Morocco: Crossroads of Mountains and Cultures (Summer Abroad)
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About
Carefully balanced mounds of spices - red, green, brown and deep ochre - flank narrow paths winding through a living labyrinth. Wandering through a Moroccan “souq” (market place) framed by the ancient walls of city medinas, you are sure to think that you have entered another era.
Though Morocco shows us a land of great differences, we come to see how religion and culture connect indigenous Amazigh (Berber) and Arab peoples. Our time in Morocco provides us wonderful opportunities to learn about the history and tradition of this, often characterized as mystical, Muslim culture. Whether outside an intricately decorated mosque in Casablanca or walking an unpaved road in a quiet mountain town, we often hear the call to prayer, and are reminded five times a day that among the vastly disparate lives of Morocco’s people, Islamic culture, faith, and devotion continue to bring families and communities together as it has for over 1300 years.
- Exploration of the culture, practices, and philosophy of contemporary and historical Islam through local visits, speakers, and observations.
- Spend time in a rural home-stay, with an additional possible stay with an urban family and/or people in a High Atlas mountain village.
- Study Moroccan colloquial Arabic through regular language lessons emphasizing oral communication skills. Learn to write the Arabic alphabet and get a short introduction to one of the indigenous dialects.
- Spend multiple days trekking in the beautiful and rarely visited High Atlas Mountains; either in the remote nomadic region of the Imilchil Lakes or in traverse of the M'Goun Massif in the central High Atlas mountains. ABOUT COMPONENTS ENROLL
- Examine the diversity that exists throughout Morocco: urban/rural, Arab /indigenous, mountains/desert, progressive/traditional, and influences of Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East.