Trip Home

   I got to Casablanca a day before my flight, so I got a hotel room with shuttle service to the airport. The hotel was nice, and there was a pool, so I went swimming and then went up and had a nap. Then I went for supper and slept till it was time to leave for the plane.

   I arrived in Montreal first. I went through customs in Montreal, and I did not take my luggage through. My luggage was not put on the plane because I forgot it at customs, but they FedExed it to me anyways. In Montreal, I went and got a poutine at the Montreal Canadiens pub. It was a pretty great poutine.

  It was then mostly uneventful till Saskatoon when I learned my luggage did not make the flight. I was not too concerned because I did not leave anything essential in there. Then they said it would be mailed so I had no worries at all.


This is the last of my blog posts for Morocco. Thanks for reading.

Riding a Donkey and Visiting a Mosque

    The interfaith club organized an event were a bunch of us went out to a small co-operative outside of the city. Most of us rode a donkey they had there. I have been told that the donkey must have been tired after because from the pictures it looks like the donkey and I are about the same size.

   They also had a bunch of rugs that we could buy for 300 dirhams (about $30). I bought a nice blue one that I have at home now, and plan to use as a beach blanket. A picture and a short biography of the woman who made it is attached to the blanket as well, which I think is cool.

   After everyone got their donkey ride and bought their rug the people at the co-operative made us tea. It was good tea, and it was really nice of them to make it. After that, we all went back to the university.

   The same group organized a chance for us to visit the mosque at the university. We got to observe during prayer time, and then after we had tea and cookies. After the tea and cookies, we all sat in a circle, and the Imam said a few words. The Imam then answered a few questions that people had about Islam and anything else that was relevant. I really enjoyed this experience, and I am glad I took the opportunity to visit.


These were just a couple of things I did that were just a couple hours, but I thought were worth mentioning.

Thanks for reading,

Stuff at the University

This post will be about the stuff I did while at the University.

My Classes:

• Thermodynamics
• This class is one offered by the engineering department at the Al Akhawayn, and it covers the same material as a physics course I need to take at the U of R. Unfortunately the Al Akhawayn version of the course doesn't have a lab component, so I will have to take the U of R course later anyways.
• The professor of this course taught in Alberta for a while
• Beginning Arabic 1
• This course covers the basics of Arabic like the alphabet and simple phrases.
• I was disappointed in my progress in Arabic, and I think I will have to try harder to learn it next time I have a chance.
• Data Structures
• This is a Compter Science course, and it transfers to my degree as a CS elective.
• It is classified as an elective, but almost all other CS courses have it as a pre-requisite, so it is basically required. 
• The professor of this course taught in the northern mid-west of the USA.
• Engineering Statistics
• This course transfers over as my basic statistics course.
• The professor of this course taught in Quebec, and her son was born when she was in Quebec, so he is Canadian.

Exercise Clubs and Swimming:

• Extreme Sports
• I went to one training with them, and it was fun, but I got busy with the other clubs
• This was probably the most extreme workout I have had up to this point.
• Kick-Boxing
• This was another club I participated in
• It taught the martial art kickboxing and some other martial arts.
• It was also a pretty good workout.
• Quankido
• This was a club I went to once
• It was also martial arts, but I decided to do kickboxing instead.
• Swimming
• This is the activity that took over all the others 
• After awhile I was swimming so much that I stopped going to kickboxing as well because my muscles were sore from swimming.

I lost around 60lbs during my time in Morocco, and the main reason would be these workouts. 

Clubs:

• Computer Science for Innovation
• This was a club dedicated to computers, programming and other stuff like that.
• They also did some unrelated stuff that is also fun.
• I spent the most time with this group
• Mechatronics Club
• This club did a lot of work with engineering stuff, and it was very fun.
• Because of this club, I started learning more about Arduino and such which is a very fun thing to do
• Wikipedia Club
• This is a club that works to create more interest in Wikipedia and to help around the community.
• The people in this club were very fun to be around.

This sums up most of my on campus life. Thanks for reading

Trip to Agadir

    Leo, Katie, Anna, and I had gone on a trip to Agadir before I went to Essaouira. Agadir is a lot like Essaouria, but a little bit bigger and more things to do.

    We took the night bus in, so we arrived in the morning and saw some sights. The one museum had was dedicated to the indigenous people of Morroco, and the other was about an earthquake. We also saw gardens. After that, we went to the beach. The beach was really nice, but it was busy. Then we went and found our hostel.

   At this hostel, there were not as many people as the one at Essaouria, but it was still nice. The next morning the owners of the hostel did make an awesome breakfast for us. There were a couple interesting people at breakfast, and they were nice to talk to.

   After breakfast, we went for a hike to what is called 'Paradise Valley.' There was a place to jump into the water, but I didn't bring my swimsuit, so I didn't jump in. After awhile I was going to jump in with my shorts, but then someone got injured at one of the bottom cliffs. We all wanted to help but thought we would just get in the way since there were already so many people trying to help. We turned back.

   When we got back, we went to this other beach right beside the hostel. The other beach was better just because it was bigger and easier to find a place to sit. This beach was still nice to swim in though. After the beach, we went back to the hostel. Katie ended up making us supper with the cooking stuff that the owners of the hostel have for customers to use.

   The next day Leo, Anna, and I went to the other beach while Katie went surfing. We had lunch at a place which served beer, and that was my first beer in Morocco. When it became to go back to the bus station to leave Katie was not back yet, so we assumed she had just gone straight to the bus station. We then left for the bus station as well, and we met her at the station. That was the end of the Agadir trip.


Thanks for reading.

Trip To Essaouria

    When I arrived at Essaouira I went and checked into my hostel. I then went for a walk along the beach, but I didn't go too far. I had lunch at a restaurant on the beach. There was not many places that served Morrocan food, so that was dissapointing. When I got back to the hostel I went up to the roof and socialized with some of the workers and other people staying there. Staying at the hostel was a few Canadians, Europeans, Morrocans, and people from a few other places. A group of us went out to a local pub nearby, and then I went to bed. 

    The next day I went back to the beach and walked for hours looking for an end to it. I walked for around 2 or 3 hours in one direction and still could see no end, so I concluded that there mustn't be an end to it. I then started back, and when I got back to the hostel I had a nap because I was so tired from the walk. When I woke up I went and socialized a bit, and then we had supper at the hostel.

   The workers at the hostel make a Morrocan supper for 60 dirham ($6) when there is a few new guests. It was a great supper and it was nice to meet all the people staying at the hostel (some were not on the roof before). After this I went up to the roof again for a couple of hours, and then I went to bed.

   On my last day, I went back to the beach and read on my Kindle or slept till I had to leave. After that relaxing trip, I went back to the University for finals.

Sorry for not making these posts sooner. There is at least two left and then that is the end for my Morrocan blog.

Trip to Tangier

   For the second half of my break, I traveled to Tangier with some friends. These friends were Leo, Thomas, Nat, Jessa, Josh, Sam, and Louise. Louise was staying at a different hotel than the rest of us.

   The first night Sam, Thomas, Leo, and I got supper at this fancy place. We had to pay roughly the price you would expect to pay when eating in Canada. It is at least double to what I am used to. Then we joined the rest at the hotel and got settled in.

   The second day we walked around some and saw some things. We saw a bookstore, a museum, and got some ice cream. The bookstore is apparently very famous. It was an excellent bookstore and had some books in English. It also had books in many other languages as well.

    We went to the beach and Hercules cave one day. The beach was very nice, and of course, I went swimming. After swimming, I stood in the wind reading my book until I dried off because I did not bring a towel. The cave was cool. It was dark in places, but there were lights built into the cave in most places. I found the cave to be very touristy, so it was not as cool as it could be.

   The next day we left to go back to the university. Leo, Thomas, Nat, and I went to Fes to meet a taxi, and the others went to Meknes for a bit. Those of us who went to Fes took the luggage of the others. When the others got back, we took them their luggage.

That was my spring break.

Trip to Dahkla

    To get to Dakhla, the group took a plane from Casablanca. To get to Casablanca, I took a bus and then a train to the airport. My friend Leo, who has actually planned and booked hotels for most of the place I have been, gave me some rough directions to how to get to the train station from the bus station. The directions were completely wrong, and after a while, of following them, I decided to start asking random people where the train station was. When I arrived at the station, I phoned Leo, and he was happy that I found my way because he realized he gave me the wrong directions. Leo is very nice, and he would have felt bad if I did not get to the train station.

   At the airport, there was trouble with some of our bookings. We had to wait for an extra half hour-ish before we got our tickets.

   We then got on the plane to Dakhla. When we arrived, we checked into the hotel and got settled. Then most people went to sleep to get ready for the next day.

  On the second day, we took a bunch of SUVs to a place located quite a ways from the hotel. It was a beautiful beach. It was part of a lagoon so the water was very calm and it did not get very deep fast. It was a very nice place to go swimming. Some people went over to a big white dune. Myself and others did not get to see it close up because we spent too much time swimming. I was fine with that because I really like swimming. Some of us got a water massage from hot spring water. The massage was fun. Everyone then went to get some stuff to eat. The was fish, oysters, and other seafood. My roommate for the trip, Caleb, got a really bad sunburn that day.

   The next day we did lots of interesting stuff. We got a fish pedicure. A fish pedicure is when you stick your feet in a pond and fish nibble at them to get the crap off your feet. We had to go to the middle of the desert get this. Our drivers made us southern tea to try before we left to the next activity. The tea was much more to my liking than the tea made in the north, because it was a lot stronger tasting. 

   The next activity was the ostrich farm. The was a bunch of ostriches, and they would bite fingers when fingers were close enough. It felt really weird when they bit them. The mouth would scrape against the finger as they tried to swallow it. I thought it felt really cool. 

   We also went to a different beach. This beach was a lot more volatile, and it was windy that day. I went swimming for a bit, but most people did not. For lunch, we went to this subpar place to eat. I ordered a pizza that had almost no cheese, and it took forever to come out. I would not recommend it (the restaurant). 

  Caleb left the following morning to go to London.

  We spent the last day at a nice resort relaxing. There was some swimming. The tide had to come in before to go swimming. It took about two hours for it to come in and then it was good for swimming. I went swimming with a couple of people (Mika and Katherin). Katherin has been to Brasil too, so I got to talk to her about that.

The next morning we left to go back to Casablanca.

    I went to Ifrane and had supper with Leo and Thomas. Thomas is a French guy who has been on most trips with me. They had been on the university campus while I was at Dahkla. I spent the second part of my break with them and others in Tangier. My next post will be about Tangier.