African Migrants

The Fisher of Men

As I walked by the iconic church of Tangier and its tall bell tower shortly after I arrived from France, I was struck with how different it looked from the…

In the Company of Books

“What are those kids doing over there?” I ask as my friends and I walk through the Medina. Three young boys were standing together and kept bringing their hands with…

The Ringmaster

The chaos of a train station was nothing compared to the mayhem outside: just to the right of the station sits a small amusement park, which announces itself with flashing…

Jessica Collins and Charlie

Travels with Charlie

“It’s stage 4 pancreatic cancer,” my mom says in a soft, quiet voice, tears streaming down her face. We had just received the call we all were dreading from the…

Anxiety and Art

Doing this art project is going to kill me, I thought. Mourad, our campus manager, led three of us girls down the street like a mother duck leading her ducklings,…

The Outsiders

“You know that’s a Muslim country, right?” This was my mother’s reaction the first time I told her of my plans to spend a semester in Tangier, Morocco. After weeks…

The Magic Journey

When I woke up that morning, my throat was sore, and chills were running through every nerve of my body. As each hour passed, my symptoms got worse. Was it…

Mount Toubkal

The Hardest 13,671 Feet of My Life

Being woken up Friday morning by a knock on the door, it took me a second to realize where I was. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window…

My Letter to a Stray Dog

“How could anyone let this happen to you?” I thought. So far Moroccans have always been friendly to me. They’ll invite us strangers into the comfort of their home, sit…

A picture of a watercolor purchased in the Tangier medina.

The Watercolor

We stood outside one of the Kasbah gates as a bright and washed-out Tangier spread out before us. We had just finished up tea and juice after having been, once…