Moving from the US to Morocco taught me a different way of living. I sundry my clothes and consume less.

07.12.2024 - 15:19 / insider.com

Five years ago, I booked a one-way ticket from the US to Morocco with no idea of what to expect.

I'd spent several months prior searching for international job opportunities, willing to go almost anywhere. I was surprised at how much I learned about living in my time in Meknes, where I now live.

My desire to move abroad stemmed from my search for the heightened discovery and immersion that I'd felt when I studied abroad in France two years earlier.

That semester abroad was my first trip outside the US and an experience that opened up the possibility of living abroad longer-term. In my senior year of college, I received job offers for positions in France and Morocco and decided on Morocco — somewhere new, in a part of the world with a culture I'd never experienced before. I planned to live there for a year, the length of my initial contract.

When I got to Meknes , the city where I'd be living and working, one of my new coworkers helped me find an apartment within days of my arrival. The apartment I rented didn't have all of the features I was used to — no dishwasher, clothes dryer, or microwave — and yet these amenities that felt so essential in the US didn't seem to matter in this new context.

During my first week in my new apartment building, my downstairs neighbors stopped by with a bowl of fresh fruit, then offered to bring a couch from their first-floor apartment up to my fifth-floor apartment when they noticed I hadn't yet bought furniture. People I'd just met were constantly asking what I needed and offering to help as I got settled in. In my initial few months of adjusting to Moroccan culture and lifestyle, I learned from those around me about the best ways to maintain my home, where to run errands, and how to live in a community.

Without a dryer, I began to hang my clothes on the rooftop clotheslines. I let the sun do its work, no longer having to worry about clothes shrinking in the dryer or excessive heat wearing down the fabrics. Without a microwave, I reheated leftovers on the stove and found that my food tasted much better when I did so.

I shared many meals with others as neighbors invited me over for Friday couscous and tea. When Thanksgiving came, I hosted a dinner with classic Thanksgiving staples: roast meat, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Despite it being my first big holiday away from home, I felt at home in my newfound community.

I realized within my first few months that although the bigger supermarkets were the most convenient for grocery shopping, they weren't where I could get the best food. My grocery runs grew longer — a stop at the bakery for fresh bread, then to the produce stand for fruits and vegetables, then to the corner store to stock up on pantry