My Semester in Cyprus!

So this past week was a big week exciting week!! The four of us, Kelley, Kelley, Lauren and I planned a one week adventure to visit Ireland and Paris. It all began last Wednesday. We took off from the Larnaca airport in the early evening and headed back west. We landed in the London Gatwick Airport around midnight UK time but it was actually about 2 am for us. Our flight to Dublin wasn't until the next day so we booked a cheap hotel room near the airport for the night so we could get a good nights sleep before it all started. Gatwick is about an hour outside of London so we were just in the suburbs. Once we checked in Kel, Kel, and I went to the nearby grocery store to scour for food. Everything was much much cheaper there than here in Cyprus. Some of the brands were more familiar and then even had Dr. Pepper! We felt just a bit closer to home. I

t was also a bit refreshing to be back in a world where people soley speak English and you can be confident that cab drivers will understand you and you can explain things in great detail without confusing anyone. Anywho, after a quick snack, we hit the sheets. Our flight was at 1:30 the next day so we got to sleep in a bit. The flight was only about an hour which was great. Ireland was so green. Even from the sky I could just see all the fields covered in sheep and grass. We landed in Dublin, went through passport control, and then waited in line for a cab to our hostel. Silly me, but I forgot to write down the address of our hostel. I only remembered the name, the Shining Hostel (two of the scariest movies ever) so our friendly cab driver dropped us off near a bunch of hostels and wished up luck. Luckily a nice woman pointed us in the correct direction. On our way walking with all of our stuff, it started to rain, even though the sun was still shining. I learned quickly that this is common of Ireland weather. We checked into our room and were given our sheets and duvet cover for our beds. It was the first hostel experience for all of us. We were to stay in a room of a total of 10 girls. We grabbed a couple of the remaining beds and then headed out to explore and grab some food. The Dublin Spire was just around the corner from where we were staying and everything was very centrally located. We didn't have to take any kind of transportation to get around the whole time we were there. We wondered about and visited Trinity College and the Dublin Castle before find a cozy place to have a late lunch. As our day went on, I was so glad to find that everyone was so friendly!! Everyone we met just seemed to be in a great mood and therefore radiated that to everyone else. After our wonderful pub lunch, we headed back to the common room of our hostel to be social and to chill for alittle while. We attempted a cat puzzle that was missing about 43% of the pieces and Sex and the City was on TV! It put us all in a good mood. After chatting with some other hostel mates for a bit, we headed out to the bar district across the river. We wandered down the main street for awhile befo

re getting into one of the best bars in Dublin called Temple Bar. It was full of people and great live music. The girls grabbed some pints and I helped myself to a Bailey's because I am not typically a huge fan of beer. Me immeidately found that we were not the only Americans around which is unusual for us because surprise surprise, not many American come to Cyprus. There is something about the Irish air that makes everyone in a great mood. We were soon approached by three true Irishmen named Collie, Seamus, and Robbie. They all grew up in Dublin and were in love with their city. They provided us with great entertainment because of course they had already endured a couple rounds. Who ever said that other cultures don't drink as much as Americans do, they are wrong, very wrong and obviously have never been to Ireland. We had another drink and finally convinced Kelley to show off her Irish dancing skills! It was wonderful as always and everyone around thoroughly enjoyed it. I spent the rest of the trip trying to convince her that all she has to do is lay a hat on the ground and dance and we will no longer have to worry about money. But to no evail.

We left around 2 when the place began to close down. Collie, who is a security guard at Trinity College, agreed to show us around Dublin the next day. We said goodbye and headed out. I stopped and asked one guy to take a picture of the four of us in front on the bar and then all of a sudden all of the guys friends jumped in our picture. We soon found out that they were the Dutch waterpolo team. After a bit of crazy conversation and refusal to go to another pub, we continued on our way. Oh and I can't forget to mention this one crazy man who kept telling us he was Mick Jaggar and other mumbly such things. He is now on my top ten strangest people I've ever met list.

We got up at 10 the next day because we needed to change hostels and we were meeting Collie at noon. I took a cold shower : / and ate some frosted flakes : ) . By 11 we were haulin all of stuff down the streets of Dubl

in again. We put our stuff in a locker and went to meet Collie. On our way there, another weird thing happened. We ran into Brendan, another GLS student who lives on the floor below us! We caught up with him for a bit and wished him luck with the rest of his trip.

We met Collie right on time and he gave us a great tour of Trinity College which was established in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. And because Collie worked there, he got us in to see the Book of Kells for free. The Book of Kells is an elaborate and colorful manuscript of the New Testament written by the Irish Monks between the 6th - 9th centuries. Upstairs from the Book was the Long Room which is a really old library lined with dusty leatherbound books and those cool ladders that reminded me of the movie Clue. It was a beautiful room with a wood panneled ceiling and a two stories of bookcases.

Once we soaked up some history, it was time to soak up some beer. The number one tourist attraction in Dublin is the Guiness Factory. We didn't want to be the ones who missed out so Collie took us there next and on the way Seamus met up with us to go to the factory. We spent the next two hours learning how beer is made and enjoying a free pint at the top in the Gravity Bar. We met two American girls and one was even from Pittsburgh! Once we finished our beers and taken in the view of the city, we said goodbye to Collie and went to see more of the city. Seamus showed us St. Patrick's Cathedral and pointed us in the direction of St. Stephen's Green before saying goodbye. We spent the rest of our afternoon on our own. St. Stephen's Green is the Central Park of Dublin and its beautiful. And of course, in order to only further prove the theory that its a small small world, we ran into Reid. Reid is another GLS Student who was on the trip with Brendan.

It started to rain at some point so we headed back to the hostel to regroup and take a break. It got extremely windy and Kelley's umbrella ended up breaking in about 6 different places. It was very funny because it just kept getting worse. We spent the rest of the evening grabbing some dinner and shopping for some souveni

ors.

Afterwards, we went to a place called Cassidy's. It had some great live music. We met some people from Scotland, that were impossible to understand, and even some from France. After a few hours we headed back to our hostel so we could get to bed at a reasonable time.

The next morning, we had to be at the place around the corner at 8 am for our tour to the Cliffs of Moher. It was very early in the morning but our tour quide was extremely funny which made being up that early not so bad. It was about a 3 hour drive from Dublin to Limerick City where we made a short stop at King John's Castle located along the Shannon River. Afterwards we loaded back on the bus and headed north to the Burren. The Burren is a limestone land

scape that covers over 100 sq. km. and contains many ancient tombs. It's located just North of Cliffs and is on the coast. It was the first time we had seen the Atlantic Ocean is a long while. After a short while, we headed to the small town of Doolin for lunch. We stopped at this small place that served more traditional Irish food which, turns out, I am not a huge fan of. But anyways, after we ate and our bus driver drank a beer or two (Welcome to Ireland), we finally headed to the Cliffs. Also, we were extremely lucky. The weather was ideal. It was still cold but it was sunny and at the Cliffs of Moher that is a rarity. We spent the next few hours walking along the top.

At one point there is a sign that states "Do Not Go Beyond This Point" but it seems as though everyone ignores that sign, so we did too. Normally there was a four foot tall wall blocking you from the edge, and now there

was nothing. To peer too far over the edge would have meant a 700 ft. fall down the rocky shores below. : ) so don't worry we were careful. Everything about the Cliffs o

f Moher was just as I had imagined. The place is best described as majestic.
In the late afternoon we got back on our

PaddyWagon and began the long journey back. Our bus driver decided to take us a different way back which included many small, bumpy roads, right along the coast. Oh, and we were running late

and there was a very important Futbol game that needed to be watched. So he was flying down these roads while Kelly and I were strapped in at the very back of the bus. We had to stop twice so one kid could get sick. Oops. The rest of the wat back I encouraged Kelly's new obsession with Irish sheep by helping her search and take pictures of them all the way back to Dublin. The country side of Ireland is gorgeous. Just as you would picture it with green fields dotted with sheep, cows, and horses all seperated by handmade stonewalls. It was a great day.

Once we were back in Dublin, we went to a pub for alittle while to see a bit of the soccer match we had rushed home for. We left early though because we had a very early flight the next to PARIS!!

At 5 am we stumbled out of hostel, and into a cab to the airport. We were quickly woken up when our cab driver began telling us of his previously crazy customer. He provided comedic entertainment all the way to the airport.

One plane ride, an hour bus ride, and two trains later, we were in Paris! All four us stayed with Erin, Lauren's best friend from home who came to visit us in Cyprus on her Spring Break. Erin was the perfect tourguide. She knows her way around Paris very well. The first stop of the day was at Notre Dame. The building was amazing and the detailing was unbelievably intricate. We got to go in and walk around for awhile. Next stop was the Louvre which is much larger than I had expected that is because it is HUGE. We saw the

Mona Lisa, some other important paintings, Egyptian aritfacts (which are in better condition there than in Egypt), and they even had a Cyprus exhibit! We were all pretty beat by this point, so after a short stop at a cafe, we went to Erin's to freshen up. That night we went to dinner at a wonderful little pizza place. The quality of food and everything is Paris is very high. We drank delicious wine and stuffed our faces with pizza. Then it was bed time because it had been a long day.

We started off the next day with crepes (one of my new favorite foods) at a cute cafe. Every place in Paris is a cute little cafe. The city is unbelievably like so many of the cliches. After a relaxing lunch, we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie which is home to massive paintings by Monet, as well as Picasso and other impressionist art. Erin happens to be an art history major and gave us an exclusive tour : ) I was very excited to see Monet's waterlily paintings in person because I remember having to recreate one in my 2nd grade art class and I always thought did a miraculous job : D

After the museum we went to this place called Angelina's, where they serve melted chocolate as hot chocolate and they have an array of wonderful French pastries. It was very expensive so we shared everything but I really wanted it all for myself because it was soo delicious. As is everything else in France. Then we went to a small bookstore near Notre Dame for a book reading and some free wine and cheese. He was an American author who wrote a novel about French wine. Surprisingly, it wasn't boring (as I had anticipated)! The sun was starting to set once we finished, so we decided to head towards the Eiffel Tower!!

It was all lit up by the time we got there and it was wonderful. In order to be true "students on a budget", we decided not to pay the 12 euros to take the elevator to the top, we paid 3 euros and could climb to the second platform. 700 stairs later, I think we almost regretted our decision. It was great though. Paris was all alit and the tower even sparkled while we walking up. It was unbelievable that we had come all this way on our own. Go us. Once we marvelled both amazingness of Paris and our traveling skills, we headed back down.

We went on a search for dinner and ended up getting Chinese food because I have been deprived of it for over 4 months now. And let me

tell you that Chinese people speaking French and very little English is one strange language barrier. We stopped at McDonald's for some dessert : ) and then went to this hole in wall place for some fantastic Sangria. We stayed for a few hours until our cheeks got warm, and

then headed back to Erin's for another slumber party night. However, it was after midnight so the Metro had stopped. So we had to take the Noctillien, which is a bus you can ride for free? Anyways it go us home at some point.

On our last day in Paris, we had pain au choclat (chocolate crossiant) and cafe creme (the best coffee ever) for breakfas

t. Kelley, Lauren, and Erin went to the Musée d'Orsay while Kelly and I set out to explore a bit of Paris on our own. We stumbled upon a couple of cool places including Hôtel des Invalides which is where Napoleon's Tomb is located. It was so sunny and wonderful out that just walking around the city was extremely enjoyable. Once they finished at the Musee, Erin had class so the four of us grabbed some more crepes and went to spend the afternoon laying in the grass at the Eiffel Tower. It was a perfect afternoon. We had agreed to meet Erin at 6 at Notre Dame so we started walking there and did some shopping on the way. Once Erin took the reins again, we went to Monmarte. Mo

nmarte is a district of Paris this is located on a hill and overloo

ks the entire city. It is also home to the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. There were people scattered all over the steps and the atmosphere was fresh. On our back down from the Basilica, we were approached by 'the String People', who Erin had warned us about. They wil come right up to you and tie a string around your wrist and demand payment for it. And if you refuse they won't cut the string. Luckily we cut across the grass to get away.

For dinner we went to this wonderful Fondue place that serves wine in baby bottles. The whole meal consisted of bread and melted cheese that is saturated in wine. It was a really small place with writings all over the walls. We all consumed so much wine that we were buzzed from just eating dinner. It was alot of fun.

Afterwards, we ended up walking through the very unique red light district of Paris which is where the Moulin Rouge is convientantly located. Afterwards we hurried back to the Metro in order to get home before 12.

The next morning it was time to head back to Cyprus. But first we had to wake up at 4:30 in order to catch two trains back to the bus station. Unfortunately we took one of the wrong trains which is turn made us miss our bus. The airport was hour outside the city so we had to take a very very expensive cab ride to get to our plane on time. Then we flew from Paris, to Dublin, to London, and then finally back the Larnaca. It was extremely long day of going in and out of security and carrying our suticases all around. Its true when they say travelling is stressful. We got back to our apartment around midnight and we were exhausted. But it was a fantastic trip that was well worth it!!

Spring Break starts on Friday and we are going to Ayia Napa for four days and then two days later we leave for Greece, Italy, and Spain!! I hope you are enjoying the blog. I will try to update about Ayia Napa before we head of to travel again. Love everyone!!

O there is a short clip of us at the Cliffs of Moher. Here is the link. Watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsEyfsNbhYE