Today we had the pleasure of attending two lectures at the University of Nicosia! The first was a lecture from Professor Emilios A. Solomou on the history of Cyprus from 7400 BC to present-day. We learned a lot of wonderful information about the location of Cyprus, various religions occupying the region, impactful political events, and a chronological history of the ruling powers. One particular period we learned about was the British takeover and rule of Cyprus between 1878 and 1960. Unlike the dicey power transition that ensued between the Venetians and the Ottomans around 1571, the British were able to gain dominance of the island from the declining Ottoman Empire rather easily in 1878. This is because the UK promised military aid to the Ottomans should Russia attempt to take possession of the Ottoman territories in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. Thus, Cyprus was administered under the British government while remaining under Turkish sovereignty. During this time, the Greek Cypriot majority desired to move away from British rule and join Greece. This prompted a group called the EOKA to launch an attack against government and military installations. Although it was not successful, the British Government started looking for political solutions and in collaboration with Greece and Turkey, decided to write the constitution for Cyprus and grant their independence.

I found Dr. Solomou’s presentation to be very informative and tie all the historical information we have learned in our predeparture classes and tours in Cyprus together quite well. I enjoyed hearing him relate events in Cyprus’s history to historical events in the United States as well as current events in the Middle East. It was interesting to hear his perspective and think about the repercussions of significant historical events on the current political climate. I also found some of his statements thought-provoking, such as his beliefs on political hypocrisy and how the world needs more leaders inspired by principals and not by political agendas.

After a short break, we received a crash course in Greek language! As someone who knew very little about the Greek language prior to this trip, I found the class to be super fun and engaging! We first learned about the Ancient Greek language and compared this with the modern Greek that is spoken today. It was interesting to learn that in Ancient Greece, the father was the ruler of the house, but in Sparta, it was the mother. We then learned a series of simple words and greetings, as well as the numeral system up to twenty-four. Something that is different from United States speech is that questions in Greek are asked very emphatically. One of my favorite sentences to learn was how to ask for coffee; I will now be asking, “Thelo enan kafe, parakalo?” whenever I’m at a local coffee shop! 🙂