Today was our site visit to Technopark and it was really interesting to finally see in person what we had been learning about in the classroom. From the slides alone you could already tell that Technopark has built something pretty significant, starting from just Casablanca in 2001 and expanding all the way to Rabat, Tangier,…
Author: yol113
Day 5: Profit Margins and The People Behind Them
Today we learned about the Anou cooperative, a women artisan cooperative here in Morocco, and I will be honest it was one of the more eye opening business talks I have sat through. The model is really simple but in the best way possible. 80% of the profits go directly back to the artisans themselves,…
Day 4: Deep Dives and Dirty Looks
Today was one of those days where you sit down at the end of it and realize you took in a lot more than you expected to. We spent time doing deep dives into Moroccan religion, politics, and the role of women, and all three of them gave me a lot to think about. On…
Day 3: I Came, I Learned, I Bargained
So today we got to experience two things we had learned about earlier in the classroom, learning a new language and bargaining in the market. I genuinely enjoyed the language learning part because it feels like something you can actually build on over time, like you practice with the people around you, try it out…
Day 2: Rabat, a Host Family and a Pet Chicken I Was Not Expecting
AI Part: Rabat is often described as one of the calmest and most livable major cities in Morocco. It’s the country’s political capital, so it feels more organized and less chaotic than cities like Casablanca or Marrakech. A lot of people compare it to a quieter European coastal capital mixed with traditional Moroccan culture. Day…
Day 1: Casablanca Humbled Me and the Hassan II Mosque Finished the Job
Okay so I have to be real, I came into this trip with a whole mental image of what Morocco was going to look like and Casablanca immediately said absolutely not. We landed at around 7 in the morning so I was already running on zero sleep and whatever was left of my dignity, and…
I Have No Idea What I’m Doing (But I’m Going to Morocco)
Hello everyone! My name is Yoana, or how I would typically introduce myself: “The movie Moana but with a Y.” I’m a first-year student at the University of Pittsburgh studying Business Analytics and Finance, and I’m originally from Philadelphia. I grew up with parents who run a restaurant, so food has always been a huge…