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