The most wonderful place of all...

WARNING: Before you read this, just realize it's the longest thing ever and I won't be offended if you don't read it all (but you will be missing out on hearing about the most wonderful place in the world)

I really don’t know how to start this. Maybe that’s why I’ve been putting this off for so long, I’m not sure how to describe this place, nothing I say is going to explain all we did, describe the things we saw or in anyway make it so people can comprehend the experience I had over there. The way I felt about Tunisia is what I was expecting to feel when I came to Rome. Don’t get me wrong, I do love Rome, but it’s not a place that I completely feel at home, nor would I want to live here for real. It’s a place that’s great to explore and get to know over a couple of months, but I don’t think I could ever or want to call it home. The second I stepped off the plane, I fell head over heels in love with Tunisia. By the end of the night I was completely infatuated with it, or whatever other verb you can insert into that that’s stronger than love, I honestly don’t think there’s any one word that can describe the way I feel about this country and its people. I feel as though I’m going to end this very long post, and feel like I’ve missed so many things but I’m going to try my best to just give you a taste of my favorite place in the world.

We left Rome on Friday morning and flew less than an hour and a half to Tunis, the capital which is the closest part of Africa to Italy. It’s amazing to me how less than a couple hundred of miles can separate cultures so completely. Tunisia is a 98% Muslim country and not your typical African country, it can be likened more to a Middle Eastern country but you know you’re in Africa. So for all those people who kept saying I wasn’t going to the REAL Africa, all I have to say is there’s no way to stereotype a country as big and great as Africa and to think that only small villages of black faces with lions and elephants surrounding them is honestly narrow minded. Northern Africa isn’t a place that gets as much attention, but it’s just as wonderful and its people just as beautiful as the southern part of the continent.  Anyways, we got off our plane, it was warm and sunny, and were immediately introduced to our tour guide Majhit who’s been the tour guide for our particular trip for at least the past 5 years. We then went to the U.S. embassy and listened to talks from the ambassador and 4 or 5 other officials, who went over the relations between the U.S. and Tunisia and also covered our security since at times we would only be as far as 10 km away from the Algerian border. Afterwards we went to our first hotel which was in Gammarth right outside of Tunis. A little side note about our hotels on this trip, forget those 11 euro hostels I’ve been staying in, they were all 4 or 5 star hotels and resorts, two of them right on the beach, the first and the last. We walked in and you could hear all 70 of us just sigh in contentment. Morgan, Courtney (two girls from SLU that I met over here and were my roommates all week in Tunisia) and I ran outside to the pool area. Unfortunately it was not quite warm enough to lay out in our swimsuits but that didn’t stop us from grabbing a seasonal fruit juice from the bar and just soaking up the sun in our clothes. We also walked the 50 steps out to the beach and ran in the sand for a little, I was in bliss. Next came the food. Oh my God, the food. Most of the meals we had were buffets at dinner, and then 3 course meals for lunch. It was all delicious and all Tunisian. Lamb, cous cous, rice, chicken, fresh fish, fried egg crepe things that are the best things in the world.  And dessert only got better. I don’t want to think about how much I ate in those 10 days.

We spent Saturday morning listening to a University of Tunis professor talk about Muslim states and what defines the Middle East and what doesn’t,  and how Tunisia compares. They’re very proud of the fact that they’re a considerably liberal Muslim country, women are free to dress as they want, can study and get any job they want for the most part, and Islam isn’t the declared state religion, there is none despite the majority of Muslims, people are free to worship as they wish. We learned even more about Tunisia and its culture when we went to lunch with Tunis law students. Our group had lunch with two sisters, one of who is a newly appointed judge and the other is studying in law school. Despite our warnings before the lunch about being delicate about what we asked them, they were the most curiously open and straight forward women. We talked about everything from Desperate Housewives to Tunisians view on America to our views on Obama and to Islamic and Catholic views on abortion. Oh also, since Tunisia used to be a French colony, it’s a bilingual country of French and Arabic. Everyone speaks Arabic at home and to friends, but school is taught in French, and then around 10 years old or so they have to learn English. I can barely speak Italian and remember only a few years of French from high school. It just amazes me how these other, what are viewed as poorer and more illiterate countries just trounce us in certain areas, if America was smart they would force students to really learn another language because the worlds changing and everything may be catered to Americans and in English but soon we’re going to have to know Chinese or French or some other language to stay where we want in the world. After lunch another professor spoke on Muslim women in Tunisia and then the sisters and some of their friends took us into the Medina, or market place.  The markets are part of the reason I love Tunisia so much, not just because you can get ridiculously cheap souvenirs and gifts but because of the vendors themselves. They all promise that only they have the real thing and only they will give you the best price, and they genuinely just want to talk. The second we walked into the Medina we were all but dragged into a shop. Eya, one of the sisters batted people away and helped us navigate through everything. We were on a mission to buy hookahs and even though we had been give guidelines about the art of bargaining, having the girls there ensured we got real ones and a good price. I could have spent hours there that first day bargaining and just wandering throughout the Medina soaking everything in.

The next couple of days consisted of mosaic museums, visits to Carthage and the North African American cemetery (which is the only American cemetery in Africa and holds the remains of over 3,000 American soldiers that lost their lives there during WWII).  We also went to the Colosseum which you never hear of because of the one in Rome but honestly I loved this one more than the one in Rome. Tunisia holds so many ancient Roman sights and never gets any credit or recognition for them.  We spent a lot of time on the buses these Sunday and Monday as we made our way down to the Southern part of Tunisia. We stopped for a lot of things including the troglodyte cave dwellings. Literally houses made in the mountains and sand, and people still live in them, as they have for centuries. The government now helps support them so they can continue to live out there but so they can receive more medical attention and schooling. We were actually allowed by one woman to enter her home and it was so humbling to see how she lived and how they can make it work. We then went to the Star Wars bar which is where the scene with the big ugly monster evil guy sits and keeps Princess Leah in chains. Obviously I’m not that good at my Star Wars knowledge. We were able to sit down and they bought us each two beers. Our hotel that night was fashioned after the troglodyte homes we had seen earlier so our room was modeled after a cave, not my favorite hotel but definitely a unique experience.

Tuesday=Camels and Saharaaa. The day we had been waiting for. We got up and went further south in Douz, which is an oasis town in the Sahara and went on our camel ride. It was so much fun and they dressed us with turbans, we had one guide for every six of us who walked us around and led our camels, mine was named Mishshu. And sure enough within 10 minutes of our start we had some Arabian knights come and approach us. One of the things we had been warned about was the Arabian knights that would try to grab you off your camel and take off to Algeria with you, which if that happened, you probably wouldn’t be coming back. Luckily half of the ones we saw were pure tourist ploys that went along with the camel ride. I actually got off my camel and went and got on one of the Arabian’s horse and rode it for a little much to the dismay of our leaders. Luckily the real Arabian knights stayed relatively far away. After that we prepared for the desert. We were able to go to one more market and buy blankets or cloaks if we wanted them for the night. Tommy, Morgan and I all bought these jedi looking cloaks there were insured to keep us warm despite the freezing temperatures at night. We took 4x4 jeeps out to the desert and began to set up camp. After we did that we just went out to the dunes and sat there for what must have been 3 hours. It was unlike anything I’ve ever done, the dunes were beautiful with the sand constantly changing and moving and the sun setting in front of us, we just sat down in silence and took everything in. unfortunately I couldn’t bring my camera out because it would get ruined with the sand so you’ll just have to take my word for it but it was one of those things where you just marvel at what God can create. After sunset, we added some layers and went to the fire that had been started. They (the Tunisian men who set up these desert adventures) were making our bread for dinner which they placed underneath the sand and fire and cooked it like that. It was the most delicious bread I’ve ever eaten, the tiny bit of sand that was on the outside only made it that much better. They served us a delicious dinner in a room where we sat cross legged on the floor and ate out of rustic bowls. Then there was a bigger bonfire complete with drums, singing and dancing.  They started off with showing us their traditional dancing and got us all to join in, this lasted for at least 2 hours and when they finally retired. We sat around the bonfire till at least 1, talking, singing songs and trying to keep as warm as possible. We finally went into our tent to try to go to sleep, I had leggings and jeans on, 3 shirts, a sweatshirt, northface and my jedi cloak and I would have been fine except I didn’t put enough socks on so my feet were freezing. I got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep and then we were woken up to the sunset. It was spectacular; it took my breath away and left without a thought in my head. The sun rose way too fast. We got back in the jeeps and went to grab breakfast at a hotel and try to clean up a little. We smelled AWFUL. We had already reeked because of the camel ride, but then add the fact that we every pore in our body was clogged with sand, we spent 5 hours by a bonfire and slept in tents and were covered in blankets that I’m pretty sure had been used on camels before, we were disgusting. As we peeled off our layers, sand rained down and covered the floor. My face was coated in sand and every part of my body felt gritty. This was at 8 in the morning and it would be another 7 hours till we could shower.

Our hotel after the desert was amazing, a spa resort way up in the mountains. We took jeeps to get up there and saw the most beautiful landscape. The desert with mountains in the background and random oasis everywhere. We stopped twice, first at a salt lake, and then in a little village right at the foot of the mountains. Our tour guide took us way back into the mountains behind it on a little adventure. Now keep in mind that we had all gotten on average 3 hours of sleep right now, hadn’t showered in quite awhile and were still coated in sand. I for one was not that happy with this side trip we were taking but that completely changed once I saw the oasis tucked into the mountains. Right when you turned the corner behind you saw the most beautiful pond of water that was coming out from the cliffs, there were trees in it and covering it, and our guide asked us to be silent, close our eyes and just listen for 5 seconds, and we just heard birds and frogs and the sound of water running right in the middle of the desert. After that, we finally got to our hotel which over looked some ruins and was fantastic. A lot of people got massages at the spas and we just chilled for the rest of the day.

The next day was jeep riding day. We got in our 4x4 jeeps again and rode out back into the Sahara, we made a couple stops at the camel mountain and star wars village set, and in between those we were offroading on the sand dunes. It was so much fun and probably one of my favorite days.  You really haven’t been off-roading until you’ve done it on sand dunes. You go straight up these ginormous piles of sand and then straight down, and then you on the side of them and feel like you’re about to tip. It was so much fun. And we also stopped and got to play around on one, and run down and jump off, I felt like I was a kid on the playground again.

The last couple of days we went to Kairouran which is famous for its rug making and went to a rug store and sat in the showroom while they showed us the different types of rugs they make and said how much they are. Some of the rugs took over 3 years to make, and the most expensive one was well over $600,000! We also went to the mosque there which is the 6^th holiest site in the Islamic religion. All of the girls in our group covered our heads with scarf’s to show respect for their religion and it was a very moving and eye-opening experience. Saturday which was our last full day we had the day to ourselves in the town of Hammamet. Tommy, Courtney and Erin and I went into the Medina there to get last minute souveniours. I got a lot of stuff and did really well on my bargaining but that might have been because of my hair color and eye color. One of the shop owners fell in love with me and wanted to trade Tommy 35,000 camels for me. His friend joined the competition and offered 1,000 camels and two Ferraris. Morgan and I also got pedicures at the spa at the hotel and it was so nice, especially after all the walking I’ve been doing over here. This hotel was definitely one of my favorites, it had everything. We got complimentary drinks when we walked in, there was a spa, a hookah bar where we went the first night, shows put on with Tunisian men that included dancing, snakes and swords, and Courtney, Morgan and I even got upgraded to a suite! The trip came to a close way to soon, and I was not at all happy to be back in Rome. If another guy had come up offering camels for me at the airport I would have probably taken him up on it just to stay in Tunisia. (Just kidding mom)

Even though this is four pages long, I feel like I still didn’t really describe all the things we did. Well I know I didn’t say everything because that would be a novel, but it just feels incomplete, like I didn’t really describe why it was all so great and meaningful. So I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it, OR you could hop on a plane to Tunisia and experience a different part of Africa that is truly unique and wonderful. It’s a place I plan on visiting again and more than once. Weird how I had never even really heard of the country before this program, but then again most of us admitted to that when we came over. Love ya Tunisia.