El On Thursday, April 5, 2018, another adventure in the field of science and research began with ICIJA. This time we went to Fez, Morocco with students from Cardinal Xavierre School, who represented ICIJA at the “PRINTEMPS des SCIENCES” Expo.
This trip was possible thanks to the collaboration of the associations from 5 different countries that participated in the MOBISCIENCES 2018 project through the Erasmus+ scholarships.
We left from the Zaragoza train station and after a long trip with a connection by plane from Barcelona, we managed to land at 20:45 at Fez Airport, where we were received by the volunteers of the Association de pettits dérouillards de Fès from Morocco, who brought us to the “Aubergue des Jeunes Fes”, our place of residence during these five days.
Once we were lodged, we went to have dinner and met the rest of the participants with whom we were going to live this great experience. Later, we had a little round of questions and games to get to know each other better.
On Friday 6th we visited Fez, where we could see the “Dar al-Makhzen” and a school of higher studies where we learned about sewing, jewellery, sculpture, etc… which served us to see other ways of study, and then we visited the area of the souk where we ate. In the afternoon we went to the place where the Expo would take place to prepare everything for the big day of the exhibition. Once we finished, we had dinner in a place near our hostel and later we played different board games typical of each country.
Saturday the 7th arrived, the big day. After breakfast, we went to the place of the expo where each country and group would present and defend their projects to the public. There was a diversity of scientific and research projects, both educational and personal, all of them very interesting and original. After the morning and part of the afternoon with exhibitions, the event was closed and prizes were given to the local participants from Morocco.
After the closing ceremony, we went to the most luxurious place of the city where we attended a jazz concert, which was an incredible experience that ended with many of the participants on the dance floor and encouraged the musicians to play more joyful and fun music.
Sunday 8th was the last day in Morocco. In the morning we recorded a small video of each one telling the experience and then we went to visit the “Jnan sbil” gardens. Then we went to eat typical food there, and later we went to visit one of the oldest schools that still exist, inaugurated in 1350 the “Medersa Bou Inania”. We finished the day with a shopping trip to the souk, where we had to test our haggling skills. And it couldn’t be another way to end the day than with a well-deserved farewell, dancing and playing various games. This experience has come to an end, but we will always remember it with great affection.
OnMonday 9th we took the plane back to Spain after saying goodbye to all the participants. In short, it was an incredibly enriching experience, as we were able to share knowledge and cultures between countries in a practical way for a week, which made us realize the differences to improve both personally and intellectually.
By David Lou