Rabat to Ouarzazate

salamu aalayum!
so i finally have some free time to write,
i have made it to morocco safely :)
we were in a swanky hotel in rabat for a few days doing all the administrative things...and a bit of sightseeing
being here still feels extremely surreal...especially hearing the call to prayer while in the crowded rabat media.
a group of us also visited the casbah in rabat. it was the absolute best thing i did in rabat. after bypassing so,e protesteors on the main avenue, we made it to the casbah sa the sun had just set. from one point in the casbah we could look over the atlantic ocean at the last faint glow of the sun. it was beautiful, to say the least.
After a 9 hr bus ride through the high atlas mountains, we now find ourselves in ouarzazate.
ouarzazate is a small desert city with very dry warm weather. though a bit more conservative (in appearance) than rabat, it is still quite a modern place. they have a couple film studios here...apparently the sheltering sky and many other films have been filmed here. the people are all very kind. today we had an arabic lesson in which we had to go out in town and approach stranger to engagein conversaton with them. I met a great group of university students who were kind andinterested in americans (and mexicans)
as a side note, many people here have told me thqt i look moroccan, so many try to speak to me in darija(moroccan arabic)
i havent yet tried too much moroccan food except some great veggies prepared in a more moroccan way...and lost of yummy olives!
im heading to my first homestay next week, but i will try to write again before then.
bslama!


*i apologize for all the grammatical errors, but the keyboard here is still very new to me.