[July 13, 1979, Tunis]
It wasn’t difficult to find the hostel I’ll be living in. Everyone seems to know the Cité Universitaire and the people on the bus were very helpful. The Cité reminds me of the Delhi School of Social Work hostel – very noisy. By some peculiar acoustic trick every noise is magnified a hundred-fold. The din from the common-room is unbelievable – it can be heard for miles.
On the whole, not a nice place to live in at all – principally because it’s so far outside the centre of town. The last bus is at about 9 pm and one more or less has to catch it. It also means being cloistered with all the other people in the course.
Our classes begin at 2.30 pm, which means that our days are peculiarly constructed. I don’t usually leave the Cité till about 12.30. Since classes get over at about 7 pm and the last bus is at 9 one doesn’t really have much time to look around.
Spent my first few evenings looking around the Medina. Stunning mosque – 9th century.
We have Fridays off, so I’ll try to do some sightseeing then. Carthage is a suburb of the city – Habib Bourguiba [Tunisia’s ruler from 1957-87] has a palace there.Sidi Bou Said, which is near Tunis, is said to be a picturesque place.
