Though it snowed so hard it looked like Christmas, the day before yesterday I spent a really beautiful day with my girl friends in London - we shopped at Liberty, Topshop and Other Stories and had a scrumptious feast at Ottolenghi. Yesterday I flew home to Rome, and I'm here for about 10 days for Easter holidays. Everytime I come back home I rummage through old photos, and the nostalgia strikes back.
I decided to make a post about Morocco, as it was a huge part of my life and I can't believe I haven't posted about it yet. As you may not know I lived in Morocco from 2003 to 2007, from the age of 10 to 14. When I first moved there, I had never left Italy before and I could not speak any language but Italian, so as I was thrown into another world, a completely different culture, and an American school, and it felt terrifying. But no matter how tough the first year was, it charmed me over from the first moment I landed (even though I was proposed to and 'sold' for 20 camels in the first half hour, honest!). I now feel so blessed for having gotten to spend those unforgettable years there, during which I did the most incredible, unthinkable things that at the time I gave for granted.
My mum and I often went on weekends all over the country, always seeing new places and immerging ourselves into new aspects of the culture. My school was a dream, it was proper fun and open, and I made some of the best friendships I will hopefully cherish forever. Every year we had a week long trip, where the school actually did an excellent job at making sure we were thrown right in there to experience culture, places and people right up close.
I have gotten to spend days riding on donkeys on top of the Atlas mountains in the middle of nowhere, stay in the smallest villages you can ever imagine and make rose water with the locals, paint a school for kids in the middle of nowhere in southern Morocco, camp in the Sahara, learn to surf and so so so much more, all with my best friends and classmates; we were like a small family. Everything about Morocco is so enchanting; I find their culture to be very similar to that of southern Italy, from food to customs. Morocco's is the most welcoming population I have ever come across. The amount of breathtaking places I have seen there is unbeatable.
I think my years in Morocco were my happiest and most carefree. Many now ask me how it was to live in such a culture which is so different in every way, but honestly looking back at the memories, people and places it was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It opened my eyes to the world, and it shaped me to be the open person that I am today, and that makes me forever grateful. I grew up in Morocco, physically and mentally, and it will always have a special place in my heart.
Here's a few photos from my years there.
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| Fez 2004 |
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| Tangier 2004 |
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| Fez 2003 |
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| Hotel we had all to ourselves on our class trip, Mirleft 2007 |
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| Rabat 2007 |
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| Camping in the Sahara, 2007 |
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| Marrakech 2011 |
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| Chefchaouen 2003 |
Guess what? This is actually happening, I've begun apartment hunting in Paris! Is a view of the Eiffel tower too much of an unrealistic expectation?
Anyway, expect photos from this Easter break. Have a good one and indulge in Easter eggs,
C x
