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Spain/Morocco: The Pre-Departure Post

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Spain/Morocco: The Pre-Departure Post

When I was little, I hated flying, and I hated airports. I thought of them as an in between place, some kind of kid version of purgatory, which now that I think about it, is stupidly dramatic. I remember sitting on the floor of an airport gate distracting myself with my Game Boy Color, dread building in the pit of my stomach, not wanting to board the flight with my parents when the time came. Though things are different now, I can’t help but be a little nervous for our upcoming journey. Sky Harbor might be understood by its own kitschy Southwestern aesthetic, giving a sense of meaning to Phoenix, Arizona. But we know that this place is much more than overpriced cowboy dolls and grow your own cactus gardens placed in a store window. It’s easy to define a place when you have a narrative, symbolism, objects that make it easier to swallow the complexity of what makes a location what it is. This is what I’m thinking about a few days before flying out. I have worried about my own ability to navigate our destinations. I worry that I don’t know enough about the places I’ll be visiting, and I wonder if in my head I’m reducing them to these surreal images, and a few choice phrases I’ve picked up from our readings here and there.

However that’s one thing, however, that I think we’ll be avoiding on this trip, which to me is definitely more about exploration, not reduction. I’m interested in the dynamic nature of these places, the conflicts and the identities that define these landscapes. For example, in my own research on climate change and Moroccan agriculture, I was able to gain a picture of the push and pull between what is modern and what is traditional, as well as the interplay between cultural identity and economic development. Additionally, the Desertec project, something that we’ll get to learn a lot about, especially exemplifies the idea. The political and cultural obstructions to this project represent how difficult it can be to work on a multinational scale, in both a technical and social sense. In this way, I’m excited to meet and connect with Moroccans and Spaniards in order to learn more about the complexities of place. I especially am looking forward to meeting with individuals from my own generation, and learning about their own visions for the future of their countries and the region. It’s true that it’s impossible for me to fully understand a country for what it is: the culmination of thousands of years of its own unique history. However student and tourist as I am, I want to learn as much as I can of this history.

I’m hoping that in this post I’m not talking myself into circles, with the rhetoric of stereotypical travel writing. I also hope that I’m not over packing, that the adapter my dad gave me from an old business trip will actually work, and that no little kid is kicking the back of my seat on the flight from Dallas to Madrid. I feel like I’m drowning in logistics. However, all technical considerations aside, though it’s a cliché of a statement, I’m most looking forward to the new experiences I’ll have on this trip, and the exploration to come.