Greetings from North Africa! I arrived in Fes at about 1am Thursday, after flights to Newark, Lisbon, and Casablanca. Surprisingly enough, my luggage actually made the entire trip with me (thanks: Continental, Portugalia, and Royal Air Maroc). Rami Aziz, an assistant to the Vice President of the university, met me at the airport and took me to my apartment in Ifrane.

The campus is deserted now, but the town is very much alive. This is the height of the tourist season, and Ifrane is a popular summer vacation destination for Moroccans.  We're only 60km from Fes and Meknes, but the climate here is significantly different. Here in the middle Atlas mountains, the summer days are pleasant (whereas Fes gets high temperatures around 40ºC) and the nights are cool. There are thousands of tourists here, and in the evenings, the streets are crowded late into the night.

Very few people outside of the university speak English here. If you don't look like a native (and I don't), then they will speak to you in French. As a result, my French is steadily improving.

bob@bobinmorocco.com