Marrakech

We were going to Marrakech with the SIT group (the other students at the center we study at), and we all met at 7:30 to get on the bus. When we get out there we see two charter buses and then an 18 person van. We expect one of the other groups to get on the small bus because we were having the longer trip, but no, the 14 of us, plus our coordinator, plus our driver pile into the bus. We were to know it well during the next 8 days. Let me tell you, it was not the most comfortable ride I've had.
Our first stop was Marrakech, one of the so called imperial cities because it was founded as the seat of one of Morocco's monarchies. Marrakech has a reputation for being the place to go in Morocco and there are lots and lots and lots and lots of tourists. I think it's that reason that I didn't like it. There is a beautiful plaza outside the medina that has restaurants, storytellers, snake charmers, tamed monkeys, and henna artists. At night it becomes a huge crowd of people, and although it's easy to assume they're mostly tourists, the storytellers are speaking in Arabic, and entice mostly Arabic men. We also went to an old medresa, which were the dorms for those who studied at the Quranic school. It was a beautiful building, but the rooms were small and those that did not have light must have been quite dark and cramped for those students back in the day. The museum was ok, but nothing special, although there was an exhibition of paintings of Berbers that was quite nice. That night we went to a night club which was fun, but expensive. Overall, I felt like I was seen more as a dollar sign than as a person by most of the people in Marrakech, although I did meet some nice guys, including a guy who did amazing calligraphy.