Going to class in Morocco

Funny how broadening your horizons can actually help you focus.

A semester in Morocco with the study abroad program awakened Liliane Spenlé to a world of possibilities beyond college and even helped her focus on a career path. However, it was her decision to attend Washington University in St. Louis that paved the way to her study abroad experience. Eager to move beyond her hometown of Atlanta, she found that the University offered the diverse student population she was looking for and Arts & Sciences offered a “huge variety of options” to someone undecided about a major.

Majoring in Arabic and French, Liliane saw the study abroad opportunity in Morocco as a way to put both to good use. She admits, with so many dialects spoken in Morocco, there were occasions when she relied more on improvisation than the spoken word. In fact, Liliane now counts the ability to surmount language barriers as yet another skill she acquired.

Over the course of her semester abroad, Liliane came to terms with the fact that Morocco has multiple personalities. In fact, upon arrival, her first impression was one of baffling contradictions. Why were half the women wearing tank tops and high heels, while the other half dressed modestly and wore scarves? Why didn’t Moroccans perceive democracy with a monarch as an oxymoron?

She witnessed the Morocco staged purely for tourists, including the quaint medina, the snake charmers and belly dancers of Marrakesh, and the desert camel rides. She strolled the ville nouvelle, which is as modern as many European cities. She visited mountain villages so primitive and remote that many Moroccans are unaware of them—villages where sheep herding and carpet weaving are a way of life, and where indoor plumbing is not.

As time passed, Liliane came to appreciate the true beauty of Morocco. There, clementines are blissfully sweet and 50 cents a kilo; shop owners greet you by name as you pass by; fasting gives you a new appreciation for life; and people are helpful, not just because they want money or a green card, but because they feel genuinely compelled to help.

She grew to respect the increasing number of successful, empowered businesswomen; nongovernmental organizations; radical newspapers; intellectuals; and the king – all of whom are working to improve the country’s negatives.

Looking back, Liliane says Morocco left her feeling empowered. If so much can be accomplished there despite such limitations, she can only imagine what could be done with all the resources available in the United States.