Its been exactly one month since I’ve left the easy and comfortable life in Portland at my family’s house, and I’ve seen some great things so far.

Two weekends ago I took a group trip to an archeological site between Fez and Meknes that was the administrative center of the area in Roman Africa.

The intact and well-preserved mosaics from patrician housing was the best part of the entire site.

I’ve seen some pretty beautiful displays of food in the souqs.

And grosser ones, too.

(To be fair, this picture is not a very good representative of the meat market in Fez, as this is the one and only butcher that sells camel meat.)

I rode a camel through Saharan dunes, was awaken in the middle of the night by brightly shining moonbeams and watched the sun rise as I spit toothpaste into the sand. Regretfully, I left my camera at home, so the colors are best described as crayola crayons: the dunes a burnt sienna, the sky pacific blue and nothing else other than an occasional scraggly desert grass in yellow-green and lots and lots of camel pellets in plain old brown.