Thursday, March 25, 2010

How I accidentally lost weight in Italy

I should be writing this post about Istanbul. Don't worry I will. It was too amazing to not share it with all of you.

But... this is just too weird to not tell. Somehow since being here I have lost weight.

At first, I thought it was because I had worn the same pair of jeans a million times in a row and they were stretched out. But then the comments from my friends started coming in. "Katherine, you look so skinny!" "Katherine, did you lose weight?" Then when my friend Bridget came and visited and she noticed as well, I figured something was up.

It was also suspicious when I received a pair of jeans from home that hadn't been worn since January that were also looser on me. 

But I mean really, how could I lose weight, in Italy of all places?
I mean on a weekly basis I eat . . . bread, pasta, more bread, more pasta, yogurt, cornflakes in the yogurt, cornettos, peanut butter, more bread, nutella, oranges, more pasta, some salad, corn, more nutella, random pastries, more peanut butter, some pizza, lots and lots of gelato . . . yeah this isn't adding up is it?

Well, finally when three more of my friends commented that they could tell I had lost weight, I finally got on the scale and after making my conversions from kilograms to pounds, the verdict is in. I have lost weight, more than I would have expected. But I really don't get it. I mean yes I do walk a lot here. I hate Mensa (the food at school and don't eat a ton of it) but it's not like I don't eat. Perhaps carrying my big travel backpack had something to do with it? Haha, I have no idea.

I don't say any of this to rub it in people's faces or worry my family. Don't worry I'm still a healthy weight. I just find it so odd. But seriously, go look at some of my photos. You can see my pants falling off of me.

Who knew I would lose weight in Italy... I never thought in a million years.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Tunisia!!

This will probably be the most difficult blog post to write, just because it's so hard for me to put this trip into words. My 10 days were jammed packed. We got up early, no later than 7:30 every day and went all day long.

Around 70 students went on the study trip. It was through Loyola, so it was all taken care of with meals, hotels, transportation etc. As soon as we arrived in Tunis we went to the U.S. Embassy and met with the Ambassador which was really interesting. He gave us some background on where he has worked, all over the Middle East, and some background information on Tunisia as part of the Islamic and Arab world.

While in Tunis, we also got the opportunity to meet with Tunisian students who are studying law. We talked with them about the politics in Tunisia. One of the main conversation points is that Tunisia, as part of the Arab world, is much more progressive than other countries. Women have many more rights and can drive. Oddly enough one of the topics we ended up discussing with the students was abortion. While some of the women had the view point that abortion was not a controversial issue at all in the country, many of the men had more conservative views and were very concerned about it. Hearing these viewpoints and even witnessing the beginnings of heated arguments was interesting and not what I was expecting.

In Tunisia, the official language is Arabic and their second official language is French. It was so fun to use my French again. I was a bit rusty, but as the week passed I remembered more and more. Whenever we would go to one of the medinas (markets) I would use my French to the best of my ability to bargain. Of course it more or less turned into a blend of French, Italian, and English. The markets were incredible though. The first one we went to, was the most overwhelming, but also my favorite. It was a series of very narrow winding streets, with street vendors everywhere. Yelling at you, grabbing at you, saying, "Good price, good price for you. Come look. Come see." And when you decided to go "look and see" you better be serious about it, because if you showed the least bit of interest they would hound you. Tunisia uses the dinar. It was better than the Euro so we did pretty well. I have some of the currency to bring home.

Then there was my hair. I thought that my blonde hair would be a bigger deal in Italy than it is. Obviously no one looks at me and thinks I'm Italian, but I've been mistaken for a fluent Italian speaker multiple times. In Tunisia, I was stared at constantly. Everywhere I went there were a million head turns. The American, tall, blonde, pale girl stood out. I was very easily spotted. I quickly got the name Snow White from many people we encountered.

The other thing that really surprised me, though reflecting on it shouldn't have, was the shocked faces we received when we told people we were from America. Everyone assumed we were from England. A few thought I was Dutch, (which I am) but no one could believe we came all the way from America. The next statement that followed this shocked face was always, "Obama!" Of course we have all heard that Obama is loved internationally, but I don't think anyone really gets it until you see it. They love Obama. People were so much more willing to talk to us once we said we loved Obama too. It's clear to me that America has become more respected now that Obama is in office. I felt very proud to say I was from America and that Obama is our President.

I know many Americans are frustrated with him because they feel he has not done enough since being elected. But if it gives any peace of mind at all, internationally, his presence is such a huge step. Just being able to talk about America and politics with other cultures like this shows that this huge wall is starting to be broken down. I think the American people are starting to be seen differently. This makes me so happy and so eager for the future.

But there were so many other highlights of the trip. Riding camels in the Sahara was awesome! I mean really, I couldn't believe it. Having 70 people all on camels at the same time was also a riot, especially because we had our hair wrapped up and had to wear these robes when we went on the camel ride. My camel was tied to my friend Matt's, which ended up being a little scary, because Matt's camel, Jamie hated me. She was not happy with me when I tried to pet her. She made these very awkward camel noises and I thought she was going to bite me.

We were all forewarned that once we reached the desert, "operation save my camera" went into effect. The Sahara has the finest sand I have ever seen. The individual grains are incredibly small. In past trips our SLA's told us that it has caused multiple pieces of electronics not to work. But I had to have my camera. It is my life since I've been abroad. But I didn't take many photos while on the camel ride, one because I was on a camel and I'm pretty clumsy. Two, when the wind started to pick up it was difficult to see let alone take photos. Sand did get in my camera by the end of the desert, but it's alive and well. I've been able to get the majority of it out and the rest doesn't seem to be hurting it.

After the camels, it was time for the desert. Here's the funny part though. When you think Africa you think warm. Well, one full day while we were there, it poured! And I mean poured! I was drenched head to toe. And our bus decided to leak through the windows as well so even when we were indoors we were wet. So the day we were supposed to go to the desert, it almost got canceled due to the weather. Luckily, the weather cleared up and we went. I would have been heartbroken if we weren't able to go.

We had a campsite in the desert. There were people working there that pitched up the tents, which was a large blanket on the outside, and metal poles that were secured in the sand that held the blanket up. The blankets hung over the sides so the wind wouldn't get to us, but the bottom of the tent was just the sand. We put mats down to sleep though.

As we arrived in the 4-wheel jeeps, we all found a sand dune to sit on, hang out, and watch the sunset. We wrapped our scarves around our heads because the wind very harsh. At some points it was hard to see and my sunglasses became caked with the sand. The best part was when we would close our mouths and I could feel all of the grains of sand in my mouth. When I touched my skin, it was as if there was sand permanetely in me. When dinner came we all went into a small concrete building, sat on the floor and ate. At almost every meal while in Tunisia we had a similar salad to start off with - part of a boiled egg, cold potatoes with parsley, and a chutney carrot like substance, which was really good! We also ate this bread that we saw prepared with coals in the sand, as well as soup with garlic, tomato, and pasta. Delicious! During dinner one boy apparently got stung by a baby scorpion (my worst nightmare) but he was okay.

After dinner, we went out to the huge bone fire and danced and listened to the entertainment of drums and flutes with a belly dancer. When I see things like this I never know how "traditional" it actually is to the culture. Regardless, I enjoyed myself. At one point, with the smell of the fire in the background and listening to the music, I laid back and stared at all of the stars. I knew seeing the stars in the Sahara would be amazing. But it made me want to cry. I saw three shooting stars. The milky way was so clear to see and me and my friends had many debates on where the rest of the constellations were.

It was so peaceful. It was so beautiful. As I was there, looking up, so many thoughts were going through my head. Mainly, "I am in the Sahara desert, spending the night here, seeing the stars, never in my life will I do this again." I also thought about how it was still daytime in America and how I was looking at a completely different sky than the people at home, but how one point it will turn into the same sky and we will see the same things. Then I thought about how all of these stars are always present in the sky, it's just that we can't see them because of all the lights and pollution. The longer I would look and focus on the blackness, the more stars I would see. If I could describe the experience as anything I would say spiritual, because I felt at such peace with the world, with myself, with life.

We ended up singing all kinds of songs by the fire for hours. Everything from TLC, to The Beatles, and Third Eye Blind. As long as we were by the fire it was warm. But we had also been warned that the desert was going to get extremely cold. So when we finally went to our tent to sleep I had on my shirt, fleece, sweatshirt, and another jacket, hoods up, with gloves on, leggings, jeans, sweatpants, and two pairs of socks and my shoes with a scarf wrapped around the majority of my face. In the beginning I was okay. There were 10 of us in the tent, so pretty good body heat. But probably around 3 a.m. it got bad. My body just went numb. The temperature was probably around 15 to 20 degrees. I think I woke up every 30 minutes and I was so happy around 5:30 when the sun started to rise and we got up.

However, in the morning, my friends told me that I kept everyone up with my snoring. Oh god, I was so embarrassed! Whatever noises I was making were not normal and not typical, even from me. They said it sounded like some animal. Of course for the rest of the trip I made everyone tell me exactly what I did in the night to find out if this was some normal behavior, but alas, I guess I just saved that special noise up for the desert. But it will be quite the memory. At least everyone had a good laugh.

Now, being a movie person, this next part of the trip was pretty crazy! We got to go see where part of Star Wars was filmed! Yes, as in the actual sets they built for the movie, which are still up. They are in the middle of nowhere, but it was so awesome to see!

We saw a ton of Roman ruins. I wish I could go into more detail about them here, but at this point I would need to go through the schedule to remember all of them. But they were really cool to see. The best was the amphitheater in El Jem. It was fascinating to learn how the Roman Republic spread to Tunisia and to see the influence leftover from other civilizations.

One of the last days we were there we visited a mosque. After, we went to a store where there were hundreds of handmade rugs. The rugs ranged in prices between $200 to $15,000. The $15,000 rug took four years to make and was made out of pure silk. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it! Don't worry Dad and Julie I didn't buy one. But they were magnificent.

The hotels we stayed at were also really nice, for the most part. One night we stayed in a cave, literally. That was a little much. But the other hotels were beautiful. It wasn't warm enough for my swimsuit, but I know there will be more opportunities. But from staying in the desert to staying right on the beach, the hotels were unbelievable. One was a full resort, I was in heaven.

I bonded with so many people on this trip and made many new friends. Matt and I are now siblings, because of our blonde hair. The Tunisians seemed to think that we were related and that Tim and Marriam were brother and sister too. It will be a running joke for awhile.

We also have a million memories at every meal because as soon as we would get through the main course, we would rush to the dessert bar. Matt and I had a system by the end of the trip - to get all of your desserts (one of everything obviously) before you sit down. Then you don't have to worry that you won't be able to get dessert. It was a carefully planned strategy, which the majority of everyone did by the end.

I also always enjoyed the bus rides, to journal and listen to music. It always reminds me of the bus scene in Almost Famous, which always brings a smile to my face. There was a lot of time for reflection and lots of time for fun as well. I'm still leaving out a lot about the trip. But I have to leave something to talk about when I get back. :)

To conclude, it was the trip of a lifetime. A ton of fun with great friends. And memories I hope to never forget. For those of you who read this whole post, thank you. I know it was a lot. But I'm glad you read it all, because I wanted to share it with all of you! I took over 900 photos and though not all of them will go on Facebook, the majority will.

Much love,
Katherine