Today was our first full day on the island of Cyprus. We started our day off with our first tour of the New City. There are venetian walls that separate the New city from the Old city and under the bridges that connect them there is a park that just finished being renovated that is a good spot to hang out in. We saw lots of restaurants, shops and buildings that were of the more modern look, as of some buildings some would see in back home. Nicosia is known for there coffee and that is shown by how many coffee shops are in the city. We were able to see the tallest building in Nicosia that was finished being built as of not too long ago. There was a small break for us to go to lunch and start to explore the Old city. The people of the city are very welcoming and are a nice encounter every time there is one.

After our break we headed to the University of Nicosia which holds around 16,000 students and some that are still there as they are taking finals. We were given our orientation of the program and then headed back to the hotel to get our tour of the Old City. We got to see buildings that have been on the island for centuries. One thing that was unique to the island because it has had so many invaders is the architecture of the houses. When the Ottomans were here, their doors were wooden and had a curvature shape and had balconies that were enclosed because women were not allowed to be see with their clothing on. With the British, doors were a rectangular shape as we see in the states and had glass above the door, they also had the normal open balconies instead of enclosed. We were able to learn about how the island was involved with Christianity with Paul traveling the island spreading the word, and how the island became the first country to have Christianity as its official religion. We saw churches that were just newly built and others that have been here since the 15th century. People used to think the world was flat, so the way to find a church was a curved roof because that gave the meaning of heaven. There were incredible cars that were on display that the first Cyprian president drove and the place he lived. After this tour we headed to a restaurant called Kathodon and they served us many different dishes of Greek food, much of which I have never tried before. Many cats also strolled the restaurant and this is normal here, which is something that would be considered uncommon or even dirty back in the US.