First Impressions of Morocco

When entering into Morocco it was very clear the amount of globalization taking part in the nation. The first thing that I noticed on the plane was the variety of languages that everyone spoke. It was interesting to hear everyone speaking and knowing what the other person was saying. It seemed as though everyone knew every language. This is a clear sign of global trends around the world taking place. Even after landing in the country everyone was able to communicate with us with ease. A few of us on the trip went to buy water at the store and the man there not only spoke English but was also able to tell us how much the water was in American dollars. Later tonight when we were walking on the boardwalk you could even see that most of the signs were in English. While I did not think much about that at first, I later realized that it was strange to have so much English surrounding the area.

Another first impression that I had was when we were on the plane there was a lot of different styles of dress that people had. It seemed as though all the women had different ways to wear their head scarves. It was interesting to look at the generational styles of dress. When looking around you could see the older women on the plane dressed in more conservative dresses and pants with a head scarf. but when you looked at younger women they were often wearing more modern clothes with a head scarf. It was interesting to see how the globalization of dress has affected the generational ties. When talking to someone, they said they saw a family get up together and go to the bathroom to change into more conservative clothes and put head scarves on. It was different to hear about a family doing that considering that is not something people do in America.

Another big sign of globalization that I noticed was when walking down the boardwalk in Agadir; you could see many western stores everywhere. There were stores such as Apple and Lacoste, it helped to demonstrate the global flows of goods throughout the world. The stores demonstrated the western store companies coming into nations in order to create business. The western stores also helped in making the distinction that this city is more catered toward tourism. If you look in the stores at the clothes they were not very conservative clothes that the typical Moroccan would wear.

My overall first impression of the country was that it was very interesting to see the amount of globalization that has taken place. When I think about Morocco I think of desert rural land, not tourist western stores. I always see Morocco as a place that seems to be untouched by globalization. It is a nation that lives and thrives from tradition. However, after seeing it today I realized that globalization is something that a nation cannot escape. It surrounds daily and even the most traditional societies still have globalization within.

Photos: Julia Queale, except "Aeroport Al Massira," Alex Mickler