"Just Singin' in the Rain"

The London Eye

Well it’s December, to which I say: “When did that happen??” This semester is flying by so fast and I can’t believe it’s already coming to an end! Since I depart from Cyprus on December 18^th, I’m at the point where it is too easy to count down the days. I will make the most of my remaining days, and of course I have papers to write and finals to study for too, but right now I’m going to reminisce about my free week, during which I traveled to London and Ireland! 

England

London

Buckingham Palace

     The flight from Larnaca, Cyprus to Gatwick, United Kingdom felt so long! It was about 5 hours, and after taking shorter flights during my previous travels, 5 hours seemed like forever. I can only imagine what flying home is going to feel like! On the plane I started reading ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’, and I actually finished the book before I even arrived at my hostel! It was a great book, I loved the writing style, and I can’t wait to see the movie. (You should read it if you haven’t already!)

            When I arrived in Gatwick Airport, passport control took too long and I missed my train to Waterloo, the closest station to my hostel. Unfortunately that was the last train for the night and I had to figure out another way to get to my hostel. Without giving me any directions, the ticket teller switched my ticket to Queen Victoria and told me to take a bus from there. I was a little overwhelmed that I had to figure out a new transportation route so late at night when the one I was supposed to take was so easy! Luckily Kyle, my friend from Cyprus, was already in London and met me at the Queen Victoria station so we could take the bus together to the Steam Engine Hostel. To make matters more difficult, my bankcard didn’t work at the ATM or the hostel, so I had to borrow money from Kyle so I could sleep in my bed! Knowing I needed Pounds instead of the few Euros I had on me, I called my bank before going to bed to fix the issue and went to bed at 3am London time, so it really felt like 5am Cyprus time!

Going back to Neverland :)

            After a few hours of sleep, I got up for a busy day in London! My first stop was to see the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens where I felt like Wendy flying back to Neverland, just like Junior year of high school when I played her in the musical. There was light rain but I didn’t mind because I expected that in London. I also went to Hyde Park; the parks in London are lovely!

Me at the GLOBE!

             We stopped in Harrods department store just to say we did, and I enjoyed the Disney window displays. Being typical tourists, we took pictures 

in an iconic red phone booth and went to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey before enjoying lunch in Traflagar Square at Pret A Manger. (Pret is on EVERY corner of London, I swear!) I also saw St. Pauls’ Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, London Bridge, and of course toured The Globe, which was awesome! Unfortunately the show season at the Globe had ended, so I guess I’ll just have to return to London someday to experience a performance like in Shakespeare’s time.

Two Towers Bridge

            Later that night we came across Two Towers Bridge, which was gorgeous lit up at night, the light reflecting in the River Thames. For dinner I sought out Fish and Chips, which came with a side of mushy peas, as the menu called them, and I enjoyed the meal despite having to pick around some bones. 

"Singin' in the Rain!"

      And then it was time for ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ at the Palace Theatre! The performance was absolutely wonderful and the rain on the stage was the coolest thing I have ever seen: 12,000 liters of water during every performance- Wow. What an appropriate show to see in London, haha!  This is also where my post title comes from:"Singin' in the Rain"(watch this if you've never seen it!)

THE GREAT HALL! :)

Hogwarts Castle model

       The next day we went to Warner Brother’s Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter. Seriously, this was my favorite thing I did in London! All 8 movies under one roof, and I got to walk through The Great Hall, see Gryffindor’s common room, Dumbledore’s office, Hagrid’s hut, the night bus, Privet Drive, Diagon Alley and 

many other places! I could really imagine what it was like to make these films that I grew up with, and everything was authentic! I got to see some of my favorite props including: the sorcerer’s stone, the snitch, and all the Horcruxes! I learned about the animatronics like Buckbeak, prosthetics of the Goblins and creatures, and visual effects like the fire breathing Horntail. I even got to experience special effects on the green screen by flying on a broom! The tour was an overwhelming experience, and I must admit I teared up a bit to see all of these wonders in front of me and to witness all of the work that went into my childhood favorites. My favorite parts were the giant castle model of Hogwarts, the concept art room, and Ollivander’s wand room, which had the name of over 4,000 people who worked on the movies on each wand box. It took 3 hours and 20 minutes to go through the whole tour, and I even got some butterbeer too!

Finding Danielle at Platform 9  3/4

            To continue the Harry Potter theme of the day, we went to King’s Cross Station to cross through Platform 9 ¾, and guess who came to Hogwarts with me?....I met Danielle, my friend from high school, because she’s studying abroad in London! It was great to see her and catch up over lunch, and yet again we ate at Pret A Manger.

            It was time to switch gears for the day and do something unrelated to Harry Potter, so we metro-ed to Abbey Road and took some pictures crossing the street just like the Beatles, trying not to get hit by cars of course, haha. And later we went to Fleet Street and I even found a Barbershop there! Perhaps it is owned by Mr. Sweeney Todd himself? I didn’t go in to find out….

            I loved walking through the streets of London and seeing all the Christmas decorations. On my final day in London we visited Covent Garden Market; I wish money were endless and suitcases didn’t get full because I would’ve bought something otherwise. We also went to Primark, which is the Target of London, and I actually bought something there, a pair of gloves, since my old ones had a few holes, which resulted from using them as shoes in Vienna. (See my post from Austria entitled “I've Always Longed for Adventure, To Do the Things I've Never Dared” if you’re confused!)

Such a Tourist <3

     Keeping an eye on the time, we headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and catch our train to Gatwick airport to fly to Dublin, Ireland! I liked our hostel because it was easy to navigate around London from there, and the transportation system was simple to use and quick! Trains are expensive though and an all day metro pass was $12-14. London is expensive so I’m glad I didn’t spend too many days there! Despite the costs, I loved my time in London and I would be happy to return or maybe even intern/work there someday.  Only time will tell of course.

            Thanks for reading about my travels to London! My next post will be all about Ireland, so stay tuned!

Till next time!

-Courtney <3

"Staring Down the Stars, Jealous of the Moon"

Hello there! I’ve been back in Cyprus for over a week now, and so much has happened that I’m excited to write about and share my experiences with you! This one is a little long, but I’m writing about a wonderful theatre experience and more, so that is to be expected from a Theatre major. ;) 

Upon returning from Greece and Italy, I had some house keeping to do: I went grocery shopping, cleaned the apartment with my roommates, and did my first load of laundry in Cyprus. It cost me $5.25 for the one load and I opted not to pay the same for the dryer by air-drying my clothes instead. It took almost 48 hours for me to decide they were dry, and my clothes felt a little stiff afterwards. I am already looking forward to having soft clothes right out of the dryer when I return to America!

Katie and I found time for a run through the city, but we got some stares because Cypriots don’t run along the streets like we do; they only run in the gym or at the Park. 

Larnaca Beach!

As a way to relax after so much traveling, we took a trip to Larnaca Beach, which is about an hour from my apartment by bus! I had a nice, relaxing day swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. I even got invited to play a type of Racket ball game with a Greek soldier from Crete named George. I learned that he is serving his mandatory 9 months of military service by living and working in the buffer zone between the North and South divisions of Cyprus. I tried to learn more about his situation, but his English wasn’t very good, so we just played Racket ball. (The rackets were very sturdy and made of wood, so I actually decided to purchase my own to bring home before departing the beach!)

Playing Racket ball game

McDonalds with one of my roomies, Lauren

For dinner we needed to grab something quick because we had to catch the bus back to Nicosia. Conveniently there was a McDonalds right across the street, and I have no shame in admitting we went there. Quite frankly after so many Gyros in Greece, and pasta and pizza in Italy, we all just wanted French Fries!! Besides, everyone needs to visit at least one McDonalds while traveling abroad just to say they did! Haha  : )

Monday, October 1^st was Cyprus Independence Day! Sadly there was nothing extraordinary for the holiday except for the fact that mostly everything was closed. I had a very special day, however, because I got to I spend it volunteering at the Skali Theatre! When I found out about the opportunity earlier that day, I spent an hour consulting 2 maps, google, and the bus schedule in order to figure out how to get there. I am happy to report that I successfully figured out the schedule and map on my own! (Success- woot!)

The bus stop left me in a weird part of town, and I am not afraid to admit I was the tourist girl carrying my map while walking.

Skali Theatre

When I arrived at the Skali Theatre I was rewarded with a beautiful, open air, rounded amphitheatre. I worked there, under the stars and moon, over the next four days, which is what inspired the title of today’s post to be from “Jealous of the Moon” by Nickel Creek. I put in over 24 volunteer hours, and my jobs were placing the props, handing out programs, stopping the entrance music, and cleaning the dishes after the show so we could place them for the next show. Since there was a dinner scene and a lot of drinking in the show, I had to wash 16 various drinking glasses, 4 dishes, 1 bowl, 4 sets of utensils, 2 knives, a serving dish, and two serving utensils. Basically I did a months’ worth of dishes in 4 days, but somebody had to do it, and I was happy to be helping out. 

The play was a premier called “A Slight Risk” written and directed by Paris Erotokritou, which was about a British couple living in the Northern part of Cyprus in 2004. It echoed the issues of the politics dividing Cyprus and of British people living on land that Greek Cypriots were forced to abandon in 1974 when the division occurred. Seeing this play was a great way to learn more about what Cyprus was like at the time I was studying it in 7^th grade in 2004! 

The set for "A Slight Risk"

My partner in crime was Nikos the stage manager, and he congratulated me on my first show in Cyprus. The cast of 6 actors (four from the UK, one from Greece, and one from Cyprus) were very welcoming and pleasant to interact with. Paris, the writer and director, was very thankful for my help and he considered me part of the cast. He even invited me to go to the opening night gathering after the show, and I had a great time. At the end of the run he gave me a copy of the play, in which he and the cast wrote me little notes.  

Here is a video circling the amphitheater so you can see the whole theatre!

Now for a few interesting stories about working at the theatre:

On my first day in Cyprus, we were told that when Greeks talk to each other it is sometimes hard to tell if they are arguing or just talking. During the dress rehearsal, a woman was pacing around the theatre yelling in Greek, and of course I had no idea what she was saying. Was she talking or arguing? I asked around and learned she was the lighting designer and there was a problem with the lights. I guess that’s why they worked on lights from 7-10:45pm instead of doing the dress rehearsal. After that they did two cue-cue runs starting at 11pm, and then the dress rehearsal started at 12:45am! Yup, you heard me right. They STARTED the dress rehearsal at 12:45am, and it ended at 2:15am. That’s a new record for me! (And it was a school night with a 9am….whoops. haha. But I had fun so I didn’t mind losing sleep.)

I set up the refreshment table for the actors and crew, featuring a Frappe station, a traditional cold coffee drink of Cyprus. I learned how to make a Frappe because the director requested coffee and I volunteered to make him one. I made one for myself too, and they are pretty good. (Of course I added so much milk and sugar that you could hardly taste the coffee, but that’s the way I like it!)

Me, Katie, Jessica, Kristi, and Maggie at the Theatre :)

4 of my GLS friends came to see the show and I got to sit with them. And apparently it’s common to pay for your program around here because everyone asked me in Greek how much they were when I was handing them out. When I said free, they seemed so surprised!

Last note about my theatre experience: As I mentioned previously in my post on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, the Turkish Cypriots display a Turkish flag on Kyrenia Mountain. Aside from being painted on, it also lights up at night! I had a great view of the World Record’s largest flag from Skali Theatre, and here’s a video so you can see how it lights up!

Classes started on October 2^nd, but I since I’ve only been to 3 out of 5 classes so far, I have nothing much to report except that all of my professors are really young and wear jeans to class. I am taking International Business, International Marketing, Intro to the European Union, European Cultures, and Photography.

Me and Katie in the garden

One day a group of us decided to walk to the city center, and we discovered a beautiful garden with colorful birds, pomegranate trees, a gazebo, and pretty flowers! It was nice to see such green grass for a change. You discover the greatest things while walking and exploring. And guess what? It actually RAINED in Cyprus! I haven’t seen rain for almost a month, so feeling the cold drops felt refreshing and I didn’t mind getting wet.  It rained for about 5 minutes and then again for 15 minutes.

The group: Ellie, Jessica, Maya, Me, Katie, and Kristi

Yesterday it actually thunderstormed for a majority of the morning through early evening; the lighting against the mountains was beautiful. It was a lazy day of hanging out and relaxing, which was really nice for a change. And I actually decided to submit an application for a summer internship already. Woot! 

I took a video of the lightning cause I liked it so much:

Then Maggie and I went to the 7^th Cyprus International Film Festival, which is held right at our University, 5 minutes from our apartments. I decided to buy the festival pass because it was the same price as seeing 5 films and I want to see a lot!

Maggie and Me at the film festival

The first film was from Greece entitled “Jerks”. It was in Greek with English subtitles about three friends who are planning to “leave Athens and move to Berlin to start a new life there. During the very last night, unpredictable facts reveal aspects of their characters which they kept hidden from each other all these years.” It was an excellent film and was great to see since it was filmed in Athens and I have just returned from there. 

The second film was from Indonesia entitled “Delisa”, which was a very touching story about the deadly earthquake and tsunami that occurred Sunday, 26 December 2004. It made me cry and was a beautiful film about hardship, innocence, religious values, and family relationships. 

I am looking forward to seeing more films at the festival because thorough foreign films and traveling with GLS I am learning so much about the world around me and soaking it all in!  I hope you enjoyed my post today as much as I enjoyed writing it. I wish everyone had an opportunity like this to experience so much culture and art in one week, and I am happy to be able to share it with you through this blog.

Till next time!

-Courtney <3

ps. On a side note, the blog that I am writing for GLS is more professional and shorter, so here’s a link to that if you want to see the writing I’m doing for them.