Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 1: Ifrane

Bobbe is spending this spring living at a university in Morocco. This is the first in a series of posts about what she has seen, done, and experienced there. As for me, I'm traveling in Southeast Asia at the moment. I will hope to have my first of several posts from there very soon. --Benny

Greetings from Morocco! I am now living in a town called Ifrane high in the Atlas Mountains. Ifrane is just a little town, but it is a very beautiful place. The high altitude means that it gets snow several times every winter. Lots of people come to Ifrane to go skiing in the nearby mountains. Some people even call it the "Switzerland of Morocco." Who could ask for a more pleasant place to make my home this spring?

Ifrane is home to a university called Al Akhawayn University. "Al Akhawayn" means "the two brothers." In this case, the two brothers in question are the former king of Morocco and the former king of Saudi Arabia. They weren't literally brothers, but they were close friends so they called each other brothers. In 1993, there was an oil spill off the coast of Morocco. The king of Saudi Arabia decided to give $50 million to the king of Morocco to clean up the oil. As soon as the king of Morocco received the money, the wind shifted and the oil all washed away from the coast. With $50 million in his pocket and no oil spill to deal with, the king of Morocco decided he needed a new project--so he founded a university.

Here I am in front of the main building of Al Akhawayn University. The centerpiece of the campus is a globe. Do you see the Moroccan flag on the right? It is red with a five-pointed green star.

I pose in front of the main building of Al Akhawayn University.

You may notice that the roofs of the buildings at Al Akhawayn are very, very steep. That is so that the snow will slide right off. After it snows, you have to be careful where you walk or you can get snow on your head!

I sit on a hedge on the central quad of Al Akhawayn University.

At the center of the campus is a mosque for all the students and faculty who are Muslims to use. The big tower on the side of the mosque is called a "minaret." Mosques have minarets so that a guy can climb up to the top and call out to everybody when it is time to pray. The guy who does the calling is called a "muezzin." I like listening to the call to prayer five times a day!

I pose in front of Al Akhawayn's central mosque.

Ifrane is so cool and pleasant in the summer that the king of Morocco has a palace here. It sits on a hilltop opposite the university. I can't get very close to it to get a good photo, which is too bad. Someday maybe he will invite me over for snacks and I will get a better one.

I pose in front of the royal palace in Ifrane.

Ifrane's best-known tourist site is a statue of a lion with a curious history. During World War II, Morocco changed hands several times. At that time, it was a French colony. When France was conquered by Germany, Morocco became a colony of the pro-German puppet government of France. It was then "liberated" by the Free French with American and British assistance. One of the German soldiers who was captured in this fighting was taken to Ifrane as a prisoner of war. He got so bored in Ifrane because there was nothing to do here while he was being held that he decided to carve a lion. Today, Al Akhawayn University's mascot is the Lions. How appropriate!

I pose in front of Ifrane's lion statue.

All this wandering around Ifrane made me hungry, so I went to have lunch with some of the professors at the university. Here is a picture of what I ate. It is chicken and vegetables on top of couscous. Couscous is a traditional dish from this area. It is made of very tiny granules of a grain called semolina. You can think of it as the smallest pieces of pasta you have ever seen. It's very good with chicken, and couscous is actually fairly healthy for you. If you are curious about it, maybe you can ask your parents to make some for you or to take you to a Moroccan restaurant.

I eat chicken with couscous.

I'm really enjoying my stay in Morocco so far. I have already visited two interesting Moroccan sites, which I will tell you about soon.

--Bobbe