Kyrenia and School in Cyprus
Hey all! I have so much to write...only a week's gone by, but I feel like a completely different person!
First of all, this weekend our GLS group went to Northern Cyprus, or the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) which I refuse to recognize on basic principal. We had to have a slip of paper on which they (the Turkish border agents) stamped and placed inside our passport, in place of our passport, because only Turkey recognizes the TRNC as an actual country, so if our passport is stamped, the Greek Cypriots will be quite angry when we leave from the southern side in four months...hard to explain, but believe me, it's a very complicated and emotional subject for both sides. Either way, the soldiers came on our bus and checked every single student's passport to make sure, it was pretty intimidating.
Anyways...once we were to the north side we traveled up a steep, and might I say narrow, mountain pass, on which our large tour bus had to stop several times to allow tiny European cars to get past. But we finally made it to Kyrenia, a beautiful sea town, and saw a gorgeous castle carved into the actual mountainside. From up there we could see over the Mediterranean Sea, and upon Kyrenia below. I can't even explain the blueness of the sea...I'll never forget it. The castle was absolutely breathtaking...I really hope I get to come back; my camera had died earlier in the day, so I didn't get any pictures;( but lots of friends did, and I was in a few, some hopefully they'll tag me. The important thing is that I saw it though! A structure built in the 10th century A.D...the U.S. definitely doesn't have anything like that!
But I actually touched the Mediterranean after we came down from the mountain. It was so warm! I would have jumped in, but I still hadn't eaten lunch, and I didn't want to be denied a tasty Mediterranean lunch based on the fact that I was dripping wet;) The natives couldn't believe that I would jump in during wintertime...but it was about as warm as Rock Creek during July! I can't wait until we go to Ayia Napa! I love the water. My friend David and I bargained with a Turkish deli owner while we were in Kyrenia, and we each got a personal pizza with a water portion apiece for a whopping $7 USD! We paid $10 and they gave us back $4.50 in Turkish Lira. We sure can bargain...I don't think the Turkish know how much the USD is worth lol...but we were fine with that! The rest of our friends ate at the beautiful harbor area, and paid at least 15$ USD so we were very proud:) Everyone else was pissed haahahha.
In other news, school started...it doesn't even compare to school in the US. One of my teachers actually tells us how and when to take notes in class! I can't believe it. I feel like this semester will be close to a 4.0; at least I'm hoping (too bad the GPA doesn't carry over in the States). I'm hoping to get a medical internship while I'm here too, I'm still waiting to find out if I got it, but I'm really excited about it. At the moment I'm taking a Philosophy, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, European Geography, and Photography class. This may change in the future, but besides the European Geography class, I love my schedule.
The Greek women here are so beautiful, and I sometimes get distracted in class lol. My roommate doesn't seem to think so, but he's going out with an Italian New York chick (which looks the same to me), so I don't know what he's talking about. I have to remind him how beautiful his sister is every once in awhile, which draws a pretty strange glance in my direction. We get along very well though. He cooks a lot...and is fairly religious. We went to an Orthodox mass the other day, I just wanted to see what was up, and I feel that it was a great experience. The church was absolutely beautiful. There were statues of Christ, Mary, etc. all over the place, and beautiful insets in the walls. I didn't pray, but donated 1 euro...a few little girls pointed my way and signaled to get down, but it's not my religion, so I didn't, and I DON'T CARE...no one else seemed to mind. Today was Ash Wednesday, so he didn't cook dinner or eat meat...so I made mashed potatoes, and ate the rest of our leftovers, which was great.
I really don't have much else to say. The wine is getting to me;) If anyone has questions please let me know, I love it here, and enjoy getting messages. I look forward to traveling more in the future. I miss you guys, but I'm having the time of my fricken life! PEACE!
~S
First of all, this weekend our GLS group went to Northern Cyprus, or the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) which I refuse to recognize on basic principal. We had to have a slip of paper on which they (the Turkish border agents) stamped and placed inside our passport, in place of our passport, because only Turkey recognizes the TRNC as an actual country, so if our passport is stamped, the Greek Cypriots will be quite angry when we leave from the southern side in four months...hard to explain, but believe me, it's a very complicated and emotional subject for both sides. Either way, the soldiers came on our bus and checked every single student's passport to make sure, it was pretty intimidating.
Anyways...once we were to the north side we traveled up a steep, and might I say narrow, mountain pass, on which our large tour bus had to stop several times to allow tiny European cars to get past. But we finally made it to Kyrenia, a beautiful sea town, and saw a gorgeous castle carved into the actual mountainside. From up there we could see over the Mediterranean Sea, and upon Kyrenia below. I can't even explain the blueness of the sea...I'll never forget it. The castle was absolutely breathtaking...I really hope I get to come back; my camera had died earlier in the day, so I didn't get any pictures;( but lots of friends did, and I was in a few, some hopefully they'll tag me. The important thing is that I saw it though! A structure built in the 10th century A.D...the U.S. definitely doesn't have anything like that!
But I actually touched the Mediterranean after we came down from the mountain. It was so warm! I would have jumped in, but I still hadn't eaten lunch, and I didn't want to be denied a tasty Mediterranean lunch based on the fact that I was dripping wet;) The natives couldn't believe that I would jump in during wintertime...but it was about as warm as Rock Creek during July! I can't wait until we go to Ayia Napa! I love the water. My friend David and I bargained with a Turkish deli owner while we were in Kyrenia, and we each got a personal pizza with a water portion apiece for a whopping $7 USD! We paid $10 and they gave us back $4.50 in Turkish Lira. We sure can bargain...I don't think the Turkish know how much the USD is worth lol...but we were fine with that! The rest of our friends ate at the beautiful harbor area, and paid at least 15$ USD so we were very proud:) Everyone else was pissed haahahha.
In other news, school started...it doesn't even compare to school in the US. One of my teachers actually tells us how and when to take notes in class! I can't believe it. I feel like this semester will be close to a 4.0; at least I'm hoping (too bad the GPA doesn't carry over in the States). I'm hoping to get a medical internship while I'm here too, I'm still waiting to find out if I got it, but I'm really excited about it. At the moment I'm taking a Philosophy, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, European Geography, and Photography class. This may change in the future, but besides the European Geography class, I love my schedule.
The Greek women here are so beautiful, and I sometimes get distracted in class lol. My roommate doesn't seem to think so, but he's going out with an Italian New York chick (which looks the same to me), so I don't know what he's talking about. I have to remind him how beautiful his sister is every once in awhile, which draws a pretty strange glance in my direction. We get along very well though. He cooks a lot...and is fairly religious. We went to an Orthodox mass the other day, I just wanted to see what was up, and I feel that it was a great experience. The church was absolutely beautiful. There were statues of Christ, Mary, etc. all over the place, and beautiful insets in the walls. I didn't pray, but donated 1 euro...a few little girls pointed my way and signaled to get down, but it's not my religion, so I didn't, and I DON'T CARE...no one else seemed to mind. Today was Ash Wednesday, so he didn't cook dinner or eat meat...so I made mashed potatoes, and ate the rest of our leftovers, which was great.
I really don't have much else to say. The wine is getting to me;) If anyone has questions please let me know, I love it here, and enjoy getting messages. I look forward to traveling more in the future. I miss you guys, but I'm having the time of my fricken life! PEACE!
~S