by Samantha Burmeister | Feb 8, 2014 | Sam's Thoughts, Solo Travel
On our program, we don’t have many rules. Go to class, try not to get hurt, and stay away from the North side. (Remember, North side= Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state that is only recognized by Turkey. In order to get there, we cross The Green Line, one of two UN controlled borders in the world. The other one separates North and South Korea. TRNC is NOT like North Korea.)
So naturally, what do we do on our first full free weekend? Take a cab 40km into the North side to the most affected city from the war.
I’ll write a post about the trip later, but here are the photos to go along with the joke from the title!
The three of us (yes, one is Christian, one is Jewish, and one is a non-converted Muslim) at the old walled city of Famagusta. This was a REAL walled city, straight from the books with a moat, spaces for cannons, and the works!
Me, representing the Christian 1/3 in front of an old church.
The girls in front of a fenced in tree; it must’ve been pretty important! This was right out front of the mosque.
Not sure who to blame, but I had NEVER been into a mosque until yesterday! It was built as a church first, then converted to a mosque after the Ottoman takeover, so the architecture wasn’t anything like I expected. It really just felt like a hollow, carpeted church. I can’t wait to visit more mosques and hear more about the religion, especially because we are so close to the holy lands, and I have such wonderful friends to learn from here!
The girls I surfed with, eating our mmmmmazing meal of tabbouleh, rice, and soup!
One of our hosts is Palestinian and Muslim. Today, we went to the beach and walked around, and all shared a beer together. What does the world think of a Palestinian, a Jew, an American Muslim, and a Christian all sharing a beer in paradise? All I know is that it felt right.
by Samantha Burmeister | Feb 5, 2014 | Digital Nomading, Sam's Thoughts
It’s true, I go to class now.
The Photography Debochle
First, I couldn’t take photography because of scheduling. Then, they told me I could audit the class and skip half of them in order to accommodate a class I need for my major. Then, when I went to the first class, the professor told us we would only meet on Wednesdays, which is the day that I was going to skip. So, I ultimately had to drop photography. Now, I’m signed up to audit a Human Resources class called Bar and Restaurant Management. I think it will be interesting, and if I can, I plan on taking the International Bartender’s Certification. I’m not sure I’ll ever use it, but I wanted to learn a new skill, right? When in Rome…
Serious Business
I LOVE MY CLASSES!!
My professors are very knowledgable in their respective fields, and I’m taking 12 hours of business courses.
International Marketing will be awesome! There are three of us in the class, so she moved it to an independent study course. All of our assignments will be field work, and we will meet with her independently during her office hours. She is a new mother, and is just as excited to have the opportunity to not have to be up early twice a week as we are! As one of our studies, we may attend a Cypriot wedding!
European Cultures and Civilization will also be cool. I’m excited to learn about Gypsies, the Red Light District, foods, and other customs that we have not been exposed to Stateside.
International Business is going to be pretty fundamental from what I can tell. We’re learning about global economies right now, and will go through finance, marketing, management, and integration of our cultures class to effectively learn how to work with people from around the globe.
European Geography hasn’t actually started yet. It is an online course, which means that my Fridays are 100% open for travel.. you know, to explore the European Geography!
Each class relies heavily on a midterm and a final, each with one or two projects, and attendance is weighted strongly as well. My professors overall are funny, and are very welcoming to us as Americans.
Observations
My professors are always late, speak way too slowly, and ask a lot of questions. It’s very different from the ‘try and keep up’ culture of American classrooms.
They keep the blinds open and the lights off in the classrooms when it’s light out. How awesome is that? People are going green all the time, and it’s effortless!
They ask us a lot of questions. Classrooms are very engaged.
I’ve had two professors text in class. One was the mom, so you have to assume it was important, but it threw us all off guard.
We have 2.5 hour classes twice a week, so we get bathroom (cigarette) breaks, because that’s just something people do a lot here. The cigarettes, presumably not the bathroom.
There! Proof I am going to class! In my defense, they started Monday, and I didn’t have my first class until Tuesday evening. I signed up for a lot of evening classes so that I could take long weekends of travel when I want. Call it strategy. I had 10 hours of classes today, so that’s what i get for consolidating schedules!
by Samantha Burmeister | Feb 3, 2014 | Destinations, Sam's Thoughts
It ain’t as easy as it looks.
Today is the first day of classes, so my biggest adventure is as follows:
We have this thing in our kitchen. We’ve deduced that it is an ‘oven’, but nobody has been brave enough to figure it out. Until now.
da da da daaaa.. Sam to the rescue!
Basically, it heats from the top, works like a toaster oven, and doesn’t have an on button.
I had the basic knowledge down. Plugged the thing in. No response. Remembered you have to turn ‘on’ the outlet. No response. Put some bread in on the trays. No response.
Finally, I was frustrated and kinda hit the top of it. Not hard, just enough to let it know who’s boss. Apparently, the handle has to be locked in to place for it to turn on, and I had given it the nudge it needed.
Toast.
Also, for the parents: I’ve been eating really well, and cooking quite a bit. Today I had tuna with avocados and La Vache Qui Rit (YAY for french cheese in my life again!) on bread, an apple, and I’ve been drinking water (to balance out the beer) like it’s going out of style! Also, I’m blazing through my Jif, at this rate it’ll be gone by February 😉
by Samantha Burmeister | Feb 3, 2014 | Destinations, Sam's Thoughts
Team no sleep is in full force over here. The clubs open at midnight and close at either 4 or 6 generally, so siestas are a necessity!
Friday we got all dolled up and went out. I wore about a half kilo of makeup and heels that made me want to change my gender, but it was worth it. Club promoters got all of the international students a good deal to get in (15 euro for the preparty and the club, including drinks), so the entire place was packed with foreigners.
And of course we stayed up until about 7am.
Saturday I was NOT in the mood to go out, but decided to go get Lebanese food with a couple friends. The restaurant is called Fanous, and it. was. amazazinga. What I thought would be a relatively quick dinner before heading home turned in to a 4 hour fiesta complete with a belly dancer, several toasts, and the best food I’ve had here so far.
Some of the people I’ve been spending the most time with here are Palestinian; we’re all international students. This particular evening was one guy’s last night here because he graduated, and one couple’s one year anniversary.
The evening’s entertainment was a belly dancer. She was absolutely beautiful! She came and danced around all the tables, and got some of our group to get up and dance with her! The theory of relativity may have come in to play here, because we made her look even better!
Afterwards we went outside the restaurant to their lounge. For those of you who have seen my apartment bedroom in Ames- it looked like that! There were tapestries everywhere and comfy spaces with hookahs on every table. It was a great way to spend a Saturday night.
And then I ended up staying out til 6am again.. how does this happen!?
TEAMNOSLEEP. Killin it.
by Samantha Burmeister | Feb 1, 2014 | Destinations, Sam's Thoughts
Seriously. We went to Troodos yesterday, the mountains!
Fun Fact: I have been to the highest incorporated city in Cyprus as well as the highest incorporated city in the US in January! Troodos is at about 5,000 feet, with the highest elevation being Mount Olympus at just over 6,000’.
We had a presentation on the geology and ecology of Cyprus to begin, which I found fascinating but most people were bored during. I didn’t learn anything astounding, but it was cool to hear about the different types of plants found here.
Los Photos:
We visited an old hotel that has been abandoned for about 40 years. The hotel was once a place that extremely rich people like kings went to get away.
They then took us to a town to walk around and buy traditional souvenirs. Instead, I decided to go on a little hike by myself and take advantage of the mountain air. This next picture is my view from where I sat for a few minutes.
Proof that I saw snow in Cyprus! Way up in the mountains.
I saw this as a funny little play on words!
Restaurant part of the group ate at- All of the buildings were this gorgeous!
Going green, all the time! Love seeing alternative energy. In fact, our apartment’s water is heated by solar. Which is cool until you remember it’s been cloudy most of the time I’ve been here!
I’m heading off for Lebanese food tonight then going clubbing! Although all this partying has been fun, I’m so ready to have some responsibilities back in my life!
by Samantha Burmeister | Jan 30, 2014 | Destinations, Sam's Thoughts, Solo Travel
I went to Winter Park in October – Mud Season
I went to Ayia Napa in January – Everything is closed.
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Ayia Napa is BEAUTIFUL. It was by far the best day I’ve had in Cyprus so far. 9 girls took a minibus taxi for only 20Euro each round trip; the driver stayed there for the day, then brought us home. Not a bad deal considering it costs 8 to get downtown in a cab!
Today was a really great day for me because I got to relax and be around people that I am more comfortable with. I do well with getting to know people, but I do much better in small groups than large ones. With just nine girls that chose to be together rather than were placed together was a great environment.
Some random person walking around snapped this for us! Cypriots are so friendly!
Fantastically clean agua
We had an awesome lunch and spent the rest of the day on the beach. Our conversations continued as we took walks, bus rides, had lunch, and took photos on the beach.
At one point, one of the girls asked me to do yoga with her by the water. It was such a positive experience to be able to be outdoors, have the beach almost to ourselves, and to be able to get in to our own practices.
The top one is us just messing around on a walk, the bottom one was actually taken during our practice on the beach- a little bit safer location than a cliff!
Yoga always puts me at ease, and doing it in paradise only furthered this effect. Afterwards, I decided to go off on a walk alone and continue to reflect. I came across another cute church with a simple exterior and intricate interior- this seems to be standard. I saw multiple resorts with relatively private beaches, and one even had it’s own water park and helipad! Most things in Ayia Napa are closed during this season, so I was the only person I saw for nearly a mile!
Plus, I LOVE being barefoot, and these beaches were perfect for it!
I had a ‘moment’ today where I realized how at home I feel in Cyprus. The people here are so relatable, and I find that I fit into this culture very well. I can not wait to start my classes Monday (I got in to all the ones that I wanted) and continue to make this place my home for the next 4 months.
