“Always go in the direction that makes you smile the most because every smile leads to your personal paradise”
-Stephan Brown
Every morning, I open my eyes, I take a deep breath and I stare outside. I take in the fresh mediterranean air and I see the sun shining bright through my balcony window. I smell breakfast being made by my roommates along with some cheerful morning conversation. Two weeks ago I did not know any of these people and now It feels like we have been living together for a long time. We all come from different backgrounds and its pretty cool to learn about their lifestyles and how they grew up.
My second week started off with a trip to the Athalassa National Forest Park. The park was filled with green grass, bicycle trails, lakes and a huge park. When you first walk through you notice that you are surrounding by everything green and healthy(I never seen grass this green back home so it was great). All the lakes glisten with the sunlight hitting it and you can even see wild hedgehogs running everywhere. The air is fresh and the environment just makes you feel calm. My friends and I also got to relive our childhoods for a brief moment when we discovered the huge park, There were swings, slides, monkey bars and a zipline…I repeat they had a zip-line in the park!
Photographer: Caleb Kissiah
(Myself, Miguel, Aaron, Joey, Laura, Caleb, Bethany, Abby)
The next day we went on a Global Semesters trip to the Troodos Mountains where we got to experience winter for a few hours (The cold was awful). No one was prepared for the crazy amounts of snow and cold weather, but we somehow managed to ignore the cold and take a hike around Mt. Olympus. To all my friends in the east coast, I now know what you all are feeling everyday! Good luck with all the snow and cold weather.
(Maria, Miguel, Katie, Caleb, Aaron, Tiffany, Joey)
(Miguel, Myself, Joey, Caleb and Aaron)
After experiencing the cold for a few hours, we traveled to Kakopetria. The coolest part about traveling from Mt. Olympus to Kakopetria is experiencing the climate change right before your eyes. One minute it is snowing and cold and the next minute you are experiencing sunshine and warmth. The village is filled with waterfalls, lakes and many different passageways waiting to be discovered….Oh yeah we also ate food from a restaurant where the cook had one arm. He was very nice and made the best food! I wish I remembered his name and how to pronounce the restaurant’s name.
Kakopetria!
This week was also the first week for classes and so far its different compared to back home. When you take classes here you are surrounded by not only Cypriots but students from all over Europe. You get to experience diversity on a whole other level and work with people who you would not normally work with. Most of my classes require group activities and for the first time I am looking forward to them.
I almost forgot to give a special shout out to Caleb and Joey for cooking pancakes for 21 people! In Cyprus they do not sell pancake mix so you have to make them by scratch. We ended up having a huge breakfast for dinner get together in my apartment and I became the server! Those pancakes were so great!
P.S. Global Semesters group dinners are starting to become a weekly thing and I can definitely get use to it.
ALBRIGHT ELCDC 