New Environments to Be

Living in Morocco for a month is completely different than living in America. The biggest difference I’ve seen is the amount of conservativeness in the country for women. I live in Agadir which is a main city for tourists so thankfully I got lucky being around other foreigners as well. I cover up in clothing as much as I can to be more comfortable, the men are known for harassing if too much skin is showing. It’s frowned upon for Moroccans to drink out in public and typically the majority do not go to nightclubs because Morocco is an islamic-based country. I can tell I’m in a new community just in contrast to Tallahassee and Miami, which are known for partying. Although I just described how conservative Morocco is, I was able to go out to this one bar near the beach called Blue Note. It was the only place I would go out to, I went about twice, its a bar with all different kinds of live music. Being in Morocco as a Carribean black woman has made it more evident to me the freedom I have, it was two completely opposite cultures for me. Something I noticed while out of the country was the community they have, everyone is very welcoming and it reminds me of back home in the Dominican Republic. In the United States I see that there is a lack of unity in the neighborhood and a lot of people are sheltered from each other. People typically reject friendliness in the U.S. as opposed to how friendly Moroccan people are. Even as a tourist, while I was present during Eid I got invited to celebrate with the family of a woman I barely knew but was a part of the Connect staff. Eid al-Adha is a special celebration to be done with family so it was very heartwarming to get invited to this kind of event. When it came to the people and the genuineness behind all the acts, it all felt very real in comparison to what I’m used to in the United States.