The One Month Wall

Today I'm subject to that strange feeling all year abroad students get, the “one month wall”. Having survived the past four weeks is quite a big milestone, especially for someone like me who jumped (or more realistically, skydived) from the no inhibitions partying of first year into a more study-intensive second year, without actually feeling like a second year student, more like an in-transit Fresher who hasn't quite made it yet.

A lot of things have happened over the past month, from sorting out our housing, trying to become fluent in the local dialect, or travelling to the desert. And studying A LOT. University here has slowly started to take its toll thanks to the abnormally early starts on a Thursday and Friday, having to wake up even before the cockerel-shaped alarm clocks that are in the Medina here sound for the crack of dawn. Thankfully, we get a new timetable next week for the rest of the year, which we're hoping is a lot less strenuous.

Another event which is fast approaching is the Islamic New Year which happens in about a fortnight, and consequentially means HOLIDAYS. One huge advantage of following typical university semester dates whilst in a country observing Islamic traditions is that you get an extra little holiday that wouldn't exist in the normal academic calendar. We've all worked out that there's practically a reading week's worth of days off, so travelling is the priority for when the times comes. The majority of the students have decided to head to the Catalonian dream city of Barcelona, whilst others have gone with a return to Leeds, which leads onto the next topic of being “university sick”.

The pictures bombarding social media sites from the past two weeks of the drunken antics of the student masses, or put more basically, the sheer end of summer carnage on campus is enough to make anyone miss university life, especially when you’re not even in the same country, making even the slightest attempt to get back there for one night impossible. But in typical “the glass is always half full” mentality that has to be taken in this situation, there is always something to do here to get one up over all those people who are suffering from “Fresher’s flu” including the weather which is still in the 30’s, and the ridiculously inexpensive train tickets that take you from one side of the country to another, making Morocco a travellers paradise.

A final thing to cover is last week’s desert trip. Despite being cooped up in a minibus with other students for seven hours (and in the process driving them absolutely insane) the weekend definitely felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Hopes were almost dashed when we were told there was a sandstorm, but no one backed out and went on with the first part of our journey, a camel trek. It took three hours to get to the oasis against the constant battering from flying sand, and by the time we arrived, I couldn't feel the lower half of my body, but the night was incredible. There was traditional Berber dancing, a dinner, then we spent the rest of the night stargazing, which is much better than the many attempts tried back at home since each star that we could physically see was clear, uninterrupted by the light pollution that’s graced modern day society. Something which topped even that was the sunrise in the morning, which I happily woke up at five o’ clock for. All in all, it was easily one of the best trips that I've taken in my time as a student. Just to leave you with something, here are a few pictures taken by myself and my house mate of said sunrise.