| Lazy Day...excited for egypt |
[Feb. 6th, 2006|12:46 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
Today, I didn't do too much. After I woke up, still feeling a little sick, me and 5 other Americans went downtown to the market and went out for a nice lunch. We were there for quite awhile, and of course, I had Halloumi and tomato on pita. It's so good i can't help myself. Me and Natalie split the best crepe ever...nutella, chocolate, ice cream, whipped cream...so good. After that, I came home and took a little nap. NOw all the Americans are going to watch the superbowl (it's almost 1am here) and I'm not quite up for it. I'm just hanging out with some Cypriots learning all about what they think about cyprus and america. quite interesting actually. I'm planning on going to bed early because I'm going to Egypt tomorrow! I'm still not feeling so well and I just want to get better so I can go scuba diving! I'll be staying in Sharm el Sheik but we're gonna make a trip to Cairo to see the pyramids and the egyptian museum. I can't wait. I may not be able to get online for this week, but i'll be sure to fill you all in soon! I love my life right now! |
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| What a week! |
[Feb. 4th, 2006|06:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sick | ] |
I guess I'm being lazy again...it's hard for me to keep a journal. Let's go back until Monday, the last time I wrote. Monday night I had my first class at Intercollege. I was quite intimidated standing in the hall with all these Cypriot girls starting at me. Of course, it's a small class where everyone knows everyone, so I immediately got asked where I'm from and quizzed on my life. After introductions, though, everyone was really friendly. There are only 7 other girls in the class and the instructor is a woman. Not much else went on on Monday.
Tuesday, now that's another story! Meredith and I decided to get drunk at 3:00. We went through 2 bottles of wine before class! I went to class a little tipsy and had a rough time concentrating and staying awake. Of course this has to be a tough class (Foundation Skills for Psychotherapy) and I found out we have to turn in actual audio tapes of therapy sessions with a classmate. It's gonna be interesting. My partner is a girl named Oz and she's from Northern Cyprus. She is Turkish and she is very friendly. Anyways, after class, I drank another bottle of wine then we went to some restaurant/bar to watch a soccer (I mean football) game. I was paying no attention to the game, I was more interested in drinking wine! There were a bunch of us, the guys next door and their friends, and about 10 Americans. It was a good time. When we came back, I guess I thought it would be fun to drink even more, so I did. LOL. What a night...drama was going on everywhere. I stayed away from everything and basically spent the night on the balcony by myself looking at all the damn cats that were running around (there's tons of them...everywhere)! I think I saw 6 cats at one time from my view off the balcony (no it wasn't because I was drunk!). Anyways, I was wasted and shit was going on everywhere and I did not let myself get involved in anything. Natalie, my roommate, comes up to me and tells me she locked us out of our apartment. Great...now I get to sleep on a tiny little couch. Good thing Boris, my neighbor, is a good guy. He gave me a pillow and a blanket and let me sleep. It was about 6am before I finally went to sleep. On top of all that, I must have dropped my camera, cause now it's not working properly. There's no flash and it doesn't always work. I cried and cried Tuesday and Wednesday when I realized this happened.
Wednesday was a rough day. I basically did nothing all day because I felt like shit. I woke up to Eleasha tapping me on the arm asking me if I want tylenol. Of course I did, my head was pounding, but I had to throw up first! Still locked out of my apartment, Eleasha took me downstairs to her room, gave me some tylenol, a shirt, and put me in her bed. I slept for a couple more hours until Nat called me and told me she's in our apartment. I went down, took a shower and chilled out the rest of the day. I don't think I moved much from my room and random friends kept coming in. I took a little nap before class, then went to class (Statistics and Research Methods) hoping that it would not last all 4 hours (6-10). Of course, he wanted to keep us there and I had a tough time staying awake. After our second break, though, he let us go because the school likes to lock the doors at 9 and he didn't make arrangements ahead of time. THANK GOD. I just wanted to go back to my apartment. When I got there, my apartment was full of people...Boris, Raspas, Savas, Natalie, and Matt...We were just hanging out and eventually watched Wedding Crashers. People were coming and going all night. Finally it was bedtime.
Thursday I didn't do much...nothing worth talking about during the day. At night, a bunch of people went to a club, but I hate clubs so I didn't go. I ended up hanging out with Marios. I went to his place, and then Johnny came over. We drank a few beers then Zara, Marios' girlfriend, and his other roommate, Chris (from South Africa) came home and I went out to eat with them and had a few glasses of wine. I took a taxi home (half-drunk) and forgot my damn phone in the taxi. No one was in the hostel cause everyone was out clubbing so i had to wait to get my phone then pay 4 CYP ($8)to get it back. Finally Natalie and Matt came home and we hung out for awhile. Nothing more too interesting.
Friday I didn't do much at all. I ran some errands, got my books, made dinner, and went to yoga, which, by the way, kicks my ass. It's a good time though and I feel great after I do it. I also started not feeling well on Friday morning, so I wanted to take it easy so i'm not sick for my trip to Egypt on Monday.
Today, Saturday, we took a trip to Saint Hilarion, a castle in North Cyprus. We weren't able to go in, because there wasn't enough time, but I got great pictures. We then went to Kyrenia, a city on the sea in North Cyprus. There was another castle there, and we got to explore! It was amazing. The town was awesome and the castle gave great views. Again, I got great pictures. After walking around the castle and the town, we headed back to Nicosia. When we got to the green line (where they checked our passports going in), we all had to get out and walk across this sprayed carpet to kill any bacteria that might bring in bird flu...pretty interesting. After all that, I feel like shit...chest cold, stuffy nose, lots of coughing, and I just want to get better. So tonight, I'm doing absolutely nothing and just gonna relax because i really don't feel well. Let's see if that will actually happen! |
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| The Locals Come Back! |
[Jan. 30th, 2006|03:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  drunk | ] |
What a night last night. More people moved into the hostel and around the school since today was the first day of classes. So come to find out, my neighbors are crazy party animals! I was up till about 5am getting wasted. We went through a hell of a lot of wine, too many bottles of whiskey, and lots of rum. Bryan, sorry I didn't call you, I was too drunk and misplaced my phone. I ended passing out on my girl Meredith's couch. Definitely woke up with a pounding head and aching bones and had to go pray to the porcelain god! Good thing my class isn't till 5pm! I had a good time last night...I think! But I have a feeling it's gonna be a rough semester...especially for me...the non-drinker...guess I can't call myself that anymore! So far today, not much has happened. I got my official class schedule and I have my first class (Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral Approach to Psychotherapy) at Intercollege at 5pm. Should be interesting! |
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| My first week in Cyprus |
[Jan. 28th, 2006|09:36 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  ecstatic | ] |
So, I've been slacking because I've been in Cyprus for 1 week now and I haven't started a journal till right now. I'm having trouble posting pics because my files are too big from my camera and I haven't learned how to shrink them yet Let's see...I'm gonna try and give a quick overview of what I've been up to. I came to Cyprus with a study abroad program called Global Learning Semesters. There are about 45 other American students on this program. I get to go to 9 different countries with the program including: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Slovakia. I'll be travelling to those countries on a 17 days trip that starts on April 15. I also get to see all of Cyprus. I am also planning on taking independent trips, with others from the program, to Egypt, hopefully Greece, and anywhere else I can get a good deal to travel to. I left Chicago on Thursday, January 19, and, after a 7 hour 40 minute flight to London, a 4 hour and 30 minute flight to Larnaca, and an hour and a half drive to Nicosia, I finally arrived at my new home for the next 4 months. I'm living in a apartment hostel with one other girl, Natalie Gaebelein, from New York City. We get along great and have a good time together. Everyone on the program is super cool and I'm loving it out here. I haven't started school yet. I'll be attending Intercollege and classes start Monday, January 30. I can't wait so I can start meeting some local Cypriots and hang out with them. I didn't come halfway across the world to hang out with only Americans!
We have done a lot in the past week. I've been learning all about the history and geography of Cyprus. We've taken a tour of Intercollege and we've been on a couple of walking tours of Nicosia, both the new and old city. The old city is enclosed by a wall built by the Venetians back in the day. The city did not start expanding outside of the walls until the late 19th century. It's absolutely amazing and beautiful. Nicosia is also the only divided city in Europe. As a result of the Turkish invasion in 1974, 37% of the island's north remains under Turkish rule. The "Green Line" border divides the country and the capital of Nicosia. (No there is not an actual green line, but you can't cross over...dangerous territory!) There are lots of Turkish military troops and settlers on the north, however it is stable and not unsafe. You can't take pictures once you get near the green line though and it is kinda creepy.
I am so glad to be experiencing this. On one of the tours of the old city, we were able to walk around in the oldest house in Cyprus. It was built in the 17th century! There are plenty of little shops, coffee houses, and restaurants. I can't wait to go back. But, since I have until the end of May, I'm in no hurry (it just means spending money)! We also went to the Museum of Cyprus (an archaeological museum) yesterday. Everything in the museum has been found here in Cyprus. It was pretty interesting and I'm beginning to feel like an expert in Cyprus history. I probably know more about this country than I do about the US!
I've been to a few bars and a couple of clubs, but I'm in no need to go out every night and get wasted. I'm having a great time hanging out with all the people from the program and am saving my partying for when I meet more locals. I have met a couple of them. Eleni, a collegue at Roosevelt, hooked me up with her brother, Marios, and he has taken me out with his friends and girlfriend. I took another guy from the program with so I wasn't alone, however, they were super cool and I was totally comfortable with them and can't wait to hang out with them again!
Today, we took a trip to the Troodos Mountains. We stopped in a little village call Omodhos. It was so beautiful. It was this tiny little village with all kinds of little shops (mostly handmade stuff, including glass and jewlery). They also had wine and firewater only made here in Cyprus. I bought a bottle of firewater for my dad, a hand-blown glass dolphin (made by the only glass maker in Cyprus) for my sister, and a ring with the Greek Key for me...of course I couldn't pass that up. I could've bought so much more, but we didn't have much time. We then drove through the mountains (it was absolutely gorgeous) and went out to lunch at this restaurant witht the most incredible view. I had my new favorite food Haloumi (the traditional cheese of Cyprus), fried, on pita. The dishes always come with french fries, which I think is just wierd. Anyways, after lunch we just came back to the apartments and I've just been chillin since. We don't have anything to do tomorrow and I still don't know what's going on tonight. I'm perfectly content just hanging out for now, I just can't wait till school starts so I can start meeting more people! |
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