Trip to Aphrodite's Birthplace (Cyprus)

This past weekend GLS took us on a trip to Paphos, the birth place of the God, Aphrodite! We saw the famous rock where she stands in myths. Our resort was beautiful. It sat right next to the sea and had a beautiful swimming pool. There wasn't much of a beach though, so we just hung out by the gorgeous pool. The weather was nice again, around mid 70s probably and sunny. At night time there was a dj and he played music for all of us crazy Americans both nights and we just spent the night at the hotel dancing and drinking some wine (because its super cheap here!). There were a couple of restaurants and bars nearby so we walked up the street to some restaurants a couple of times. I got a ham sandwich at one and a banana split for dinner during the second night! It was just joyous. Dezi, Kelley, and I shared a hotel room. Lauren's mom came to Cyprus that weekend so she didn't go on the trip. She and her mom spent the weekend in Ayia Napa. It was a pretty nice weekend and next weekend GLS will be taking us to Ayia Napa agian so that is always a good time. :)

Italia and Spain

We had to wake up at 5:00 the next morning in Athens, because we were flying to Rome that day. We ate breakfast and then the bus took us to the airport. We arrived in Rome around 10:00 and unfortunately the weather was miserable which put a big damper on the day. We checked into our room and Dezi, Lauren, and I shared a room, which was actually pretty nice! We were supposed to go on a 3 hour walking tour of Rome, but it we decided to do it the next day, since it was raining so hard. We rode the metro to the city center, but we didn't really want to walk around because of the rain so we just hung out in the hotel for the rest of the day. Later on we asked the guy who worked at reception where a good restaurant was and luckily there was one right down the street that ended up being everything I could ever hope and dream of (because I LOVE Italian food!). Italian food in Italy actually is a lot cheap than in the U.S so I took advantage of that and ordered pretty much everything...bread, toast with bruschette, penne a la vodka, grilled chicken, a coke, and tiramisu for dessert and it was ALL fantastic! I was very happy about that. The next morning our GLS group took the metro to the Colesseum and went on a guided tour. It was pretty cool. There was lots of interesting history there where the slaves would fight each other (gladiators) and sometimes they would fight animals like alligators, lions, and bears! Oh my!! The weather was nice for that, so it was a relief from the day before. After that we headed to Vatican City where we went on a 2 hour guided tour through an art museum. It was pretty much as exciting as it sounds. While we were in there the clouds decided to haunt us again with rain, so again, it was raining for our 3 hour walking tour. Luckily after a little bit of time it slowed down and we got to see some nice things and got to take some pictures. We only got to spend 2 days in Rome so I never really did get a feel for it. The food was fantastic but Rome was not my favorite city at all.

The next day we took off in a bus to see the leaning tower of Pisa on our way to Florence. We had lunch in the little town and then proceeded to the tower where we took some funny pictures. After that we continued on to Florence, which is north of Rome and a little bit more like a big town rather than a city. It had a very different feel to it. The architecture was different and the weather was nicer!! :) Our hotel was right near the city center which was very convenient. We went out to dinner again to an Italian restaurant of course and again, it was unbelievably great! I got lasagna and mmm it was good. We went to bed pretty early that night, and got up for breakfast around 10 the next day. Again, the hotel provided us with some food in the morning which was so nice. We walked down the street to the Uffizi museum which has some famous paintings of Venus and the painting "Primavera." Yes, it was ANOTHER art museum. This was was actually tolerable though and I found some of it interesting. Overall, art museums...not my thing. Luckily it didn't last too long so it kept me interested, and then we had the rest of the day to ourselves. There was so much shopping in the downtown area so we spent most of the day shopping and eating. It was wonderful. I even got a picture of the blue sky to show that ONE day the sun did shine in Italy. Later that night we got sandwiches for dinner and then I got tiramisu gelato for dessert and surprise! It was grand. I do love the food in Italia! :) The next day the bus took off once again, for Venice, which is famous for the little waterways that run through the island and the gondala (boat) rides through them. We were so excited because the bus ride from Florence to Venice was sooo beautiful. The sun was shining and we drove the through the mountains past cute little towns. Sometimes I even felt like we were driving through America, because the trees, fields, and mountains looked kinda similar. Anyway suddenly we saw ahead of us an abyss of black clouds. And sure enough it began to pour. By the time we got to Venice and needed to get off the bus to take the ferry, it was absolutley miserable and extremely wet outside. None of us were dressed for this weather so we were all very cold in our flip flops and t shirts. Anyway, we took the ferry to Venice and decided to go straight to a restaurant. We followed our guides to the center where the shopping and restaurants are and I got some more wonderful lasagna and chicken. Once we finished eating it stopped raining so we my 3 roommates, 3 of our other friends, and I went on a gondala ride which was super cute. We rode all through the waterways in the city on the boat. It was soo romantic..hehe. We were just happy that it wasn't raining anymore. We did some shopping and went back to where the ferry was and by then it was getting sunny! It ended up being a good experience despite the weather. After spending 4 hours in Venice it was time to go back to the bus and head to yet another airport.






From there, we had a 10:00 fight to Barcelona. By the time we arrived at our hotel it was nearly 2:00 a.m. and Ben came to meet us at our hotel and brought us roses because it was Spanish Valentines day or something crazy like that, but it was wonderful and nice of him! I know this is going to sound crazy, but after that Kelley, Dezi, Ben, and I went out to a club. Apparently the party doesn't really start there until around 1:30 a.m. so we weren't too later. We went to a club right next to the beach that had tables set up outside to sit at and inside there was music and a huge dancafloor. We saw some other people that we know from Pitt which is funny because we are not used to seeing Americans in Cyprus. We stayed there for about an hour and a half before we got tired and decided to call it a night. We had a 4 hour walking tour the next morning at 10:00 (we are so smart), but it was ok because at this point we were pretty much running on adrenaline...and contined to do so for the next 2 days. The walking tour was nice. Our tour guides are always so nice and informative. If only I paid attention (hehe). We saw some churches and some other interesting buildings. I immediately loved the city of Barcelona. The architecture is fantastic and the big city vibe is so exciting. It was definitely the most diverse city I have ever been to with the exception of NYC. There were allll kinds of crazy interesting people there from all over. I was kind of excited to be in Spain and somewhat understand signs and some of what people were saying since I know some Spanish. I even asked a lady a question in Spanish and she understood and responded! How fantastic. Yay me. Anyway, after our walking tour we had the day to ourselves so we met up with Ben, his friend Jamie, and my other friend, Zach from Pitt. We took a taxi up to a mountain where there was a fantastic view of the city of Barcelona. There was also a really pretty church that was super tall. It was like a castle! We climbed all the way up to the top and we sure were high up! Again, we took lots and lots of pictures! We went back to our hotel to clean up and get dressed for dinner. We went to a tapas bar which is a traditional Catalan kind of restaurant. You order a bunch of different little plates of things like chicken, potatoes, ham, and bread and everyone shares it. It was fun and different!


























We went back to Ben and Zachs apartment after that which was really cool. It was really nice. We hung out until 1:00 a.m. again until it was time to go out. We went to another club near the sea and danced for a couple of hours. We slept in the next day and once we got up we did some shopping. We had dinner at a nice restaurant down by the sea. Ben came to meet up with us at hotel after that and we walked to a Sangria bar down the street. It was was delicious and we played some foozball. The spaniards are really serious about their foozball! Supposedly the world champion from 15 years ago was there and he played against Ben and Dezi and they couldnt make a single goal! It was fun. We met a lot of Spanish people and they were all really nice (and loved my eyes). hehe. Again we were really smart and went out the night before we had to be awake and getting on the bus at 6:30 a.m. Oh well we sure had a fun time in Barcelona despite the fact that we never slept. Our last day was super long and awful (I won't bore you too much with the details) but we didnt get back to Nicosia until 4:30 in the morning on the next day!! Outrageous and somewhat bad planning by our program I suppose. Overall Barcelona was probably my favorite city that we visited followed by Paris, Dublin, Florence, Athens, then Rome. I Like Nicosia too but it is significantly smaller than any other city and hard to compare. :)