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Classes, a Non-Existent Country, and Super Bowl Monday
As far as the title of my last post "Last day of freedom" yeah, that was a lie. I've had over a week of classes and still living the dream! Don't worry mom, I am actually going to class and my roommate and I had to give a 20 minute presentation in our history class on Thursday...but other than that, I love these classes! The first day, I really felt like I was a foreign exchange student. My first class was with all university students, so that was really interesting! First, I sat down a chair away from this girl and she just stared at me...then I looked around the room and everyone was sitting at their own table, oops! (I met her a couple days later; Alkea is half Cypriot and half American and is very nice!) Also, all of the students were very concerned about writing a 4-6 page research paper (which our professor had to explain, apparently that is an American thing). A guy goes, "Wait, 4 pages?! Does that include pictures??" and the professor replied, "Of course!" I'm liking this! I had to talk to my professor about missing so much class and he was very nice and helpful with everything; and he went to Ohio State for a couple years! Crazy! My European Cultures course is really interesting and we are learning a lot about Cypriots - I will explain more of this craziness later.
On Saturday, we woke up early (9AM is early for us here) and took a bus to the old walled in city into Freedom Square, down Ledra Street (which is their main street where all of the shops are), and ventured to the North! The North (The Turkish Republic of Cyprus) is, to most of the world, and non-existent country! Only Turkey recognizes it - the US doesn't, the UN doesn’t, none of the other countries in Europe or the Middle East; it doesn't exist! We had to walk through the UN buffer zone - which was lined with blue canvas covering all of the old homes/buildings that used to be occupied - and it was dead silent. Once we got to the border we had to fill out a separate piece of paper and have it stamped by the border control. They can't stamp your actual passport because if another country sees it, you might get into some trouble because it doesn't exist. As soon as we got through, it felt like we were in a completely different country! It looked and felt very depressed. Many of the buildings were run down and had not been occupied since the invasion in 1974. It is also very poor because when they invaded they brought the poor Turkish people into Cyprus, promising them a better life, but it is still very poor. Much of the animosity between the Greeks and Turks is because of this - the Turkish authority brought in the settlers and gave them the homes of Greek Cypriots who were forced to leave.
When we got back we were all exhausted, so we took naps in preparation for the late Cyprus night. In Cyprus, dinner is around 8-10ish, then people go to coffee or a bar until 12ish, and then to clubs from 1-3 or 4 AM. If you get there earlier than 12:30ish, nobody will be there! So when in Cyprus...
Sunday we went exploring more - there’s not much to do around our apartments, so we have to walk everywhere and find things to do. And Sunday night, well Monday morning, we went to the bar near our apartment and watched the Super Bowl! Very weird to have Super Bowl Monday and no Super Bowl food, and the commercials didn't get streamed through :( The game started at 1AM here, so we're out until 5AM! Yes, I know, crazy, but it was the Super Bowl! Should have been the Vikes.
Other than that, no much is new here since classes have started. Enjoying the lovely Mediterranean winter, and loving every minute of it! :)
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