The following journal is from TMN reporter Daniel Saenz, as he documents his semester studying abroad in Morocco.<\/i><\/p>\n
BY DANIEL SAENZ<\/p>\n
Seven million years ago, the movement of the Earth\u2019s plates produced what would later become one of the greatest spectacles the world has ever seen. The Sahara Desert (or Great Desert in Arabic) is almost a beautiful cliche at this point. From its wide sand dunes to the excellent view of the stars at night, the Sahara is truly a spectacle to be experienced. <\/span><\/p>\n It should be no surprise the grand landscape of the Sahara has served as a filming location for famous movies such as <\/span>Lawrence of Arabia<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Mummy<\/span><\/i>, and various movies about the life of Jesus Christ or about the Bible in general. Now, while all of this fine and good, what is it like for the average person who is not one of the warlords, mummies, or religious figures that we see in movies, but just an ordinary person who lives and works in the desert on a daily basis? <\/span><\/p>\n With the help of rigorous planning from some ambitious business students here at Al Akhawayn University, a group of other exchange students who were craving an adventure along with me was able to see the ordinary Sahara life for ourselves. <\/span><\/p>\n Upon arriving in the Sahara, we were treated to a nice tour of the exact filming location for a few battle sequences in <\/span>Game of Thrones<\/span><\/i> (a spectacle that many of us young <\/span>Game of Thrones <\/span><\/i>fans had been waiting for all trip). We were shown how some of the local Amazigh paint in their own special way. The Amazigh specialize in a painting style known as fire painting. In short, they use a type of invisible ink to paint their picture. To finish it off, they use fire to bring out the color. And of course, because so many tourists flood the Sahara, they have little shops where tourists can buy them for a relatively low price. I did not buy a painting, but I did, however, buy a necklace of with one of the Amazigh letters as the silver piece. <\/span><\/p>\n