Allora... for my spring break I went to Tunisia from March 5th to the 14th. And all you really need to know is that it was AMAZING! So great that it has taken me this long to recover and to soak it all in to write about it, haha. I will do a little day by day entry now and then to follow will be an entry just of photos! This was a school trip so it was me and about 70 other students from my school. Where do I begin...
3/5- We flew from Rome to the captial Tunis, Tunisia and as soon as we landed we went to the American Embassy for a briefing on the country and it's relations with the US. One of the things we learned was how profressive Tunisia is compared to other muslim countries. The country speaks an arabic dialect and almost eveyone speaks french...so my italian was pretty much useless. After we checked into our fabulous hotel right along the Mediterrainian Sea, I had a balcony that overlooked the water, it was gorgeous! Our hotel had an amazing buffet, I anticipated eating fried crikets or some foriegn insect of some kind but I was very well fed and no insects yah! Later that night a bunch of us went to a hookah bar and in Tunisia hookah (they call it shee-sha) is a very social activity.
3/6- In the morning we had a guest speaker who informed of issues among Arab states and then we meet with Tunisian law students for lunch. They all spoke very good english and I was able to chat with one of the coolest people EVER- Afef. She is 25 years old and is from Tunisia and she keeps it real!!! She went shopping with me after in the market and helped me bargain with people in arabic, she was super fiesty, honest, so now her and I keep in contact on facebook. Her and I were comparing the mentality of women in the US and in Tunisia, she had some really interesting things to say. Shopping in the markets was an experience in itself, the men that work there speak so many languages and it if so funny how they try to draw you in their store. My favorite was, "your face is so enchanting I must see it from much closer" haha please.... but one guy guessed that I was mexican and I got so happy I bought something from him! After the market I went to a large catholic church for mass, which was in french....interesting.
3/7 This day we left Tunis for Carthage where we went to a museum full of Roman ruins...go figure. Then we had lunch along the beach, visited a mosque, an ancient Tunisian cemetary and an anciet Roman bath house. We also went to the only American cemetary in Africa of soliders that died in World War II. The cemetary beautifully honored everyone and I felt very fortunate to visit it for a general reason and not a personal one. Later we continued on to the city of Sousse where we stayed for the night.
3/8 In the morning we left for the city of El Jem where we saw more Roman ruins, a colosseum wanna-be, which was really cool! So...since going to Tunisia was a 21rst birthday present from my parents I wanted to celebrate my bday there....so I told everyone that today was my birthday haha! Anway we also went to a spice market, a couple site-seeing spots including a bar where they filmed a scene in Star Wars!! Apparently a lot of star wars was filmed in Tunisia (i'll demo w. photos) but at the bar everyone sang happy bday and bought me beer which was so funny!
3/9 Today was the best day of the trip!! We left for the city of Douz and along the way we stopped at some beautiful sites as we entered the Sahara Desert. We did a group camel ride but then we split into little groups and I got to be with my friend Tim who is soo fun and another girl Bess. Our camels names were Tarzone, Tim's was Sheba, and Bess's Jimi. I could go on and on about the camel ride, the whole time it felt so unreal! After the camel ride we went off roading to our camping site in jeeps in the middle of no where! The jeep ride felt like an Indian Jones ride, it was so crazy and hectic and great! I have some really great videos of all of us screaming. We got to the camp site like I said in the middle of no where!! It was GORGEOUS! We were just surrounded by dunes and soft Sahara sand. My friends and I sat on the highest dune around and watched the sunset and then we all gathered up for dinner- which was suprisingly really good! Our tents however... haha were pretty much blankets hanging from pieces of wood. But after dinner we had belly dancers peform and live traditional music and we all sang and danced around a huge camp fire....it was incredible to say the least. I barley got any sleep cuz I was so fired up and I could not close my eyes from the beautiful sky, you have never seen so many stars untill you go there!
3/10- We woke up bright and early to watch the sunrise and then we headed out on our jeeps again to Tamerza and along the way we stopped at a water fall, a salt lake and some other beautiful nature places. Then we finally got to our hotel to shower from all the sand. The Sahara sand is so fine, it get everywhere! I am still finiding it all over my room. Our hotel had a great view of some Saharan terrain!
3/11- We left the hotel in our jeeps and continued off roading in the desert for a couple hours. SO FUN!! it was literally a 2 hour disneyland ride with amazing views all around you. At one point we were driving right along the Algerian border! We went to the Star Wars village, where more scenes were shot and over some crazy big dunes and palm tree gardens. Then we went to see some Roman ruins in the city of Sbeitla.
3/12- This day we went to Tunisia's holiest city- Kairouan and we went to the 3rd most important Mosque in the world. We also went to a few other signifigant muslim buildings. We then headed to Hammet a large city near Tunis and this hotel that we stayed out felt like a cruise ship, you did not have to leave for anything and it had a beach entrance to the Meditterainian Sea. There was a hookah lounge there and after we went to a local discoteca. FYI Tunisia has amazing music!!! A lot of great house and techno sounds mixed in with their cultural tunes....I bought 2 cd's when I was there I liked it so much!
3/13- Our last full day was in Hammet and we finally got a free day so of course we went shopping and to the beach. At the markets I usually spoke italian, one to practise and to hopefully get a better deal! So I started talking to a vendor in italian and he was like "you speak italian like a mexican, you must be from Mexico, I think Guadalajara." I almost died!! Because you know my mamma is from there, it was the first time in my life someone had ever guessed that about me...I almost cried. Haha so I bought something from him too! On the way back we walked along the beach, it was lovely.... Then that night we went to the biggest discoteca in Tunisia, it was three stories, and soo much fun! We meet a ton of cool people, who thought we were the prettiest most interesting people ever! And I am keeping in contact with a few of them on facebook!
3/14- Sadly we had to leave Tunisia...back to Rome, I know right what a rough life. Sorry this entry is so long but I did not even scratch the surface on describing Tunisia or it's people. You have to go there for yourself to know and I highly suggest it, heck I will go with you so I can do it again! The entire trip I roomed with two chikas Katherine and Bridget who made everything even better they are sOOO fun and I will always remember our memories together ;)
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