la joie de vivre

This saying, la joie de vivre, is what Professor Rym Kaki described to our small class as "the Tunisian way of life". Translated, it means the joy of life or living. Tunisia, despite being a small developing country, was to me a beautiful place with a different way of life. Rules were not so enforced, people were friendly and hospitable (when they weren't skeezy Tunisian men), and all the food was fresh and delicious. Tunisia strikes me as having a great deal of potential. Despite being a non-oil drilling country and 40% of its land belonging to the barren Sahara Desert, Tunisia is rich in agriculture and able to export a great deal of production to France and other European countries. Tunisia also boasts an incredibly educated workforce, considering they have invested heavily in higher education in the last fifty years. It has certainly paid off for them, as a high number of engineering and scientific development countries have invested in production and design from Tunisian labor. Last of all which I find enamoring is that Tunisia is the most peaceful country in the MENA region. They only devote a few percent of their national budget to developing armed forces.

Anyways, my two weeks there was well spent and I wish I could have further explored that region of the earth. Hopefully during my semester in Spain I'll be able to visit Morocco and possibly Egypt.

a few teasers along the journey...

Here's the beautiful Mediterranean beaches of Carthage!

This is the Medina, where our hostel was nestled in a little avenue called Rue Saida Ajoula. These souks line the main streets of the medina.


This is just a capture of a necklace stand in the medina. I figure drea would appreciate this one.


This is the foyer of the hostel we stayed at. It was truly gorgeous, with a 3-story ceiling and mosaic everywhere.

ahhhhh, tunis.

It has been a great eventful week since I landed in Tunisia nearly one week ago. The voyage was long, with a few hours in Paris (I just had to purchase an 8 euro baguette), and finally landing in Tunis meeting Noor and Mohammad. What a grand surprise it was to step into our hostel! It was like an old palace with mosaic everywhere, tiled walls an floors, intricate artifacts decorating each wall. The main area was a foyer like the foyer of a castle. It was bright and beautiful and nested in the windy roads of the Medina. Despite getting lost over and over, the location was perfect for shopping, chilling, and drinking mint tea with some shisha.

Some interesting things about Tunisia however:

• it is cold to my dismay! gets down to like the 50s and 40s at night, and in the medina there was no heat. and i packed no sweatpants. Hence, my cold and sinus congestion right now. This will be a reminder to me for packing in the future.
• There are stray cats everywhere! and garbage. The streets are littered with it. Every couple of feet, another pile of garbage and another couple of stray cats. I think I see 100 a day. That is not an exaggeration.
• Shawarma! This delicious mysterous meat that comes in sandwiches with some mayo and sauces and the best, FRENCH FRIES in your sandwich! Schquita's Shawarma will be open soon.
• Men vs. Women. Men seem to win. With catcalls, and a sstreet full of men at almost all hours of the day, women are rather soft spoken here compared with Europe and the States. However, progress is being made and many women are branching into the workfield. Men still treat us tourist women like we're so easy though.
  
• TUNISIAN DINAR. 1,298 dinar = 1 dollar. but 1,000 dinar=1 dinar, and ,500 dinar= .5 dinar. In the end we just say three comma fivehundred for a shawarma and a fanta.

The trip so far has been eventful! Every day with Dash, our nonchalant professor, is packed with activities, and a few hours of boring class. Yesterday was a day spent in the Mediterranean Sea-side blue and white town of Sidi Bou Said, which our group has affectionately dubbed "The Bou". The shopping there is great and villas line every street. Yet every day has a few painful hours of lecturing, just a reminder of semesters gone by and previous lectures skipped. A small price to pay though, in this unique city.

Embarkment at last!

Finally, the semester has come to a close, and I find myself sitting in an airport about to go on many first-evers.

First-ever flight alone.
First-ever flight to Africa.
First-ever ability to get FREE wifi in an airport, let alone the monstrosity of wifi-conglomery that is IAD.

8 hours from now, I will be landing in Paris, and 6 hours from then, I will finally be in Tunis, Tunisia. brb, north africa!