Blogging
From Abroad

Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that I would have spent Easter Sunday is Africa?! This trip was amazing… I experienced a lot of things I hadn’t experienced before.

Sad that we’re missing Easter Dinner back home…
but we can’t be tooo sad because we’re in AFRICA!!
The resort did have a pen of bunnies right in front of the restaurant with a sign that said happy easter! haha.

Thursday night we left Venice and had a layover in Frankfort for a few hours. There we got a german beer and pretzel (both equally as yummy) and then hopped on a plane to Tunisia, Africa. It was pretty much amazing. Arriving in the airport we all were so excited to be on a new and different continent. In Tunisia the locals speak either Arabic or French- so all the signs were in both languages. It kind of looked like a scribble to me and then had a french translation below it. I had never been in an Arabic country before so it was really interesting to see the language lit up in lights on the sides of buildings just like everywhere else. When we went through customs all the people seemed very nice and we were glad because we were a little nervous that since we were American they may not be the nicest towards us. Once we got our bags we proceeded to the van that we had arranged to pick us up. Well. Ok. So there were 16 of us- a driver and another guy with the driver and they brought an 8 person van. So 18 of us squeezed into this 8 person van and off we went. We stayed in Tunis which is the capital, and the President’s house was right by our resort… therefore, every 100-200 meters or so there were cops standing on the side of the road. Wellllll… our van got pulled over. ha! The driver ended up PAYING OFF the cop and then away we went to our resort. *WELCOME TO AFRICA! *ha.

Our resort was very nice. We were the only Americans there (with the exception of one, she was from Seattle, but now has since moved to England). In the cities around where we were all the buildings are white with blue shutters and doors- so that’s how our resort was as well. Our resort staff was real fun as well. I think they just liked practicing their english on us- so they alllllways were around talking to us. The 16 of us has such a great time doing all the dances by the pool that they taught to everybody. Ha! Since we’ve been back those songs are all we keep singing and we’re always busting into those dances. haha goooood times. goooood times.

The first day we were there a bunch of us decided that we thought a great way to see the sites of the city would be to go ATVing. It was an excursion that our hotel provided- so we took them up on it. My friend Jamie and I rode on one… she had driven one before- but I had not. Joeii always talked about how growing up he always four wheeled and since hearing him talk about it I’ve wanted to do it – So I was excited to be getting to do this! Jamie drove for the first half and then I drove of the second. It was soooo much fun racing them down the beach next to the Mediterranean Sea, through little forests, and right on the streets of Marsa and Carthage (two of the towns).

The second day all 16 of us decided to ride camels! It was funny cause the first time we had been out on the beach we were just laying there, relaxing- enjoying the sun and all of a sudden my friend Maggie yelled “Oh my gosh – guys! There’s camels walking right next to us”. And sure enough- there were some camels passing right on by!
Riding the camels was soooooooooooooo much fun!!! They took us all along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and then they led us back in the forest where there was an African Hut set up. They made us mint tea (awesome) over a little fire and we sat in the hut and ate this authentic bread stuff that is a typical snack. They also let us dress up in African dresses and take pictures and put this henna on our hands that was supposed to give us good luck. It was seriously one of the best afternoons ever- it was just so interesting to be thrown into the culture and given the chance to really experience it.

The third and final full day we had there we really wanted to go to the market to get some cool African jewelery… buttttttt of course the staff said the one we wanted to go to was closed, but gave us directions to another one instead. A short walk, two buses, and about 45 minutes later we finally arrive to the “market” they sent us… yeah. It was a mall with a wallmart type of store in it. Since we had gone to all that trouble of getting there and because we were all sweating like ridiculous (because it was so hot) we decided to go in and check it out. Now. I can honestly say that being there was the most uncomfortable, most awkward, most “get me out of here I don’t want to be here” moment I’ve ever had. The President has passed a law banning women from wearing all the dresses and head dresses that cover everything but their eyes- but there are still some older woman that wear a little bit of that. Us walking through the mall must have been very interesting to them because they took no reservation in pointing and starring at us. I honestly hated the feeling that I felt there. It was the first time that I had ever felt that I DID NOT belong there. So, needless to say, we did not stay there very long and proceeded to go back to our resort. We were bummed out that we didn’t get to go to the market, but there was a shop on our resort that had some really cool things in it- so we all didn’t go away empty handed (I’m sure we could have got the stuff wayyyyyyyyyyy way wayyyyyyyyyy cheaper though had we went to the market).

So all in all it was a greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat trip. So much fun, so much sun, rode two things I never rode before, and had a way uncomfortable moment. I loved Tunis, Tunisia Africa and I would sooooooooooo go back in a heartbeat!!!!

Ciao <3 Julie!

Ps. 16 days til I come home!!!!