EC EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SUMMER PROGRAMS: Another Reflection on Cyprus

Friday, June 23, 2017

Another Reflection on Cyprus

When we were in Cyprus last weekend, street are was one of the most heavily populated themes throughout Nicosia. Coming from Chicago, I’ve seen my fair share of street art when in the city due to violence, mistreatment, and racism. I connected both Chicago and Nicosia in a way that street art is the way that the Cypriots spread their word of discontent, pride, and many other feelings. The street are in Cyprus made this 3-day weekend my favorite part of the whole 30 days.

I’ve always loved art whether I was making it or looking at in an art museum. I’ve always been surrounded by a plentiful of art, and I’ve always appreciated the hard work people put in. I think I loved Cyprus so much, not because it was full of rich history and an interesting situation, but because of the street art scene. Seeing people express themselves like this was cool because when you live somewhere where conditions may or may not be ideal, people demonstrate that.

This weekend made me appreciate home a little bit more. I don’t live in a possibly hostile situation where crossing over another state can be dangerous for me. I think of Cyprus as the coolest place I’ve ever been. As I said in my previous blog post, I have loved everything about Greece, but the differences were clear when we walked through the entire city of Nicosia. The people are the same, but more diverse, the food is the same, and the culture almost seemed a little less to me. I’m aware this isn’t Greece I’m talking about, but this whole city seemed very modernized in a Western value type of way. I don’t know how I feel about that when reflecting in this blog post.

Being an American living in a not American world for 30 days has been interesting; I’ve loved every second of it. Seeing how the world works outside of big, powerful, and almighty land opens your eyes. The people of Cyprus and Greece both lives different lives, but in a way the lives they live have bettered me. I’ve loved seeing the differences between all of the the places we visited. I do not want to go home to the modernized world of America that I have called home for so long. I want to fully embrace the lives of how the Greeks live them. I cannot wait to come back and show whoever I’m with Cyprus and Greece in the exact way that I was shown by Petros and all the people we’ve experienced here on a day to day basis.

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EC Eastern Security Studies Program

In the summer of 2011, as the "Arab Spring" was unfolding and the "Eurozone Crisis" was entering its second year, the Emmanuel College Eastern Mediterranean Security Studies Program was established in Crete, as a way to make the location the classroom. Beyond the grand theoretical, historical and political understanding that can be achieved through reading and classroom discussion and exchange, a more immediate, intimate and truer appreciation of the complexities can only achieved by experiencing the cultures, languages of personal interaction.

Since 2012 students have been able to combine an intensive curricular study, with the experience of immersion and living in a local setting. The geopolitical and geoeconomic forces that have acted in the region for centuries, can be identified in the classroom, but they can only be understood by being there. This year's EC EMSS Program will add a fourth week of study, experience and exploration and will also travel to the islands of Rhodes, and Cyprus. In Rhodes we will be partnering with the Prefecture of Southern Aegean and the Aegean University, while in Cyprus we will be hosted by the University of Nicosia.