Well, its been a week!

So it has officially been one week since I came to Cyprus! For some reason, it feels like its been a lot longer. I've gotten really close with a lot of different people and it makes me feel like we have all come here for the same reason. And while, yes, it can be hard at times, it has been a truly incredible week and I can't wait for the 15 more that I will be spending here.

So for the past few days, this is whats been happening:

On Wednesday, they took the entire group to the Cyprus archaeological museum and it was really interesting! We learned a lot about the history and the first inhabitats of Cyprus. Another name for Cyprus is "Aphrodite's Cyprus" because it is the mythological birthplace of this goddess of love. There are many sculptures in the museum dedicated in her honor. The oldest remains date back to over 8000 years ago. We then went on a scavengar hunt to learn more about the city where we are staying. Needless to say, it was very intense! 3.5hrs of running around all over the city trying to find very random things.

museum

getting serenaded on the streets...

One thing we have learned, is that Wednesday's are now the new Thursday nights. EVERYONE goes out, so we all decided to partake in this to see what this whole thing was about. It was a very fun night.

On Thursday, as part of our orientation, we all took part in a cooking class! It was so cool to see them cook right in front of us and the food was amazing! The chef taught us how to make Ravolli with Hallomi cheese, grilled cheese on pita bread with tomatoes and cucumbers and Keftedes (fried meatballs). I can truly say, I have been in food heaven every since I came here! In Greek families, it is considered rude if you do not finish all the given to you. For some reason, I don't think I will have a problem with that.

We then had yet another lecture on the "Cyprus Problem". The separation between the Greeks and Turks is very evident here and neithier side will let go because of thier country's pride. In order to cross the border into the Turkish side, you need to bring your passport (even though the Turkish side of Cyprus is an unrecognized area). Nicosia is the only divided city in the world which makes it a great place to learn about culture.  That night, we had the guy's apartment next door over for dinner (I feel like I'm living in a friends episode). Jeana and Tylar did the cooking again and it was so incredible! I was then finally able to have my first skype session with my parents, since they have now mastered the art of technology!

So, today. We were supposed to go to the Troodos mountains but that was postponed due to weather. So, we had advising meetings to go over our classes and clubs we can get involved in while we are here. I was able to talk to Thanos more about internships which seems really cool! I cant wait till my European cultures class starts so I can talk to the professor more about it! Then, I went over to my friend Kendall's room and started planning trips!!

Since I have just found out that my program is the only program here that does not have a spring break, I am making my own! As of now, there are 7 of us going on this trip (Matt, Scott, Jake, Kenall, Jenallee, Jessica and myself) and I could not be more excited for it!! I haven't officially booked my flights yet because I am waiting until Tuesday for the prices to go down. But we have the entire trip planned for England, Scotland and Ireland! During this time, I would absolutely love to visit my  family in England if time permits.

Tonight, the entire group went over to the international house to meet a bunch of the international students. They all seem so nice; I made two new friends from Lithuania and England already! Bekah and I then went back to Zorbas bakery; the third time I have been there in one week. This could get highly dangerous.

During my week, I have now officially learned three Greek words! "Efharisto" means thank you (i cant tell you the amount of times I say that in one day!), "poli kalo" means "the food was good" and "Yiassas" which I think means good morning! I deffinitely have a long way to go.

I have also learned that Cyprians should not be drivers. Speed limits are merely suggestions and crosswalks dont mean anything. There have been plently of times where accidents could have happened in a blink of an eye.

Also. There will be more pictures soon, I have not yet gotten the right camera charger, so my camera is kinda dead at the moment.

Group picture!

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
  ~St. Augustine

Orientation Begins!!

Saturday night was the first night I got some sleep! It felt so much better, but I'm still not completely accustomed to this time difference. 7 hours is a pretty long time! Its been my hardest struggle here so far.

Sunday was the first day of orientation. We got our pictures taken for our photo ids and had orientation from about 9-5 that day. It was extremely long, but a lot of helpful things were said. They talked about everything we needed to know here; classes, internships, our phones, what the Cyprian culture is like, but everyone seemed to perk up when they discussed places to travel!

Egypt is only about an hour flight away from Cyrpus, so many of us are already planning on taking a trip there possibly sometime in February. The Greek islands apparantely look thier best in May when the weather is much warmer and there are more things to do, so taking a cruise and going what is called "island hopping" looks very promising. There are some other trips being planned to Israel and Turkey and some in Europe; like England and Ireland. I know I wont be able to go on all them because of money, but I'm so excited for what the next 4 months holds!

Later that night, the program directors took us out for a welcome dinner at around 8:00. Greeks eat a lot later here, so that is going to take some getting used to. The dinner was wonderful; so many choices and such good food! Ivanhoe's (the local bar) was playing the football playoffs that night, so we all went there to watch the game and hang out with other students.

Monday was the second day of orientation. They gave us an introduction to the history of Cyprus which was very interesting. I did not realize how complicated thier history actually is. Cyprians are very proud of their country, which is now a province and is apart of the European Union. We then had a quick tour of the University of Nicosia which is where I will be studying. The tour guides went very fast and the campus has a lot of different enterances and exists, so I'm pretty sure I will be lost on the first day, but it looks easy enough to navigate around. My roomates and I then went grocery shopping a little more and with all the signs in Greek, it gets extremely complicated! One of my roommates, Jeana, made us an amazing dinner that night! (she is an excellant cook!) We then went to our friends apartment and stayed there for the rest of the night.

This moring, we had a lecture on the history of art. Everything this woman told us was so interesting and it made me really excited to take the class which starts next week. She showed us classic pieces from Greece and Italy (sadly I am not in the program that goes to those places, but it was incredibly interesting). She told us when looking at these classic pieces that were made years ago, to completely let ourselves transform to what it says to you; to take absolutely everything in! She was absolutely adorable!

Then, I had a meeting with the program director to discuss the classes I will be taking here. While I have not heard back from UNH as to all the credits that will transfer over, I am deffinitely sure of a few of the classes. As of now, I will be taking: Gender Issues in Society, History of Art, Modern Europe, European Cultures and Photography! This schedule could possibly change within the next few days, but that is what it looks like for now. I also talked to him about possible internships here. He told me to email him my resume for two possible ones that the program offers, but then told me specifically to talk to my "European Cultures" professor. Apparantely, she is very well connected in Cyprus and knows a lot about anthropology. That will be extremely helpful for my major!

Later this afternoon there was a presentation from this group called "Peace Players International". They run basketball games for children on the Greek and Turkish to try and unite the different sides of Cyprus. My roommates and I were thinking of volunteering with this organization to get know the children of Greek and Turkish Cyprus. We then had another lecture on Cyprus Geography which was also very interesting. We learned that Cyprus is actually about half the size of Connecticut (very small!), but is a strategic location. It connects Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, so it holds great significance. It was amazing to learn how fast politics changes and influences the lives of those all around us!

Tonight, my roommate, Bekah, and I walked around the city of Nicosia. It was a beautiful night and felt good to walk around a city. We came across a bakery, called Zorbas. I bought traditional rice pudding for about 1 euro, which was not bad at all and brought it back to our apartment. It was absolutely delicious! I know I will deffinitely be going back there soon; especially since its open 24 hours and is so close to where we live. Perfect!

While I was skyping with friend who is studying abroad in Nicaragua tonight, a stray cat just walked right into our apartment! It was a complete shock to both my roommate and I, but there are stray cats all over this city! They are adorable.

Tomorrow, we are going to Cyrpus archaeological museum and then have a scavenger hunt around the city which we are all really looking foward to! I love everything about this city already!

Leaving JFK airport!!

Orange Trees!

First offical Cyprian meal

Holy Jet Lag.

So after what seemed to be an incredibly long flight, I made it!

Saying goodbye to all my friends and family was extremely hard. I wont be seeing them for 4 months and will really miss them all! I am leaving everything I know behind, but that is all apart of this experience! However, my family made it a lot easier when they had me giggling in the security line because I was standing behind some abnormally tall brittish man who bonked me on my head with his computer! We all had a good laugh at that. The flight from JFK to Vienna was a little over 8 hrs and very uncomfortable! The guy sitting next to me took up the majority of the room and slept the whole time so I was trying to curl up next to the window seat, but for some reason was not able to sleep the whole 8hrs. My legs felt like jelly after we landed and it was about 2:30am CT time, so I was exhausted.

I got a little lost trying to make my connecting flight because I needed to go in the opposite direction they sent me. It got a little confusing and was really stressful because a lot of people were speaking different languages. But I eventually found my way and had a little time before the flight to Cyprus. There was much more room on that flight so I was able to sleep a little more comfortably.

As we were landing, I immediately starting getting so nervous. I kept asking myself  "what are you doing??". Everything hit me all at once! I was asked a few questions once I got off, but everything went pretty smoothly. I met my study abroad cordinators there and had to wait for two more flights to come in with more students. It was great meeting them all, but we were all so tired.

We had a meeting that night to go over the basics and then I met all my roomates! They are all so sweet and I can tell we are going to get along great! One is from the south and the other two are from the midwest, so sorry mom and dad if I bring home a slight accent. :) Later that night, all the study abroad kids went to the local bar and played pool for a few hours.

Trying to sleep is awful. I have terrible jet lag and was up until 5:30am Cyprus time. Today, I tried to make it as long as possible before falling asleep so hopefully that will make sleep a little better. Its going to take some getting used to.

 They took us all on a tour of the city today and I'm already in love with it! It was about 60 degrees which is so much warmer than I'm used to. Everything is so beautiful here! The orange trees and the architecture is so amazing! They gave us a history of Cyprus and it was all really interesting. We then went out to lunch and learned a few Greek words; "thank you" and "very good". But I've forgotten them already! The food was so amazing and it felt so good to actually have my first real meal after the flights. We also went to the 11th floor of one of the buildings and were able to see a panoramic view of the whole city; it was beautiful!

My roomates and I went to the grocery store to get food for our apartment. Most of the labels were in Greek, so it was really hard trying to figure out what we were getting; especially the laundry detergent. It was an iteresting experience.

I'm going to try to go to sleep soon and get rid of this jet lag because I've been running on less than 2hrs of sleep!

And so the journey begins...

On January 20, 2011, I will be flying out to start my semester abroad in Cyprus!

When I first found out the news on October 14, 2010 that I had been accepted to the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, I was overcome with excitement. I was with one of my best friends, Abby, who was jumping up and down with me sharing all the emotions I was feeling. Since then, I have been preparing for my journey and trying to get everything together for this incredible experience. However, there is still a lot to do! While my computer has been having a ton of issues for the past few weeks and the nervousness and reality of the whole thing is in full force, I still cannot contain my excitement!

The island is about the same size as my home state of Connecticut and is 7 hours ahead. It has a tremendous history between the Greeks and the Turks which makes it really interesting for an Anthropology major like myself.

I have wanted to study abroad ever since I was a child. There is something about traveling that has captured me and I can’t wait to start this journey. I have never felt more ready to go out and explore what the world has to offer and studying in Cyprus will deffinitely give me that.

While I am extremely nervous for what I am about to experience, I know that this will be a life changing opportunity and I cannot wait to emmerse myself and dive in.

And so, my journey in Cyprus begins.