So it's been a while

Hello world! I know it's been a loooonnnng time since I updated so here's the plan (These are not all going to get done in this post mind you):

• Earthquake update
• Hospital/Health update
• Tunisia (in 2 parts)
  
• Family Visit
• Madrid

EARTHQUAKE UPDATE
The earthquake that many of you have heard about has not affected me, I actually slept through the aftershocks that hit Rome. Our school is gathering money up right now to send to the vicitims in L'Aquila - please keep them in your thoughts as the death toll is at 207 right now with around 17,000 left homeless from the quake and they don't have homes or churches to celebrate Easter in.

HOSPITAL / HEALTH UPDATE


Me and the clowns in the kids wing

I was released from the hospital on Monday the 6th (a week ago) with no restrictions really - other than resting lots and lots and lots! I realize I wasn't that specific on what Guillian-Barre syndrome is - so here's an explanation. First off it's an auto immune syndrome. There is a protective coating around your nerves called the myelin sheath. Basically what was happening is that my proteins were attacking my myelin sheath and eating it away. They did several tests (one of which involved sticking a needle into my face...) and also found out that I have the varient of GB called Miller-Fisher. GB starts from your feet and works its way up while Miller Fisher starts at your eyes and works its way out - which was why I had double vision and my eyes hurt.

Mom and Dr. Tric Trac who wrote her the most uncomprehensable poem on a ballon shaped like a heart...

During the process I also got moved out of the children's wing to the neurological wing - I didn't realize how loud it was in the kids' wing until I got to neurology... Anywho, there isn't a cure for GB, but the treatment is fairly simple - a 5 day treatment of gamma globulins (a bunch of antibodies/proteins) to show my body it shouldn't be attacking itself. By the end of the treatment on Monday morning I was feeling much much better (I could actually walk around without leaning on someone and my feet weren't really numb/tingly anymore). My mom stayed here till Thursday morning. She got to go to my Art In Rome class on Wednesday (which is on site - my first big walking trip for something like 10 days...), I think she really enjoyed it. We of course got gelato before heading back to campus. It was really really really great that she was able to come (thank you SO much Maggie!!!) and made the whole experience much less stressful than it could have been.


Of course - there was a bar (and I mean both the Italian version of bar where you get coffee, and the American verison of bar where you get alcohol) in the hospital so Mom got wine and I got a Coca Light.

So now it's a week after I've been released from the hospital and I'm feeling fabulous! The tips of my fingers are a little (just a little) bit numb and my eyes hurt just a little (just a little) bit. I'm taking lots of naps and getting more sleep than I've gotten in a long long time. I tire out a bit faster than usual, but that's fine. And I'm trying learn the definition of "taking it easy."

TUNISIA
By far one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The trip was 10 days long - so as you can imagine that could result in an extremly long post. Sooo since a picture tells a thousand words - I'll save you some reading and give you some pictures and stories that accompany them :)

A map so you can follow along where I was in Tunisia - I even marked out the route in purple!



Friday, March 6 -- Rome to Tunis



First view of Tunisia from the plane!

We flew into Tunis (the capital of Tunisia) and went to the U.S. Embassy (no pictures, not allowed...). We got to meet with some U.S. Embassy State Department Officials , including the U.S. Ambassador to Tunisa. Then we checked into the hotel and later that night we went to a 300 year old shisha bar!


At the shisha bar - we all had to take our shoes off and then sit crosslegged (I felt bad for those boys with long legs...) while we had tea and hung out. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, March 7 -- Tunis

We ate lunch with some Tunisian law students, who all spoke fabulous English, and learned a lot about Tunisian culture from them. We also had a presentation on women in Tunisia by a professor - it was really interesting to here how Tunisia does not fit the stero type for a country with Islam as the official religion involving women.



After lunch we headed to the medina, the market. That was an experience. Narrow, narrow streets with vendors EVERYWHERE. I thought Italian men were agressive when you went out - Tunisian men in the market- more agressive than Italians in bars... If you even glanced at anything in the shop they would start harrasing you - "for you I make good price!" "student price, yes, yes!" "America? Obama!!!" I was even asked if I wanted to have children at one point - thanks but no thanks...

The medina- every store looked like this - just cramed with stuff!

Bartering is a HUGE part of that culture - but it was pretty difficult at first because you didn't know what anything was worth - they might say they want to charge you 30 dinar for something (which one Tunisian Dinar is worth around 70 US cents) so the deals sounded pretty good - when you've been paying euro/dollar rates in Italy... We found out really fast the key to getting the price that you wanted was to walk away. You would name a price, lets say 10 Dinar (when they were asking like 50) and they wouldn't like it, so you put the item down, and started to walk out of the shop "no no no, for you I make good price!" and you would go back and haggle - they would put you at 40 now. Walk away, "no no no, 30! I give you 30!" Keep walking "fine, fine, fine, I give you 20!" You glance back, shake your head, and walk off "15?! Fine. 10" and at that point you go back and get what you wanted. It was really something else.

Since it was Saturday a group of us decided to go to mass since we wouldn't get to on Sunday. Of course - the mass was in French - but the priest was very kind and asked us if someone wanted to do the first reading in English - and of course I volunteered.


reading at a mass in Africa - check.

Sunday, March 8 -- Tunis, Carthage, Sousse

Sunday was a busy travel day - headed out towards Carthage. We went to the Bardo Museum which houses the most renowned collection of mosaics from the Roman Empire.


beautiful peacock!

After the musuem we went to lunch on the coast - it was very beautiful. However, for "desert" they gave us an apple and an orange (I ate so many oranges in Tunisia - it's amazing I got sick with how much vitamen C I had in my system...) - but the apples had tons of holes in them from worms. Needless to say - we did not eat those. After lunch we climbed all over the rocks outside of the resturant.



After lunch we went to Carthage and saw some "sexy rubble." It was really nice because we had guides to all of these sights so we had someone to tell us about them. Also, one of our professors went on the trip with us and his dissertation was on the Romans in Tunisia - so he knew lots and lots. The Cartheginian ruins were pretty amazing - crazy that they were able to build such huge monuments without the technology that we have today.


We found a palm tree to climb - climbing it was pretty interesting...


Ruins in Carthage.

After the ruins we raced over to the U.S. Military Cemetery (which was so kind to stay open a little later for us - we were late). We got to see the US flag get lowered and hear taps - one of the guys helped fold the flag too. The Cemetery has the graves of military personnel killed in North Africa during WWII. It was really moving to walk around the graves and see names and the states they were from. It brought a huge sense of reality to me about the loss of life that happens in war.


The wall with the list of names in the cemetery


Graves with the moon over them. Pray for our soldiers in uniform.

Monday, March 9 -- El Jem, Gabes, Matmata

We woke up and headed towards El Jem - the Roman amphitheater. Much like the Colosseum in Rome, but much much less touristy feeling. We could walk around on the ground of the El Jem as well as go through some of the very dark and creepy tunels underground where animals would have been kept.


El Jem


Hanging out in El Jem!

After El Jem we headed on down the road.


A pit stop with Coca and Coca Light in Arabic...


All along the roads in Tunisia you would see this. It didn't make much sense why they would be selling gasoline on the side of the road until our guide explained to us. Libya is the country just to the east of Tunisia and gas is much much cheaper there than it is in Tunisia. So many people will drive over the border and buy loads of gas and then bring it back into Tunisia to sell.

We also stopped at another medina along the way - which I liked much much more than the first one. This one is known for its spices but was also an open square - so if you didn't want to buy something it was much easier to walk away without getting harrased so much...


The man I bought my spices from!!

After the market we went to some of the traditional underground troglodyte dwellings. These houses are dug into the ground and only recieved running water 10 years ago and electricity 5 years ago. Not many people live in these houses after there was a CRAZY 10 days of straight rain in the 60s (I believe) so many of the houses caved in. The government built new villages after this happened - but around 50 families still live in the traditional houses in the area that we visited.


The blue hand on the door is a symbol for good luck and warding off evil

Then it was time to see the infamous "Star Wars Bar." Which was built up farrrrr too much. But, it was still cool.


In the door way to the bar.

While their two of our professors decided it was necissary to have a dual....

light sabers and cloak things were also involved...

Tuesday, March 10 -- Douz (borders the Saharah desert)

The day of camels, jeeps, and the Saharah desert. I can't even explain how cool this experience was.


First - the wild camels that we saw driving to Douz.


Second - getting decked out in camel attire and playing in the SAHARAH desert. Yeah, so awesome.


Third - Riding my camel Sho Sho into the desert for an hour. He was a pretty great camel :) Although the getting up and down experience was pretty terrifying. If you have never seen a camel get up from laying down - it's a pretty cool thing to watch. It's a semi-scary thing if you are on it's back....


Fourth - Riding in jeeps out into the middle of nowhere in the desert. At one point all the jeeps stopped and all the drivers got out and were pointing in different directions. Pretty sure we were lost in the Saharah desert - but, we got to our campsite in the desert. I was in the first round of people that got there so we had to play safety crew and "child-proof" the camp as we were the first group to stay in the desert this season. Once the second group of people got there we all treked out to some sand dunes.


Fifth - Watching the sun set on the Saharah desert. I miss my West-Texas sunsets and all, but this was SO INCREDIBLY AWESOME. People were doing backflips on the sand, we had a long jump competition, people rolled down the sand dunes (granted, I had sand everywhere by that point, but was not quite ready to be covered in sand...). It was really fun!


Sixth - Having dinner by a giant bonfire in the Saharah desert. Having a band there that played really cool music (they didn't seem to like the singing we started and would start playing about 2 minutes into our singing fest...). Dancing in the desert!




Okay - that's a lot of updating for the day. The finale of Tunisia and the family visit to come! Whew I wiped. It's nap time.

Love from Itlay,
Amelia