Amazing Souqs and Service Adventure!

I was on Rustic Pathway's Souqs and Service program to Morocco from June 26-July 10, and I was in very good hands even before I got to my home airport on the way to our gateway airport. I was scheduled to land in New York (where we were to meet out group to fly to morocco) significantly earlier than any one else, and I was in contact with the airport coordinator before I even took off to New York. They assured that I was in good hands the whole time.
I was one of the unfortunate ones and was sick almost the entire duration of my trip, which was just due to the drastic change in diet, and being in a new place. It was never anything too major and I was still able to participate in everything almost the entire time because my program leaders (and one of the airport coordinators at JFK) kept me in great hands. It was good to know that my health was always a priority, and they stuck to it and did whatever they needed to to keep me as healthy as possible the entire trip.
As for on the trip itself, I had two of the best weeks of my entire life. This trip left a major impact on my views of Moroccan and Muslim cultures, and an impact on me as a human being in today's society. We spent about a week in a small village in the High Atlas Mountains called Zaouia Ahansal and worked very hard with The Atlas Cultural Foundation there. Our week in Zaouia was definitely the highlight of my trip. I was slightly shocked on the accommodations we had there, I knew what to expect, and Rustic's website was good at explaining exactly what we would have access to, but it still came as a bit of a shock to me. The closest thing I am able to relate our stay in Zaouia to would be "glamping". The community service we took part in was so much fun. Much more fun than I was expecting. We never worked too hard, but we got things done, and we had fun bonding with our group and the locals while doing it. One thing I did not expect with our service was the amount of breaks we took, and they weren't just stop for 15 seconds for water, they were full on 5-10 minutes, sit down and drink a cup of tea every 30 minutes. Especially during construction, it almost didn't feel productive. It wasn't strenuous work either, I moved a large pile of rocks. each rock weighed only a couple pounds and it was quite easy work. We also helped out with gardening in the community garden, and tutoring kids in the community center with games and activities. In the evenings and free time, we would go back to the guest house and take naps, play games, and hang out with the people of the house.
Zaouia was by far my favorite part of the trip, but I loved the rest also, we went to 3 other cities, Marrakech, Rabat, and Chefchaoen. We spent 3 days in Marrakech wandering the souqs, learning calligraphy, talking with local teenagers, getting henna, and my favorite, eating the food! I am a huge "foodie" and getting to eat a completely different type of cuisine for two whole weeks, I was in heaven. I will say, the souqs are not designed for people with ADHD. I can say from experience. There is so many smells, people walking buy, people asking for money, people trying to get you to buy stuff, motorcycles and scooters (vespas), donkeys and carts, did I mention smells, both good, and bad, you have to keep an eye out for your program leaders, and your group, I had a friend staying in Marrakech at the time, so I would be looking for them occasionally, and I was trying to shop and buy things. There is a reason the souqs are called sensory overload, and it's true.
Rabat was fun, but it was fast and not near as interesting as everywhere else. If vague tours of international governments are your thing, then you'll enjoy this, but me personally, it wasn't my thing.
Finally Chefchaoen. Only the best city on the planet, the blue city. The way they set up the Chefchaoen itineraire was perfect. And my program leaders changed things up a bit and told us to lead and they would point us in the right direction we got lost, some guided us being in charge. kind of. Chefchaoen was definitely towards the top of the best parts of my trip. We ate at some really great restaurants, did some fun activities, and it was a fantastic place to watch the final moroccan sunset with my 13 new best friends.
Overall, I had such an incredible experience in Morocco with Rustic Pathways. This was a trip I will not soon forget.