I’ve had quite a busy few days, as we’ve done orientation and gotten to know each other better. There are about 70 students in the program, all American. The University of Nicosia is an international university in general, so there are other Erasmus students and visitors from all over- they just aren’t part of this specific program. There are a lot of students from Clemson (about 30), as they have their students choose from only a few abroad options. The program is about 75% girls. It seems like there are a lot of nursing majors because they also need specific classes that aren’t offered at many abroad universities. A lot of the guys are engineering majors, for the same reason.

On Tuesday (1/31), we started by getting groceries and exploring the area, which is when I last posted. After a mostly free day, a big group of us met up for dinner at The Garrison, which is a restaurant right next our housing that is Peaky Blinders themed, for some reason. After getting dinner, we realized that there was a €20 open bar, and most of us students took advantage of that.

The next day (Wednesday 2/1) was typical orientation, which wasn’t very much new information overall. I spent most of the day thinking I had lost my burner phone, but it was just in my bed. I was hungover, so I took a really great nap in the afternoon. In the evening, we went into the downtown area for our welcome dinner. The food was like a sampling selection, and was very good. A lot of the meat was pork. We were all pretty full. After dinner, we had the option to stay out or get on the program busses home. I decided to stay with a group of about 12 others, and we went to try to find a bar. After walking through alleys and old city streets for a while, we found a nice little place with live music and dancing. Everyone was very friendly, and it was instantly comfortable. From there, about half of our group went to another club that was opening up (€15 open bar), and meeting with other students who had gone home to get ready first. I went home to go to bed. There is an app called Bolt here, which works like Uber and appears to be really reliable.

Once I got home, I had trouble sleeping. I probably only got about 2 hours and just could not fall back asleep. I was able to ponder how I want my semester to go, and how to balance having fun with meeting my goals. I went to the attached building gym when it opened at 7. Some of my friends have memberships to a €60 /month gym (insane!!) but I know I would not get anywhere close to utilizing it, and I do NOT want to pay that much. I’ve been really struggling to stay hydrated. The water here is drinkable and safe but doesn’t taste amazing, so many locals buy bottled water. I think Tap water and more ice trays will work for me. I also think I’ve been not eating very well, and I might be starting to get sick. I got a crock pot from the home goods store and cooked up chicken and rice, and it was really good! I will definitely be making more meals with it.

Thursday (2/2) was local tours and museums in Nicosia. I took a lot of pictures in the museum, and will make a second post so they’re separate. We got to walk around through the old city and see the Venetian walls. We also saw the border to the Northern Turkish Side, and got shouted at by a UN guard for taking pictures. We walked around downtown in the shops and area as a whole, and stayed for lunch after the program busses went home. We ate from a Shawarma chain called Sham Foods, and it was really good- I’m glad there’s one close to campus. They said it was easy to get on the bus system, but we had issues with it that became frustrating. Once we got home, there was a neighborhood tour, which I wish I hadn’t gone on. The neighborhood is self explanatory, I walked around several days prior, and it was cold. I was planning to go to the store and make a better plan for meals, but I was exhausted once I got home, and slept on and off from 5pm. I’ve been fluctuating between feeling very excited and happy, and really tired and a little irritated. While I don’t feel like I’ve had (basically any) culture shock or adjustment issues, I think there are subtle things that affect me but are hard to quantify.

Friday (2/3) was ~90 minute lectures on Cyprus History, Basic Greek, and Local Food. Cyprus history was cool, but kinda boring. Basic Greek was cool, and I took good notes. I’ve been struggling to implement these words in my daily life, as I feel self conscious butchering the language. The locals are excited when you use Greek words, so I think I just have to commit to it and coast on the positive feedback. At this moment, I’m only comfortable with “Thank You”, “Cheers”, and a coffee order. I definitely know some other words, but those are the ones integrated into my daily vocabulary. The food demo was a meal cooked by the culinary school instructors at the university, and was pretty much just lunch in a classroom while hanging out and having fun. We’ve had quite a few long days so far, and it seems like a lot of people are still tired, so I think we’re still getting adjusted.

“Thank You”	“Cheers”	“One Frappe, medium sugar, 50/50 water/milk”
ευχαριστώ	ζήτω	είναι φραπέ, μέτριος, μισό μισό
Efcharisto	Yamas	Eine Frappe, metrio, miso miso

Today we are heading to Limassol, a beach town, for our first day trip. I’m going to try to stay on top of posting a little bit more to separate events better, but this has been an especially chaotic week. This post has been a draft for several days and I need to get it rolling out. I will probably recap Limassol tomorrow, and post the pictures.

With everything going on, I don’t feel like eating a lot, which is a bit frustrating. The food tastes good, I just feel a bit off. Hoping that gets better as I settle in. I also got a group together and booked a trip for next weekend- will provide info soon!