اليوم الأول في صف العربية

Today was my first day of Arabic class.  Normally, we will have about 5 hours of Arabic per day, but since we had academic registration and orientation this morning, there were only 3 hours of Arabic instruction.  Yesterday, we had our placement test.  The oral segment made me a little nervous, because my interviewer asked me to discuss (all in Arabic!) how Obama will improve relations with the Middle East, as well as various aspects of the economic crisis.  I am in the "Intermediate II" class, along with 2 of my Princeton classmates.  It will last 4 weeks (the first "semester"), and for the second half of my time here I will be in "Advanced I."  The class officially starts about 4 chapters ahead of where we left off, but we are using the same textbook, so we're hoping it won't be too hard to catch up.  There are 13 students in the class and 2 full professors, both Moroccan, which means that we will have lots of support.  They are both pretty easy-going, but I can tell that we'll be learning a lot.  There are also TAs for some of the lower level classes, and they will be on hand to help us with our homework.  On Monday the 8th, all students must sign a pledge agreeing to speak exclusively Arabic during academic hours!  We also eat lunch every day with our class and professors, and must speak only Arabic then as well.  So far, I feel that Princeton was good preparation, but we'll see how things go over the next few days.  The director of the program, Dr. Chekayri, says that in three weeks or so we should start feeling very fatigued with Arabic and "homeless" (or homesick)... and that means that we've made progress and should begin dreaming in Arabic.  

Today, class was mostly meant as review.  We introduced ourselves, practiced verb conjugations, and read a passage about a well-known Moroccan author of the 20th century, about whom we were supposed to answer questions.  One of our professors, Mohamed, is very lively and did a traditional song and dance for us, and also joked that anyone who didn't like Obama should leave the room immediately.  For the last 30 minutes or so, we learned how to introduce ourselves in darija, which is Moroccan colloquial Arabic.

The regular students of the university are also starting to show up now, since their classes start tomorrow.  I haven't met many of them yet because we've been in class or orientation most of the day, and there is still no sign of my roommate.  But I hope to soon.  Many of us were surprised at how the students here dress, compared to how the program asked us to dress before we arrived.  While some of the girls wear the hijab and cover themselves thoroughly, the majority wear tight, revealing tank tops, short dresses, and even shorts.  (When they go into town, though, we've been told, they cover up.)  But this university is definitely an anomaly in many ways: for one, the prince attended a few years ago.  An intern with my program, who was a classmate of his, said that he intentionally walked on the grass, which is forbidden to regular students, and made all his friends walk on the sidewalk beside him.  

Since the hailstorm on my first day, the weather has been beautiful: dry, not too hot, and quite cool at night.  This afternoon I am going to sit in on the Contemporary North African Issues class -- more about that later!