Friday, November 30, 2007

Tunisia

Tunis
November 21-25, 2007
Tunis is absolutly beautiful and it is the most surprising country I have been to.

Day 1
Victoria and I left campus at 11:00 to catch our 11:47 train to Stuttgart. We arrived in Stuttgart on time and caught our train to Strasbourg. When we arrived at Strasbourg train station, we wanted to check our bags so that we could explore the city a little before making our way to the airport. We had a couple of hours to kill, but the stupid baggage storage cost 4 Euro per locker and we could not share one. So we just decided to walk around with them. However, when we got to the front entrance of the train station, we noticed it was raining, and that really put a damper on things. We decided it was not the best of ideas to walk around with our suitcases and get them soaked, so we sat in McDonalds until we needed to leave. We ate some food, played some cards, and got harassed by a couple of guys, the usual!! Ha ha. Anyway, we made it to the airport after taking a tram and bus, checked in and boarded the plane. We arrived in Tunis at about midnight, got our bags then looked for our driver. At first we thought he was the wrong person but it was too late, we were already on our way!!! It was really the car that threw us off, we were expecting a nice town car, but instead got an old beat up, Toyota Camry! We arrived at the correct house and deduced that it was in fact the right person! We settled in and hit the sack!


Day 2
We slept yesterday’s travels off until about 10am and woke up to a beautiful day. We went downstairs where Nora, the housekeeper, was making breakfast because the cook was out. We had a nice breakfast, and then got dressed for the day. Since it was thanksgiving, we decided to stay around the house. Aunt Cynthia had a few meetings and an early dinner with the US ambassador for Tunisia. Victoria, Maraion and I went for a little walk around the neighborhood. We were looking for a specific shop, but got lost until we asked someone, then we realized we had passed it two times! After the walk, Victoria and I decided it was too nice to be inside, so we went to the roof. We brought towels, cards, and music with us and spent the next couple of hours basking in the glory of WARMTH. It reminded me a lot of Arizona. The sun was waning, so we went inside and changed just before the guests started to arrive. Shortly after the guests arrived, dinner was ready, and it was a fest fit for a king! We ate, talked and laughed until people slowly started to leave. After the last person left, we changed into our PJ’s and watched CSI. It was so nice to finally watch American TV!!!! (The military had a TV network she had access to!) We went to bed shortly after 11pm!


Day 3
Today we ventured out into the city with Marwin, the driver for the ambassador. We went to La Mensa, the Cartage and Sidi Bou Said were we saw a lot of local life, and visited many shops. We saw some amazing seaside views of Tunisia. We spent most of the morning out and about, until we got a call form the ambassador. We had to go to her office and pick her up. So we drove over to the African Development Bank and sat in her office and waited for her for an hour. Victoria and I played cards. We left, went back to the house and ate a late lunch. We then drove over to the Tunis City centre, which is the most famous shopping mall in North Africa. We spent an hour there, and then went back to the house to get dressed for the Gala to be held in Aunt Cynthia’s (ambassador) honor. The Gala was really nice, good food, and many inspiring speakers. We went home and went to bed for another long day!

Day 4
Today Marwin took us to Sousse, which is a beautiful coastal town south of Tunis, but there were a lot of tourists! We spent the morning there looked in the shops, bought some stuff, then drove back up the coast to Hammamet. This city was so amazing, very pretty, small and a lot to do in the off season. We ate lunch at a nice small restaurant, I had steak and eggs, it was delicious! Then we took some pictures on the beach and drove to Nabeul. Nabeul is known as “pottery town.” The town has more pottery than I have seen in my life! We spent an hour in one store, bought some bowls and other dishes, then went back to the house. We had dinner together, watched the Island on TV, then packed and hit the sack for another early morning.

Day 5
Today was a long day. We woke up at 8am and ate breakfast together. Then Marwin took us to the Medina where we bought a lot of random gifts. I bought Converse’s and Victoria bought a lot of Pashminas! Then we went back home and had a small lunch and said good bye to everyone. We arrived at the airport and the day of travel began! We didn’t get home until 12:30. We even missed our train, but everything worked out anyway! We had a great time.

Tunisia was a 5. As beautiful and amazing as it was, Tunisia it is not indicitive of Africa. Don't be fooled!

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