My Latest Adventures Around Cyprus!

So, I guess it’s time that I update this bad-boy again.  haha.  Two weekends ago, Friday through Sunday, GLS took our group around the island a bit.  I’ll describe the experience by city to make it simple.

Pafos:  Pafos was our first stop.  On our way to the city though, we made a couple of pit-stops.  The first two were to see some castles.  Our tour-guide from the beginning of the program, Dimetria, came with us again to show us around.  She explained some things about each place to us, and then would set us free to go explore it for a while.  They were really interesting, and the view from the top of both was gorgeous!  Next, we made our way to a site containing ancient Turkish baths and a well-preserved amphitheater.  It was right next to the sea, and the surroundings were quiet picturesque.  Can you imagine being able to bathe, outside, overlooking the sea?  How great!  lol.  After visiting the baths, we made a pit-stop on the side of the road to see what is considered the birthplace of Aphrodite: “Aphrodite’s Rock.”  It is said that here, the mythological goddess of beauty and love, was born out of the sea foam.  After seeing it, you could definitely understand why!  The colors of the unbelievably clear water were beautiful blends of turquoise and sapphire blue, and the sea seemed to stretch on for miles and miles.  Sadly, we were only able to stop for about five, maybe ten minutes.  After leaving the site, Dimetria told us about a legend: it is said that, if you swim naked around the rock three times under a full moon that you will have good luck in love for the rest of your life (or something along the lines depending on the variation you hear).  She said that the waters are warmest in August, so that when there’s a full moon next August, to think of her and know what she’ll be doing.  lol.  :D  She’s so funny...finally, our group reached Pafos.  After a lunch-break, we all met up to see the infamous “Pafos Mosaics.”  They really are quite something.  They are very intricate, and they all tell a different and unique story.  After visiting Pafos, we made our way to Limassol.

Limassol: We spent two nights in Limassol (Friday night and Saturday night).  The first night, we just checked in (some of us, including my room, got to stay in “Executive Housing” across the street--it was pretty neat!), and we explored a little and ate dinner.  Rose, Shami, and I ate at Nandos, a restaurant that specializes in chicken dishes.  I got a chicken wrap, and it was delicious!  After dinner, we all just headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night.  The following morning, after breakfast, my friends and I decided to hit the beach for a little while.  It was nice, but the water is definitely getting colder!  It reminded me of summer waters in MN lakes...  :/  eh, I’ll take what I can get...it’s better than being in all of that snow I hear we’re having back home!  hehe.  After swimming for a bit and relaxing, we decided to go to the mall.  I know, I know...we’re in another city, we should get out and explore more...but honestly, Limassol is a really touristy town.  With tourist-season over, there’s not much else to do but shop there!  And besides, we’re a group of girls...what do you expect?!  Anyway, so, after quite a bit of confusion waiting for a bus, we all squished into a taxi and headed out to “My Mall.”  We were told that this is Cyprus’ best mall, and in my opinion, it’s Cyprus’ equivalent of MOA.  At this mall, there is an ice-skating rink and a bowling alley, amongst many stores of course!  The first thing that we did when we got to the mall was to find the island’s ONLY Taco Bell!  Many of us had major Mexican food cravings, so of course we stopped there.  Afterwards, we all spent the day shopping.  No worries, I only made one purchase: a light, black sweater of sorts.  I’ve already worn it more than a few times, so it was definitely a good purchase.  :)  After the mall, we went out for some Chinese food (I know...Mexican?  Chinese?  What can I say?  We were all hankering things that we haven’t really been able to eat since we’ve been here!).  After, we all just went back to the hotel and turned in for the night where most of us either just watched a movie or fell asleep.  The next morning, we had a relaxing breakfast, walked down to the beach again, and then departed for Lefkara.

Lefkara:  This was definitely my favorite part of our weekend trip (and sadly, the shortest part as well...we only had about and hour and a half to explore!).  Lefkara is a small village, situated in the Troodos Mountains.  It was so quaint and absolutely beautiful!  Lefkara is mainly known for its lace.  It’s been said that Leonardo Da Vinci brought back lace from Lefkara to Italy: they even have a special “Da Vinci” pattern that they embroider on their lace!  There were lace shops every few feet it seemed, and most of the shop-owners we ran into described the lace-making process and the differences in all of the products.  For my friends and I, the time that we spent in Lefkara was mainly focused on walking around and exploring.  I got some great pictures of the village, and had a wonderful time being in a different atmosphere than the city-atmosphere that I’m used to!  It was sad to leave, but it inspired some travels for the following weekend...

Last weekend, two of my friends (Maggie and Alexis) and I decided to explore the village of Kakopetria in the Troodos Mountains, and we decided to make a day-trip back to the town of Kyrenia with our friend, Faith, as well.

Kakopetria: It’s hard to say, but I think I liked this village even better than the village of Lefkara.  We took a bus to Kakopetria, and after a little over an hour of driving, we arrived in the mountain-village.  Like the weekend before, our time was mainly devoted to walking around and exploring (to be honest, two of my favorite things to do when visiting a new place).  We started by exploring the higher part of the village: one of the highlights of our time in the village was the fresh grapes that we came upon on our way up.  They were very big and warm from the sun, and soooo delicious.  We couldn’t help picking a bunch off of the vine once we saw them!  :)  We also saw a couple of small waterfalls as well--they were beautiful!  After exploring the higher part of the village, we made our way back towards the center and went off in another direction.  We found ourselves on a street that led to some cute side-streets: we came across a small church, with an olive-tree (I think?) in the courtyard outside of it, a woman that tried to sell us some of her homemade preservatives, and a small snack/souvenir store of sorts, run by an old man who was with his friend.  I bought a little clay vase/pot at his place, and we all took a bathroom break there.  His little store overlooked a stream, and he told us how we could get down, so after we were all ready, we made our way down to the stream and decided to cross it.  After a little exploring in the wooded area surrounding the stream, we found a little vineyard!  We grabbed another bunch of grapes and walked around the area for a little while.  It was fun, especially because it seemed like such a secret--our own little vineyard!  After exploring for a while, we made our way to the outskirts of the village (or quite possibly to another village) so I could photograph a set of stairs for my photography project that I saw on my way to Kakopetria.  It was quite a walk, so we stopped and played at a park on the way there.  On the way back, we ran into a woman carrying a few bags of groceries while we were walking up to the village-center, so we decided to help her take them to her house.  She ended up inviting us in her house for some juice as a way to say thank you.  Although there was quite a language barrier between us, we were able to make some small-talk.  She was very nice, and it was great to experience some down-to-earth Cypriot-hospitality.  :)  After visiting with the woman for a while, we made our way back to town where we ate a meal at a little trendy restaurant, and then hopped back on the bus to go home.  I fell asleep on the way back, and when Alexis woke me, I accidentally left my phone on the bus!  (I didn’t realize this right away though, since I was so disoriented, so I was without a phone for a while.  Luckily, I was able to get it back yesterday!  Whew!)  Anyway, when we got back into the city, we had to wait for our bus to take us back near our apartments.  To kill time, we grabbed some ice cream and then checked out a little carnival that’s currently in town.  (Think “Columbia Heights fair” around the 4th of July.)  It had some rides, games, and an ice rink!  We didn’t do anything though because it was overpriced, and because we had to get going!  When we got back that night, we decided to pull out the henna kit that Maggie had brought with her from the states.  I drew a cute flower and butterfly on myself, and I used my “artistic talents” and drew some designs on the other girls.  It was really fun, and they all turned out great!  After our “henna party,” I turned in for the night.

Kyrenia: I don’t really have anything new to say about Kyrenia.  Maggie, Alexis, and this time Faith, and I went to Kyrenia together.  We took a taxi there, and then stopped at our favorite restaurant where we picked up some food and ate it at our spot on the wall on the sea.  After, we made our way up the mountain to St. Hilarion castle since Faith hadn’t seen it before.  We spent the afternoon exploring it again, and I took a lot of pictures (as usual...ha).  One new thing this time was that I climbed to the peak of the mountain and castle--that was pretty neat!  We made our way back down the mountain when we were done exploring, and hopped back on a bus to Nicosia.  It was quite a walk from the bus-stop to the border, but we eventually made it back.  It was a great day, but again, nothing too “new” to write about here.  

The rest of the weekend, I spent my time going to the city-center of Nicosia (where I went to the other side with Maggie, and picked up my phone).  I haven’t had much class this week, so I’ve pretty much been relaxing.  Today, some of my friends and I made a visit to the hospital though--one of the girls on our trip is being hospitalized for some severe burns she got this past weekend.  Her and some of the other people in our study-abroad group went camping in the North this weekend.  They made a fire on the beach, and she was trying to move a log or something, and she lost her balance somehow and fell in!  She got burned pretty bad (but not bad enough to get skin graphs, thank goodness!).  Although she’s in pain of course, she seems to be doing fine, and she’s in pretty high spirits.  But if you could please pray for her, that would be wonderful!  (Her name is Liz by the way.)  She’s had quite a few visitors since she’s been hospitalized, and some people have even spent the night with her.  We are all hoping she will heal quickly!

Alright, well, I need to hit the hay because...I’m leaving for Belgium within a matter of hours!  My secret destination #2 is Brussels for those of you who were wondering.  I’m going with a few friends, and we’re couch-surfing, so we’re pretty excited!  I can’t wait to get my fill of chocolate, waffles, and fries!  :D

Before I go though, since it’s Thanksgiving week, I just wanted to say that I am VERY thankful for so many things--especially all of YOU, my family and friends.  Thank you for who you are, for always being there for me, supporting me, and loving me, and for just being so wonderful!  I love you all, and I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving!  Enjoy your wonderful Thanksgiving feasts and pumpkin pie--I'll sure be missing it!  Oh, and do me a favor and do a lot of Black Friday shopping for me, k?  ;)

ps-Less than one month until I am home!  CRAZY! 

M.I.A.

I know that my title best describes what I've been lately, and I'm sorry!  I can’t really use the excuse that life has been busy...in fact, the two weeks after I got back from Egypt, I had a total of four class periods (two class periods of Brain and Behavior, and two class periods of Research Methods).  Now, I know it may concern some of you that I had two five-day weekends in a row, but there’s no need to worry--I’m still getting an education, I’m still learning, and I’ve still got exams to look forward to (yay..).  Obviously I’ve had a lot of free time though, and since I've been horrible at updating my blog lately, I feel that it's time to give you a quick re-cap of what I’ve been up to!

The week after Egypt, I just took it easy for the most part.  I wasn’t feeling too well after getting back, and for those of you who actually talked to me, you know that I barely had a voice for about three days straight.  Not fun.  (Probably a time of rejoicing for everyone else though!)  ;)  lol.  The weekend after I returned from Egypt, however, I decided to go on another [small] trip.  This time, some of us traveled to the North side of the island.  There was about seven of us, and we traveled to the town of Kyrenia.  For those of you who don’t remember, the Northern side of the island is under Turkish occupancy, so we had to show our passports and exchange money after crossing the border, just as if we were going to another country.  And my-oh-my, it almost is a different country over there.  The island has an entirely different atmosphere in my opinion.  I don’t really know how to explain it...to be quite honest though, the people actually seem to be a lot “warmer” than the Cypriots on our side of the line...I'm know why, but they definitely seem more welcoming!  Our hostel owner was beyond nice, we had a wonderful taxi driver whose services we called upon two days in a row, and any other locals we met treated us very well for the most part!  

Anyway, after getting to Kyrenia, most of us ate a quick lunch by the sea and then took the time to explore a castle called St. Hilarion Castle (a couple of the girls went paragliding instead and had a blast!).  The castle was a very interesting piece of architecture and definitely beautiful.  The views from it were magnificent too!  You could see all of Kyrenia from the castle, mainly because it’s situated at the top of a mountain.  An interesting fact about this castle is that it is supposedly the one that Snow White's castle is modeled after!  Now, I’ve officially seen the “Cinderella Castle” (in Segovia), and the “Snow White Castle” (in Kyrenia).  :)  After exploring the castle, we all met up again and watched the sunset from outside another castle called the Kyrenia Castle.  Our spot was overlooking the lovely port, so it was quite exquisite.  After talking amongst each other and just watching life go by, we decided to go and find a place to eat.  The restaurant we chose to eat at was alright...most of us got hot dogs because they were cheap and seemed like a good choice at the time.  However, the Cypriot version of a hot dog is very different from the American version (toppings-wise at least..).  I’m not quite sure what was on it, but I’m thinking it was mayo and chili?  haha.  It was interesting nonetheless.  After dinner, we went back to the hostel where we just decided to call it a night and rent a movie & tv-use from the hostel owner.  Sadly, we weren’t able to get it to work, but it turned out for the best.  We just had a wonderful time talking together and enjoying each other's company!  After a while though, the hostel-owner came up to our room and told us that some of his friends from Turkey were going to be playing their instruments and that we were welcome to go and listen!  We ended up going down to the port and sitting at a table outside one of the restaurants, and listened to some beautiful guitar and violin playing.  It was such a great experience--I had one of those “I-can’t-believe-I’m-really-here-right-now” moments for sure.  Sadly, we were sort of “booted out” (politely) after a couple of songs because none of us wanted to purchase anything from the restaurant..oh, well!  Most of us had wanted to go by then anyway, so we headed back and turned in for the night (for real this time).

The next day, we had breakfast together and then headed up into the mountains to visit Bellapais Monastery.  (This is the second time we called upon our awesome taxi driver!)  It is a monastery that is situated in the mountains within site of the castle we visited the day before, and it was quite beautiful.  After exploring it for quite some time, as well as a cute little gift shop not far from it, we headed back down the mountain where the group split up again.  My friends Leah, Rose, Alexis, and I decided to explore the Kyrenia castle while the others decided to try to go and find a beach to swim at.  The castle was great (there was even a dungeon!), and like all of the other places that we visited those couple of days, it offered spectacular views (especially of the harbor).  Finally, we went back to the hostel, claimed our stuff, and headed back to Nicosia.  It was certainly a fabulous weekend!

The only other "big" thing that has gone on the last few weeks was Halloween.  My neighbors hosted a potluck where everyone who wanted to come brought fall or halloween-themed food.  With the pizza we ordered from Pizza Hut, it was definitely a treat!  Then after we all ate, a bunch of us transferred over to my apartment where we watched a series of movies: Hocus Pocus, The Exorcist (a WEIRD & creepy movie...), and No Reservations (some of us needed a happy note to end the night on after watching The Exorcist...haha).  It was definitely a great night spent in good company.  :)

Other than these few things, there hasn't really been anything too exciting.  I had my first of three exams last Tuesday in my Brain and Behavior class.  It was my midterm, and, although I’m still waiting for the results, I believe it went well!  My professor even commented that one of my responses was great while I was taking the exam!  haha.  I have another exam on Tuesday in my Cognitive Psychology class, and then an exam next week in my Research Methods course, so hopefully they'll go well.  Other than preparing for my exams and going to class of course, I’ve just been hanging out with my friends and relaxing!  A few of my neighbors and I had a day of shopping on Friday, as well as yesterday...hehe.  I only made a few purchases though, and I love them all!  And today a group of us went on a walk around the city.  It was fantastic!  

Anyway, I guess that’s all I really have to update you on at the moment!  I'm headed out to the cities of Limassol and Pafos next weekend with GLS, so I'll have an update within a week or so for sure.  I hope that all is going well back home!!!!  Goodnight!  

<3