Category: Africa

Getting on a Plane as an Infrequent Flier

Published on by Mattie EmbreyLeave a comment

Arriving at Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ); 5:45am MST

            Today, I make the journey from Montrose, CO to Casablanca, Morocco. Over the past week, despite packing, preparing, and saying my goodbyes, my brain still hasn’t processed that I was leaving so soon. Even yesterday when I was having dinner with my dad, just 12 hours away from my first flight, it didn’t feel real. It definitely does now that I’m sitting in the Montrose airport, awaiting my departure. While I’m excited for my destination, I’m not so excited about the time between here and there. My family never flew much when I was growing up, and I’ve never been on a plane for longer than 4 hours. Also, I’ve only flown once by myself, and that was one-way directly from Chicago to Denver. I have horrible flight anxiety, and no words of reassurance seem to help. Yes, I know that flying is way safer than driving a car. I’ve seen the video of a toothpick in Jello. I’ve learned as much about planes as I can understand. I’ve even been told that many flight attendants have trouble sleeping without turbulence. Still, the metal tube in the sky freaks me out. I despise airplanes, but I hope today changes my mind. Some of you can relate to my fear, and I want to reflect on each of my flights to see how my attitude evolves.

MTJ to Denver International Airport (DIA); 7:20am – 8:45am MST

            I’m so grateful that I live in a small town that happens to have an airport. I got there at 5:45am, checked my bag, went through TSA, filled up my water bottle, had coffee and a muffin, then had an extra ~15 minutes before boarding at 6:45am. The flight to Denver is comically short. The time spent in the air is roughly 45 minutes, which was a nice warm-up for the rest of my trip. Surprisingly, I was calm enough to completely focus on my book the entire time. There was a little turbulence when landing in Denver, but I was mostly unbothered. My relaxation was probably because I wasn’t in the sky long enough to really start overthinking, but I’m just going to tell myself that I’m cured.

DIA to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL); 11:20am MST – 5:02pm EDT

            This one started off with a lot of turbulence, and I was gripping my armrest like my life depended on it for the first half hour. I couldn’t focus on my go-to distractions like books or movies, and the only thing I could pay attention to was the progress bar at the bottom of the entertainment screen. After that, though, the rest of the flight was very smooth and comfortable. The middle seat in my row was empty, so the other girl and I were able to spread out a bit more. There was turbulence when flying over Iowa, and I did freak out a little bit. However, I think my added comfort made it a little easier this time. This flight was uneventful, and I was suspiciously calm. I did, however, like seeing Montréal from above. I’d never been to Canada, or very far north at all, so it was cool to be there for a couple hours. Even if it was just a layover.

YUL to Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport (CMN); 6:50pm EDT – 7:00am GMT+1

             This flight was even less eventful than the last, and I don’t think I was scared once over the whole seven hours. I would even say that I enjoyed myself this time. I also enjoyed that we departed from Montréal at sunset and arrived in Casablanca at sunrise, both of which were gorgeous. It set a wonderful tone for the rest of my day in Casablanca.

             The Montréal airport was very warm, so I took off my sweatshirt. Wearing my sweatpants and tank top, I got in with my boarding group. I looked up and down the line and immediately noticed that I was likely the least covered person there. I packed conservative warm-weather clothes in my backpack for when I landed in Morocco, but I didn’t even think about how that would translate to the flight. I put my hoodie back on when I got to my seat, even though I was boiling alive. The way people dressed on the flight makes perfect sense, but it caught me off-guard. Lesson learned.

Leaving CMN; 10:30am GMT+1

            I do think that traveling all day made me way more comfortable with flying. I expected myself to keep writing about my fears, anxieties, and bad experiences. Instead, my content for you today is pleasantly mundane. It’s kind of silly– I spent months being terrified rather than excited for this adventure just because I had to fly. My fear of flying has always been a huge deterrent from the idea of traveling, and now it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Maybe the best way to get over flight anxiety is just by getting on more planes. I guess my takeaway from today is that, if I’m scared to do something, I need to force myself into a position where I can’t avoid it. I’m sure I’ll revisit this lesson repeatedly over the next three months, so I’m glad I learned it now.

My Path to Morocco

Published on by Mattie EmbreyLeave a comment

I’ve been determined to study internationally since early high school. In fact, I was accepted into my regional Rotary Youth Exchange program during my sophomore year and was selected to spend my entire junior year in Italy. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, myself and all other students in the program stayed in the United States. Preparing for this experience was one of the most exciting times of my life, and its cancellation was one of my biggest disappointments. While I’m grateful for the memories I made with friends and extracurriculars during my junior year at Montrose High School, the “Italy thing” has been a sore subject over the past five years. This setback, after some grieving, only strengthened my resolve to pursue international travel in college. Despite the disappointment, I’ve come to view this as critical motivation for my choices moving forward.

My family has lived in Colorado for the past 5 generations, and I was determined to go somewhere new for college. My initial desire was to attend high school in Italy, and this translated to interest in colleges outside my home state. However, that obviously didn’t happen. I was intrigued by the University of Denver’s study abroad program, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to fulfill those unrealized dreams. I embraced this path, choosing Italian as my required language sequence and eventually adding an Italian minor. All signs seemed to point to the Italian peninsula, from my language studies to my history with the country. Yet, I’m just over a week away from spending a semester in Africa.

The decision to study in Morocco came as a surprise, but it’s a surprise I’m definitely excited about. As I was browsing DU’s list of partner programs, I found that the ISA Meknes program had everything that I was looking for in my time abroad: courses that complement my major, service-learning opportunities, and it reminded me of my long-standing goal to learn multiple languages. I’ve had the idea in the back of my head since I was very young that I wanted to become multilingual. Now, I’ll have the opportunity to learn Arabic and brush up on my high school French (although, I’ve forgotten everything past “Bonjour, je m’appelle Mattie”).

So here I am, about to take a path I never saw coming. Morocco wasn’t even a brief consideration a year ago, but now it occupies every part of my mind. I haven’t left yet, leaving me with little expertise in this subject. However, if I was to give future study abroad students one piece of advice, it would be to keep your mind open. Even if you’re set on a particular country, still take a look at what everything else has to offer. You can either become even more confident in your initial choice, or you can find something you never knew you wanted. What started as a 15 year-old’s anticipation of Italy evolved into a 20 year-old’s adventure in North Africa. And I wouldn’t change a single thing about that.