 Making the Most of Your Experience
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The Moroccan sense of
time has a qualitative side that easily frustrates American’s
quantitative “time-is-money,” mentality. As a student with a full
Dartmouth course load, you will need to learn to balance the tensions between
time spent in course requirements, independent exploration of the city, and
obligations to your host family. You must give yourself time to come to terms
with your situation in a cultural setting that will undoubtedly cause some
sense of confusion at the start. In this regard, you must be prepared for
situations where you will not always be in control. You will not always get
the best deal from a merchant, for example, or you may be startled or
uncomfortable if someone starts scrubbing your back at the local hammamor
“Moorish” bath. Such experiences needn’t make you feel
awkward or defensive, but can be taken as lessons to be mastered with time and
practice.
Festival in Boujad, Morocco.
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Go
with the flow, watch, and learn. Be aware that you are a foreigner and keep an open mind. You are in Fez to experience a unique sense of history, religion, and social
world. Your values and sense of expectations are not the standards by which to
judge your hosts. The people of Morocco have a distinct and age-old
cultural-religious heritage of which they are proud. They cherish deep-rooted
values and norms that may not coincide with your own, so it’s important
to inform yourself about Moroccan culture. While you are not expected to agree
with all of the culture’s attitudes and conventions, you will do well to
express appreciation or to reserve judgment or at least avoid critical comment.
Urbanized Moroccans typically don’t open their doors without repeated contact.
This gives them time to size you up. In fact, the Moroccan who approaches you
in a friendly way in the street is, more often than not, some sort of hustler
who wishes to sell something or make a commission on you from someone who has
something to sell.
Generally speaking, Moroccans without a hidden
commercial agenda are those you meet through your host family, friends of
friends, or the American Language Center garden. Remembering this rule can
spare you a lot of headaches and leave you more time to cultivate truly
rewarding relationships.
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Other Pointers:
Meet Moroccans.
If you take the time and effort to get yourself to Morocco, use more time meeting Moroccans and less time chatting with other Americans. Be proactive: ask family members to take you to the medina, to show you places of significance to them, or to talk about particular issues. Find people to talk to who have some sense of
perspective—there were lots of graduate students at the American Language
Institute (ALIF) in 1995 who had great tales to tell and problem-solving experiences
to share.
Speak up. Expect to have
troubles, physical and emotional, and be willing to address them quickly. If
you suspect that there’s something off-base in how your host family
treats you, bring up the issue with ALIF and the program leader immediately.
This includes family life where there is very little conversation or
interaction—hardly an ideal language-learning environment! Living abroad
is a challenge, and you don’t want to remain in disadvantageous
situations for long. You also should avoid taking an illness or eating disorder
over there with you (or picking one up while there). You don’t have to go
through culture shock alone, but remember that you don’t have access to
support that you would find on campus. Inform others about problems you are
going through, but don’t complain. There is a balance to be struck
between speaking up and complaining. Keep in mind that fatigue and culture
shock reduce your body’s ability to deal effectively with stress.
Keep a journal. For the Fez FSP,
keeping a daily journal of observations, questions, and thoughts is a course
requirement. While sometimes tedious and time-consuming, journal keeping will
not only help you adjust to your experience abroad more quickly but will also
be invaluable a few years down the line. It may be that the semi-public nature
or the particular requirements of the field-notes journal make it less
“therapeutic” than a regular diary. In that case, keep a private
diary as well. But make the commitment to yourself before you get on the plane:
Write. Write a lot!
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