Blog 1 : Self-Introduction from Rabat to Columbus

Hello! My name is Issam Boukabou and I am 26 years old. I was born in Rabat, which is the capital city of Morocco in North Africa. Rabat is located on the Atlantic coast and is divided into the Medina (old city) and the Ville Nouvelle (new city, built by the French). Moroccan Arabic and French are the most common languages you'll hear on the streets of Rabat. I spent 17 years there, going to school and then attending university, where I studied mathematics. While I was in the final semester of my master’s program, I had the opportunity to become a government teacher of high school math. I quit one month later because it was far away from my university and not what I was expecting. When I graduated I had a feeling that it might be a good time to study abroad and get away from home, so after two months, I left when I was accepted to the Technology and Enterprise Creation University in Paris, France. During my second semester, I got a green card to come to the U.S. When I first told my family where I was going, they immediately expected me to say something like New York, Washington, or Miami, because in my country not many people have heard of Ohio. I have lived in Columbus since 2010. My first two months were not easy, because I had no friends, no plans, and I was not able to speak English, but things are getting better now. I got a job with O.S.U and I’m in the process of transferring my school credit from my country and starting a new major which I always dreamed about. In fact, life seems happy here. Most of the people are very nice and they always want to help, and I love Ohio teams like the Bengals, The Ohio State Buckeyes, the Columbus Crew, and the Cincinnati Reds.