Al Akhawayn University has around twelve-hundred students and is situated on a beautiful campus. It reflects the European feel of Ifrane although it also has a striking mosque right in the center of campus. They are very interested in international education and have a great academic reputation, which drew me to them in the first place first as a potential partner for Champlain’s Global Modules project. In addition, even though the main languages spoken in Morocco are Arabic and French, the language of instruction at the university is English – which is another reason why they are such a good fit. The first person I ran into on campus, Bouziane, actually ran a Global Module on women’s issues with my friend Bob Mayer and it was a tremendous success. Over the last year we talked repeatedly about ways that our two universities could work together and I finally decided that it would be best to come here for more serious discussions, and I think I’ve made a great choice. The professors and administration has been very supportive. This should also be a place that we consider for study abroad opportunities.
In addition, they’ve treated me wonderfully well. They’ve put me up in a faculty residence hall, which is the same as a nice one bedroom apartment in the US – including a television and cable. It’s an interesting mixture of French, Moroccan and American programming – although the Simpsons is in French. They’ll show American movies in English with Arabic subtitles and leave in the cursing which would have been cut out of the same movies on regular American TV, which seems a little odd. Al Akhawayn also gave me a swipe card so I get free meals at the cafeteria, café and anything I need at the bookstore. They even bought me some Al Akhawayn shirts, which helps to make up for my still missing clothes.
I’ve walked down to the town of Ifrane itself a couple times, which is only about fifteen minutes down the road. Ifrane was built by the French as a pseudo-European village in the mountains. There’s a nice new section complete with fountains, restaurants and hotels, which was crowded on Friday night with families (which is pretty typical in the Islamic world). I bought a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream and just sat around and watched the crowd, which felt completely comfortable and welcoming. The next day I was able to make it to an older part of town called the mouche and buy some underwear and socks and swim trunks – my luggage has yet to show up despite the best efforts of the dean’s administrative assistant who has been calling the airport daily. Tonight I worked out at the school’s fitness center in my endless quest for some place to work out. The university also has an Olympic size indoor pool, but it won’t be open until Monday. By the way, it’s move in time for the first year students here at Al Akhawayn, which seems to be the tour I’m on right now after seeing them move in at Skovde and I’ll return to Champlain just in time to see it there as well.
In addition, they’ve treated me wonderfully well. They’ve put me up in a faculty residence hall, which is the same as a nice one bedroom apartment in the US – including a television and cable. It’s an interesting mixture of French, Moroccan and American programming – although the Simpsons is in French. They’ll show American movies in English with Arabic subtitles and leave in the cursing which would have been cut out of the same movies on regular American TV, which seems a little odd. Al Akhawayn also gave me a swipe card so I get free meals at the cafeteria, café and anything I need at the bookstore. They even bought me some Al Akhawayn shirts, which helps to make up for my still missing clothes.
I’ve walked down to the town of Ifrane itself a couple times, which is only about fifteen minutes down the road. Ifrane was built by the French as a pseudo-European village in the mountains. There’s a nice new section complete with fountains, restaurants and hotels, which was crowded on Friday night with families (which is pretty typical in the Islamic world). I bought a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream and just sat around and watched the crowd, which felt completely comfortable and welcoming. The next day I was able to make it to an older part of town called the mouche and buy some underwear and socks and swim trunks – my luggage has yet to show up despite the best efforts of the dean’s administrative assistant who has been calling the airport daily. Tonight I worked out at the school’s fitness center in my endless quest for some place to work out. The university also has an Olympic size indoor pool, but it won’t be open until Monday. By the way, it’s move in time for the first year students here at Al Akhawayn, which seems to be the tour I’m on right now after seeing them move in at Skovde and I’ll return to Champlain just in time to see it there as well.
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