123 Reasons I Love Tunisia

These are in no particular order.

1. The people are great.
2. The food is fresh and healthy
3. The fact that I acted 9 years old for six weeks
4. The coffee was perfect.
5. Café Margoun
6. My downtown apartment
7. Somortak
8. Interviewing U.S. Ambassador William Hudson
9. Eating cookies and cake for breakfast
10. Meals for 3 dinars ($2.25)
11. Learning Arabic
12. Faiza the Hellraiser (she’s my role model)
13. Going to the "discotec"
14. Ahmed a.k.a. Smokie (I would’ve been lost without you, and I couldn’t have asked for a better brother. Love ya tooooo much.)
15. The Sahara Desert (need I say more.)
16. The road trips
17. El Jem (where the movie Gladiators was filmed)
18. Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea
19. The beaches (They are much quieter than American beaches.)
20. The Castle
21. Sailing on the Mediterranean Sea
22. The taxi rides (There’s no cheaper adrenaline rush.)
23. Becoming an international writer (I was published twice in Tunisia.)
24. Dr. Anne (I only wish I could be as diplomatic as you are. Oh yeah, and you were the one who made me cry at the airport.)
25. Sfax (It’s my second home.)
26. My Rami (I miss your hugs and holding your hands. I love you, my Rami. Hugs & kisses, see you soon.)
27. Riding camels through the desert
28. Tozuer
29. World Cup Soccer (Even though every team we routed for lost. Someone please tell me who to route for now???)
30. Brik
31. The Olive Hotel (5 star bathrooms)
32. Berthony a.k.a. The King of Somortak (From the black tees to "the Berthony," we know we had some laughs)
33. The quahwa crew (I couldn’t have chosen a better clique to spend 6 hours a day with.)
34. The 5 star in the desert (We weren’t exactly roughing it, but we did sleep under the stars in the Sahara.)
35. Tunisian time (very similar to C.P. time, but a little more extreme.)
36. Using my "little brain" to repeatedly help out the "big brains" (It may have worked overtime, but at least mine was working.)
37. The "family rooms" (We had lots of fun in the family rooms.)
38. Win bidhdat???
39. The yogurt things at Café Margoun
40. The Medina
41. Dr. Iraj
42. Ahmed’s mom (I love her like she’s my own mom!!!)
43. Kherkenah
44. My hurriyah
45. Having little contact with the western world
46. The Odyssey Hotel (I’ll be seeing you on my honeymoon.)
47. The night I had to move out of my apartment (You guys were great!!! I couldn’t have made it through without you. Thanks again!!!)
48. My dinner with Rami and Ahmed. (I absolutely fell in love with you guys that night.)
49. Hamadi (Pimping is international. Love you sooooo much!!!!)
50. Shachuga (I ate an abundance of this stuff.)
51. Mesh Mesha
52. Seafood Omelets
53. Willena Moye a.k.a. "DON’T TOUCH ME!!!"
54. Our first night in Zahrzis (DRAMA, need I say more.)
55. Shi-sha
56. Johanne a.k.a. The Haggler (even though I hated shopping with you...you know I love you girl.)
57. The bad Ahmed a.k.a. Snitch a.k.a. Ahf@#$ a.k.a. F@#$med (Sociopaths are international, too. Hey, without him we would’ve lack things to talk/laugh about)
58. The ice cream (I ate enough of it to be an expert.)
59. Sidi Monsour
60. The fish market
61. Zach (You are wonderful.)
62. The street of meat
63. Mech Mech (You’re the greatest Nicole. Can’t wait to hang out.)
64. The day we escaped to the beach. (It was so relaxing and definitely needed.)
65. Rashida (Girl, we know we had fun.)
66. The Berthony’s (They weren’t fun to have, but they gave us some great laughs)
67. Those funnel cake thingys
68. Jaye (You are absolutely hilarious. We have to hang out soon.)
69. Sidi Bou Said (The view was absolutely amazing!!!)
70. Singing Sidi Monsour in Arabic (or at least attempting to.)
71. Hedi (if you hadn’t taught us the ropes during that first week, Sfax would’ve eaten us alive.)
72. Sharawma
73. Eating my fries inside my sandwich
74. Hela (You’re beautiful inside and out!!!)
75. Having to manipulate people to give them gifts. (I’ve never had so much fun in my life!!!)
76. The fact that I finally gained some weight (10 pounds to be exact. That’s what happens when you eat 4 meals a day plus snacks.)
77. Riding in the 4x4 in the desert (It was a roller coaster ride with no seatbelts.)
78. Annie (You are one of the coolest chicks I’ve ever met.)
79. Olfa & Afef (It’s good to know pure and geniune hearts still exist. I love you girls.)
80. Planet Sandwich (I wish fast food in America was that good.)
81. The party at Hela’s. (Happy Birthday techno style.)
82. Dany A. (Quiet, but absolutely hilarious)
83. The chocolate covered waffles
84. The sunset in the Sahara (I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life.)
85. Anis (In the words of Jaye, you’re pure sugar.)
86. The Max (or whatever the name of the restuarant across the street from campus is)
87. Jeff (need I say more.)
88. The party at Dr. Richard’s house
89. Dr. Che Beni, our Arabic teacher (Win Bidhdabt???)
90. All of the xubiz
91. Salad Tunisianne
92. Mariam (No, no, no...no, no, no, no, no!!!)
93. The fruit
94. Malik (You are soooo much fun. We have to hang out more on the next go around.)
95. The conference room (so many secrets...so many private conversations.)
96. Dangerous (Even his little brother laughed at his nickname. Sorry babe, you’re just not that dangerous.)
97. Café Melody (I didn’t get to go, but that’s where all the real fun went on from what I understand.)
98. Somai (You’re beautiful, girl!!!)
99. Hotel Syphax (I love that calamari.)
100. C. Flous
101. My A+ in Arabic
102. Friendship (You guys taught me the true meaning of friendship and the true meaning of love.)
103. Hedi’s cousin, Ahmed (Yes, this is the third Ahmed on the list, and he is different from the rest.. Thanks for all the rides the first couple of weeks. We couldn’t talk much, but you were beautiful eye candy.)
104. Teaching slang (From golddigger to cake daddy and everything in between. We tried to equip you with the most useful terms.)
105. Walid (Thanks for being the best. You took care of me like I was your own. We shared sooo many secrets. And don’t tell anyone, but your mom is the best cook in town.)
106. Matmahda (It amazes me that these people are able to stay so cool in such heat.)
107. Carthage (That place is absolutely breathe-taking.)
108. Aiman (You’re absolutely wonderful. I love you much. Tell your somortak I said hello.)
109. The Mediterranean Sea (It’s so flat and calm.)
110. Anouar (You’re absolutely great. Thanks for Kerkenah)
111. Our first goodbye. (It was long, we cried, and it was proof that life long bonds had been formed. God knows I miss you guys.)
112. Our goodbye photo. (It is absolutely beautiful. It exudes love.)
113. Mouna (You were the first to email me, girl. I look forward to keeping in contact with you.)
114. Our last Friday night dinner (Nicole, Jaye, Rashida, Willena, Berthony, Johanne, and I shared secrets, laughed, and absolutely capped our Tunisia experience. This was the most fun I had with Americans during the 6 weeks.)
115. Our Saturday night dinner. (Surprisingly, there was no drama. It was great to conclude our journey on a happy note.)
116. Our last night in Tunis. (Thanks for coming down guys. Despite the problems that arose that night was lots of fun and absolutely priceless.)
117. The J & B Scotch (It was good.)
118. Our airport goodbye. (I’m not a fan of airport goodbyes, but this one was classic.)
119. Air France had to change the tire on our plane in Tunis (Because of this, we missed our connector flight in Paris and got to stay the night there. Who else can say they saw Paris for $75?)
120. My gifts (Each day I look at them and the memories flood my mind.)
121. The fact that no one else will be able to understand this experience except for the 34 of us.
122. The fact that I have family on the other side of the world.
123. The fact that "we" will be together soon.