Some things we did not expect to see in Morocco, but should have:

1) Fantastic beaches (one in Casablanca pictured here), and

2) Roman ruins. Here are just a few of the pictures of the restored site of Volubilus, which was once the southwest extreme end of the Roman empire (in about 700 BC I think).

I am also including a funny picture of Jack doing part of the Logistical Pre-port lecture before we arrived in Morocco. Why is he doing this, you may ask? Well, it’s a funny story… Each voyage there is a ship-wide auction held to raise money for future Semester at Sea scholarships (this isn’t a cheap voyage). Things that get auctioned off range from the mundane but surprisingly valuable (a jar of Nutella went for $65) to the exotic (5 nights in a hotel in Madagascar) to the unique to SAS (first to leave the ship in England, which went for $1200 I think). One of the SAS items was the chance to be the “Voice” of the ship for a day. Let me explain: each day, three times per day (at least) there are ship wide announcements. These cover things such as the sea depth and temperature, distance travelled since the last port, nearest land, as well as announcement of the day’s activities. Usually completed by Kevin Sternsberg, Assistant Executive Dean (shown in the picture with Jack) this was something Jack really wanted to do. The bidding was fierce, but we won that item, and Jack did the announcements for a day. He loved it, and everyone thought he was pretty funny. (When I get better internet, I will post a short video). Kevin very nicely followed up with a chance for Jack to do the opening of the logistical announcements necessary before we arrived in Morocco (we’ve got that on video as well). Jack improv’d pretty well, and it was funny.

So, here are some pictures of the beach, the ruins, and Jack speaking in front of about 500 students.