My Academic Feast

So classes started here at AUI on Tuesday, and after paperwork and switching classes I can honestly say that I have the perfect schedule, both time and class wise.

Now of course keep in mind that I've only had 3 days of class, so there is still time for a class or two to bomb...but for right now, it looks like it's going to be a semester-long academic feast!

First off, I'm taking International Law, which was an unintended but welcome surprise and is fabulous. My professor is an Armenian Christian who fled Turkey, lived in the Sudan, and I think became an American citizen later on, but now teaches here! And its a great class, partly because I'm really excited about international law and find it fascinating, but also because all of the examples he (and my peers) bring in are Middle Eastern. The first day there were so many references to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Lebanon and Syria, internal Mideast politics, the consequences of colonialism in Africa, the genocide in the Sudan, etc. It was so great! I feel like after this semester I might be able to say I'm a Middle Eastern Perspectives major with a bit more confidence and oomph!

And of course the same is true in my other classes. My Women and Economic Development class is taught by a man who worked at an NGO advocating for women's health rights in London for years, and is making a whole section of the class focused on women in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region which is just awesome.

Middle East Politics is hardcore. The extended reading list is 5 pages long, although I was happy to see that my education has been such thus far that I at least recognized a lot of the titles and or authors as important ones for my field, so that was encouraging. But I'm definitely going to have to do some hard work to keep up. This class as well as two others are combined undergrad/graduate courses as well, and though I've had this at Valpo and its never been a big deal...at the same time when you're studying international relations in the part of the world where the other students grew up, there's a little catch up required.

History of the Middle East and North Africa in the 20th Century...longest class title EVER...is good, taught by one of those true academics who totally gets caught up in the theories and ideas that shape society. He spent the first class talking about the thoery of dialectics, dependency theory, and the way in which history is taught and written. But it should be cool, he has some interesting ideas and he's putting together a course packet that again has pieces of some of the great books on the Middle East and North Africa that I know I should read but haven't had the chance to yet. So that's pretty cool. :-)

And then there's Arabic, which just happened to work out perfectly (amazingly enough, I think the big guy upstairs probably had something to do with that). My placement test did not go well as I mentioned in a previous post, but I got to the class and found that I'd completed beyond where they where going to study for the semester and so moved up a level. But got to keep the same teacher who is very dynamic and great. Intent upon helping her students learn Arabic, but also willing to repeat and make sure you understand which is awesome. (Knock on wood) I might actually enjoy learning Arabic at least a little this semester!

Basically my classes are like an academic feast for my international relations focused brain. I get to take some great classes at VU, but there are just so many classes that simply aren't offered. This way I get to take some great classes in the region that I'm studying and all the courses still transfer back! How awesome is that.

Of course, I can't lie it's also great that none of my classes start till 11 and I have no classes on Friday. B-E-A-utiful. :-)

So now that you're all extremely jealous, I thought that I'd tell you a little about the place that I am studying at for the semester. Consider it you're little Moroccan lesson for the week.

Al Akhawayn University was started in 1995 after the King of Saudi Arabia pledged millions of dollars to clean up an oil spill that was supposed to be a huge environmental disaster...but wasn't. So, the Moroccan government had all of this money and of course once someone hands you like 50 million dollars you're not gonna give it back, right? Previous to this, King Hassan II (the former king of Morocco) had long wanted to establish an American university of Morocco (similiar to the American universities in Cairo, Beirut, Paris, etc) but had never had the funds. And so suddenly with all of these funds it seemed like the perfect time to build such an institution.

But as the discussions began, the planners realized that the Moroccan educational system was in crisis and what was really needed was an integrally Moroccan institution that could stand as an example and sort of a test case for the future of Moroccan education. And so with the funds from Saudi and money from the government, they created Al Akhawayn, which means "two brothers" in Arabic symbolizing the two monetary creators' friendship. But that's as far as the Saudi influence goes.

Al Akhwayn is located in a resort town, sort of artificially built as an oasis where English is the language of instruction and where students, staff and faculty speak English, French and Arabic interchangably...plus the occassional Berber (native language of Moroccan people) and Spanish (for students from northern Morocco that was colonized by Spain). It's pretty crazy. Outside of Al Akhawayn's gate (and I mean gate literally with security guards and a midnight curfew) Arabic and French are widely spoken, but literacy and unemployment abound...okay really outside of Ifrane, as Ifrane is one of the vacation spots of Morocco, think the Hamptons...except not.

When you walk/drive up the road to campus this is the first building you see, housing the administration offices, business office, etc. But all the buildings look basically like that. Red shingled roofs, white/cream colored buildings...all over campus. The ball you see in the middle is a globe with messages around it in English, Arabic, and French.

Campus is lovely, small with trees all around it - we're in some of the last bits of the endangered cedar forests in Morocco, so that's pretty sweet. All the dorms are numbered rather than named like on many American campuses...I'm sure the practice of naming buildings after donors will come. The dorms are nice, there are like 10 small ones dotted over one side of campus...all strictly women or men. The opposite sex is not even allowed in dorms, and a girl being found in a guy's room (or vice versa) can result in expulsion. Basically, there are a lot of pretty strict rules here at AUI because the parents have a big say in what goes on here. So there's a curfew, a very strict drug policy (any drug use, hard or soft = expulsion), mandatory class attendance (with only three absences before automatic withdrawl), etc.

This is the library. It is beautiful in side and one of the few buildings on campus that is really warm inside. (The heating systems aren't so great, so classrooms are often Cold with a capital "C.")

Yet, for all the rules it's a really modern place. Walking around I feel like I'm at an Arab fashion show; the girls are all walking around in tall boots with their jeans tucked in, with their fashion plate hair, jewelry, sunglasses, and purses that look like they're right off 5th Avenue. It's crazy. And while everyone is modestly dressed, certainly on campus there's no problem with wearing tight jeans and the girls are wearing clothes right out of a teen chik flick to parties in terms of revealing and fashionable. The guys too are all in their nice jackets and jeans, etc. So kindof funny. But AUI brings in a lot of the upper middle class kids who had the strong education and good grades and access to English training...so you get the money that comes with it I guess. But everyone's really nice, though there is definitely a lot of staring at the Americans...especially when we hang out in packs, which though is annoying is hard not to do when we don't know any of them either.

To the left is the mosque which is right in the middle of campus; it is beautiful. It sort of reminds me of Valpo actually because we have our huge beautiful Chapel that is supposed to act as the center of campus and no matter what the tradition is of the students, it still makes a statement, ya know? Anyway, all of campus geographically around it. The campus is there to the right with the dorms behind and to the side. And then on the opposite side is a series of academic buildings with covered sidewalks and a series of quads.

Hmm...what else? Food! The resturant, which is basically what we term as a cafeteria/union style place has three parts. A grill that does a lot of chicken, fries, etc which has already gotten old, but also does schwarma which is fantastic. Then a Moroccan style side which has as-close-to-authentic-as-any-university-cafeteria-can-be Moroccan foods (fantastic orange juice for breakfast!), and then a pizza bar upstairs where they make great mini thin crust pizzas.

So, that's a little overview of AUI. I like it so far, still getting used to everything and certainly enjoying learning the differences in culture, how things are done and communicated, etc. But every once in awhile it does make one a little edgy.

This weekend I'm going to embark on my first little day trips which I'm stoked about. So hopefully I'll have some more pictures of life outside AUI for you all soon. In the meantime, ma-salaama!