History at its Finest: The Stories of Morocco-05/15/2025

As I hit the snooze button on my phone, I look to the left at the beautiful view of Meknes. The sound of cars passing by, the honking and sound of wind, along with the amazing view of mountains; it really does put the cherry on top! Today is the first official day in our homestays and I am super excited to get the day started. After completing my morning routine, Summer and I had breakfast with our homestay mom Mme (Mrs.) Sakina. We are met with more than four types of bread, cheese, raisins, and a variety of spreads such as Biscoff, homemade jam, and butter. And I cannot forget the amazing mint tea, which is a staple to all Moroccan dishes. As we sat and talked about Mrs. Sakina’s work and how amazing her food is, we headed to our first guest lecture at the ISA (learning) Center. 

The wonderful breakfast with all the bread and desserts in the world by our homestay mom!

Next, we were introduced to Dr. Abdallah Malki who’s educational and professional background is far more than you can imagine. Dr.Malki highly advocates for intercultural communication to other university campuses. The lecture today focused on border dynamics, which gave us an understanding of the relationship between Morocco and Spain, and what are some challenges Morocco faced/is facing. It was really interesting to learn about the ways the European Union had control over Morocco for a time, but now Morocco is more stable through their independence and increased innovation and stability. After the lecture, the group enjoyed the beautiful weather outside of the center and ate lunch that our homestay families cooked. There were sandwiches, pizza, Moroccan chicken, rice; you name it and we had it! With lunch we enjoyed having conversations with one another about our experience so far, and it was amazing to share that joy with others.

After lunch, we headed to our walking tour of the Dar Jamai Museum, which is the museum that shows the history of Moroccan music. There are over 50 styles (genres) of Moroccan music, and I was able to see a variety of instruments from the twentieth century and listened to many songs. Some Moroccan music comes from different tribes, different religions and simply to modern day genres. Next, we headed to our tour of the historical district of Meknes Medina, which goes all the way back from the eleventh century. Think of the medina as multiple farmers markets in a single area. Everything you want is inside the medina, hats, clothes, produce, fragrances etc. As we are walking, we interact with many of the locals passing through with their vehicles or items to sell in wagons. Truly amazing! 

An amazing scenery of the timeline of violins in Moroccan history at the Dar Jamai Museum.

Walking through the magnificent medina glancing at the Moroccan rugs.

We ended our tour at the Museum of Moulay Ismali which is an historic and religious site of a former ruler in Morocco from the late 1600’s. When ending the first full day in Meknes, I returned to my homestay where I asked Mrs. Sakina if I could help her cook. We made an orange and lemon-yellow cake, with chocolate and walnuts. Don’t knock it until you try it! As the cake was baking, Mrs. Sakina, her husband Mr. Hamid and I watched football (soccer). As the night is ending, I reflect on how history and tradition can still bring joy and amazement. See you next time!

Me admiring the crafted tiles at the Musuem of Moulay Ismali.

Signing off,

Daisha L.