2:58 PM—Between Lyon and Casablanca, Airborne
Sitting in a cushiony Easy Jet seat… napping, reading, talking, napping…flying over clouds and brown spaghetti coastlines—Morocco-bound.
All of us made it onto the flight: a horde of 19 GEP students and 1 chirpy Japanese girl named Moe… We were escaping: leaving exams, and responsibilities, and the cold, snowy streets of Lyon behind…escaping to adventure, and hot desert sands, and snake-charming, Arabic-speaking belly-dancers… Morocco. I must admit that my mental image of the country was somewhat clichéd and incomplete… Here are some of my subconscious associations:
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But Ladi—the Czech representative of our GEP cohort—had shown us pictures of beautiful streams, sunlit villas with saunas and private pools, and scenic desert scenes with camel rides and quad races included... it looked and sounded awesome. So 20 of us booked our tickets a month in advance, and were now flying into that distant North African unknown.
A day before our departure there were reports of intense rainfall and flooding in Casablanca. 24 people had drowned. I wasn’t sure how this news would affect our journey, or what we would witness when we landed… but as GEPers I think we were all prepared to gauge the situation, recalibrate and adapt.
The Easy Jet stewardesses are walking down the aisle, trying to hustle me with their Duty Free products. I suspect that it is going to be a long weekend of getting hustled by strangers. I look out my window and see a mountain that reminds me of flying over the Bolivian Andes.
-Sebastian Martin
1 comment:
seb.............
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