Erin Moriarty

When and where did you study abroad? Why did you choose it?

“I studied in Morocco for a week because it went with my major, Political Science, and all my friends or like a good bunch of my friends were going to, and so we decided to all go together.”

Tell me a little bit about your overall experience in the culture.

“It was not what I imagined at all. It was really cool though. It was for sure a little bit of a culture shock. Everything is different, the language the food, the way they dress. Just everything you can imagine is the complete opposite of the US.  And everywhere we went we had a tour guide, and then the tour guide would bring along like other friends who all knew each other somehow. They would like give us the inside tours of like the old city, which was really compact and you couldn’t even drive cars in there. There were like a million people in there.”

 

What did you like most about your experience?

"I liked Marrakesh the best. It was probably the nicest town we visited, and I had the best time there. We also went to the Atlas Mountains while we were there, and got to ride camels. It was really cool."

What is the greatest lesson you learned while you were over there? 

“To be open to new ideas and new cultures. Just to be open to doing new things, trying new foods, meeting new people. Not judging a book by its cover.”

What advice would you give to people who are thinking about going abroad?

“Just do it. It’s worth it. If you think it’s too expensive, I never thought my parents would agree to pay for the trip but I asked them and it was fine. There’s plenty of scholarships, and there are resources to help you if you don’t think you can pay for it. If you want to do it then do it, it’s worth it.”