As of today, Cyprus is one of the coolest places I may ever visit in my life. The situation between the Republic of Cyprus and the opposition and how they share one island is beyond interesting.
This may be too quick of a judgment, but over the past month, being in Cyprus has been my favorite because the dynamic is much different than Greece. Walking around the city of Nicosia today and seeing all American fast food chains and the quick change in scenery to barbed wire fences with Turkish flags flying in the background was almost shocking. To be able to see the other side of the island that lives a completely different life just by peeking through a fence is enlightening simply because of the history and context of the Cyprite situation.
When we were on the plane on the way here I was looking at a map and seeing the location of Cyprus in relation to Greece. As stupid as this may sound, I didn't realize how geographically close we were to Syria. The Syrian conflict is one that has shocked the world, and in my lifetime this might be the closest I'll come to being in the Middle East. My whole point of this blog post is simply how much the world has been opened up to me over the last month of being somewhere other than America.
I was completely unaware of Cyprus and the situation that has inhabited this island for decades. I think a lot of this may be ignorance or the lack of information in public school system, but that's a completely separate issue. I'm glad I'm lucky enough have an opportunity to learn about something so present in the lives of many.
The one thing that has shocked me most about Cyprus is how Americanized it is here. I mentioned before how many fast food chains we walked past today. From every other place we've visited on this trip, I expected somewhere like Athens or Rhodes to be more Americanized than a place like Cyprus. When in Greece, the translation of all signs and stores in English bothered me because of how much of an influence tourism and America can have on a culture. I know this makes traveling into a non-English speaking country easier and is stimulating for the economy, but it's crazy to see how much Greece may have changed because of this.
Overall, I'm grateful to learn about things like this from people who are directly affected by the issue. This entire trip has been so personal in the sense that we get to see the struggles and high points that people live through. Seeing how much people can struggle has opened my eyes more to privilege. Being so close to the Middle East and learning about Cyprus has showed me that not all people are as lucky as I am.
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