Hello from Casablanca, Morocco!

I'm in Africa! How exciting! Today was spent rather low key. My day started with attending a lecture about mental health issues in Morocco. It was very interesting. I learned a lot, and enjoyed what the speaker had to say for the most part. I really liked the guy until he made a comment about how eating disorders are not a priority to treat because they have patients with psychosis, and that "five extra kilos isn't the end of the world." While yes, it is extremely important to treat violent patients suffering from psychosis, I do not think it is ok to write patients suffering from eating disorders off as being trivial. EDs have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. I'm trying to live by my new philosophy though, of trying to understand other people's points of view before making judgements.

 

A few friends and I went into town to find some wifi. I got to call my parents, which was nice, and I also got to talk to my favorite boss, Erin Halley! I discovered two different very exciting events today, neither of which I can disclose, but my day was definitely made 1000x better. We walked around near the port for a little bit. This port is much more complicated because Casablanca does not have a cruise terminal, so we are in the commerical port surrounded by construction and cargo. After a short excusion, we headed back to the ship for dinner and a game of Phase 10.

 

Tomorrow I am going to the souq (the bazaar) with Staci and Deb, which I am very excited about. I think it will be a fun day. The bazaar in Casablanca is very small compared to the one in Marrakech, but it will suffice for now.

 

Wednesday I am supposed to go on a half-day field program trip to Rabat, the capital city, but I think I might go to Marrakech instead. I feel bad that I paid for the ticket and I'm not using it, but I'd have more fun with my friends in Marrakech than with a most likely random group of people in Rabat for a few hours. I'll put it in the donation box so somebody can go for free.

 

I'm exhausted. We gained another hour last night (making that 3 in the past 4 days), so while it is very nice in the mornings, I get tired very early, and it is already almost 11. It is time for this girl to go to bed.

 

Good night, Casablanca. Good night, Morocco. Good night, Africa. Good night, World.