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At the end of November, seven adventurous BGSU students traveled to North Africa as part of an environmental communication workshop. The destination: Tunisia, a small Mediterranean country sandwiched between Algeria and Libya. I was lucky enough to join this African adventure and my life was forever changed. Although the workshop centered around environmental issues and media coverage, cross-cultural exchanges were the most influential part of the experience. The seven students were basically strangers when we boarded a big white van and left campus. Upon returning, we not only had made friendships with the other BGSU students, but also close connections to the Tunisian and Algerian students who were participating in the workshop. We remain in contact with these students, mainly through Facebook’s social networking site. We stayed eight days in Tunisia, seven of which were spent with our new friends. The workshop included presentations by key government officials and representatives of BGSU and of the Institute of Press and Information Sciences (IPSI) at the University of Manouba in Tunis. We also toured a nongovernmental organizationrun recycling and community center, as well as a new water treatment facility. In addition to this we hiked up a mountain surrounding Lake Ichkeul, and had a guided tour of the national park’s museum, which focused on the wildlife and how the water levels are regulated. When not engaged with pressing environmental issues, we learned about Arab and Tunisian culture. The African students made us feel comfortable, and they were eager to answer any questions. Our long, sometimes three-hour bus rides were filled with laughter and interesting conversations that ran the gamut from religion to politics, family life, American and Arabic culture, to personal interests. During one of our bus rides, I tried to explain the idea behind Thanksgiving to a group of North African students. Keeping with Tunisian tradition, we ate ethnic food such as harissa, a chili paste served with bread, couscous and brik, which was a deep-fried pastry shell usually filled with egg, parsley and tuna. Mint tea and date-filled pastries covered in honey, known as macaroons, were also popular. Our dining experiences included upscale restaurants where we were served several courses and home-cooked meals in Tunisian homes. These culinary experiences were courtesy of the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development, arranged by Mohsen Khamari, the Ministry Chief of Mission. He invited us to share a meal in his home as well as in his father’s. We were thrown into Tunisian culture when we were able to shop at two of the local markets, also known as medinas. Most of the vendors knew at least broken English and were able to haggle with us. The language barrier didn’t hamper our experience; one vender pulled out a calculator and told my friend to type in a proposed price. They went back and forth for a couple minutes before settling on a final price. Intermingled with modern life were remnants of the past. Tunisia has several ruins that we visited. The remains were quite impressive: mosaics, great marble columns and empty tombs. The most incredible part was that we were able to step into the past by walking directly on the mosaics and through the stone structures. We saw the countryside, complete with shepherds and tiny shacks, in contrast to modern cities. On Thanksgiving, we had the opportunity to briefly walk along the Mediterranean as a storm rolled in.
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Eco-ambassadors: Students learn international environmental lessons
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