So this is what culture shock feels like...

September 14, 2010

Wow, what an interesting few days!  Sunday was merely an information day, being the start of orientation. But learning about all the free travel we can do was GREAT.  Cyprus is in a very strategic location for traveling to the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.  My group has already decided we'd like to travel to Jordan for a few days and Amsterdam on a week long trip.  Weekends trips with consist of traveling to the different cities within Cyprus that have amazing beaches or places where we can hike beautiful mountains. During the informational session we also learned a lot about Cyprus's history.  We learned about the war that led up to the divide of the island into the Greek Cypriot side and the Turkish Cypriot side.  It's a sad story involving refugees and many people who can no longer see their homes again, but it was interesting to learn the history of this unique island.

Monday we went to a cooking class with the University of Nicosia's Greek version of Emeril (not really but that's how I would describe him).  Learning more about the food only instilled my negatives feelings towards most of it, but I am certainly open to getting used to it!  After the cooking class we took a tour of the university (2 minutes from our apartment complex) and just about the same size as my school, with an even smaller feel.  At night we had a welcome dinner at a nice restaurant that served all kinds of food, buffet style.  And later that night we met our Cypriot neighbors that live in the apartment across from us. Finally some locals!  We really enjoy their company and are excited to learn a lot from them.

Today we had more informational meetings.  Afterwards my two roommates and I took a taxi to the old city to go shopping for things we need for our upcoming trip to Europe.  That's when the culture shock really set in.  Unfortunately, Cypriots are not the best/safest drivers.  We had to cross the street more than usual and had many close calls!  We walked around for a few hours because any directions we can manage to get in English don't seem to be helpful either way.  It's another world here, that is for sure.  When we were ready to leave we called a taxi and spent at least ten minutes on the phone trying to explain to him where we are.  The streets are not well marked and if they are, they are mostly in greek.  It truly brought new meaning to 'it's all greek to me'!  Getting back to our apartment was a relief!  Although many things are different and somewhat frustrating at times, I know I will begin to like it more here when I am more accustomed to everything and start traveling to other cities.  I promise to put up photos once I take ones that are interesting enough!  I miss you all and hope every one of you is doing well!