When asked to pick one picture that summed up my trip to Morocco, I had no clue which one to choose because each one told a story of its own. From shopping in the souks to relaxing by the beach, and making new friends to exploring different businesses, Morocco left me with a lifetime of…
Tag: Aubrey Baumiller
Day 11: From Social Media to the Ship
Today we took a site visit to ANDD, which is the Association for National Digital Development. ANDD was similar to many of the site visits we have already had. When looking at it compared to the Casablanca Technopark, ANDD offers its workshops and other services for free, just like how the technopark offers its incubator…
Day 10: From Social Entrepreneurship to Oceanside Cafes
Today, we had a discussion at the Rabat Technopark with MCISE, where we learned the term social entrepreneurship, which is a term I had not really heard before, and made the site visit stand out to me. MCISE is the Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. Throughout the trip, we have heard from many…
Day 9: From Group Discussions to Project Innovations
Today, we had a group discussion with Farah, who is the founder of the CCCL, and she talked about her own entrepreneurial journey. Throughout that discussion, she talked a lot about challenges and how she overcame them, which really helped when doing our entrepreneurship exercise. We were put into groups and had two students from…
Day 8: From Leather Making to Long Bus Rides
Earlier in the week, we learned about the Anou cooperative, and today we got to visit a women’s cooperative in Marrakech. When looking at both together, you can see that their main goal is showcasing women’s handmade goods and making sure they are fairly compensated. When we had the discussion about Anou, we learned that…
Day 7: From Exploring Tech Incubators to the Streets of Marrakech
The first thing we started off the day with was a walking tour and we visited a mosque in the center of Marrakech. What really stood out to me about the mosque was the first one was torn down and replaced with the current one so that it could accurately be faced towards Mecca. After…
Day 6: From Quiet Rabat to Bustling Marrakech
Today I had my team’s site visit to Casablanca Technopark and it taught me a lot that I could not research online. The first thing that I learned was unlike US startups incubators Technopark does not take any shares of the company and also does not provide them with financial support directly instead most of…
Day 5: From Women Cooperatives to Cafes
Today we had a lesson on one of my favorite things, shopping, but it was not just any lesson. We actually learned where the goods we buy come from in Morocco. We primarily discussed the making of rugs and how the Anou cooperative is changing the supply chain to make it more beneficial for the…
Day 4: From Religion and Politics to Swimming in the Sea
Today we started talking about religion in Morocco, and that was a very interesting topic for me, as I come from a Catholic background. The customs and meaning of religion are very different here. We talked about how in Morocco, religion is ruled by a lunar calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar that we follow,…
Day 3: From the Beaches of Rabat to Bargaining in Souks
When choosing between learning a new language and learning to bargain, I would choose bargaining. Growing up, I started learning Spanish in high school, but speaking the language was difficult for me, even though I was ok as reading it. So when it came to learning Moroccan Arabic, I was quite confused, especially since I…
Day 2: From the Streets of Casablanca to the Beaches of Rabat
AI: Rabat has a quietly confident rhythm that sets it apart from Morocco’s more frenetic cities. As the capital, it carries an administrative seriousness — embassies, ministries, and well-dressed civil servants moving through tree-lined boulevards — but it never feels stiff. Mornings smell like fresh khobz from neighborhood bakeries and espresso from sidewalk cafés where…
Day 1: From the Airport to a Mosque
Stepping off the plane in Morocco, I was not super sure what to expect. While we did have classes to prepare us beforehand, there is only so much you can teach. When we first got off the plane and headed to find our baggage, it was already pulled off the baggage claim and set in…
Day 0: From the Burgh to the Streets of Casablanca
Hi everyone! My name is Aubrey Baumiller, and I am from Perryopolis, PA, which is about 45 minutes south of Pittsburgh. I am a first-year business student at the University of Pittsburgh, double-majoring in accounting and marketing with a pre-law focus, as I plan to go to law school right after undergrad. On campus, I…