beat that level and got safe looking street food and bottled water in the market, just around the corner from my hotel.

Re-hydrated and with a short nap in me I hopped in a taxi and headed back to the airport for a three hour hassle to get my luggage. Another success. Another harrowing yet exhilarating taxi ride back. I love how they drive here.

Got a mighty dose of sleep and spent most of Saturday and Sunday walking the beaches of the Atlantic coast, reading in the shade and spray of the waves and watching fishermen fish. Sunday evening - now - I've connected with the rest of the group and had an amazing dinner at the CCCL (Cross cultural center for learning) where we will be taking classes.

Met a young boy while walking the beach today named Hakim. He learned all his English from TV. Quite impressive. I hope to be at least half as fluent in Arabic by the end of my stay.

Rabat is a beautiful city - quite stunning really. Calls to prayer and dazzling sunsets envelope the rooftops with tranquility.

-Simeon

Jazzed

Greetings blog followers!

I've had a lot of you ask if there's a way to follow my adventures while I'm away in Morocco so I decided to make a blog. Taking you with is going to do exactly that - take you with. This semester I'm studying abroad with the School for International Training (SIT) through Round Earth Media. The setting is seaside, the business is journalism. 

In several hours I'll be getting on a plane at MSP for a 15 hour flight to Rabat, Morocco. The nation's capitol, Rabat is a coastal city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million, according to Google. As I approach the final hours before my departure I find myself excited and a bit edgy. Could be the caffeine. Needless to say but I'll say it anyway, I'm jazzed. 

Anyway, here's the jist of it. I'll be keeping these posts short. Won't have a lot of time for anything besides adventuring as it is. This is a place where you can see cool pictures I might post, read short stories I might write and learn a little about my experience as I immerse in Moroccan culture. My goal is to update every couple days, but limited internet and adventures in the style of Indiana Jones might keep me otherwise occupied.

 I need to finish packing. For the last time in the Twin Cities, peace. 

-Simeon