Postcards from abroad: Erik Jensen '15

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Dear Campus Journal,

So I’ve been in Rabat for the past two weeks and am absolutely loving my time here!I’m taking classes through a program called AMIDEAST with about 27 other American students. My host mom has promised to teach me how to cook delicious Moroccan food like chicken tagine and harira. The dad loves giving me lectures about history entirely in Arabic. He doesn’t speak any English, which has been great for language learning! He also loves Andalusian music, particularly when mashed-up with Western jazz!

So far I’ve gotten to explore Rabat, and also spent the weekend in Fes. Rabat is the political capital, and is a much newer city. However, it still has a very chaotic medina (old city ) that’s fun to explore. It’s also got fantastic pastries and mint tea. Fes has a huge medina and the streets are so narrow that cars can’t get in. The architecture is a mix of mosaic, stucco and wood-carving that manages to be lavish without feeling gaudy. Each medina has entrances called babs (doors), which are huge and often elaborately decorated. I’ve also visited Volubilis, which is composed of 2,000 year-old Roman ruins. Basically, I’m having a great time, even if I miss Swat a ton!

Love,

Sara

Erik Jensen

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