Cyprus

Busy, busy, busy.
Tired, tired, tired.
Homesick, homesick, homesick.
That’s pretty much me right now. Anyways, life’s been pretty crazy and a lot has happened lately…so here goes…

Last Thursday was an interesting one. A group of us ended up going to a party at the Erasmus house (the European exchange kids), which is what we do every Thursday night. Afterward we went to a club called Lush…a really dark, creepy club called Lush. On the way home. Alex and I rode with a friend, Hassim. We were at a stop light when a cop came up to the car and asked him to take an alcohol test, which he failed. Anyways, the fun starts here. We had to go to a station where he had to take the test again, and then to another station so they could cite him. All he ended up getting was big fine, so it wasn’t too bad. My favorite part of the whole experience, other than being the first ones in a Cypriot jail, was when I asked two of the officers if I could use the bathroom. One of them said, “The ladies room is kind of dirty,” and handed me gloves and a bottle of bleach. Weirdo thought I was going to clean the police station bathroom….no. So I told him that I’d just use the guy’s room, and he just looked at me like I was crazy. Ahh, weirdo. Later he did buy me a Twix from the vending machine though….still a weirdo. So a guy fromm the Syrian embassy (Hassim is from Syria) came and drove us home.

Thursday night was exciting enough for me, so I decided to stay home Friday night and rest up for our weekend getaway. I went to a Chinese themed night at the school for dinner, which was okay but Chinese here is definitely different than at home. They had Chinese karaoke there too, which was pretty interesting. After we couldn’t handle it anymore we went home and played drinking games for a little, and then I went to bed.

That’s all for now…the rest will come soon (I promise)

On Wednesday I spent the day in classes as usual. Some of us went out to an Italian restaurant called Marzano’s for dinner before meeting up with the Marines at a taverna. We didn’t stay there long before we left for Reckless, another bar.

On Thursday we had a “meat feast” at school because it was the last day anyone who is Greek Orthodox could eat meat before Easter. That night Alex, Becky and I went to a party to meet up with a bunch of other European exchange students. It was really cool because there were people there from so many other countries. We hung out there for a while before we all left for a club called Vivendi.

Friday was pretty much the same. We went to another house a bunch of the international kids living in, and hung out there for a while before we went out to Bling and met up with everyone else. We had another VIP room and champagne - because we’re all so high class like that.

On Saturday we took a GLS trip to the Turkish side of Cyprus. We had to be at school and on the bus at 9 a.m. so that was kind of rough seeing as how I got 2 hours of sleep the night before. The bus ended up being an hour late, and finally we crossed into the Turkish side of Nicosia.

Things are completely different there. It was really weird to think that we were still in the same city. Anyways, we walked around and saw the Venetian Walls from the other side, St. Sophia Cathedral, which is now a mosque, another Turkish bath, and an open air market.

We got back on the bus and went to Saint Hilarion castle in Kyrenia, a city on the water…amazing! We went inside for a few minutes just to see the view of the sea and mountains, and town below. It was absolutely beautiful…I’ve been waiting to see that water . We drove down to Kyrenia and some of us ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant by the water. It was a great day to be outside and have some fresh seafood.

Lunch took longer than expected so when we finally got to Kyrenia Castle, our second castle of the day, we only had a few minutes to look around. It was also huge, and there was a Shipwreck Museum inside where we saw the remains of the only preserved wreck on the Mediterranean.

We drove to Bellapais Abbey where we saw the Abbey itself and walked around the little village for a bit. By this time we were all beat and got back on the bus to head home.

The bus had to be inspected before we entered the Greek side of the island again. We got home, sat down on our couches, and ordered pizza for the house. That night I was so tired I just showered and watched a movie in bed. There was no way I could go out for another night in a row.

Sunday was our day off as usual. Since we still didn’t have internet in the house we couldn’t really get any schooly work done, so Ruth, Lauren, Erin and I took a walk through a few of the neighborhoods around our house. The houses are all pretty much gorgeous here, and it was pretty much the nicest day ever outside. Erin and I got gyros for lunch and sat outside for lunch while some of the others attempted to tan. We ended up at a local bar, Ivanhoe’s, where we could get free internet so we could all check our email and do some homework. After wards I had some salad for dinner…ps - parentals, its okay to eat it here…and hung out with a friend for the rest of the night.

So that’s basically my life lately. I go to class all day and go out all night, and go on trips on the weekends. It’s pretty okay…at least it’s not snowing .

This past weekend was pretty awesome. On Thursday we had to sit through 2 history lectures before going on a 3 hour long scavenger hunt around Nicosia. We had a surprise party for one of the guys, Chris’s, 21st birthday. We had 2 cakes and decorated our floor of the house with balloons. He was actually completely surprised. Afterwards we all went out to a club called Bling (yes, Bling) where we had a VIP room reserved. It was a great time.

On Friday we had to be at the school by 10 a.m. to meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Seeing as how we shut the bar down the night before, we were all looking and feeling our absolute best . We went downtown for a museum tour, and then some of us spent the afternoon shopping. By this time we were all dead so we decided to take the night off and stay in.

Saturday we were scheduled to take a trip to the mountains for the day. We ended up not going because of bad weather. The 8 of us girls living in Maro house decided to go out to dinner together. We went to a really Greek restaurant that Pantolis, Lauren’s cousin, recommended. I’m actually starting to like the Greek and Cypriot food.

That night me and another roomie, Alex, went and met up with some others at Lidra Palace for a UN Charity Boxing Match. We had to cross the Green Line for the first time since the palace was in the Buffer Zone between the Turkish and Greek sides of Cyprus. It was kinda scary, probly just because it was so dark and quiet out, but we made it. Everyone was all dressed up and the matches were actually really cool. I never thought I’d like boxing. Most of the matches were between guys in the British Army, but one was between two US Marines we knew. After that ended we went to a little taverna and I had some coffee…yum. Six of us ended up coming back to the house and hung out downstairs playing pictionary until we ran completely out of paper…we’re cool, I know.

On Sunday we had a free day. I ran some errands in the morning and went for a walk around the neighborhood to take some pictures. We cleaned the entire house in the afternoon. That night a local bar owner closed his place early and kept bartenders there all night so we could have the place to ourselves to watch the Super Bowl via satellite. It was really fun and I’m pretty sure they thought we were all insane Americans. Kickoff wasn’t until 2 a.m. so it was a late night.

Classes began Monday. I’m taking 5: Intro to the EU, Art History, European History, European Geography, and Cultures. All of the classes are 2 ½ hours long…which is rough to sit through.

Tuesday I went to my classes, the market for groceries, the bookstore for some schooly stuff, and to a soccer game. Two of our GLS kids, Chris and Rachel, were playing in it. It started at 10 pm and it was by far the coldest day in Cyprus yet. Not to mention we didn’t have heat or hot water at the house. It was just a miserably cold time. The game was great except for the fact that I couldn’t feel my toes. We got home and there still wasn’t heat, but the program directors brought us space heaters for in each of our bedrooms…which was nice, still cold though.

"There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it."
-- Charles Dudley Warner

The first flight I was supposed to be on out of Pittsburgh had mechanical problems so I spent four extra hours sitting in the airport waiting for it to get fixed. It ended up not being ready so everyone who was supposed to be on it had to take the next flight into New York. The plane was tiny, completely full, and they paid people to get off because it was too heavy.

JFK is HUGE. I only had to wait a few minutes before getting on my plane to London, which was nice. New York City is amazing to see from the sky at night. This flight was much better. I even got wine w/my dinner (hehe mommy ) and since it wasn’t very full and the two seats next to me were empty, I got to lay down and sleep a little.

Heathrow is huge too, but since our connecting flight to Cyprus was leaving pretty much as soon as we got there, we (all the kids on the NY group flight) had a bus take us straight to out terminal. We got on the plane and 5 hours later touched down in Larnaca, Cyprus!!!

My luggage was left in London, as was everyone else’s who flew in from New York. That really sucked. If I wasn’t dirty enough from the day and a half of sitting on planes, I now had to wait two more days until it would arrive. All the other girls in the house were really awesome and let me borrow their stuff and gave me clean clothes and everything… <3 roomies!

Ohhh…. And when I finally got it I plugged my straightener in for the first time and left the room for about 2 minutes or so. When I came back the room smelled like burnt rubber…part of it had overheated and melted. Stupid.

Cyprus is amazing. I feel like I’m at the beach every morning when I wake up & look out the window. The beach is ½ hour away…rough, I know. There are palms and citrus trees everywhere. One of my roomies, Alex, made fresh lemonade from the lemons. The weather here is out of control... a bad day here is better than the best day in PA. There are on average 300 sunny days here a year…which is okay with me.

So, our house = even more out of control. We’re seriously living the Real World: Cyprus. Most everyone is living in apartments right outside the Intercollege campus, but 11 of us were put in Maro House. There are 3 guys living on the bottom floor, and 8 of us girls on the top. It’s an absolutely beautiful and huge place. We have brand new everything, and there are 5 bedrooms and 4 baths.

Everyone on the program is really cool and we all seem to get along great so far. We kind of have to, I guess, because no one knows each other and we’re thrown into this crazy situation for four months. The program directors and professors and everyone I’ve met so far are really great too, and live pretty amazing lives.

I can honestly say I am a good driver by Cypriot standards. They drive on the left side of the road, and like MANIACS.

The Cypriot people are pretty nice, noone seems to smile much though. It seems to be pretty half and half. Some people don’t like us because we’re the loud, awful Americans and others are super friendly and helpful. We’ve been trying to learn the basic words in Greek. We always get laughed at when we try to talk to the locals in it but they seem to think it’s cool when we actually try.

So far I’ve tried some of the local food…souvlaki is kabobs, only they put the meat on pita bread with some veggies. It’s decent. We had a cooking demonstration by a local chef and professor to show us how to make some Cypriot food, too. We went out for coffee one night. I tried the local Frappe and it was really good.

We had a nice dinner out as a whole group one night and then went out to a few clubs/bars. The whole drinking legally thing and not having to pretend to be 21 is ridiculously nice. Wine is really cheap, which, you know…is kinda cool.

The U.S. dollar isn’t worth crap here. The only thing I have to say about taking a trip to Europe…win the lottery first.

So far we haven’t had any classes. They start on Monday. Up until now it has all been orientation stuff. We had a geography class, a cooking demonstration of local food, and other stuff like that.

Ok, enough for now but I have tons more to tell so I'll write more again soon!

You should know,
that wherever i go,
You're always on my mind.

I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is “Who in the world am I?” Ah, that’s the great puzzle.