Turkish side, Classes, Spring Break and the Troodos Mountains!

Well, the past week has been very interesting, needless to say.

Last saturday, a group of eight girls and one boy crossed the border into the Turkish side of the island. We spent the majority of the day exploring the city of Nicosia and met a wonderful Greek man who told us the pangs of his heart (the girl he loves has moved back to America) and he was devastated. He was very sweet and we all enjoyed his company with a cup of some warm greek coffee (it was a very cold day). We then ventured into the Turkish side which was very different. We had to show our passports in order to cross the border, but because the Turkish side is an unrecognized "state", they could not stamp them. Instead, they stamped a piece of paper saying that we had crossed (it was kind of pointless). Everything seemed much quieter and reserved over there. Because of the cold weather and the rain, we did not go as far up north as we wanted to, but it was still nice to see a different side of the city. There is a place there called Famagusta where the beaches are supposed to be wonderful, so when the weather warms up, that will be a must! A weird thing happened to us while we were there, a group of young boys were sitting in a worn down truck and as soon as we all passed, they opened the door and pretended to shoot us with thier fake guns. They were just playing, but it was very weird for all of us.

Nicosia

Square on the Turkish Side

The Turkish Side of Cyprus

Classes started this week and they all seem very interesting. It was a very stressful week however, because everyone was having problems in choosing thier courses. I was having a lot of trouble getting in touch with my university at home trying to get credits transfered over, figuring out which courses to take from the GLS office here and being on and off the phone with my parents trying to get everything sorted. There was always so much to think about and life did not seem to slow down once. However, through all this, I really enjoy the courses I am taking so far. European Cultures is by far my favorite class; the professor is an Anthropologist from Belgium who is really great! She told us more about the history between the Greeks and the Turks, but told us the other side of the story from the Turkish point of view (something we never got during orientation) and it really brought it home to all of us the amount of suffering this island has been through. I thought I would never be interested in Art History, but it is a great class! I've already learned so much and appreciate and look at art in a much different way now. We learned about the Egyptians and the beautiful artwork hidden deep within the pyramids. Modern Europe will be very beneficial while I am here to learn about the history of the cultures I will be seeing throughout my semester here. There are three classes that I am still not 100% sure of which two I will be taking, but should have it all figured out by early this week. I am also going to be talking to a woman here in the Anthropology department this week to look into an intership for the semester which will be exciting! I just can't wait till all my classes are sorted out and I am on a regular schedule.

During the course of this week, I also officialy booked my spring break trip! As I mentioned before, I do not get a real spring break with my program, but have two weeks where I will only be taking one or two classes, so I'm using that as my break! I am going to England, Scotland and Ireland and am so excited! The group of six I will be traveling with are a wonderful bunch and I know we will have a tremendous time (Kendall, Jenallee, Matt, Jake, Scott and Jessica). The trip was a lot cheaper than I expected because of Ryanair!! During my stay in England, I hope to visit my family in there since I have not seen them in years! One of my best friends from home is studying abroad this semester in Ireland, so while there, we will be treaking over to beautiful Galway to see her! Everytime I think about this trip, I get so excited; Ireland and Scotland have been dream locations for me and I am so blessed that I get this opportunity! 

While on the subject of travel, we are deffinitely not looking into going to Egypt for a while. We were all disappointed by this because it is only a 1hr flight away and very cheap. However, it is way too dangerous over there at the moment because of the protests, so Egypt will be put off for a while. My neighbors from home are going to be going to Switzerland for a weekend and I would love to meet them over there! I have been looking into flights and cannot find one I can afford because for some reason, it is more expensive to leave the island of Cyprus than to come in. I will keep looking because it would be so amazing to go there!

Lastly, yesturday the entire GLS group went to the Troodos Mountains and the Village of Kakopetira for the day. It was so beautiful and great to see a completely different side of Cyprus! When we left, it was a beautiful, bright and sunny day and one hour later, we were in the mountains with snow!! It is amazing how diverse this island is, not only with people, culture and history, but with weather as well. The mountains are the biggest mountain range in Cyprus and is located right in the center with villages, monasteries and churches nestled right in them! They rose from the collision of the African and European tectonic plates and the rocks have managed to stay in their original formation.  It was so beautiful there- I wish we had more time. We then drove down to the village of Kakopetira where we explored for hours and had a delicious lunch. We met an old Greek Cypriot woman who flagged us down and showed us her church- it was very sweet. The village name in Greek means "bad rock", because legend has it that there was a custom in which people getting married would dance around a big rock, but a rock fell on the groom and supposedly killed him. It is because of this that the village is called "bad rock".  While the trip was amazing, the drive back was awful! Our bus driver thought the best way to drive down a steep, windy hill was to ride the brakes the entire time. The entire bus was feeling incredibly sick from this ride. Someone even threw up on the way down. It was not a good drive.

Troodos Mountains

Carli and I on the legendary rock

The history of Kakopetria

Today was a gorgeous, bright and sunny day (something we havent had much of here yet)! So my roommates and I took advantage of this weather and walked from our apartment downtown to the Coffee Beanery. We sat outside, drank traditional Frappes and did our homework for the afternoon. It was really nice. Tonight, the local bar is playing the superbowl. However, because we are 7 hours ahead, it doesnt start here until 1:30 AM! I will deffinitely be joining, I'm just not sure for how long. Getting used to late night Greek lifestyle had been very difficult.

Week 2 has already finished! Only 14 more here.