After getting a good night’s sleep, our busy day started off with a tour of the new city in Nicosia. We met our tour guide at the place that marks the separation of the old and new city, Eleftharia Square, meaning “Liberty Square” in Greek. While walking along the main streets of the modern city in Nicosia, we were able to see many Cypriot cafes, bars, sit-down restaurants, and the tall, modern buildings that you cannot find in the old city. These high-rise buildings fascinated me. They had a sort of architecture that one would never be able to find in America. However, each building had its own unique design. During our tour, we learned many interesting things about the modern city in Nicosia and the Cypriot way of life there. For example, unlike Americans, in Cypriot households, generations are separated by floor. For instance, Cypriot grandparents would live on the bottom floor of a house or apartment, their kids would live on the next floor up, and then their kids would live on the floor on top of them. Also, it is very expensive to live in Nicosia. A normal apartment or house would be sold for about $300,000.

Furthermore, after taking a tour of the new city in Nicosia, our group visited the main university in Cyprus, the University of Nicosia. While there, we had a lecture on some of the history of Cyprus as well as any precautions we should take or general knowledge we should know about the country during our stay. However, Cyprus is one of the safest countries in the world for people our age. Also, the Cypriot government is very cautious about COVID-19. Until about 2 weeks ago, it was required by the government for everyone to wear masks while outside. Now, however, it is only required to wear masks while inside any public buildings.

Later in the day, we toured the old city in Nicosia. During this tour, we learned about the way buildings and homes were made in the old city and why. For example, during Ottoman rule, women were not allowed to be seen in public. Therefore, in order to allow Cypriot women to go outside and see what everyone was doing, their families built them enclosed balconies attached to their homes from which the women could see what was happening below them on the streets, but they could not be seen by the people on the streets. Also, the architecture of many of the churches in the old city featured many domes. Because you cannot point to one place in the sky to signify where Heaven is (because Heaven is everywhere in the sky), these domes signify the whereabouts of the Heavens.

Finally, after our tour of the old city, we had a welcome dinner in a restaurant that served us Meze. Meze is a style of food typically served in Cyprus that features a lot of different dishes everyone eating shares. We sat down for dinner for about 2 hours, stuffing our faces with dish after dish after dish being brought to our tables. My favorite part of this experience was all the cats that came up to us during our meal. They were all surprisingly friendly, and I was able to pet a good number of them. Overall, I believe it was a fun and eventful day in Cyprus, and I can’t wait to I see what the rest of our days here will be like!