Morocco - 2017 & 2020

Morocco holds a special place in my heart. I’ve been fortunate to visit twice in the last few years, and I already can’t wait to return again.

In 2017, I spent a good portion of my summer volunteering for an NGO with an education-based mission and living with a host family in Rabat’s ancient Medina. Before this trip, I spent a lot of time trying to research solo female travel to Morocco and was only met with tales of caution. Clearly those didn’t stop me, and once I was there, I kept thinking of what those bloggers missed out on. While my background in Arabic Language and Culture studies may have aided the initial culture shock, my experience could not have been more different than what I’d read about beforehand. I have never met any people more kind than Moroccans are. We can all learn a lot from the beautiful, selfless people here.

In 2020, I returned to Morocco for a few weeks with my best friend who is married to a Moroccan from the city of Marrakech. We traveled down the coast to several sleepy towns and did our darnedest to talk with every local, ex-pat, musician, surfer, and tourist we met along the way. Every day, I think back to the difficult topics and stimulating conversation we shared over dozens of coffees and lunches. If Morocco has taught me anything, it’s that we are all more alike than we are different.