SIT Morocco: Field Studies in Journalism

If you’re thinking about it, do it. This is a really great program for aspiring/student journalists or anyone who is remotely interested in journalism; no prior experience is needed. The staff at the center you take classes at are really great, the program staff are amazing (shout out to the academic director, Dan, and the program coordinator, Samad), and it was super cool to work with/get feedback from our advisors (freelance journalists/photographers for NY Times and AP). The partnerships you form with the Connect Institute students for the independent study portion of the semester are also a valuable part of the experience. The city of Rabat is also beautiful, the food is amazing, the people are nice, and there are so many places to explore. If you get a chance, I recommend hiking Mt. Toubkal. I definitely came out of the program very confident and gained research, interviewing, and storytelling skills.

This program is super unique and culturally immersive, and amazing if you're interested in being an international journalist. I walked away with some really great clips. The friends I made on this program, American and Moroccan, are the most special part of this experience. There are some challenging times, especially in the homestay, but that's where I grew the most and having support from my friends was essential. The food is amazing and the medinas are beautiful. It is a semester I still think about every day. The program takes you on two excursions. My favorite was the week village stay. We all stayed with a family in a rural northern village and there was no running water. The people there are incredible and I learned the most in that week.

Going to Morocco was one of the best decisions I ever made. Every single day was an adventure, and SIT did an amazing job of giving us the tools to live and study in a new country, while also giving us the space to explore and learn on our own. The staff was friendly and helpful, the classes were challenging, and the set-up of the journalism program in particular was well-suited for what I wanted to get out of the program. Being able to pursue my own project in the ISPJ period was invaluable and instilled in me a new confidence in my journalistic ability. I would recommend this program to any aspiring journalists with the desire to practice on-the-ground reporting. I was able to improve my reporting skills, practice a new language and make international connections abroad.

When I first started looking at places to study abroad, I knew I wanted to go somewhere outside of Europe, and I wanted to be able to tie my experience in journalism into it. This program was the perfect fit, and I was beyond thrilled to hear the news that I would be living in Rabat in spring 2016.
This program allows you the opportunity to truly get ingrained in Moroccan culture. You live with a host family for the first two months and attend crash-course lectures that give you raw, genuine perspective of the country you're living in. Then you go out to a city of your choosing for the final five weeks of the program to work on your independent study project. Between those two experiences, I learned so much about the country, but I also learned so much about myself. This unique study abroad experience taught me that it's OK to not understand what's going on in a room where you don't speak the same language as anyone else. Through experiential learning, It stretched me to my academic limits and unveiled my strengths and weaknesses (and how to fix them) as a reporter. After coming back to the States, I've noticed that this experience has taken me out of a comfort zone I didn't even know I was living in, which helped me get a better perspective on life. Morocco definitely changed me, and I know I'll be back there some day.