Walking into the Marjam mall in Rabat is like taking a large step back into the U.S. You might think that this would be exciting, maybe even comforting, for a group of American students who just left the luxuries that America has to offer for three months in a developing country. In fact, it’s one of the few places in the city that you can buy alcohol, and possibly the only place you can get it during Ramadan. That seems like something that would probably appeal to six college-age men, right?

It didn’t. We actually couldn’t wait to get ourselves out.

The Marjam is basically the Moroccan version of Wal-Mart surrounded by upscale air-conditioned stores selling American clothes, toys, and jewelry. It is a 20 minute drive outside the center of the city, accessible only by car through a neighborhood that looks like it belongs in southern California. Moroccan men, women, and children filled up their shopping carts (thank God, not as big as the carts at Wal-Mart) with clothes and electronics and back-to-school notebooks and shrink-wrapped meat and frozen food and bottled water (lots of bottled water). Next-door at McDonald’s, parents ordered their children Happy Meals while sitting next to signs that read “Happy Ramadan.”

More disconcerting, however, than Muslim adults feeding their kids Big Macs during Islam’s most sacred month, was that the general skin tone of the Moroccans at the Marjam was noticeably lighter than what you see when you walk around Rabat’s old Medina. It seems that no matter where you go, lighter skin often comes with higher quality of life.

I say it was like taking a step back to the U.S. for a reason. Because, though Morocco may be number 130 on the UN’s Human Development Index, while America enjoys a spot much closer to the top, the Marjam represents all of the most disgusting things about America. It’s a reminder about all of our country’s vices—suburbia, consumerism, fast food, elitism—which we happily export across the ocean. I’ve only been here a week, but it seems to me that Morocco would be better off without them.