Hiking in the mountains!

Yesterday was a five hour orientation into the school...awful...they basically told us to wash our hands, dress modestly, and study hard. After I went to one of the TA's offices to ask about some hiking trails I had heard about in the city. Maryam (a grad student here) gave me the name of a local campsite that is about six miles from campus--Ain Vitel. The director heard us chatting and ran out of her office and told me that I shouldn't go unless the hiking club went with me (there is EVERY type of club you can imagine here) and the Moroccan students won't be here until the middle of this week. I was craving and adventure and Maryam winked at me--so I grabbed a few people and went ahead. One guy, Jacob from Harvard, hunted down a map and found the way for us, and off we went!
IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT! The waterfalls that were promised weren't what I expected, but to get to Ain Vitel you have to hike up a rocky mountain. It was amazing. We decided the fastest way was to forgo the path and cut through the moutaintop. Agan, TOTALLY WORTH IT! The views were amazing--we saw farmers tilling with their donkeys and two little boys ran up to us asking for dirham in exchange for donkey rides. A few guys took them up on their offers. At Ain Vitel there were Moroccans bathing in the water and children playing in the falls. A few guys were riding their horses, which looked like they couldn't have been more than two, through the water and tried to get us to ride with them--again, for a few dirham. None of us though riding off into the sunset on an unknown horse with a peddling Moroccan should be in the day's schedule, so we passed up that offer.
At the top of the mountain I got to use my French skills when we came across another farmers bee hives. His angry donkey tried to neighed (is that what they do?) at us and almost charged, then he came from nowhere and saved the day.
Today I started my Arabic class. Although it's a beginners course, in two weeks we aren't allowed to use English on campus. I thought it was in class only, but it's throughout campus. I guess that's a good thing in the long run--but I'm the only one without an Arabic background, so I'm TERRIFIED! I'm guessing my French will be improving significantly.
I'm signing up for another class tomorrow which starts Thursday. The instructor promises the work load won't interfere with my Arabic because it's mostly done in class and on field excursions. Every weekend the class goes to different locations throughout Morocco and all travel expenses are included in the course load. There is an option (course D) that combines Arabic and North African Contemporary Issues that makes the course less than $500 more expensive--I would have spend that traveling independently throughout Morocco anyway. PLUS the course goes to some of the more remote areas of the country that I wouldn't have had the chance to see as opposed to the more touristy areas. There are two open weekends that I can still travel independently or stay on campus.
I still haven't met my roommate. She's supposed to get here tomorrow.
Here's some picture of campus and Ain Vitel! More to come! Miss you all!