From Coast to Coast

Let's see. This week. I don't really even know where to start. Tuesday was a normal school day and Wednesday was too. We went to Bennigan's for some more amazing milkshakes and then out to Ithaki at night for an open bar which was very fun, as always.Thursday is full of classes for me and the day started out normal, except in the afternoon on Wednesday, Anwar stumbled to our apartment after he had been hit by a car while riding his bike. He managed to make it to our apartment about a block away and Martin took him to the hospital. The woman driving didn't stop or anything. But I bet this kind of stuff isn't unheard of because people here drive out of control. He's alright now, just beaten up for a couple of days. I went to the rest of my classes and then Lauren, Martin, Kelley, and I went out to a new club that had just opened up. Well it was definately an interesting experience but one that I think we could all agree on not participating in again. But anyways, once that was a bust, Martin took me and Kel to the only place that still serves food past two in the morning. Its called 'quik stop' and well it was pretty good. We spent the rest our night getting caught up on the Office and watching 'Two Men and a Half' (Martin's personal fav.)

The next day was Friday and so the weekend started. We (Kel, Kel, Lauren, Martin, Zenobia, and Me) had planned to go to the Turkish side similiar to what Dana and I did on Monday. However, it did not go as planned. Martin agreed to drive us but we ended up driving across the border instead of walking through the old city. The whole place is very disorganized and stragnely set up. We were all very confused and of course, Martin forgot his passport once we got through the traffic so we had to run home and get it again. Its very strange being in a UN buffer zone in the back seat of a green hatch back while everyone is beeping at you for stopping traffic. But none the less, it was entertaining. We finally got across in the late afternoon but didn't really know where to go. The Turkish side is very different from the developed Greek side. We browsed a few shops and a monument of some sort (none of us could read the plaque in Turkish so we didn't know what we were looking at). Then decided to try some food from the local 'Donerista'. Who would have thought that I would try Turkish doner and like it?! Well I did. Zenobia (from Ghana) also bought this fruit called leechie from a stand on the side of the road. Its covered in a hardshell and resembles an eyeball on the inside. Hmmm. But anyways, also very good. Then it had gotten dark and we decided we should head back considering we didn't really know our way around. Luckily we figured it out with not too much trouble and made it successfully back to the Greek side.

Once we got back, we all got ready to go out to dinner for ,our neighbor, Kendra's birthday. We all went to a small restaurant in the old city for Cyprus meze. The place was soley filled with us GLS kids (and Martin of course). It was a great dinner and a great cozy place with great conversation. After our wonderful dinner we headed back home for a hang out night because we had a big day ahead of us. We just played some more Bullshit, more of the Office, and of course "Two Men and a Half" (which I have to say is quite an awful show). But of course Kel and I stayed up way to late and barely got any sleep but I think my body is getting used to it.

On Saturday we had to get up and be on the bus by 10. Today we were going to Kyrenia. A town on the Northwest shore in the Turkish side. This all meant we had to cross the border the same as we did the day before. Its a pretty simple process with really no problems except Lauren ended up taking a picture from the bus of some of the UN soldiers and apparently that is not okay at all. So a guy ended up coming on to the bus and had her delete the photo. That is not something you see everyday. But all is well and it makes for a good story.

The actual distance of Nicosia to Kyrenia is really not far at all, maybe twenty minutes. We first headed up the mountains to a castle! A real castle! It was the most beautiful place I've ever seen. It was set high up and over looked the see. I have pictures but it really just doesn't do it justice. We were all so excited to finally see the sea and it was just so beautiful. After a little while, we got back on the bus and headed down to Kyrenia. Once again, taking a full scale charter bus up the side of a mountain is not the safest of activites in Cyprus. Next they took us to Bellapais Abbey. It was a beautiful church with Gothic arches set right between the mountains and the water. Did I mention the weather was perfect? Well it was. Probably 69 and sunny.

After an hour, we headed back to the bus for another desitnation. Kyrenia Castle and Harbor was the last stop of the day. We got a chance to explore the castle and once again it was so beautiful. It sat right along the shore and with no restrictions like in the US, you could climb all over the place and sit on the rock walls and stare at the sea.

After we had our princess fun, we went to the harbor to have lunch. We sat right along the waters edge surrounded by ships that looked like they could be used by real life pirates. The whole place basically looked like Disney World except it was all real. Oh and while we were waiting for our food, cats began to appear from everywhere and sit under my chair. One kitty jumped into Lauren's lap and then into mine. It purred at me :D and then when I tried to put it down, it bit me > : o. I guess you win some and you lose some. Moral of the story - don't pet the Turkish cats.

After our long, wonderful day in the sun we boarded the bus for home. Then we all took basically a four hour nap : ) its what princesses do. With all of restored energy, we decided to go to a club to work it off. A late night turned into morning really quickly and I'm pretty sure me and Kel didn't go to bed until 8 in the morning cuz Martin kept knocking on our door.

Regardless of lack of sleep, Martin has promised to take us to the beach the next day. So on Sunday, we got up, put of flip-flops on and piled into the car. Sometime during this process I managed to burn my arm on a frying pan. I guess that kind of stuff is started to be expected from me. Its fine now, I dont know when I'll learn to not be so clumsy.

It only took about 45 minutes to get to Larnaca which was great. We parked in a sketchy garage and practically ran to the water. It wasn't too warm outside but that didn't stop us from rolling up our pants and walking out as far as we could. The water - not that cold at all. Martin took a video that's on youtube if you search under American Girls in Cyprus. Its kind of long but we love it. Everyone thought were strange probably because some of them were in winter coats because they have no idea what cold is. We wandered around to a couple of shops and then had dinner at TGI Friday's. It was another great day and I'm started to feel really spoiled because everything has just been really great so far and I don't understand how I can be this lucky.

Were thinking about spending our Valentine's weekend together by going to Paphos (a city on the south shore) for two nights. I found a hotel for super cheap so its looking good. Paphos is where Martin lives so he's gonna hook me up with a haircut and were going to meet his mom who's helping us with our Egypt trip. Which may be the following weekend but I can't even get started on that because it blows my mind that I'm going to go there. Its all so much to take it but I'm loving every second of it. I hope I didn't write too much, I just have so much to tell!

Love everyone and I hope all is great there!