i could do this...

Bamboo frame bike.... sweet.

ill see you soon...

There is only nine days left. and i cannot/can wait. theres this uneasy feeling of returning to america after being gone for so long but while thinkinh of these things im instantly filled with the rejoice, knowing ill be able to see family and friends very soon.

sooo this past weekend i went ot visit le kef, in the west of tunisia, to see zeineb and her family. le kef was nice, the but there was not:
think 20 year old greyhound across the desert/hottest place on earth, with not air conditioner. the ride was four hours...
i really enjoyed it, the food was good (couscous and sherba (soup)) made by zeineb's mother and we ate at her aunts for lunch. out side her house there were cattusas!! baby ones and two big ones... i had a photo shoot with them. above is one of the best (i think)....

now i am just counting down the days, wasting time at the beach, shopping for souvieners and eating all that tunisia has to offer.

Where I am now?

I’ve been many different places the past six months. I’ll begin when I left America in January.
Studying abroad is an experience many students enjoy. As the typical architecture student does, I went to Rome, Italy to study abroad—four months at the American University of Rome, and some of the best times and greatest people I’ve ever met. I was able to discover calcetto (five a side soccer) and explore the city of Rome. The geographical proximity of Europe allowed me to travel inexpensively to countries I’ve never been. During my time there I visited (in no particular order): Barcelona and Madrid, Spain, Dublin, Ireland, Assisi, Pompeii, Palermo, and Venice, Italy, Paris, France. Although I would have liked to travel more, the time I spent in Rome with my friends was priceless.
Rather than going back to America at the end of my time in Rome, I wanted to prolong my time abroad. Although I missed my family and friends, I knew I most likely would not be able to get an internship at an architecture firm (my main goal for this summer) and I was already over here (across the Atlantic Ocean) I figured I’d push my luck and try to get an internship at AMIDEAST in Tunisia. Last year, in the spring after school, I travelled to Turkey and Tunisia with University International Scholars Program (a group fronted by Jim Savoie and Marcella McCoy) with 13 other students and 7 professors. The goal of the program was to encourage us to travel and be open to new experiences. AMIDEAST was one of the places we visited and with help from Jim I was able to successively gain an internship with the English school. So, that’s where I am. I’m in living in Sousse, Tunisia. It’s been two months and I have one more left. So far, it’s been great.
I have left a huge gap of where I started, America in January, and Tunisia in July… I’m working on recalling and updating this large gap. I’ve done a decent job visually documenting everything (as far as the sights) which is edited and shown on sarahall.shutterfly.com.

More pictures

I added more pictures. Ill add more soon, maybe. HERE!

Busy

Well, with classes in full swing and everything to see and do life has been rather busy. I think I may end up updating weekly or twice a week at least. That will be what I aim for.

Lets see... since February first quite a bit has happened. I visited many places in Rome: the Pantheon (its seriously breathtaking), Piazza del Popolo, Trevi Fountian, Old Trastevere, and Piranesi's only built architecture, to name a few. Ive also elected to not bring my camera to some places due to the rain. Its been raining for the past two weeks and its just a let down. I have organized and purged all my photos though so I can now keep track of everything on Adobe Bridge, its pretty convient. We have gone out a few nights. After the Guilda experience we were a bit weary but Lauren and I went to Zar Bar, 10 euro for 3 drinks was not a bad deal. That was a fun small spot. Then last Friday we went to Old Trastevere for dessert and drinks at this cute place Artu, then we went to a local bar/pub and had more drinks and snacks. It was overall pretty good. Last night Lauren and I went back to Old Trastevere and went out to dinner at a small family resturaunt. I have Trasteverian gnocchi and tomato salad it was pretty good. We also had a bottle of Dolcetta rosa vino, that was a very good wine. Otherwise we've been eating at home or on the run: pasta, pizza, and such. Mmmm.... suppli, fried rice balls with cheese in the middle and the pastries from the shops are amazing!

To combat my eating habit I've been walking everywhere and running 3-5 days a week. I run in the parks or Lauren and I run by the river. The park is beautiful, Villa Pamphilli, untouched formally private gardens of a villa, I may go there and take pics today before I boysit. I dont think running is a good idea today. I play on the calcetto team here at AUR and we had a game on Wednesday night , Im still very sore. Calcetto is awesome, its a five a side game similar to futsal, played with a dense ball and kick ins on a basketball sized feild. I play centro defensivo. We have two more games left before the tornament. We recently beat the second place team 2-0, I love it. Next game is on Thursday.

Classes are classes but I really like my sketchbook class, we go to a museum and draw for four hours, not so bad. But getting there is a pain. The last museum was the farthest away, by Termini Station and I had to leave at 8 to be there by 9. I hate being up early and around people. Ive also been trying to read more, theres our sometimes interesting book on the architecture of modern italy and my ishmael (for fun). I just finished The Architecture of Absurdity which is the first book I've finished in a very long time. I'm proud of myself.

Ive also been working on my Italian, I try to talk with the other lady that is a boysitter (shes polish and speaks italian attempting to learn english) last week we talked about our boyfriends and I asked her about sport. It was nice. Calcetto is also helping me learn too, our coach, Silvia only speaks Italian and I can understand what shes telling me to do. I haven't really learned anything new this week :( but my goal is to go to a resturaunt and speak Italian the entire time by the end of the trip. Hopefully it will work.

I may go on a day trip this weekend, somewhere new. Ill research things tonight and evaluate wether or not I want to spend money. It all depends. And the most important part of the past two weeks: Heather had here baby! Aowyn Rose Murphy born a few (the 7th or 8th) days ago, 9 pounds and 21 3/4". Uncle Sean says she's a heavy one but she is adorable.

lazio v. ac milan !

so i went to my first serie a game, lazio v. ac milan! it was soooo awesome. pictures milan won 3-0... they lit a fire each goal.
anyway... heres more pics here and here.

cop out

we went to guilda last night... 15 euro/drink and creepy men, never again. so today we woke up and went to meet others at a resgrad event where we'd go to visit the bone chapel. and it was going to be cool, until we lost our group at the trevi fountian and finally arrived at the chapel during their lunch break. So... we had lunch, i had gnocchi it was good. then we went to the bone chapel. i was so excited and we go through and its kinda cool, the walls are a little too white to be old. then we read the story and see that it was a recreation of what might have been, and thats b.s. to me. COP OUT! lauren and i walked home through old tresevere and found this good 2.55 euro wine on our street, so the day turned out okay.