ESA Trip to Salamis and Famagusta

This past Saturday my 3 roommates and I went on a trip to the Turkish side of Cyprus with the European study abroad students. They plan bus trips pretty often and always invite us to go along with them. We are some of the only Americans that go on their trips, but we always have a great time because they are a lot of fun! We had to drive across the border again, which is a pain because they have to check everyone's passport at the border. It is kind of ridiculous, because everyone just puts their passport into one big bag and then one person shows the guards at the border. The guards didn't even have to see me at all! They are really quite a nuissance and everyone around the world is hoping that the Turks stop occupying Northern Cyprus. Anyway, our bus continued on to Salamis ancient ruins, which is located right next to the sea and is very beautiful. The ruins date back to the 11th century B.C. and were inhabbited by many different groups of people since then. A lot of the building had fallen down, but we could see some different rooms that the ancient people had built in the town. They had a gymnasium, baths, and pools, and a sweating room for the people of the town. We had a tour guide that took us to each room to explain its significance. We also saw the theatre which could seat 15000 people. During every night of the week, each family had to send a member to go to the theatre, where they would be educated about current situations and news. They also used the theatre as a way to calculate the population, since a member of every family was required to be present! After touring the ruins, we all received a bagged lunch, so we went to a park to eat. We were supposed to go on a tour of Famagusta after this, but it was a beautiful day and everyone wanted to go to the beach instead. The sun wa shining, but the water was not so warm. We all decided to go swimming anyway, so we changed into our bathing suits and jumped in! Some other people went swimming with us too, but a lot of people that come from warm countries thought that we were crazy! We played games on the beach until the sun went down. Finally, we decided to do our little tour of Famagusta. Famagusta is now a ghost town, without hardly any people. In 1974, the Turks forced everyone who lived there out of their houses by a certain date. Since then, no one has lived there and the buildings are just falling apart. This is very sad, because 35 years ago Famagusta was one of the most beautiful places to go on the island and brought in tourists from all over. Now Cyprus can not benefit from tourism there since the Turks occupy the land. I have put up some pictures of the old hotels that are now just falling down. We also went to see a Mosque, which used to be a Catholic cathedral before the invasion. Since Northern Cyprus is now a Muslim country, every 2 hours the prayer "music" comes on loudspeakers all over the town. I think it is very eerie but I guess that is just part of the culture! Unfortunately the Turkish people continue to occupy the Northern part of Cyprus, which keeps them from joining the E.U. Anyway! After that we came back to our apartment and of course cooked pasta like we always do, becaue it is cheap. We were all tired so we just stayed in and watched Pearl Harbor for the night. Then on Sunday we slept in of course! My friend and I sent running around the neighborhood in Nicosia. It is beautiful weather to run in...usually sunny and 65 degrees. After that, I cooked us some sloppy joes! haha. So much for working out. One of our friends was here from Finland and she had never eaten a sloppy joe of course, but she tried it and loved it! We were very happy : ) Today our friends parents got here from the United States to visit for the week so we are going to go out to eat with them and get the traditional Cyprus Meze that we love. I probably won't be writing in my blog for a while since we are leaving on Wednesday for Ireland and Paris! I promise I will have a lot to write about that though!

During the past few Weeks...

Hi Everyone! I know it has been a while since I have written in here, so I will try to update you on what we have been up to for the past few weeks. 2 Weekends ago it was Carnival week, which is similar to Mardi Gras at home. It is a little bit more widely celebrated here and people dress up in costumes like we do on Halloween! Erasmus threw a carnival party in Nicosia, so we all dressed up in costumes and went to it. Erasmus is the study abroad program sponsored by the European Union, so we have met other students from all over Europe who are lots of fun and very interesting. Anyway, Kelley dressed up as a pirate, Dezi was a butterfly, Lauren was a pig, and I was a cat : ) Later that weekend, Kelley, Dezi, Martin, and Dana went to Egypt, but Lauren and I decided not to go because of the recent terrorist attacks : ( Lauren's friend, Erin came here to visit that weekend. She is studying abroad in Paris, France and she had 10 days off for spring break so she came to visit Cyprus for the week! On Saturday we went downtown to walk around the Old City, Nicosia and show Erin around. It's always fun to go down there because all of the buildings are so cute and old. It's such a fun place to walk around, shop, and eat. We brought our passports so that we could walk to the Turkish side of Nicosia. It really is a very easy process to walk across the "border." No one even really cares about checking our passports because we are American tourists and I guess that means not a threat (haha). It is interesting though, because the Turkish side is a completely different culture than the Greek side. I enjoy that because we can enjoy two different cultures by pretty much just crossing the street. The Turkish side was very busy with people in the streets and lots of shops where they sell clothes and souvenires for a really low cost. It's still disappointing to me that the Turks are occupying Northern Cyprus. The buildings and everything over there is not taken care of like it is on the Greek side. After walking around the city, we went to Meze and had TONS of food! We love that.

The next day the Erasmus students organized a bus trip to Limassol (which is right next to the beach) for the Carnival Parade. We only had to pay 12 Euros round trip and we got a bagged lunch : ) It turned out Lauren, Erin, and I were the only Americans on the bus, but it gave us a chance to meet and talk to a lot of the other students from Europe. They are all very nice and so much fun. The parade was fun. Everyone in the parade was dressed up in costumes. The beach in Limassol was SO beautiful too. Later during the night they had celebrations in a street that they had closed off in between buildings. They had a dj playing music outside, so everyone danced for the next few hours.

Tuesday was Martin's birthday, so we made tacos for dinner! They were delicious but it is outrageously expensive to buy ingredients for them. Then Thursday it was Dezi's birthday, so we had pizza and invited over some of our international friends to hang out. Then, on Saturday Dezi's boyfriend, Doug arrived in Cyprus and was very exhausted after traveling for two days! We took him out for some Cypriot food (gyros) and then he went to sleep for a loooong time haha. Then on Sunday we took him to McDonalds for some traditional American food! Haha. It is the nicest McDonalds ever. Monday we decided to get some exercise and walk downtown to avoid paying for a taxi. It was a nice day so we didn't really mind the hour walk! He really enjoyed walking around the old city and seeing everything. On our way back, we walked past the American Embassy, so Doug decided to take pictures...BAD idea. 3 armed guards came running out at us and began questioning us. They made Doug delete the pictures and looked through ALL of the pictures on the camera to make sure there weren't anymore. At first they were very suspicious, but soon enough they were convinced that we were innocent. They did check Kelley's passport and Dougs license though. Of course the only trouble we would get in would be with the American Embassy. Anyway, we made it home safely that night! Later that week we took Doug out to an Erasmus "bubble party!" It was his first experience at a Cyprus club! We all had fun dancing the night away. We also took him out to eat at Meze, because it is something you can't come to Cyprus without experiencing. Today I went up to the roof to lay out in the sun. A bunch of the girls are always up there trying to get tan! The weather has been beautiful lately, as the Cyprus "winter" has ended. It has been sunny and 70s every day. Fantastic! It's weird to think that I have now been living in another country for two months! I have experienced so much and learned a lot since I have been here. It is hard to put into words. I did go through about two weeks when I was mildly homesick, but I have been having a great time overall. It's a weird feeling being a minority in a place where I am living, but I guess that can only help me to be more open minded when I come home! Me and my roommates have planned a trip to Dublin, Ireland and Paris, France during the week from March 25-April 1, so we are all very excited for that! I will try to update my blog more often from now on!