Greece

Our first stop on our journey was Athens, Greece. We arrived around noon at our hotel since it was only a short plane ride from Cyprus to Greece. Lauren, Dezi, and I shared a room and Kelley had a double room with another girl from our program. Our program had about 24 people I think...all girls. Our hotel was pretty nice and in a somewhat decent location. It was right around the corner from the metro which we used to get from place to place. It also provided a nice breakfast to us which was convenient so we did not have to buy food in the morning. The first thing we did was go on a guided tour through the acheological museum. It was about as interesting as it sounds, but it was short so it kept my interest, and had some intereting facts about the history of Greece in it so it was ok. The tour guide was super excited about Greek history and her enthusiasm kept the four of us interested.Afterwards, the same guide took us to the Acropolis. We walked up to the top of the hill which is in the middle of Athens, so we had a panoramic view of the entire city which is surrounded by mountains and the sea on the other side. It really was cool. We saw where the first court case was held in history. The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the 70s. When our tour was over, the guides took us to the city center where there were lots of shops and restaurants. We were shopping and Dezi was trying on dresses in one of the shops so I decided to try one on just for the fun of it and I ended up loving it so I had to buy it! :) The girls got dinner, but it didnt look to good to me so I just ate french fries! We were really tired from waking up at 5:30 a.m. so we went back to the hotel. I was hungry later so we walked down the street to grab a drink and something to eat. We found this one little shop with sandwiches, dessert, coffee, and a bar. I got a sandwich, Dezi got a smoothie and Kell got a chocolate cake and ice cream! It was all declious and of course the waiter loved our company and so gave all of our food to us for free. Wonderful! He ownded the shop so I guess he has that kind of authority. The next day we got up and took the metro to the Pireaus port, where the cruise ships and ferries are. We took a speed boat, called the flying dolphin, to Aegina. It is the closest Greek island to Athens. It was unbelievably beautiful there and we all absolutely loved it. It was hard to imagine life getting any better than life on that island. It was just the cutest place. The water was beautiful, there were litte islands off the coast, which just look like mountains sticking out of the water, and there were some shops, restarants, and it was a big enough island to have roads and cars. We hung out at the beach for a little bit, and then afterwards we rented bicycles for 5 Euros each and just rode around the island on the streets, since there wasn't very much traffic. We stopped to take pictures and we met these 3 guys that live on the island and one of them went to college at Penn. so we were talking about life in Philly. Can't imagine the shock of living there after living in Aegina. Anyway, it is a small world! We continued on and stopped at a secluded restaurant that sat down by the water. I had linguini with cheese, ham, and bacon and it was probably the best thing I have ever eaten. We did some shopping afterwards and saw the sunset, which was gorgeous. We then took then ferry back to Athens, and showered and cleaned up. We went back to meet up with the guy at the restaurant that we had met before, because he wanted to go out with us. We went to a Greek bar with him, which was interesting. They played all Greek music, and then when we got there they played some "American" music just for us! How wonderful. Again, we got all free stuff. Again, wonderful. We got a lot of attention from guys in Greece, I guess because we are foreign. Who knows. They just can't get enough of our blue eyes anywhere we go. They think they are amazing! haha. The next day we woke up early, (which was tough because we were out late the night before) and we went back to the harbor because we wanted to go to another island. Unfortunately everything was too expensive so we just took a ferry ride that drove by islands. We were supposed to get off at Poros, which was the final destination, but we just stayed on the top of the boat so that we didnt have to pay for the trip back! The boat ride was of course, fantastic and beautiful. The scenery was gorgeous and I took lots of pictures. When we got back to Athens, we got gyros for dinner which were way cheaper and better than the ones in Cyprus. Since they were so cheap I got 2, which was very difficult to eat both!! We went to bed early that night because we knew that we would need to wake up super early the next morning.

Ayia Napa

My roommates and I have spent the past 4 days at the most beautiful beach in the world, in Ayia Napa! It is a short drive from Nicosia, probably a little under an hour, and it has such clear, blue water. It is a major tourist destination for Europeans, mostly from the UK. It is a lot different than the rest of Cyprus because British people work everywhere in Ayia Napa, so there is not the usual language barrier. We took a bus from Nicosia to Ayia Napa on Friday, and we arrived at our hotel, the Panas Tourist Villas, at around 4:30. The hotel was fantastic and it was set up so that there were about 3 different accommodations per villa, and there were a whole bunch of villas. It was a pretty big resort, with 2 restaurants and 2 pools. One was huge and had a view of the ocean. Our room was great. We had a living room, a kitchen area, and 2 bedrooms all for only about 12 Euros per night! We couldn't believe how cheap and fantastic it was! 2 of our friends that we met here in Cyprus came along with us also and got their own room. They are from Finland, and they are very nice and fun! When we first got there we walked down to the beach and we saw some of our friends who were also at the beach. Afterwards, we went to Pizza Hut all you can eat buffet and it was wonderful. Needless to say, we ate WAY too much. We were all really tired so we decided not to go out. Instead, we walked around this little carnival thing and for some reason decided it would be a good idea to go on the "Sling shot" which was the thing where 2 people sit next to each other in a round cage and you get shot through the air on bungi cords. I love rides, so I decided to do it, and we also got them to let us go for 5 Euros per person, instead of 20!!! It turned out to be petrifying, but fun at the same time so I'm glad that I did it. We spent the next day at the beach and it was lovely. Some of the Erasmus kinds came to the beach also, so we got to hang out with them for a little. We bought tickets for this event later on in the night which included dinner, food, and free admission to a club. Again, we got them to lower the price from 45 to 25 Euros! I don't know how we do it. Anyway, it turned out to be pretty fun. The club that we went to was called Castle Club and it was actually shaped like a castle and looked like one on the inside too. We spent the next day at Nissi beach again, and enjoyed its beauty. The water was a little bit cold so I didn't go in that day. I just laid in the sun and got a nice tan! Later on we went to a bar called Senior Frogs...a guess they were trying to be like the chain Senor Frogs (haha). Anyway it was a wonderful place! They played great music and I had a pina colada for only 2 Euros! We also shared what they called a "fish bowl" which was just a big mixed drink with 6 straws. We did some dancing and then we called it a night. On our last day at the beach we went to a different spot. There was a rocky area that kind of formed cliffs. You could climb down the rocks though, to go swimming, so we did that. It was a lot of work but we finally made it. There was a spot where we could jump off of the rocks in to the water. At that spot the water was deep was it was FREEEEZING but we swam anyway. There was a little cave that you could swim into a bit, which we did but it was terrifying because we didn't know what kind of creatures were present around us. After that we stopped at a place to eat for lunch and I got a ham and cheese sandwich. Later on we went for a swim in the pool which was great. Both that night and the night before we made pasta in our room to save money. After showering and everything we invited over 4 of our friends for some Sangria before going out. We went to the Frog place again to dance! Unfortunately the next morning we had to be up by 7 to catch the bus so we only got a few hours of sleep. Overall, our trip to Ayia Napa was spectacular! It is such a nice beach, it is a shame that it is so far from the U.S. Any time someone asks us where we are from and we say the U.S. they are shocked and ask why on Earth we would be in Cyprus. The only Americans that ever visit this island are part of GLS. No American Tourists! People are always happy to meet Americans though so it is actually pretty nice. We are heading to Greece, Italy, and Spain in a few days so I will have a ton to write. We will be retuarneing on Monday, April 27th so you can check back a little after that for some updates :)

I Fell in Love with Ireland and Paris!

Well everyone, this is going to probably be a pretty long post! Last Wednesday night we got a taxi to the Larnaca Airport in Cyprus and flew to the London Gatwick Airport where we had an overnight layover on the way to Ireland. Originally we were going to try to just spend the night in the airport, but then we decided it would be a better idea to get a hotel. We found a pretty good deal online for the Holiday Inn, which was right next to the airport so we got to sleep in beds that night. We didn't get to see very much of London since we were just there for the night, but we did walk to the grocerty store for snacks and we realized that the food there is way better and cheaper than in Cyprus! Oh well.

The next day we got on our plane to Ireland and arrived there around 3:30. We took a taxi to our hostel, which was actually very ideal for us. We each paid 11 Euros for the night to stay there. There were 8 other girls in our room, but it worked out just fine. Everyone was really quiet. There was a little living room where everyone could socialize and meet people and there was a kitchen that people could cook in and store food in. Everyone that was there was young and a student pretty much.

After settling in there, we walked around the city a little bit and immediately loved it! It felt so nice to be around other English speaking people. It felt a lot more like home, even though there were of course, its differences. We went out to eat at a pub and I got a ham and cheese panini and baked potato. Later on that night we went out to a busy pub that was exactly like what you would expect and Irish bar to be like! It was great. There was a live band there that played all kinds of great alternative rock music and occasionally some Irish music...which we convinced Kelley to Irish dance to! Everyone that we came across was really friendly and nice to us.
We ended up meeting some people who offered to show us around Dublin the following day. It turned out that one of the guys was a security guard at the Trinity College, so he got us all into the Museum there for free! We got to see the huge library and the Book of Kells.

After that, we went to the Guiness Factory, which was pretty cool. They pretty much just tell you about how beer is made. (I think I like the Hershey's chocolate factor better : ) ) Anyway, after the tour you go all the way to the top of the building where there is a circular room with a panoramic view of Dublin and you get a free pint of Guiness, so that was fun! Our 2 friends that we had met the night before came with us and are a lot of fun. They had super Irish accents and a great sense of humor! They always made us laugh. It's funny what a small world it is, because we were looking for a table to sit at and we were standing next to these two girls. We could tell that they had the "American accent" so we asked where they were from and they said Pittsburgh, and they go to school at PSU! How funny. It gets better though. After that we were walking around Dublin a little bit more and we ran into one of the guys that lives in our building in Cyprus! He and his friends had been visiting Dublin too!


We walked around a really pretty park, and it was great because it was nice and sunny...a little cold though, but that was ok. It's funny though in Dublin, because literally 15 minutes later it started to rain and gusts of wind were awful! Kelley tried to get her umbrella to cover her wonderful hair, but the wind flipped it inside out and broke part of it. She still tried to use it though, and it was hilarious. The rain never lasted too long at a time. It usually just drizzled and then stopped and the sun would then come back out! It didnt stop us from doing anything that we wanted to do. We got some dinner...pizza and a hot dog (hehe) and went out to a pub again afterwards. It seems like that is what every single Irish person does at night! There are so many places to go and everyone is so happy and fun at them and there is always live music. The place we were at that night had live music and it was kind of mixed with a comedy show. Again, we met a bunch of people there. It seems like everyone there just likes to chat with and meet everyone. There was a group of guys there from Scotland who were celebrating a bachelor party and then we also met 2 Americans there. We met some French guys there too and we were excited because we were telling them about how we were going to travel to Paris in a few days.

We ended up not getting very much sleep that night because we had to be up by 6 a.m. for our Cliffs of Moher trip the next day. It was ok though because we had a very long bus ride. I didn't really want to sleep because I wanted to look out the window at the beautiful country side of Ireland. We drove all the way across the country that day, and it was a gorgeous day. The sky was clear and blue! There were sheep, cows, and horses grazing all over. The tour guide/ bus driver was great too. He told us a lot of interesting things along the way and also made a lot of jokes and was absolutely hilarious. That seems to be a trend amongst the Irish. We stopped at a church and castle shortly in Limerick. It wasn't very significant; I think it was just meant to break up our trip a little bit. We also stopped near the Atlantic Ocean where there was a bunch of limestone cliffs or something crazy like that. I was just excited to see the ocean of course. We stopped for lunch, and then continued on the bus for another 10 minutes to the Cliffs of Moher. It was soooo pretty there. We had about 2 hours there to walk around, take pictures, and shop. We were so thankful for the beautiful weather because everyone is always afraid of the rain in Ireland! We could walk right out next to the edge of the cliffs. There was a sign advising against it, but everyone that was there just did it anyway, in order to get fantastical pictures. People have been discussing whether or not the Cliffs should be added to the list of the wonders of the world! I'm so glad we went there. On our way back the bus driver was going really fast because he wanted to get back for the Dublin vs. Bulgaria football (soccer) game. Dezi and I were sitting in the back seat and it was super bumpy so we were flying all over the place! Someone even had to get off the bus and throw up!!! It ended up being ok and we safely arrived in Dublin like 4 hours later (haha). <---we almost fell off. JK!!

We were really tired when we got back and we had a super early flight the next day. We went to sleep around 10 and that night was of course daylight savings in the E.U. so we lost an hour and we woke up at what was like 4 a.m.! Our flight left at 7:30 for Paris, which actually worked out pretty well because we arrived there around 10, and lost another hour due to time zones. It was quite confusing! Our roommate, Lauren's friend Erin is studying abroad in paris, and she had come to visit us a few weeks ago in Nicosia. She offered to let us stay with her in her dorm which was very nice of her. We gathered blankets and sheets and all were comfortable enough to just sleep on the floor. Erin has been in Paris since January, so she was familiar with riding the train around the city and she knows where all the good places are for tourists. She majors in some kind of art and Paris is great for that!

<-- Notre Dame Cathedral-->

Erin took us to the Notre Dame Cathedral which was really cool to see from the outside and the inside. We first got there we went to the Louvre, which is a famous art museum for anyone who doesn't know. It was absolutely huge and impossible to see everything, but it was beautiful. Just the architecure in the building was unbelievable. We saw the Mona Lisa, and a real Mummy...those were just the 2 most interesting things! Later that night we went out to eat at a pizza place and it was fantastic! Erin knows enough French to communicate with the waitors, so that was very beneficial, since a lot of French people do not know how to speak English. Even in the Museums they don't write anything in English, so the most we could do was just look at the exhibit and infer what it is. I think they are just reluctant to speak anything but French because of their culture. We heard before we went that they are not nice to Americans, but everyone that we came across was moderately nice. We went to bed pretty early that night because again, we were very tired. We got to sleep in the next day so we felt pretty refreshed. Once we were ready to go out, we went to a creperie and got ham and cheese crepes, which were pretty good for lunch.

^The Louvre where the Mona Lisa is

<-----Me next to the Mona Lisa


After that we went to another art museum that contained art by monet, so that was exciting to see. I got a discount at the museum since I am a student. Erin was able to explain some of the art to us since she is pretty familiar with it all. Some of her classes take her to the museums so they can learn about the art while looking at the actual art piece!

Art by Monet


We headed to Angelina's which is a fancy place to get pastries. All of the restaurants in France are super fancy and classy no matter what kind of place it is...restaurant, creperie, cafe, McDonalds...all very nice and well kept. Anyway, it was even more exciting to be there because we saw Dita Von Teese, who is Marilyn Manson's ex-wife and I guess a famous dancer. I didn't really know who she was, but Lauren pointed her out to us. So it turned out we were dining with the rich and the famous! I got this rasberry pastry, I'm not sure exactly what was in it but it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. There were rasberries and cremey stuff in between two pink cookies! Wonderful.

We spent some time walking around Paris for a little bit after than and then one of Erin's friends was hosting a book reading by a famous author in a bookstore nearby, so we went and he read some of his new book to the audience. He is American and he wrote a book about his experience with wines and cheese I guess...not sure exactly where he goes with that in the book, but after his reading we got some free wine and cheese! We were looking for a cheap place for dinner and we found a Chinese restaurant to eat at with dinners for 5.50, so I ordered my food first and of course I couldn't understand what they said when they told me how much I needed to pay so I just handed them a 20...big mistake. They told me that my dinner was 10.50, because I simply didn't say I wanted the "meal" and they wouldn't give me my money back. Obviously a tourist trap, because then all my friends ordered the same meal and paid 5.50. I was really mad so I smeared some rice and peas all over the table for them to clean up. I got a little satisfaction out of that (hehe). Anyway, I got over it and we went to the Eiffel Tower. We decided to hike up the stairs which only cost us 3 Euros as opposed to taking the elevator for 10! We got another student discount which is always fantastic. We went right as the sun went down so it was pretty dark but still a little big of light in the sky so it was beautiful. We had the best weather. We took a lot of pictures and had a great time looking at the city lit up at night. Afterwards we went to a Sangria bar and it was delicious!

The next morning the girls went to another art museum but Dezi and I were all museumed out so we just walked around the city. I like to look at the arcitecture of the buildings a lot more and that is free! We saw the building where Napoleon was buried and we ate some croissants with chocolate inside! We love Pairs food hehe. We spent the rest of the day walking around. We walked back to the Eiffel Tower during the day to get some more pictures. It was a perfectly sunny day without any clouds in the sky! Erin had class during the afternoon so after that we met back up with her and went to a church that was a popular tourist destination. There were Jamaicans there trying to scam people into buying their "bracelets," which were actually just ugly pieces of string. They would just grab people and tie this string around their wrists and then charge them 20 Euros for it. If the people argued with the price then they would keep charging them more and more. Erin knew someone who had to pay 100 Euros to get away from them! They were scarey. I'm not sure why it was legal. Anyway, after that we went to a Fondue restaurant which was an intersting experience. First they brought out the appetizer which was a little assortment of meats cheeses pickles and potatoes and then a little glass of wine. Then they brought out the bread and a big bowl of cheese which I guess was actually a big bowl of cheese and wine. They also gave everyone a big baby bottle of wine. So it turned out to be a very interesting and delicious experience. For dessert we had a brownie with vanilla sauce all over it. We walked around a little bit after that and saw where Moulan Rouge is...interesting area to say the least. We had to head back and go to sleep after that because unfortunately it was our last night in Pairs : ( We had to be at the bus station by 6:10 a.m. and we thought we were giving ourselves plenty of time by waking up at 5, but we were wrong. We ended up getting on the wrong train and had to get off at the wrong stop and retrace the way that we came in order to go in the right direction. We got to the bus station too late, which was unfortunate for me because I had already bought a train ticket! So we ended up paying 140 Euros to take the taxi to the airport!! We were really nervous about being late because we had 3 planes to catch throughout the day. We ended up just barely making it to our plane after having trouble with the size of our carry ons. We flew from Paris back to Dublin. Then Dublin back to London. Then finally from London to Cyprus. It was a very long and stressful day, but we finally made it back to Nicosia around midnight on Wednesday night. I'm so glad that we went on this trip. It was probably one of the best vacations I have ever been on, because I learned so much. We always hear about what other countries are like and see them in movies but you never know what they are really like until you acutally visit them. Both Ireland and France were beautiful countries and traveling to both in one week was very interseting because they are such opposite cultures. We went from socializing with friendly outgoing Irish people in a laidback atmosphere to sipping wine in sophisticated French restuarants and admiring the beautiful art and architecture. I just want to thank everyone for the birthday money that I received this year and let you know that it is greatly appreciated and helped me to enjoy my vacation in Paris and Dublin : ) We have a lot more fun and interesting things coming up...I feel like I should be waking up from a dream sometime soon hehe. Next Friday we are heading tot Aiga Napa which is a beach resort area in Cyprus for a few nights and then the following Thursday we will be headed to Greece! There will be many posts to come! Talk to ya soon!