Our Last Day in Meknes

As our experience in Meknes nears its end, most of our group took this time to enjoy the last day with our homestay families, and blow off some steam (both literally and figuratively) at the pool in the Transatlantique Hotel. I never expected to bond so quickly with my home stay mom — Hajiba. In just ten days, she became like family to me, and I’ll always treasure the time that I had with her. Figuring out the right way (and the right gift) to say goodbye to both her and Meknes was challenging, but ultimately, I think it all worked out in the end. 

I began the day with a delicious (as always) breakfast prepared by Hajiba before going to class. Today’s focus was creating our personal brand and developing global leadership skills. We started out with a task on describing ourselves as a superhero - which I found to be surprisingly uncomfortable, which I would later realize coincided with my discomfort with defining my strengths. Not that I don’t have any, but strengths that make me stand out from others are a little trickier to figure out. We lost conducted a SWOT analysis and drafted a personal statement. During class, our home stay mom sent tons of pictures that she took of us trying on some of her handmade dresses to our group chat.

One of the (many) pictures sent to me by my homestay mom

Once class ended, we walked over to the hotel — unfortunately, in the blistering heat. What kept me going was the promise of relief at the end of our journey. I felt a bit better after we were greeted with a gorgeous view of Meknes. While I didn’t swim, I played card games with some of the others. My win ratio was absolutely terrible, but I had a lot of fun. After trying (and failing) to get a taxi from the hotel, my friend and I went to get flowers to give our homestay mom.

A view of Meknes from the pool

Unfortunately for me, as the day went on, I noticed that I’d gotten a bad case of laryngitis due to the cold I’d had for the past few days. Talking became a struggle, so we went to get water after we left the flower shop. I’m not sure if it was the sickness or dehydration, but it might’ve been the best water I’ve had in a while. 

A lesson I’ve learned during my time in Morocco is that sometimes, you have to be firm with your boundaries when strolling along the city streets. Before we could get to the perfume shop, my friend and I ran into a man who was err…enthusiastic about speaking to us since we were foreigners who spoke different languages. A conversation that began with simple translation questions quickly grew into a weird exchange of personal information, and some added touchiness that didn’t sit right with either of us. Thankfully, he left us alone after a while and no harm was done. Upon reflection, a firm “no” would’ve probably shortened the interaction.

After browsing the perfume shop, we went home and enjoyed dinner with our home stay mom, her sister, and her niece. The night was bittersweet - we had a great conversation over home cooked dinner from Hajiba, and I found myself wishing to come back and visit some day. 

Today was full of ups and downs - which I suppose is representative of our experience in a way. Navigating a new country will always bring challenges, but is ultimately a valuable, even transformative, experience. Goodbye, Meknes!

Signing off,

Ashley Y.