Downtwon Ifrane, Arab Exam, & Musicians!

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Yesterday's schedule was a bit more relaxed. We international students got extra free time, so I got to explore campus
a bit more w/ some new friends. I got a kick out of the campus convenience store where they had American products like cereal written out in Arabic! After orientation was done for the day, me, my friend Danni, & her roomate (who is
Moroccan & very nice) decuded to go downtown to the marche (pronounced 'mar-shay') for dinner & to get a few odds & ends in the shops. Her roomate called a cab so we wouldn't have to walk. I was totally excited about this because I had never ridden in a taxi before- even in Philly or NYC. Our driver dropped us off in front of the marche, which is a big
indoor/outdoor market selling all sorts of stuff like meat, fruit, toiletries, cell phones, etc. Since it was night time there wasn't many females around. That being said, the 3 of us (me, my friend Danni, & her roomate) attracted a lot of male attention. Kinda creepy, but we learned at orientation to keep our distance from them & we won't have any problems. Danni's roomate had to leave early, so we had to hail a cab home all by ourselves. I'm proud to say it was very successful!
Early this morning I took my Arabic placement exam. To sum it up: it. was. hard. The test was in the format I'm used
to at Scranton; paragraphs followed by questions about said paragraph, as well as a few essays. The last one was very difficult; so much so that I didn't have time to finish 😞 The speaking part, which I had later on in
the afternoon, wasn't THAT bad. I think I did okay. Hopefully I scored enough points to be allowed into the intermediate Arabic class. Otherwise, I'll have to go to the beginning classes, & that's not good!
Duing our mid-morning/afternoon lecture, I learned that while dressing for classes, apparently students here like to dress up a little (Which is aparent when walking around campus; people dressed in designers like Dolce & Gabana & Burberry are the norm). That being said, wearing pajamas to class or anything that looks like pajamas is a big no-no. I find that so odd because at Scranton we do that all the time, & seeing as I have an 8am class MWF, it will be a a little challenege. I realize that
I'm going to have to be a little fashion conscious when picking out my outfits every day, but if the reason why wearing sweatpants & a hoodie to class is frowned upon is because the students think its strange, then I'm not sure I'd actually
wear a dress every day. I'm not here to walk in a fashion show; I'm here to learn
Arabic. Thoughts on this?
Also, tonight at dinner, AUI invited berber musicians to play music. It was really,
really cool. Everyone got up and danced (except me because I'm too shy haha). I'll
try & upload pictures & videos to my facebook page, but the connection here is
really slow. Until next time!

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