My summer was truly incredible. With every new place we went I talked with and learned from so many different people. I have stories to carry with me for the rest of my life. One of my favorite parts of the trip was when we would talk with locals and share stories and bits about our different cultures.
In Morocco we visited this beach town called Essaouira. This was the last stop in Morocco so we had already been there for two weeks. At this point we had eaten so much couscous and tagine. It had become a kind of joke everytime we sat down and someone would ask what we were having. We all knew what it was going to be. On this particular day we didn't have any activities planned and so we were just gonna hang out on the beach. My mom found us a spot on the beach that was just a private stretch that belonged to one of the hotels. We met up with a woman from our group and layed out by the beach. Maggie and I spent the whole day in the ocean. A girl swam up to me and Maggie and started talking to us. She was from a town close by called Marrakech. She was visiting Essaouira on vacation with her mom and her moms friend. The trip was to celebrate her finishing her final exams and graduating from high school. We talked about if we were planning on going to college and where. She said that she would like to leave the country and study elsewhere but would need to apply for scholarships. In Morocco all college is free so another option for her would be to stay at home. We talked about the food we were eating and the places we were going. It was amazing talking with her to be able to connect with someone my own age. Our whole trip we were mostly talking with adults. When we got the opportunity to talk with people closer to my age I felt like I was able to understand better how life there was because I could compare it to mine. This girl we met lived pretty similarly to me. She went to high school and hung out with her friends. In Morocco the driving age is 18 so she drove a moped to school and around town. She asked me if my parents let me go out and have parties with my friends because hers did not. For the most part we were very similar.
Morocco was maybe my favorite place that we visited. It was just so different then any place I'd ever been. The food and the culture and art and especially the architecture. There was so much to see and learn about and our group did an incredible job of covering all of Morocco and seeing everything there was to see
Another one of my favorite experiences was when we did a walk with locals in Malawi. Malawi for us was right in the middle of a bunch of drive days so we were all pretty grumpy. On this day we got to pick from a few different things to do. We could go swimming and fishing in the Malawi lake, we could go on a bike ride, or we could take a walk with locals. We chose the walk. The campsite we were staying in was surrounded by this kind of gate. When we walked out of the gate to meet with the people, someone came up to each of us and shook our hands. We each had our own buddy to walk with and talk to. For me this was pretty uncomfortable at the start. I don’t like talking to strangers, especially by myself but after a little while I really began to enjoy myself. I was walking with a guy only about two years older than myself. HIs name was JB, he worked selling artwork and making bricks in order to support his family and pay for school. Along our walk we learned about the school system, we learned about the crops most every family grows, we learned about how they built their houses and the family structures. We learned about the lives of the people we were walking with and their personal struggles. The kids in the village were on holiday from school. They liked to walk with us and hold our hands. They liked to answer all our questions. At the end of our walk we went into the shops of the people we were walking with and they showed us their artwork. Paintings and sculptures and things like that. Once we saw it all my family met up and we decided what we wanted to buy. Addie and I wanted this game we had played called boa. With the game you move rocks around the board and try to steal the other players. Alastair wanted to buy a sculpture of an elephant and Maggie wanted one of two elephants. My dad bought a painting of Africa and all the places we had been and my mom asked these guys to make her two paddles for a game we were playing. With everything we bought we had to negotiate the price. So we all talked and figured out what would be reasonable and then we bought our stuff. They told us to come back in a couple of hours and they would be ready. When we did we all hung out outside the gate and talked and hung out. We had a great time. In the end we exchanged contact info with a few of the locals and went back to the camp where we spent the rest of the night playing bao.
This trip was truly amazing and I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with my family learning and seeing parts of the world. I am going to continue traveling all my life meeting new people and having new experiences. I will take the lessons I've learned this summer with me forever. The memories we made will forever be some of my favorites. Thank you Africa.
Dagny McLain
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