Last Days of Freedom

Wednesday we had a cooking lesson on Traditional Cyprus Cuisine - it was amazing!! We had Cypriot/Greek meatballs (which are different than Italian meatballs, they are made with potato), ravioli stuffed with halloumi cheese, and fried halloumi in a warm pita....I was in heaven!! Halloumi cheese is a traditional Cypriot/Greek cheese and it is amazing! but the cook said it was about 500 calories/slice!! ahhhh, stay away from it Marie!! That night we were supposed to have a scavenger hunt through the city, but we were too cheap to pay for a taxi, so we went back, watched movies, and played scattergorries.

Thursday we went to the Cyprus archeological museum. We saw bowls and sculptures made in 7000 BC! The picture is of sculptures that they worshiped; it is depicting a woman giving birth. They would worship these sculptures because they didn't know how it happened; they just knew that was the only way to have children. The figure is on the back of all of the Cypriot Euros. We also saw the original sculptures of Aphrodite, because she is said to be born out of the waters and onto the beach of Cyprus! We ended the night at "hip-hop night" at a bar right by our house; it was interesting, but fun.

Friday we took a day trip to the Troodos Mountains. We first stopped in a little village - Omodos - with quaint cobblestone roads and little old men and women in the shops; I loved it here! We went in a shop and bought some postcards and the woman gave us some pretzel sticks, they tasted like cardboard, but she was adorable! We went into another store and sampled the famous commandaria wine of Cyprus, it was very sweet. We also found shop with all handmade lace - it was beautiful and very impressive!

We got back on the bus, winded our way up to the top of the mountain, only for it to be raining, windy, freezing, and foggy - we couldn't see anything! :( We went to another village Kakopetria, but we got there during siesta time, so nothing was open (in Cyprus most shops close from 2-4 pm for "siesta time").

Saturday we walked to The Coffee Beanery and had a Cypriot frappelatte, it was delicious! For dinner we went to Tavern Plaka and had meze - it is a traditional Cypriot meal where they bring you little plates of almost everything on the menu! This particular meze had 35 plates! It starts with cold appetizers, then warm appetizers, the main courses, and desserts. We tried everything - greek salad, humus, tabouli, olives, pasta, halloumi, spinach and feta, chicken, pork kebab, rabbit, potatoes, fries, fruit, etc. It was DELICIOUS! but very expensive! (Most things are fairly expensive here becasue of the exchange rate betweent the euro and the dollar and because it is an island, so everthing has to get shipped in.)

Today we went for a run and explored the city a little more, we found the Cyprus International Fair Grounds and a sports complex with tennis courts, track, and a soccer stadium - I finally felt like I fit in. We thought since we were so good and went for a run, that we deserved some pie a la mode....then more ice cream down the street!

Classes start tomorrow, so we are all trying to get back into school/thinking mode, we'll see how this goes...

Getting Oriented

We don't start classes until a week from today, so this whole week we have orientation presentations, which so far are fairly interesting!

Friday, we walked around our neighborhood (Makedonissa) with my neighbors, went to a local cafe where I had my first Greek salad = delicious!, and had my first Cypriot (found out that it is pronounced sip-re-ot) shopping experience. Pretty normal, except when you want to buy something and the directions to cook it is all in Greek....this could be problematic, especially since I can't cook in the first place. We got back and all of my roommates and made it!! That night we decided to taste what the local vineyards had to offer, and explore the night life. It was fun! The picture below is our group of girls - I love them!

Saturday, we got a tour of old city of Lefkosia - which is the walled in city of Nicosia. It is one of the oldest cities in the world! This picture is one of the 3 gates into the city. The Venetian wall and gates were first built in the 15th century. It was 70 ft tall and 150 ft deep around the entire city! But now that it is divided between the Turks and the Greeks it is almost like a ghost town (picture of the alley). Many of the houses have been uninhabited (especially close to the border) for over 30 years.

We were able to go right up to the border, what they call the "green line." There are barriers dividing the entire country from coast to coast. We would walk down the street or a small alley and all of a sudden there would be wall, so you'd have to turn around and go back. I could only take this one picture because the Turkish army couldn't see me there, if they see you take a picture of the border, they will take your camera away. The UN occupies and guards the buffer zone between the 2 sides. Our tour guide was explaining the different architecture from different time periods. On one side of an alley would be a house with a small, short door and small windows. They built these when the Turkish were invading so they could not get into their homes on horses. Later when the British ruled Lefkosia, the houses had big doors with glass and open balconies because they felt much safer. It was really interesting to see. We also were able to go into a couple churches – the picture is of one of the oldest churches that were not destroyed during the Turkish invasion, built in the 14th century. It was very gothic and very impressive!

Sunday night we had a huge buffet of traditional Cypriot food - salads, pasta, meat, etc. - it was delicious! Later this week we get a cooking lesson of other traditional Cypriot food, so we can starting making things on our own...instead of pb&j sandwiches and spaghetti.

Monday, we walked to a little bakery and tried some Cypriot pastries! I had a ham & cheese pastry thingy, a "cheese cocktail" pastry something, and a chocolate stuffed pastry! Delicious!! Oh and everyone here makes me feel like I am so underdressed. I knew they didn't wear sweatpants or typical Marie clothes, but everyone wears their designer clothes with stilettos, ick! And, my "nice" clothes are considered very casual, oh well, it's not like I blend in right now anyways!

Today, we had 2 lectures - the History of Cyprus and Geography of Cyprus; they were both interesting. Since Cyprus' first inhabitants (7400 B.C.) it has been (and continue to be) a huge geopolitical country and has been ruled by almost every empire during their dominate period of history - Egyptians, Romans, Byzantines, Alexander the Great, Venetians, France, Arab, Ottoman, and the British (there's probably a couple that I am missing). It is also the only country in the world that in order to change their constitution, they must get approval from Greece, Turkey, and Britain! For dinner we went out to Gyro Mania, and made some Cypriot sangria with lots of fruit - it was so good!

Also, we just booked flights and hostels to Egypt! There are 10 of us going (and a couple other groups from our program) from Feb 18-21. We are planning on seeing the pyramids, go on a camel ride, and who knows what else! I can't wait! :)

Finally, Cyprus!

3 flights, 3 countries, 3 airports, 3 security checks, 3 trains, 2 buses, and 20+ hours of travel....finally here!

I got to Chicago with about 2 hours until the plane is supposed to leave and i go and ask a guy where british airways was, he looked at me...eyebrows raised...took out a map and explained that i would have to leave the airport get on a train go through secrutiy again, and then try to find the gate (kind of like going from the lindburg to humphrey terminal, but they have trains). Ahhh, so did that fine. That flight was good for the most part, decent food, good movies, plus british airways gives you free wine! There was nobody sitting next to me on my flight from chicago to london, so I got to lay down over a couple of seat and...well let my eyes rest, miss night owl here didn't get much sleep. Then i got to London, and my connecting flight was supposed to leave in less than 2 hours! So, I "walked" (aka speed walk) down this half mile hallway to get into the actual airport, go around the maze that is heathrow airport, stand in line forever to get through secrutiy AGAIN, take another train to a different terminal, walk forever, and finally made it! Yes, i made it, just to find a bunch of other students from my trip hanging out while I am dripping with sweat.

Anyways, I'm here! We got our apartments, which are nice and big, and we have 3 balconies! The top picture is our apartment complex! Then its our kitchen, living room, veranda, and view from my room, and you can see the university - its the bulidings in the back with all of the windows. 

Anyways, once we hauled all of our stuff up to our apartment we walked to the university (which is about a block away) and had some good, traditional cypriot food...pizza hut. We got a brief run down of some things and our schedule for orientation week - it is packed. We had the rest of the night and the next day to unpack, get gorceries, etc. only problem was that none of my roommates were here yet :( so I had a sleepover with the girls next to me! it's really weird being here, i feel like i'm on a weekend vacation, until i look at the schedule and realize that it's 4 months, crazy!