Class, Class and More Class!

Map of Northern Africa

I just finished (almost) my first full week of classes. My first class is my arabic class, which I have every day. I am really enjoying learning arabic but right now we are learning the script and I feel that the class is moving very slowly. I am picking up rather fast and the more time we spend on the alphabet, the less time we spend learning how to speak (which is what I need right now to communicate with my family!!) But we had our first quiz yesterday and I got a 100% so at least I am doing well! I really like learning arabic and am hoping to like it enough by the end to maybe take it back at Tulane in the spring. My second class is called "North African Politics". In this class we are studying the political regimes and history of the "Maghrib" (northern africa) which consists of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. So far we have looked at Morocco and Algeria and it is interesting to learn about how different their political systems are and the differences in their political histories due to their differences in colonization. Algeria was colonized in 1830 by the French and did not gain independence until 1962, whereas Morocco resisted and was only colonized from 1912-1956 (therefore they are much less influenced by the French). I find it really interesting to study this area because it is so relevant to me right now. While I am spending my semester solely in Morocco, I was able to see Algeria from one spot in the Sahara and knowing how close we are makes it all the more relevant to me. My professor seems like an amazing guy who has worked everywhere (so it seems) including D.C. He seems to know very author that wrote articles in our "textbook". I have already learned so much from this class and am excited about taking it. My next class is called "Contemporary History of North Africa" which so far, has been very similar to my politics class (since so far we have just covered basic history in politics). I have only had one history class so I cannot make any real comments yet but I will keep you posted! My last class is called "Gender and Society in North Africa and Beyond". Today was my first class and it was great. My professor is a Moroccan native who earned her Ph.D from Surrey University in the UK. She is involved in many women and gender organizations nationally and internationally. Today we talked about the differences between tradition and religion when it comes to Women here in Morocco as well as abroad. We discussed the differences between gender roles in America versus in Morocco as well as how globalization and modernity affects gender. This class also seems like it is going to be extremely fascinating. As with all of my classes, we have a 10-15 page research paper to do throughout the semester. For this class we get to choose our own topic and I am thinking I will write about the differences in the way women dress and the religious reasoning behind Muslim women dressing the way they do with their headscarves and jellabas. All of my classes seem great but they all required a lot of work. I have a ton of reading, a 10-15 page research paper, a midterm and a final exam for each class. We also each are assigned a week in which we present on the assigned readings. Every class seems to follow this same format. Some classes (such as my gender class) also have field trips planned.

Tomorrow I am heading to Tangier (which is about 4.5 hours away from Rabat) for the weekend with some people on my program. We are leaving right after Arabic tomorrow morning and coming back Sunday. I will update then!