The professors at ALIF are absolutely wonderful. Coming from a four year university and taking two years of Arabic with a TA (native arabic speakers majoring in engineering, sociology, or some other focus that isn't language related), I was beyond frustrated by my lack of progression and blamed myself for only being able to express where I lived and that I liked my dog. In an attempt to redeem myself and make all the hours I spent laboring over arabic homework not so futile, I sent myself to Morocco for six months thinking that immersing myself would somehow make learning this really difficult language easy as pie. I did REALLY improve all aspects of learning a language: speaking, reading, writing and listen, but not because I was so deeply immersed in the language, but because of the instruction ALIF offers. The classes are small and each professor is truly committed to helping you learn. They blew every other instructor I ever had out of the water, bringing so much knowledge about not only the language, but the culture, to the table. They are real professors with real degrees in linguistics, and this made such a noticeable difference.
I was nervous about having a social life in such a traditional city and finding my niche. The ALIF school is small enough to meet every arabic learning student and everyone was open and inclusive. There are students from all over the world, and everyone is looking to have a good time after hours of class everyday. Fes itself also has a lot to offer in terms of fun social things to do, you just have to know where to find them. And if nothing presents itself, ALIF provides a schedule of daily activities, meetings, and clubs to occupy your time. There are planned trips of Fes and some surrounding cities, trips to the desert, cooking classes, music clubs, etc.
However, the housing situation can be a little tricky. They can't really guarantee you a spot in the villa for students (which is right across the street from the school), and also only have so many single rooms. I didn't have a problem with this and enjoyed the six weeks I spent in the villa, but during some busier terms I could see it being a problem. Living in the villa was nice for a short period of time, but I would recommend moving on to apartment life in the medina or Ville Nouvelle once you find a group to live with. House searching was pretty difficult, but ALIF was really helpful and has a list of names and contact information to begin your search.
All in all, ALIF and living in Fes was a wonderful experience. Give yourself time to adjust though. Fes-ians don't always make the best first impressions, but once you settle into school life and the ins and outs of this charming ancient city, you will love it. I miss it everyday.
