Day 9 January 12

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Today we left early for our first weekend trip. Its cramped on the bus but I survive with Asja and Samia cracking jokes and conversations with the others, whether I am actually involved or just listening. I'll need to remember my iPod for future trips, though. The scenery was amazing. Some parts of it remind me of NJ. I didn't expect Tunisia to have such vast stretches of green. We stopped to see ruins, including a theater and a temple, all extremely impressive. I was unaware of how many ruins were here. I'm surprised more people aren't aware of the sites. The history lectures are interesting. We also stopped in an extremely poor mountain town, which used to be mostly French, which you can see from the architecture. We were stared at, expectedly. It was really beautiful, but neglected. We didn't stay long. I had an uneasy feeling about the place. Lunch was decent. We saved the trip to Bulla Reggia for Sunday and headed to the Itropica in Tabarka where we were staying for the night. Right away I was impressed. I'd never stayed in a hotel that nice. It was absolutely beautiful. They brought us drinks in the lobby. The room had an amazing view. Dinner was wonderful, the after party in the lounge was...enlightening. I had a lot of fun, and enjoyed talking with Khalil and the other students. Definitely stayed up too late, but it was worth it. Breakfast was fantastic, we were sad to leave.

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