Today was our first day staying in Nicosia, and our activities involved a slight switch up from our usual visits with companies we had last week. Instead, we visited the University of Nicosia, the school this trip is partnered with as part of it’s global semesters program, to hear lectures about the history of Cyprus and the Greek language. Our first lecture was with Dr. Solomou about the extensive history of the island, dating back to 7400 BC. Because of its strategic location in the Mediterranean Sea, it has been conquered many times throughout its history and has had many different rulers. The last period of rule Cyprus experienced before gaining independence in 1960 was under the British, which began in 1878. This followed the fall of the Ottoman Empire in this area and played a large role in shaping how the island looks today. Cypriots were not pleased with this regime, though, and began their movent for independence in 1931 by organizing an insurrection that began by burning the governor’s house down. The British quickly put a stop to this however, by imposing marital law and executing anyone who would participate in any of these actions they viewed as terrorism. The Cypriots killed did not even have their bodies returned to their families, but were viewed as heroes in the continued quest for independence, which was ultimately achieved in 1960.

With regards to the lecture overall, I had a very enjoyable time listening to Dr. Solomou talk about the history of the island and all of the worldwide politics that have played a role in shaping it as well. The descriptions of each historical period the island went though and the different periods of rule it experienced were very eye opening, explaining the many unique cultural elements we see in modern day Cyprus. Between the Greeks, Turks, Ottomans, Franks, and many the other groups that have left their marks on the island, Cyprus can trace it’s cultral roots back to many different places. One of the most thought-provoking parts of today’s lecture was when Dr. Solomou gave his thoughts on what he saw as hypocrisy in the political leaders of the world’s major powers when it has came to dealing with Cyprus in recent history. He called out this hypocrisy from the US specifically after they have provided large accounts aid to help with the recent conflicts in the middle east and Ukraine, but did nothing to stop Turkey in their invasion of Cyprus. He claimed that leaders always should stand by their principles of what they think is wrong and right, and act accordingly in all cases. I had never though about Cyprus’s conflict with Turkey from this angle before, and this conversation was very important for us to hear, especially as Americans. 

After our history lecture, we had another lecture on an introduction to the Greek language, something I had been looking forward to on this trip for some time. I love trying to understand new languages but it had been very difficult for me to begin with Greek due to it using a different script from English and Greek letters that look like English letters sounding completely different than what one would expect. While we could barely scratch the surface of the language in this short time we had, this experience was very helpful for my understanding of how the language works and some basic words and phrases. One important phrase I was glad to learn was how to introduce myself to someone. I learned that the question “what’s your name?” is pronounced “pos see lene”, and I can respond with “me lene Jake”, for “my name is Jake”. Hopefully I can use this for my remaining time in the program, and when I travel to Greece on my own afterwards.