Morocco//Culture Shock (4/4-4/8)

Morocco was an experience I have never encountered before. Grace, Ava and I were—not kidding—the only ones out of over 200 people who didn’t speak Spanish. Us three had no idea what the plans were and had to fend for ourselves due to the very obvious language barrier. Additionally, the company workers did not care that we didn't speak Spanish, and only used English when asked to do so (by us). I felt like such an outsider and it was truly something I have never felt before. Although times during the trip were challenging, I’m very happy that that’s the experience I had, because it really made me see how privileged I am in a different way. 

I am a white American woman who has the luxury of speaking a universal language that I don’t need to learn any others in order to be successful. I have a family that supports me financially, while equally emotionally. I’ve had a safety net all my life, and been given countless opportunities to travel all around the world since a young age. Going into this environment where things weren’t accommodating for me and not handed to me on a silver platter made me realize how easy my life has been. Obviously, I’ve struggled and like to think I’ve learned enough where I can navigate most situations I’m in while having an empathic and open-minded perspective, but this really slapped me in the face and screamed “You don’t know anything!” Ultimately, this experience gave me a very small understanding of how it feels to be an outsider, culturally and socially. That sounds so dramatic and I know I really don’t understand that at all, but this gave me a .1% idea of it. 

I realized when I’m with my friends and there are people around that are different from our “group," I sometimes just brush it to the side, because I’m comfortable with who I’m around and don’t feel responsible for the feelings of that other person. I think a lot of people tend to do this, which is so normal, because we gravitate towards those who we are similar to–in regards to personality, nationality, race, and culture. It’s harmless until you have a person or group of people unlike the rest, because that leads to exclusivity and a missed opportunity to connect with someone different than you. Because of where I’ve grown up I’ve never felt the feeling of being on the other side of that, and it was something so foreign to me. The worst part is I’ve probably done that to so many people without even realizing the exclusivity I was demonstrating. We are too focused on what we know to try and understand people that are different from us, and my perspective changed. 

During the trip I was already aware of how my thoughts about this were changing, because our last night in Morocco one of the girls got stuck with us on the camel ride and I tried with everything in me to be intentional and include her in our conversations and interactions. It worked out so well, because she hung out with us the rest of the day, and we met others who quickly became our friends later that night. 

Again I know I really don’t have a significant grasp on this, but Morocco exposed me enough to make me want to become more intentional with those different than me. It is so important to be around those not similar to you, because that is the only way you will have a well rounded perspective and learn more about people and the world. Also I’m going to learn Spanish. 

TRIP-

On Thursday afternoon Ava, Grace and I took off on our adventure into the Sahara desert! Our first flight was to Marseille, France. We had a 6 hour layover, so we got food and drinks by the water, explored, and of course ate macaroons. That was my first time in France and I hope the next time I go I’ll be there longer than 6 hours!

We got to Marrakech around 2am and went to bed for 4 hours. At 6am we departed on a bus to the Sahara. We drove for about 4 hours and stopped at a UNESCO world heritage site, which they call “the door of the desert” because it is the halfway point between the desert and Marrakech. The town was basically made of clay and had little tunnels and stairs up to the top. I guess it is well known because Gladiator and Outer Banks was filmed there. We got some lunch and continued our trek to the desert. We stopped to get pashminas and 10 hours later we arrived at our campsite. We were all exhausted and were passed out by 11pm.

Saturday was the BEST DAY EVER. We hit the ground running and started the day off with a Jeep tour on the sand dunes. They took us literally in the middle of nowhere in the desert, and it was so beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We rode around for a while, stopped at a small nomad home, and surfed the dunes! Ava surprisingly didn’t fall despite her background of never surfing or snowboarding ever. I still don’t understand how she did it. Grace absolutely ate it, she fell straight on her face, but later redeemed herself! It was so funny if you’re reading this sorry Grace. I did okay, I fell every time but it could have been worse. It was so fun and awesome!

We ate lunch and swam in this really nice pool and tanned for a while. After that we got to ride camels and that was SO AWESOME. They took us to this random part of the desert with a DJ and more surfing. We danced and hung out there for a while before we headed back to the site. We rode camels on the way back in the black night, and was led by our fearless leader Saeed (camel whisperer). Ava’s camel was named Bob Marley, so I started playing Bob Marley and Don’t Worry Be Happy. All of us, including Saeed, were all singing under the beautiful stars of the desert. That was a moment I will never forget.

That night I brought out my cards and asked if some people wanted to play, and of course they did. We became friends with Emilio, Yule, David and Luis, and they are all from Mexico studying in Madrid. They taught us their games and we taught them ours. It was delightful! I ended up staying up with them and just talking for the majority of the night. We talked about how I felt coming to Morocco and what I experienced. We also discussed the differences in our cultures in regards to relationships, and I’d like to think I gave them a good description of how I feel about that since The States has a very individualistic culture compared to Mexico. It was a great way to end the trip. The next day we woke up early and took the bus back to Marrakech. Monday we departed home, sandy and gross. Overall the trip was something very new for me, but nonetheless it was amazing and I wouldn’t change anything about it.

Maya Kollme 4/13/24