by Samantha Burmeister | May 17, 2014 | Destinations, Sam's Thoughts, Solo Travel
It’s been half a day since I left Nicosia. Yes, I had tears in my eyes.
I’ve left Nicosia loads of times since moving there in January, but the sense of finality this time was difficult. If that isn’t enough, my two best friends in Nicosia were there to say goodbye, before one heads home to Boston then moves to Israel, and the other goes on to (probably) the Arabic speaking world and France until December.
Let’s not talk about that though.
Keeping with the listicle theme, what will I miss from my Cyprus home?
- If I never see a feral cat again, it will be too soon. But at the same time, they do.. kinda.. keep the streets cleanish. And I guess sometimes seeing them fight is kinda cute.
- Living nearly on top of the grocery store
- Living literally on top of the organic store
- Having a conversation and my friends switching languages multiple times during it
- ‘No Name Shop’
- Full moon rooftop gatherings
- Realizing that I understand far more in a language than I realize
- Al Jazeera on public programming
- The struggle of not knowing what the stink I’m purchasing at the grocery store.. cabbage or lettuce? Instant or filter? Mamma mia.
- American cookies
- Mezze
- The vegan paradise of walking outside for lemons, oranges, cucumbers…
- Everything smelling like an air freshener when cars run over the citrus in the street. Yum!
- The marketing schemes. For example: “Be safe and don’t get panic, just always get organic!” ugh….
What’s next?
I have just over 13 hours in London Heathrow airport. Then a 8ish hour flight to Chicago, then staying there for a couple of days with Shane.
Am I excited/ready/nervous about going home? Nah, this isn’t my first rodeo. But a stout beer and some deep dish are pretty enticing!
12 hours down, 15 to go!
by Samantha Burmeister | Mar 19, 2014 | Digital Nomading, Sam's Thoughts
The world is my classroom.
I’ve been asked a few times this past week what my travel with my program means, and how we get to miss class so often.
In traditional university settings, students go to each class for 3 hours a week for 16 weeks. Here, we go to each class for about 5 hours a week for 12 of the 16 weeks of the semester. So theoretically I’m spending the same amount of time in the classroom.
Theoretically. This is an island, full of island people with an island mentality. I honestly had a professor walk past our classroom the other day, turn around, walk in looking surprised and say, “Well shit. You guys are here. I thought we didn’t have class today.” It’s a once a week class. He ended up giving us an assignment and sending us on our way after about 45 minutes. The assignment is due in over a month.
This is also the same professor who had us meet at a bar for our midterm. In his defense, it is a bar and restaurant management class, and we did apply what we have been learning in class.
Island people don’t do well with stress.
Standing over Athens last week, on the Acropolis
All joking aside…
We do go to class, most of the time it isn’t cancelled, and most of the time I learn a lot. All of my professors are Cypriot, have the highest degrees in their field, and are well traveled.
I have been learning a lot from them, and what we are discussing in the classroom I have been able to apply while traveling. For example, in my European Cultures class we have an assignment to study one part of a culture and do field work, then write a 12 page paper on our findings. Since cafe culture is big here, I have been spending time in each city I visit ordering whatever seems local (Italy- espresso, Cyprus- frappe, Greece- ‘coffee’). I will write about the differences in time spent at cafes, what people order, the size of the drinks, what people do once at the cafes, when patrons pay, etc.
In my International Marketing class, we have similar projects but with a distinct marketing focus. Yesterday, I gave a midterm presentation on the effects of public vs private energy in Europe for my International Business class.
The Coloseum in Rome
Where does all this travel come in?
We don’t have classes while we travel, but we learn more than we ever could in the classroom. We have what we’ve been talking about in the classroom in the back of our heads as we travel, and are more cognizant of our environment while we travel.
by Samantha Burmeister | Mar 7, 2014 | Sam's Thoughts
Bar Management Midterm
For my bar management class, we were required to go to a professional Mixologist’s bar and have a drink or two with our professor (on the house) after getting a full tour and mixing drinks ourselves. How’s that for a midterm!?
Also, our Mixologist has his own drink sponsored by Bacardi and is a worldwide champion! You can check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YsX7LjCKLg
Our prof named the bar, and so four of us split a cab to downtown yesterday evening. The cabbie was so sure of where to drop us off, and gave us the walking directions from there (not all the streets here can actually fit cars). Turns out, he dropped us off over a km from where we were supposed to be, and sent us walking in the wrong direction.
Long story short, we ended up wandering through the red light district of Nicosia at 9pm in heels and dresses. We leaned in to an open foyer and asked someone for directions, and found out after about a sentence of conversation that she wanted more from us than we wanted from her. She and her friends were smoking cigarettes and chatting, so we made our way to the bar and didn’t think anything of it.
That was the last we saw of them, but after some talking, we deduced that they must have been sex workers. How ironic is it to find direction from a prostitute?
—
Photos of the bar night will come once Ariela sends me the pictures.
I really can’t keep my thumb to myself.
This morning, Becca, Ariela and I decided to ditch the bus (and our plans to go to the beach) and headed to the old city, and the North side.
Of course, we thumbed and met a guy who had been to each of our home states within the last year! Our home states are Iowa, Massachusetts, and South Carolina.
We headed North after doing a bit of wandering around the old city with three goals in mind: food, hamam, and a bit of shopping.
We found the hamam right away. The Hamam was built in 1192 under Ottoman rule and has been renovated only slightly since. It’s age was evident because as the streets have been built up over time, the Hamam has stayed at it’s level, which meant that we descended stairs into the bath house.
Outside of the Hamam
We spent about 20 euro each for 2 hours in the baths and steam room, and a half hour massage, plus tea and unlimited water and lounging afterwards in their lounge area.
What our side room looked like!
When I’ve heard about baths, I always thought they were like spas where people just sit around and are in ‘healing water’ or something. Nope. They seriously gave us bars of soap, expected us to strip naked (it was coed today, so most people were in bathing suits. most.), and bathe each other. One old, fat, naked guy tried to bathe a girl he wasn’t with, which was awkward. We avoided that and kept to ourselves in our side room.
My massage was totally awesome though! 85TL =20 euro= 30 USD. Not too shabby!
And of course I had a halloumi sandwich for lunch, and more fresh squeezed orange juice! The OJ is to die for! And my obsession with halloumi continues 🙂
by Samantha Burmeister | Mar 6, 2014 | Destinations, Sam's Thoughts, Solo Travel
We returned to Nicosia on Monday. Monday is a holiday here, which marks the beginning of Lent.
For the last week or so, there have been people grilling out constantly in preparation for the Great Fast.
The Great Lent begins with Kathara Deutera (Green Monday). In Cyprus and Greece, people enjoy this day in parks and along the countryside, flying kites and having picnics. The food served on Kathara Deutera is simple and traditional as it is an important day that symbolizes the start of the Lenten period and the abandonment of meat, cheese and dairy (MY HEAVEN!). Meals include taramosalata (fish roe dip), lagana (a yeast-less flat bread), dolmades (vine leaves stuffed with rice), calamari, octopus, mussels and other seafood, salads, halvas in the form of a semolina pudding and Macedonian Halva in the form of candy-like blocks made from tahini, honey and sometimes with swirls of cocoa, chopped almonds or pistachios.
In other words, I am in food heaven for the next 40 days!
A small group of us spent this day wandering around parks for a few hours before going home to catch up on all the sleep that we lost this weekend.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos this day, but I thought the cultural information was valuable enough to share!
by Samantha Burmeister | Feb 23, 2014 | Sam's Thoughts, Solo Travel
I really enjoy true travelers. I met a girl here in Cyprus who is taking a gap year from her university in New Orleans to travel Europe, Northern Africa, and possibly some of Asia. She and I went for a walk on Tuesday, and out of the blue she said, “Sam, I think I’ll hitch hike to Limassol tomorrow, you should come.”
24 hours later, we were in Limassol, a coastal city, swimming in the Mediterranean to a shipwreck and frolicking around the area.
That’s the shipwreck! The water was so cold, but so worth it! We could see at least 10 feet down at any time.
We got to Limassol midday and our couch surfer (Giorgos) picked us up from the center of town. He was hosting an englishman as well at the time, so the four of us went to his house and had an amazing meal of fresh fruits and vegetables, and some lamb. Our host is vegan, so the meals were amazingly and healthily prepared!
After lunch, he drove us to the shipwreck for a swim and some bananas as snacks. After the beach, we found some sombreros in Giorgos’ car and decided that it would be a good idea to wear them as we toured more of the area.
Giorgos then took us to a magnificent place called Amatheus Ruins. The view was unparalleled, so much so that my iPhone camera couldn’t do it justice. Unfortunately, we arrived pretty close to closing time, and the staff was restless, so we were asked to leave pretty soon after arrival. It worked out for the best, though, because we were able to make it to our last destination right at sunset!
Next, we drove to this amazing beach. You can see that there was very dark sand that gave way to perfectly smooth large rocks. These rocks epitomize the tenderness of the atmosphere at this beach.
Tenderness? Yes. This is Petra Tou Roumou, or Aprhodite’s Rock. The aura of the sunset, the cuddly couples, and the rocks arranged in heart shapes made this an incredibly comforting atmosphere. Rumor has it that if you swim naked around the rock (the medium sized one) three times, you will have love and fertility for life.
I stayed on the beach.
Afterwards, we went back to Giorgos’ place. Did I mention that he lives in a 10X10 space, plus a bathroom? Four adults, one room. We had an amazing leftovers dinner, and stayed up until the wee hours talking about our personal philosophies and plans. It was an amazing set of conversations that encouraged and influenced each of us. Plus, it was like a sleepover for big kids!
Sage and I got the futon!
Couch Surfing has many different faces, and this one was so mutually inspiring. After all the touring and talking, I was on an intellectual high. The next day, we had a wonderful dinner of fish and vegetables, and hit the road back to Nicosia.
Today, I am thankful for midweek breaks and still receiving a superior education!
by Samantha Burmeister | Feb 8, 2014 | Destinations, Sam's Thoughts, Solo Travel
“This is the war.” I heard this phrase more than any other this weekend. This blasé term was used to explain so much to the girls and me this weekend. Most of what we did and saw drew questions, and they were often answered with, “Well.. This is the war.”
I took this picture on our walk from the apartment to the sea. We had to walk around this fence because it was controlled by the UN. It goes to show how random the borders are, and how unfortunate some of the boundary parameters are. What was once a seaside basketball court is now.. this. The water is controlled by in places such as this, and there are ships stationed offshore as well.
Famagusta and the Ghost City remind me of what I imagine Detroit to be like.
The place is just plain dusty!
The grass is literally greener on that side. Maybe they’ve gotten more rain than the south. Maybe the climate is different. But maybe, because so many people were pushed out of the country, there isn’t as much pollution and wear on the earth. The earth is swallowing up entire neighborhoods now, 40 years after the occupation began.
There are buildings that have trees growing out of them, entire neighborhoods and homes that have been abandoned. The Greek Cypriots were forced from their homes in 1974 and have not been allowed to return since. Although most of them have been completely looted (down to the wiring), it is said that at one point, the tables were still set as if people would return that evening for dinner.
Right inside the gate were the remnants of an old bath house.
There is an entire portion of the city (about 40%) that has been fenced off by the United Nations. We got to drive around it, but the UN guards do not allow entry, photos, or even stopping a vehicle within a certain distance of the fence. This is the part that is said to belong to the Greeks (see the situations mentioned in the last paragraph) and will go back to the families that own them ‘when’ Cyprus regains control of the TRNC.
A view of the sunset over the occupied city. This is the part people are still living in.
TRNC is not as hellish as the pictures of Sochi look.
We could finally flush our toilet paper!
We’re discovering that every water tank on the island is heated by solar, and most also have electric heating components that we can choose to turn on.
We went two days without showers. By choice.
You can’t drink the water, but you can cook with it.
Yum! Tabbouleh salad, a chicken breast, rice with peas, and a green bean soup!
It was overall a really good experience.
Yeah, it was somewhat lackluster by way of architecture and things to do. But at the same time, it was completely overwhelming. The country is really poor due to the occupation, yet they are ‘Proud to be Turks’ and the flag is flown everywhere. It is evident that the area is occupied rather than free.
We were people watching today and noticed that some families looked like gypsies, while others could have just walked out of a JC Penney’s store in the states. Weird, right? It’s like ‘those Turks’ are real people!
Ezzat ‘pushing’ Ariela into the moat
Our hosts were beyond accommodating. We even got our own room! They cooked two traditional meals for us, toured the old city, the beach, and the perimeter of the fenced in area with us, and even came all the way to Lefkosia(Nicosia) to pick us up! Between the two of them, they spoke Arabic, Moroccan, French, English, and other native tongues, so Hilary and I got to practice our French, and Hilary got to practice her Arabic as well!
Ariela and Ezzat, one of our hosts
The girls I traveled with were true travelers rather than tourists. We somehow spent exactly 17.5 Euros each for over 24 hours of learning. That includes transport! These ladies were amazing, and I think we all learned a lot from each other.
Ariela laughing. I love this picture! You can see the old moat and bridge into the walled city behind her.
This was the closest I’ve been to the third world. My market, or my mission, or whatever you may call it, is definitely the first world, and it excites me to have been exposed to something new.
It made me realize how much this apartment is ‘home’.
I really missed it, even after a day. It felt so rightto cross back across the boundary and head down Ledras Street toward the bus stops that I’ve gotten to know so well. It felt natural to not fumble around in the dark for my keyhole, and normal to flip on the switch to the water heater tonight for my shower.
Here’s to a night in to absorb everything from the last couple of days!
Solitude on the sea. The sea is in front of me, the walled city is behind me, and I’m sitting in a bastion on one of the towers. I didn’t realize until now that this photo might be symbolic! 🙂
