Life is ups and downs, don’t let the downs destroy your dreams.

After finishing high school, life has been just wonderful. I was accepted for all the entrance exams of the schools and universities I have applied to, such as medicine, engineering, architecture, and even the naval academy.

I can’t forget how my parents and my whole family were proud of my results. Suddenly, I became a celebrity and I was receiving gifts and greetings, from some family members that I have never met before in my life, like a cousin of my father, or his son. It’s a very Moroccan thing ^^

I was the only one accepted on the main list from my high school to join Prepa, for those who don’t know it, this is a very selective program after high school that prepares students to enter Moroccan or French Grandes Ecoles. It is an intensive two years of Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Philosophy, Chemistry, … almost everything.

I knew from the very beginning that this was what I want. Still, I wanted to pass all kinds of entrance exams, to gain more experience and also I used it as an excuse to travel around Morocco.

Entrance Exams

Since I already got the school I wanted, I was not taking the entrance exams so seriously. I wasn’t prepared or ready for anyone, I would just decide to go very spontaneously.

I had a lot of funny stories, really a lot haha, I will just pick one in this blog.

ENA

In 2009, ENA was still the only architecture school in Morocco. We were only two from my city (population +300.000 ) to be selected for passing the entrance exam.

By coincidence, I was in Rabat to help my aunt to paint her apartment when the exam was going to take place. So I decided to give it a try.

I went there, the first thing that caught my attention was that 90% of the students spoke only in French. I was really confused and thought at the beginning that they might be French. There was only another guy who seemed to be confused. I somehow felt directly that he was like me, Science Math from a popular background. And he really was. ^^

We were the only two in the room who spoke only Darija (Moroccan Arabic). We then decided to talk to the other people. Most of them studied in French or private schools in Casablanca or Rabat. Apparently, they speak more French than Moroccan dialect there.

I was still confident, because, I was thinking that we will have some Math exams, then I can rock ^^. Well, there was no Math exam at all. We had three exams, the first was drawing, the second was commenting on a picture and the third one was presenting all of it to a jury in French.

I have to admit, if there is any skill that I lack, it is drawing. I am really bad. We had to draw a very complicated figure, I decided to draw it super small to hide all the errors. ^^
During the interview, they asked me why did I draw it small, I told them, very innocently, I thought we would have to draw other figures on the same paper, thus, I just let space for the rest. Then, they asked me if I can draw it again in front of them in an A4 format. haha, I couldn’t hide anymore, I simply told them, I can, but I am not super confident it will be wow.

I got the results after, no surprise, I was not admitted to this school.

That was the only one that I wasn’t accepted the entrance to. All the other exams I passed were successful, because there was Math in all of them ^^

By the way, I really love art.

Prepa

After the fun summer, it was time to start a new journey at Prepa Ibn Taymia in Marrakech. It was the first time that I had to leave my parent’s house in Safi to live in another city. I remember when my uncle told me “Home won’t be home anymore after you leave” It took me quite some time before I could realize what he really meant.

It was a very important step in my life to leave my city and go to study in Marrakech. It was the beginning of a long adventure that I am still living till today.

Ibn Taymia, was a very special place. It gathered the best students from the whole region of Marrakech, Safi, Essaouira, Ouerzazate and a lot of other cities nearby.

They all were used to being the top of their classes and they were there to be first. I would say it was one of the most competitive and intense two years ever in my life.

All we did was to study, eat, study, eat, study, toilet, and study again. Some exceptional students were sleeping 3–4h / day during two years.

There were different options that one can choose, I was MPSI, which focuses more on Math.

I was decided to be one of the top students. I was pretty successful in achieving this goal at the very beginning. I managed to be the major of the very first Math exam. I was so glad.

What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger

Life is not always up, it will go down at a certain point. It is just part of the randomness and imperfection of this world.

A lot of my classmates & friends, till today, don’t know that life has been really super down for me just some time after starting Prepa.

During my first year, the problems between my parents increased. My mother tried her best to not let me know, but, I could feel something was going on, and then I knew what was going on.

The whole year was chaotic for me, my brothers and my parents.

The summer between the two years of prepa, finally, my parents decided to divorce. Suddenly, two houses, two sides. It was a bad divorce.

Since I was the oldest brother, also because it was in Morocco, I suddenly had a lot of responsibility toward the family and I had to play the role of a father for my brothers. I had to make sure they will focus on their studies.

It wasn’t easy to manage my highly demanding studies & my new family context.

Still, I decided to do my best.

Grandes Ecoles

During the two years I spent at Ibn Taymia, I developed more and more a passion for Computer Science.

I was more interested in French Grandes Ecoles. I wanted to leave Morocco and try to study abroad. Wasn’t it my dream since I was a kid.

The main issue was that the French exams were 2 months before the Moroccan exams. After a few months of starting the second year, I started worrying that if I follow the rhythm of our class, we won’t finish most of the subjects before the French exams. Thus, I decided to take the risk of not attending any class any more and just learn by myself and try to get ready on time.

The exams were approaching. I was still worried that I am not ready enough, but I was also excited that I am finally traveling abroad.

The cool thing was that if you study in Prepa, usually the process of getting a visa is easier. Still, I had to convince my uncle who is living in France to be my guarantor. He accepted :)

I got my visa :D

First destination ever outside Morocco, was to Toulouse. I will never forget the airport of Blagnac.

Honestly, when I just arrived, I was expecting a cutting edge technology, maybe some electromagnetic city trains, flying cars, … from all the futuristic keynotes and videos I saw online. Well, I wasn’t impressed, maybe because I raised my expectations so high.

I arrived at my uncle’s place, he lives in a beautiful apartment in the city center.

Suddenly, I forgot about my exams and I just wanted to go out and discover. Even, when I started passing the exams, I was always doing a lot of activities after, like swimming, cinema, watching football in some bars, sightseeing or shopping. It was a bad thing to travel the first time directly to pass exams, I really couldn’t focus only on my exams.

Everything was super new for me, even during the exams I would stare at people, I was curious about everything, the room, people, teachers.

I went back to Morocco, after one amazing week.

After a while, I received the great news that I succeeded in the written exams. They were 70 out of 200 to pass the written exams from my Prepa in Marrakech, only 40 made it to the oral exams in Paris.

I traveled alone to Paris, I still remember the hotel and the room where I stayed exactly, hotel F5 Saint-Ouen.

Another adventure began, I was impressed by the city this time, because my expectations were adjusted after my first trip, and also because it was the first worldwide famous city I visit.

I passed successfully the oral exams. Only 17 students made it this time, and only 6 could integrate later on one of the schools in France.

Stay positive, work hard, make it happen

My mother is the source of all the positivity I am having in life. She always pushes me to be brave and to do things even when they seem impossible, if she can solve a problem today, she won’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow is another day. It’s crazy, but somehow it really works.

Moreover, I had a huge support from my uncle living in Morocco, from my grandfather who just loved education and people who are willing to study. I was lucky to have an uncle living in France already which is not the case for a lot of people, it was just a beautiful gift of random life to have someone who can support me when the administrative things in France.

What happened to me in these two years taught me one very important lesson in life, there is no point in looking for an excuse to justify your failures to the world. Of course people will show empathy when you say you are poor, sick, or having any other conditions. But, if you really look inside you, you know that you can do better than just explaining how shitty your life is for people.

Focus on doing your best.

All the people have their ups and downs. When you are down, take some time, but make sure to stand up again & work hard for your dreams.

Never give up. If you want to be special, you have to overcome your weak moments in life.

To be continued…

Cheers from Berlin
Zak

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