After an exhausting day(s) of travel, we have finally arrived in the beautiful and sunny country of Cyprus! It did not take long for what this country has to offer to make up for the two long flights. From immediately being hit by warmer temperatures than Pittsburgh when exiting the airport, to being given the chance to admire the landscape of the country on the bus ride over to our very neat hotel, all of those groggy feelings of tiredness disappeared. Something that stayed, however, was the excitement I have had since finding out about this opportunity, which to no surprise, has already grown after being here for only one day. There are many factors that led to the growth of excitement. For example, the hotel being futuristic, tidy, and modern, the visit to the University of Nicosia, or UNIC for short, being filled with new experiences, information and facts, and the weather being more like a dream than I thought it would be, all contributed to my eagerness to explore the country even further. Even though the weather here is the type that could have me pack up my bags and move, it is not the best thing so far about this trip. My most favorite aspect of the trip thus far, was learning about the culture here in Cyprus. Whether this was via listening to a faculty member from UNIC present about how tipping in Cyprus is not as normal of a thing as it is in America or how the toilet paper instead of being flushed down the toilet, goes into the trash to prevent the blockage in the pipes, my craving for understanding more of the Cypriot culture was satisfied. Luckily for me, the journey of learning more about a foreign culture continued, as we had the chance to learn about one of my favorite things on this planet, food! We were able to watch the talented chefs at UNIC cook various cuisines, such as grilled halloumi cheese, Sheftalies, which are grilled minced meatballs, and prepare a fruity and fresh dessert as seen in the picture. Not only did we get to watch them prepare the food, but we also got to taste it. Being quite the picky eater, trying more foods on this trip was one of my goals, and I am happy to say that I accomplished that goal today. The cuisines that we tried were all apart of Meze, which involves trying numerous different dishes, and can take hours to complete. After a little tease of what Meze could look like, I cannot wait for the day in which we get to experience this style of cooking in its entirety. One last thing that I knew prior to visiting Cyprus I knew I would enjoy was seeing the campus and people at UNIC. I found it very interesting because of how different it is from Pitt. To the little coffee bars with tables outside, to the amount of native languages I heard whilst passing by students, I realized just how much where ones lives depicts how one’s college experience goes. I loved this first day, I got to try new foods, meet new people, explore the city of Nicosia, and expand my knowledge on Cypriot culture.