Tunisia facts

Population: 11 million
Area: 163 610 km²  (Finland 338 424 km²⁾
Main religion: Islam
Spoken languages: Tunisian Arabic, French
Top 3 largest cities: Tunis (1 056 247, capital), Sfax (330 440), Sousse (271 428)

Some distances
Helsinki-Tunis: ~4000 km
Tunis-Sfax: ~300 km

• Tunisia achieved independence from France in 1956.
• Shortly after that women got full legal status (possibility to run and own businesses, have bank accounts, and seek passports under their own authority).
• The Arab Spring, wave of revolutionary actions in the Arab world, started in Tunisia on December 2010.
• Reasons behind the revolution were for example high unemployment, food inflation, corruption, a lack of freedom of speech and other political freedoms and poor living conditions.
• Tunisia is a representative democracy.
• The country is considered as the most modern one in Arab world and has for example higher woman participation in politics than in general in this area.

Tunisian flag

Butterflies arrive

After having lunch in Helsinki with some cool AIESEC friends reality starts hitting. The reality which is making me nervous. I don't know how the passport control works, do I need to pay something? I don't personally know the people who are waiting for me, I know almost no one from the whole country. I don't know any other Finnish people there, if they even exist. Yes, to be the different, kind of makes me nervous. That's something I haven't really experienced before.

While sitting in the train to the airport heart is pumping quite a lot. For a long time I haven't felt so small. But it's definetely a good feeling. And it's what I wanted from this experience. To boarden my horizon and to make my world view wider. To face something I haven't faced before.

It felt so good to just sit there and wait, not having anything to due and organize. This moment of stopping allows also time to think about the life, to find those thoughts which might have been thrown away when being busy.That's the delight and challenge of travelling: actually needing to face yourself.

Here we go

3:55 The alarm rings after a short quality sleep in my own bed. Going to the toilet, closing the suitcase, collecting the snacks.

4:34 Stepping outside, the sun is shining, such a beautiful morning. The light - which you can feel only with good imagination - is coming from an extraordinary angle, it is summer, despite of only +7 degrees. Luck is to have water thrown from a glas to the street traditional Turkish way for making the journey go smoothly. Breezyness makes me wonder if I really can leave the Gore-tex jacket home. Well, sometimes you just need to believe.

5:03 The railway station. Quiet, sunny city. People are having varying amounts of clothes, the destinations probably vary as much. It feels so good not to be among the ones who are having a woolly hat. I only have my just-in-case-jacket, which wouldn't be enough for six weeks' trip anywhere in Finland. But this adveture is taking me further.

5:33 The train moves, one of the best feelings ever. There is just the road and the wild unknown, some kind of hints about what will be waiting over there, but not too much. The excitement can be felt in the fingertips, toes and tummy. The smile is long-lasting and wide. The mind is open and emptying from the sorrows of the "normal" life. There is no turning back which means that there is nothing which could stop the journey. Life is now, adventure is now, here we go.

Suomen suvi

Kesäöitä, kukkia, ystäviä, jäätelöä. Rantajalkapalloa, ukulelen soittoa auringonlaskussa, naurua ja halauksia. Saunomista, lämpimiä iltoja, jaettuja tarinoita. Tuulinen kotikaupunki, liian vähän vaatetta, kesä on asennekysymys.

Vihdoin myös lippu Helsinkiin, posti käännetty, matkustusilmoitus tehty. Pakkaamista ei tunnetusti kannata aloittaa turhan aikaisin, pyykit pitäisi pestä. Kaupassa käydessä yrittää pitää mielessään, että päiviä on enää muutama. Kohta sen myös ehkä käsittää. Hyvin mahdollista, ettei kuitenkaan ennen koneesta nousua kaukomailla.

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Summer nights, flowers, friends, ice cream. Beach football, playing ukulele in the sunset, laughing, hugs. Going to sauna, enjoying the warm nights, sharing stories. Windy home town, not enough clothes, summer is all about the attitude.

Finally I bought the ticket to Helsinki, forwarded the mail and did the travel notification. Packing has not yet started, as usual. Clothes are waiting for the washing machine. Visiting grocery store needs some additional thinking and continuous reminding of only few days left. Probably I'll soon realize it. Not sure though, if it will happen before stepping out of a plane in the destination.