Lauren Farnsworth (front row, left) writes about her experiences with other BGSU students and faculty on their eight-day adventure in Tunsia.

Eco-ambassadors: Students learn international environmental lessons

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 organization-run 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.