US PHYSICAL EXCHANGE PROJECT
This report will be mostly narrated from Yassir Douslimi’s perspective. We hope you enjoy it.
After meeting with the Kenitra group at the station, I took the train with my father to Casablanca to encounter the entire Moroccan team at the Walid hotel. We immediately went to the party organized at the ambassador’s house. It was a very nice one. I was also happy to know every other member, and I still find that they were the perfect choice.
Unfortunately, we got split into two groups; The New York group and The Chicago one, but it was fine since we were going to meet at Paris later the day after.
The airport procedures seemed incognito and severe to me at first, but with the help of the whole group, I was able to get through them safely and swiftly. After all, my first flight experience was worth it. I will never forget that brief, but magical sensation within this flying monster.
After setting the first step in Paris, a foreign country, and traversing the airport scanners, we ran into the first group that went before us. They were so tired that many of them were still sleeping on the chairs. As for me, I still was amazed by the fact that I left my home country. A bizarre sensation of independence overwhelmed me that day.
We took the same plane as the other group after a while. It was a big one with tablets inserted in front of the seat. It was a very long trip, but really elegant too.
After arriving in New York, we meet some of the American chaperones; Jennifer and Abiday. We were obliged to split once again with the New York group, but a reuniting was awaiting us at Washington D.C. the next week. We stayed in Days Inn for the night.
We departed quickly after that night to Chicago. It was that day that we finally perceived the beauty of the United States below the warm sunlight. The shuttle trip was long, but that’s how we were able to witness Chicago’s green dress. Even before going to downtown, the amazing architecture we saw was staggering, and so diverse with amazing detail. Even after arriving to the La Quinta hotel, we were still astonished by this new culture that unraveled itself.
The chaperones briefly took us after that to a pancake shop where we tasted the sweet flavor of Chicago. We ate like one family around one big table. However, soon after finishing our meal, we were to split in groups of five people to go to one of the Chicago schools that we had the virtual exchange last year with.
Once we arrived at the school, the initial look made a hard impression on me. It was really big and really solid in a sense of fearlessness. We came across a drill team outside the school. Their leader sent one of his soldiers to show us the way. I was surprised to discover that they scan the students at the entrance just like they did to us in the airport unlike most places in Morocco.
Each one of us got a shadow [A student they must be with at all times ]. Mine was called Christian Martinez, but I meet several other students along the day who became my shadows too like Edgar Ortiz, Daniel Robledo and many others.
I learned so many things while talking to them and observing their school, like how they:
-have a fifty minute periods as opposed to two hours in my country.
-eat in school at the cafeteria when we eat with our family.
-have closets where they can put their belongings in.
-study all their subjects in one day all the week.
-don’t expect the same faces each period.
-have their own sport team and a cheerleader’s squad.
-have a speaker inside the class from where administrators can contact the teacher instantly.
-have many extra-curricular activities.
I also liked their special green uniforms and how they were so open-minded, but I really loved their face expressions when I shared some of my country’s culture with them like how we:
-have all sort of technology including the expensive type.
-we were the first ones to recognize the United States’ independence.
-learn many languages, can write from the right to the left.
-have different geographies expanding from golden deserts in the south to glorious mountains in the north while harboring many weathers all over the land.
-search for the answers in exams by ourselves while they have multiple choices, and many other things about our school system.
Our group had the chance to be interviewed by their journalist team and answer some of their questions, and watch their work in action. We also asked them improvised questions when they finished. I learned that we all have it hard whether we live in the US or Morocco, but we must not forget to work on easing those problems day by day.
We finished the day with a meal at a Jamaican restaurant. I couldn’t finish it, but It was really good.
We had to do a presentation the next day at the Marines. It was really intense, but we made it, and we drew a smile in the students’ faces. It was such a relief. I was the first one to pass, and I explained some of the cultural differences between the two countries and a brief look at our education system. My peer chaimae came second where she talked about the project from our perspective. Whereas, Mohammed from Zagora tackled the traditions of Morocco.
The day ended really fast, but we continued learning all the way. We closed the day eventually with a Mexican meal.
The next day was a really compact one. We were planning on attending the Adha Eid with Muhammad’s University of Islam but unfortunately, the schedule was not accurate enough since it was until tomorrow. We swallowed our reminiscence to our homes and went to the Museum of Science and Industry where we meet some students from a Chicago school. We collaborated with them to complete a questionnaire about different subjects scattered all around the place.
Once we finished lunch, we rallied to Youmedia; a place where you practice what you adore from video games to reading books, and spent the afternoon there.
We finished the awesome day in Open Mic. A place where teens express themselves openly to others with poetry, debates, songs… We tackled some hot subjects with them like women rights and what Morocco is truly is.
We meet that night some of Muhammad’s University of Islam’s students and some CVCA’s students and killed our hunger in multiple restaurants. I chose Chipotle and I was very satisfied with my choice.
We went in Thursday morning to downtown. Specifically, Willis Tower; the second tallest building in the United States after the One World Trade Center. The fast elevator, the astonishing view, the warm group. It was a beautiful experience, but the best thing was the Sky deck; a glass cube that emerges from the structure simulating the illusion of floating in the air.
After returning from the sky, we tasted the beautiful flavor of Chicago’s pizza; the deep dish, with the Marines and some CVCA students. The rest of the day was a shopping rally in Chicago’s market havens. I didn’t buy much, but I appreciated the good quality. We later ate dinner in a small restaurant in downtown after taking some popcorns.
The final day was empty of any activity. The departure and leaving everyone was very hard, but we could handle it. The rest of the morning and the noon was spent in the travel. We arrived at the 4-H center by afternoon where we finally meet the New York group again. We played basketball to celebrate our meeting.
The New York group also had a wonderful adventure. This is from the perspective of Salma Bouraada:
21/09/2015
The first day in New York was so exciting. Even though the long trip and the short period of rest, we woke up early in the morning and we headed to the IEARN-USA office to have breakfast. There we mat the people who assisted us during the virtual exchange: Christine, Pamela, Bethany, Dina and Abide…. We introduced ourselves and talked a little bit about the project, took some pictures and left to Marble Hill High school. The first thing that surprised us is the security system in the entry. We went upstairs, met our peers and attended classes with them. We have been introduced to a new scholar system, to new student and to new friends.
In the evening, we met our peers from DYP High and we all ( with the marble Hill student) to the Modern Art Museum.
22/09/2015
In that day we went to a totally different school, with a totally different school system: It was Dream Yard Prep Art school, which aimed for three objectives: CARRACTER, INSPIRATION, and SCHOLARSHIP. There we met a teacher called Rudy who was a living example of the three objectives.
The day went by so quickly, everybody was thinking about the afternoon since we were going to TIMES SQUARE. Everything was shinny and crowded, and we felt small being surrounded by enormous buildings. Then we had a boat ride in the East River of New York so we could see the statue of liberty and that ride was the changing moment in the whole trip, in that moment, both American and Moroccan students was the same: they were no boundaries. The fact that we are from different countries, different continents and different backgrounds did not matter, all that was important is living the moment and having fun.
And for dinner, we had a great opportunity of tasting Indian food, even though it was spicy, it was yummy.
23/09/2015
In the early morning we met our peers and headed directly to the zoo. After that we went to the central park, had lunch and played some games together. That day we didn’t have so many schedules so we wouldn’t be late for the BROADWAY SHOW, it was called The Phantom of the Opera. It was amazing, with all the effects on stage and all the things that we saw live for the first time.
24/09/2015
This day was very special, since it was EID in Morocco. It was still night in New York, but in Morocco it was already the morning, our parents started sending us pictures about the celebration and that made us sad. And to comfort ourselves and each other, we decided to celebrate EID in our own way. So the next day we wore our traditional outfits and went all over New York dancing and singing in the streets. People accepted us, took pictures with us and asked us about this special day, we even did volunteer work in a park in the Bronx with our caftans and djellabas. In the evening we went shopping, we bought Yankees Shirts and watched the game.
25/09/2015
We woke up early and left to the airport a long time before our trip so we could avoid the traffic caused by the visit of the pope. We flew to Washington DC and spend the rest of the day having fun and resting.
Now we got united in one single group.
By night, we meet our trainers. They told us to team up with a person we don’t know and take interviews with each other. After finishing the task, we were to stand up in front of everybody and tell what we remember from it. That was a pretty good hook for the workshop!
Before going to sleep, we watched a short movie; Born To Be Wild. I was amazed that I didn’t fall asleep because of the lack of sleeping didn’t get last week although the excellence of the movie.
The next day was the start of the digital storytelling workshop. What really made my day in this one, aside from the explicit explanations of the trainers and the really good two minutes video examples, was that they told us to go out and take pictures of the one with teamed up with last night, and share our best picture. There was no time to be shy; It was a great confidence build up.
The major points that this day talked about is:
-What makes a good story?
-Photography basics.
-Developing a dramatic script. [And choosing the best story after breaking up into eight teams of four to five people.]
They ended the day by making us choose a movie to watch with our team, and producing a trailer for it that we had to present tomorrow.
After presenting the trailers the next day, we learned about the styles of the photography and how to take a good picture. We had to utilize those skills in a field trip to the MLK Jr Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the mall area. It was a pretty intense day.
In the next day, we had to send the top six to eight photos our team was able to shoot. We developed our script even more so that we were able to record pre-interviews of the best story. After gathering some visual assets, we edited them in Adobe Premiere Elements after the brief lecture of trainers.
The final day of the workshop was a really long day full of hard work to the limit. We stayed working on the videos up until midnight.
At Wednesday, we presented our work in front of all the groups, trainers, chaperones, teachers, the ambassador and many other big and with wide background people. The first bullet of the project’s gun was shoot in our hearts when we had to say our goodbyes forever to the Chicago schools. We had some time to heal in the Newseum Museum, but it was really tough.
We visited the next day the U.S. Capitol and got to know its glorious history, then we learned about the history of flying in the National Air and Space Museum. Then the second bullet was fired when we had to say goodbye to the New York schools. That’s when we became only made of Moroccans excluding the chaperones.
Eventually, the last day of the exchange came to be but it was special too. We had the opportunity to visit the successful Moroccans and know about their experience in the US.
In that day, we also visited the White House and meet the presidential advisor in North Africa and Yemen and had a great talk with each other. It was an honor for us.
However, there wasn’t much time left. We had to leave. That’s when the last bullet was fired in my heart, and I almost cried, but I stayed strong for the sake of my new family.
It was a rare experience, and we enjoyed every second of it. We are so grateful and so thankful to everyone and anyone who supported this project. The world is an amazing place after all.
