Midterms week!

Tuesday
So it's another rainy day and I still haven't gotten sick of it. Unfortunately I have gotten a little tired of the long days we've had. Yesterday we started at 8:30 and only had a break for lunch, then had class and went to the Human Rights Coucil, which sounds cool and looks very fancy; however they are definitely politicians because I walked out with barely any more knowledge about human rights in Morocco and what they are doing than when I walked in. Luckily I got more out of my health class. I actually loved it, which was a huge shock. We had a choice between religion, art and lit, and health and I surprisingly chose health. The religion class is pretty big and is centered around women's issues and I just took a course on that. Art and lit sounds cool, but didn't appeal to me too much. The health class is nice and small and has some really great people in it, in addition to having a really nice professor who always thanks us at the end of each lecture. I was kind of concerned about how interesting it would be, but I thought it was awesome. It was all about public health and global public health. Today's class was pretty good too. It was all about the argan trees and argan oil here. Arabic today was hilarious. I tried to explain to Fatiha (my prof) about skydiving. She couldn't believe that I've done it, so I drew a nice picture for her. And she poked a hole in my parachute and started laughing nervously as she said "but what if this happened??" It was so funny! Despite the fact that I didn't have very much time, I actually got a lot done today. I started to get kind of anxious during my class because I had a laundry list of things to do, and to be honest I still have a couple short papers to write for Friday, but I'm planning on writing one early tomorrow morning, another tomorrow after class and the third tomorrow night. It's my friend Jena's birthday on Thursday so I want to have everything done ahead of time so we can celebrate. Oh and I got an email from my professor about volunteering and I've been invited to a presentation on Friday at the women's center. She said that I can get a tour of the facilities and meet everyone there. Luckily she'll be there too so I think I'll feel a little more comfortable. She reminds me a lot of my high school French teacher, Mme Elvidge, which is awesome. I'm starting to get a little homesick and I think I'm getting a little bit of either cabin fever or just frustration with communication so I know I need to go running soon. It's been so rainy and chilly (not cold, I'll save that word for Vermont. lol) that I haven't been able to go, but I think I'm going to get some leggings and suck it up. I gotta exercise or I'm gonna go nuts.

Thursday
Today was much better. Yesterday I was still going a little crazy with the list of things I needed to do/did. I actually got off Skype and left the library fully intending on coming back to the house and just curling up in a ball and crying. But my friend Chandra didn't want to go home (again) so came over. We ended up talking for like 2 hours until we both realized we had papers and homework to take care of. It was the best though because I felt less crazy that other people are feeling the same way I do. It's getting really difficult because I feel like the less I talk to people, the less I know what to say when I get the chance and they ask me what I've been up to. I miss home and I miss doing all of the fun things that go along with fall, but I honestly love what I'm doing here. It's driving me crazy. Anyway, today was much better. I slept in a little bit, then got some of my arabic done. After class I went for a run, which was soooooo nice. I ran by the beach and just felt the feeling of the salty wind on my face. It was a gorgeous day, and it felt so good to just get out there. I got back and had lunch, then I went on another trip with my class (the 4th one this week! 1 to the human rights place, then to the amazigh-bereber language cultural center, the aids prevention center) to the poison control center. It was kind of interesting but ultimately too long. However it did have some severely hilarious lost-in-translation statements. For example: to prevent scorpion bites it is important to "Rearranging riddance" aka get rid of your trash. Also if you inhale carbon monoxide you will clearly "see your ancestors... very quickly" and "calming the victim and his entourage" is very important when someone has been stung by a scorpion. It was good that we found these things funny because otherwise it would have been pretty boring. After class I spent some time at the center, then I went out for pizza hut with like ten of my friends and caused quite the scene for Jena's birthday. It was so much fun! Then when I got back to the house I found out that there are 3 girls from the US who are studying in Madrid, but are visiting Rabat and staying with my family until Sunday. They seem pretty nice, but it made me realize how used to life here I am. I had a nice conversation with them, but I realized how close I've gotten with my host sister here and how weird everything seemed (like eating with your hands for everything) when you first get here. But I still have a paper to finish so I'm going to go do that. I'm nervous to meet the people at the association I'm going to volunteer at tomorrow. luckily I brought some business professional clothes with me, but i don't even know how nice it should be. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I'm just nervous. Luckily we don't have class tomorrow afternoon. I'm excited for the weekend just to take it easy, explore Rabat, do a little shopping and study like crazy for our arabic exam on monday.