On March 8th, 2007, four Arabic students, one business student, and two faculty members set out for a 10 day trip to Morocco. On this trip, they...we...experienced a wide array of tourist-driven activities hallmark to a Spring Break trip. Among these activities were shopping in Morocco's famous souks (markets), camel and donkey rides, and countless days lounging along the Mediterranean coast of Africa.
However, some of the most memorable moments were not those openly available in any common Spring Break destination, but rather the more authentic, personal events that had taken place. Among these events were both subjective and objective experiences, ranging from mere observation (Old vs. New; Modernity), to physical struggle (Canyon-Imswan). In a similar manner, it was not the shopping and sight-seeing that played the most influential of moments, but rather the time spent forming friendships and connections with individuals from this foreign land.
With hundreds of pictures taken, cropped, and resized; the 40 or so images outlined here are perhaps some of the most personally notable from our many journeys. As there is truly no way of forwarding the atmosphere of Morocco on to others by text nor image, the aim of the following short photo essays are instead geared towards motivating others to seek out experiences similar to these themselves. If nothing else, the smaller, implied details in many of the images are aimed to open up the awareness of human condition in other areas of life -- such as the hike to Imswan -- something many locals travel almost daily; or the Berber children in their school, learning of a world few will see. It's this that leaves the lasting impression from the trip, and thus the object of sharing our experience.
--Jared Hopkins