While moving back into Wellesley for the fall semester, I was looking through my notebooks and realized that in the rush of the end of last semester, I forgot to type up and post my last few entries! This was from May 11, 2025.
The bougainvillea is fading. Bright purple bougainvillea used to spill out over walls all over the city, and there was a giant red and orange one curled over a trellis in the garden. Now few blooms are left, but the trellises are much thicker with plants. The green is incredible, walking through the garden feels like a little wonderland in the city.
Last weekend I took a train down to Bouznika, a small beach town about half an hour south of Rabat. I went with the people in my program and two masters students who sit in on our classes and help with Arabic conversation. Bouzinka is a resort town in many ways, there is a big fancy hotel and a mile long beach with white sands and blue waters, lined with various cottages. We swam in giant waves and played soccer on the beach.
Before coming to Morocco, I had no idea how massively diverse the ecosystems here are. For my final project, I’ve been working on capturing a slice of this through small paintings. I am certainly not an accomplished artist, but I’ve made at least a few paintings that I think reflect a little bit of how colorful and vibrant the natural world in Morocco is. Before coming, I envisioned it as one large desert, not knowing how much more I would come to discover when I came here.
I leave at the end of this week, and I do not know quite how to feel. Part of me is excited to see family and friends, and to be in a place where I am not constantly questioning myself. It is difficult to live in a culture where you are not quite sure what is appropriate, but over the past four months I’ve grown more and more comfortable here, and come to love my life here. Rabat feels familiar and home-like, and I love the people I live with and go to school with. I love the noises of the city, and riding in taxis while the drivers yell insults at other taxis. I love walking in the medina and eating food in beautiful places, and talking to strangers on the tram. It took time to become fully at ease here, to adjust, and I am sad to leave after developing such a connection to this place.
A full season has passed since I arrived. When I first came to Rabat, the skies were grey much more often, the evenings almost chilly, and the plants just beginning to bloom. Now things are settling into the hot rhythm of summer, with dark green replacing pale new growth. There are so many things I know I will miss, from the cats outside my home to surfing with friends, but for now I have one more week to appreciate it all.