In 788, about a century after the Arab conquest of North Africa, successive Moorish dynasties began to rule in Morocco. In the 16th century, the Sa'adi monarchy, particularly under Ahmad AL-MANSUR (1578-1603), repelled foreign invaders and inaugurated a golden age. In 1860, Spain occupied northern Morocco and ushered in a half century of trade rivalry among European powers that saw Morocco's sovereignty steadily eroded; in 1912, the French imposed a protectorate over the country. A protracted independence struggle with France ended successfully in 1956. The internationalized city of Tangier and most Spanish possessions were turned over to the new country that same year. Morocco virtually annexed Western Sahara during the late 1970s, but final resolution on the status of the territory remains unresolved. Gradual political reforms in the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a bicameral legislature in 1997. Parliamentary elections were held for the second time in September 2002 and municipal elections were held in September 2003. 
The trip got off to a great start. Saturday, my dad and I drove to New York for a 8:00 flight out of JFK. It was a nice weather for the drive and I made the bad idea of sleeping for most of it. I got to JFK with plenty of time. As I went through the check point and waved goodbye to my dad I had a strange feeling. On one hand I knew that there was no turning back now. I had my ticket, my bags were on the plane and in a matter of hours I would be in Morocco. At the same time, the idea of spending six weeks in North Africa really hit me. It is funny to look back on it now because the beginning of a voyage seems so oblivious to the thousands of new experiences you have in those first few days. In a lot of ways, I feel like a different person then the guy that walked that boarded those 
Anyway, Royal Air Maroc took off no problem. I sat next to a fascinating man from Mali who teaches elementary school French in Louisiana. I feel asleep almost immediately after the plane took off and the next 20 minutes were my only shut-eye during the flight. For the rest of the flight, I read a magazine, ate dinner, and watched the movie (Frost/ Nixon, not bad). The food on Royal Air Maroc was pretty good (lasagna, salad, bread, tomatoes and mozzarella) and all the announcements were in Arabic, French, and English. After the movie, I watched a few minutes of sunrise of the Atlantic. Through that small window on the plane you really get a sense of the vastness of the globe with a spectrum of color just starting to creep of the curve of the horizon. When we landed in Rabat, it was something like 7 am local time and 2 am for my body's clock. Those late nights finally payed off because I maid it until the bus ride before passing out. The ride from Casablanca (where we flew 
Where is my fish?
Some child's project from English class. I only feel titled to post this because my French was probably worse when I arrivedinto) to Rabat was through rural, underdeveloped country that I found interesting for about 15 minutes before exhaustion hit. When we arrived in Rabat we had orientation and food. The room we were in had some amusing english exercises from the local kids. 
After orientation, we were assigned families. I was paired with Roger Connaroe and we were the first to get picked up. Our host, Amine, is the man. He speaks English very well and while he practices English, Roger and I practice French. Amine is a newly-wed and his wife, Fatima Ezzarah, is great too. Fatima's sister, Imane also lives with us. On Sunday they took us to the beach for a walk around this old fortress (L'Oudaya) that has a great view of the ocean. It was fun to immediately get out and see Rabat and we returned to have dinner around 9:30 and then pass out a few minutes after. As the pictures show, the first day was really busy, but it only got better from there.