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Student Reports: Fez
Merryn:
She wanted to cover the basics of Arabic before reading it at University. Having spoken to CESA she went on a 3 week course to Fez.
"I expected Arabic to be very tricky to learn, because at first appearances the alphabet is very daunting as each letter takes up to 4 different forms. And I also expected to have difficulty with the phonetics, because they are so different to those of English. I wasn't sure what to expect of Morocco, but I was very excited to go as it is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time.
My expectations were far exceeded. I had a truly wonderful time. Linguistically the very basics of Arabic (ie the alphabet and the sounds of the words) although challenging were easier than I had imagined. As for Morocco, I only wish I could have stayed longer.
The class I was in there only had 3 students, which was really good because if any of us got stuck on a particular thing we could take the time to go over it. I had 2 really great teachers, who's different styles were complimentary. I am aware that my 3 week course covered simple ideas and that the grammar of the next course would be very hard.
The school building is beautiful and it is so great to have the kiosk in the garden to get mint tea from, and talk to the other students. The teachers were lovely, their classrooms (in late January) utterly freezing and we were all scared of the gas heaters!
There weren't any terrible parts of my language course, which was only short; unlike people doing higher courses we weren't given much homework. So the course on the whole was fun and interesting.
I got on well with the other 2 students in my class and I know this sounds a cliché but there were so many interesting people doing courses at the school and meeting them was probably the best thing about it The balance between free time and class time was good for me and the staff are so helpful with things you can do in Morocco and put on some fabulous traditional music in the evening, in the medina)
Fez was wicked, but you need to be there for at least three weeks or you would never get beyond feeling disorientated. And there's so much to try and see. It's really cheap, you can eat for under £2.00 a day -- everything is cheap. The families are exceptionally generous and welcoming -- the most hospitable I've met. The men on the street are awful: constant comments, rarely went out by myself from convenience but I didn't feel too threatened.
Night life in Fez is tricky because the only bars are in Hotels and they tend to be filled with non Moroccan men. But I spent some brilliant evenings with families in the medina (all Moroccans love to dance and will make any visitor do so too). And I met some really beautiful people, but the Medina really was the best, especially if you can meet a family who lives there, as they'll take care of you.
I stayed in the college residence which was very nice and close to the school. I had my own room and got on really well with most people living there.
Everything was sorted out well in advance and it was really easy to book on to the course and arrange accommodation etc.
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who was interested in getting away from a typical Western society and seeing a different and wonderful culture in Morocco. The most memorable thing about the trip was definitely the people I met."
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