Wow....is this my life?

My mantra on this trip has been "what is happening ...is this my life right now?" because every moment of this trip has been one unbelievable experience after another.

So, after we arrived in Tatouam, Morocco...we traveled to a gorgeous riad (architectural structure that  has a beautiful open courtyard in the middle of the structure with living areas surrounding the main courtyard. It has an open area all the up the middle of the structure with elaborated adorned bedrooms .  We had a lovely dinner with our colleagues from the university in Tatouam with a magnificent Moroccan spread of food. My experience and encountered with food in both Spain and morocco have changed the way I think about what I eat...how much I eat...and how I eat. The typical breakfast has been toast with tomatoes or olives and honey, jams or olive oil with cafe con leche. It's been fabulous!

And lunch and dinner are quite a remarkable experience...the communal feeling and environment for  meals is exhilarating. And then coffee and tea breaks are not grabbing a quick cup from the local Starbucks but instead it's either freshly ground espresso or a delicious mint tea and we sit and enjoy it along with a break and conversation with one another.

We learned from our meeting that the higher education system in Morocco is free to all students who graduate high school and there is only one exam at the end of the year to pass the class.  There is no system of advising and all students begin college with a specific field and start taking the courses in that chosen field immediately.  Quite different from our US schools.  And undergraduate studies are only 3 years bc there is a focus on general education "core curriculum" during high school.  The level of masters is two year and a doctorate is 3 years of study.

After our meeting and tour, we prepared ourselves for the overnight train ride...but, first we were joined by our  universidad de cordoba colleagues "mi familia" :)

There presence completely brightened everything.  Their free spirit is contagious.

Tales from Our overnight train experience to Marrakech to come....