2025 Rutgers Prep Spain and Morocco Cultural Journey

Day 6

Today, our group had the unforgettable experience of waking up before 7:00 a.m. for a peaceful bus ride to the beautiful beaches of Essaouira, where we spent the morning learning to surf.

After surfing, we had a delicious meal of seafood and a few cute cat visitors. In the afternoon, Chacha gave us a tour through the Medina. We then got the chance to do some shopping, while witnessing Chacha’s magical ability to somehow know everyone in the city. At one point, Mr. Smith somehow managed to get invited to tea by a local vendor!

We returned to Marrakech in the evening for a cozy group dinner with lots of laughs. To wrap up the day, we got creative and made our own DIY water guns. Overall, it was a fun and unique experience!

– Dunkin, Maelee and Nikita

Day 5

We spent our last few hours in Spain with time to explore the city in the morning. We then made our way to the airport to board our short flight to Marrakech. Some of us were lucky enough to have an entire row of seats to ourselves on the empty flight.

After landing, we met with our tour guide and checked in at our riad.. After resting for a bit, we all went on a guided walking tour of the city, visiting the Jemaa el-Fnaa (the main square) and the Koutoubia mosque. The culture was beautiful and truly unique. The marketplaces were flooded with excitement and the history of the city was very interesting. We visited the largest marketplace in Morocco and saw a variety of things; performances, jewelry, and even cobras. We ended the night with a rooftop dinner of tagine while enjoying a beautiful view of the city.

Once we returned to the hotel, we enjoyed relaxing on the rooftop of our hotel and admiring the views before going to sleep.

Day 4

On our last day in Spain, we began the morning by departing Granada and traveling to Malaga. Once there, we explored the Alcazaba Teatro Romano’s rich history with a walking tour. We took in the amazing views and architecture.

After the tour we headed to the Costal Del Sol beaches. We enjoyed relaxing under the Mediterranean sun. Mr. Smith made many new friends on the beach, showing his friendly nature. We wrapped up our trip at a restaurant near the water, drinking virgin Pina Coladas and eating Paella.

Overall traveling to Spain has been an unforgettable experience.

Day 3

In Grenada we went to a Religious area and saw many beautiful architecture of the Arab empire in Spain and learned a lot about Spanish history and Spanish culture through them. In this experience we learned that architecture is not just blocks of clay put together, it tells a story that anyone can uncover. So much history, art, and culture, just from one tile.

We also had amazing opportunities to explore the city on our own. We saw a variety of shops. Including a historical soccer jersey shop, a jewelry shop, and a candy shop. All wonderful places and seeing a lot of new things. Spain so far, perhaps even Europe in general has things which are uncommon sights in the States. Student Andrew Li constantly and enthusiastically points out how every bottle cap opens but stays connected to the bottle, and there are roundabouts in the road.

Spain so far seems like a pretty cool and unique place.

Aunovro S.

Day 2

We woke up to a beautiful and sunny day in Sevilla, ready to begin our adventure! After breakfast, we hopped on the bus and make our way to Cordoba, the former capital of the Al Andaluz, when Spain was ruled by the Moors.

We visited the Mesquita Catedral de Cordoba, which was a truly impressive architectural marvel. It’s one of the only fully standing mosques left from the time when Muslims ruled Spain, and it was really amazing to see the beautiful architecture. When the Spainards retook control of Spain from the Moors, they decided to turn the mosque into a cathedral, while still leaving it in tact.

After touring the Mesquita Catedral, we took a walking tour of the historic center of Cordoba, winding our way through the maze of alleyways that are beautifully decorated.

We treated ourselves to ice cream to help beat the heat, and wrapped up the afternoon making our way to Granada. We arrived in Granada, had a great dinner and went to bed to get some rest for our next adventure.

Ice Cream

Day 1

After a long flight, and a tight connection in Lisbon, the group finally arrived in Sevilla!

The airport was bustling with excitement, and we couldn’t wait to explore this new place. We checked into our hotel and settled in before heading out for a guided visit to the Catedral de Sevilla, the world’s largest gothic cathedral. We were able to climb the Giralda, a former minneret and now the city’s most emblematic belltower.

After the cathedral, we walked to our cooking class, taking in the sites, sounds and smells of Sevilla along the way. At our cooking class, we learned how to make Spanish paella and gazpacho. To our surprise, we stumbled upon a street procession on our walk back home, which a religious pilgrimage.

It was a super cool to see so many people in the street celebrating a religious ceremony with bulls, covered wagons, music and dancing.

By the end of the day, jet lag took over and we quickly faded to sleep.

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