Address

Here is my address at the Embassy. You can only send envelopes to this address.

Carolyn Morris

American Embassy

Nicosia

PSC 815

DPOAE 09836-9998

Volleyball with the Marines....

This picture looks a little better than the real life version..

So last night was the volleyball and swimming party. I played volleyball all night because i joined a team of marines that refused to lose. We lost one game, and then, because of the loss, we had to win at least two more games in order to regain our glory.... By the end of the night, there was a knot growing on my palm and I could not move my thumb. I iced it a bit, which helped a lot, and now its just some nasty looking bruising. It was fun though. I got to sweat a little bit, which is something I cant seem to stop doing here...

Work is going well. We are usually busy in the morning, taking people's visa applications and such. The afternoons are more relaxed, sometimes with nothing to do.

Tomorrow I get to attend a press briefing. Pretty excited to see some action in the other sections. Consular is fun, but not exactly thought provoking. The people I work with are being really nice though and trying to let me see all of the Embassy operations.

Today I found out what would happen if there is ever a dangerous situation at the Embassy. One of the guards accidentally hit the button that sounds the 'Duck and Cover' alarm. It was lunch time and I was in the cafeteria when all of the sudden I hear 'Duck and cover. Get away from the windows' along with a siren. I assumed it was a drill, but apparently you get an email warning about those. The other people that moved to the hallway with me were all saying things like 'interesting, did I not get an email or something?' or 'must be something really happening..' For me, hearing this kind of thing is not exactly reassuring, but they did not seem to be too worried. And, in the end, it was nothing. Just a little extra entertainment for the day.

Tomorrow is Friday and I could not be happier. I am greatly looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning. Sunday, the marines are going to a local go-kart raceway and having some sort of race there. That should be interesting. Apparently the place is called 'Daytona Raceway' or something like that. Its amazing how much American stuff is here.

And one last picture for you guys. This is the view from the back of my hostel. You can see the Turkish side of the island. That block of lights is actually the Turkish flag on a mountain side. You can find that kind of thing all over Turkey, but I think this one was strategically placed so as to be a flashing reminder to the Greek Cypriots..

First Day

Today was my orientation day at the Embassy. The coordinator came and picked me up, which was awesome because otherwise I would have had to walk. I only had two hours of sleep thanks to heat and pesky little flying bugs that kept biting me (my windows are now closed, so should be better tonight).

When we got to the Embassy, the coordinator took me on a tour and introduced me to everyone. She introduced me as Caroline...so I guess that is how I will be known. Whatevs..

After the tour, I headed over to my department: consular. We get to deal with all the people applying for visas to enter the United States. You know when you get a visa in your passport? Yeh well someone like me stuck it on there for you, perhaps for no pay...So appreciate it!

The consular section also deals with issues American citizens may have while overseas. Such as...ending up in jail for an extended period of time..

So my duties will consist of reviewing visa applications, printing and sticking visas, passing out passports, answering the phone during call hours, and helping out during the morning open hours. Otherwise, I get to just hang out and talk with the people in my department. Thus far, they seem pretty cool. Today they 'initiated' me by making me drink Cypriot coffee (ie Turkish coffee, but 'better'). That coffee today will mark my SECOND ever. The first? Turkish coffee in Turkey.. That whole 'don't want to offend when offered' etiquette rule sometimes bites in the you know where.. The second part of the initiation is having your picture taken after your first taste. For most interns, it is apparently their first time drinking it because there are indeed some pretty funny pictures of people pulling back in horror. My picture, however, will not look so horrifying. I knew the disgusting liquid concoction that I was about to ingest. It will be emailed to me soon, so I will load it here.

The rest of the day was spent in various briefings. I got told what not to do while on the internet, and met the woman who coordinates various Embassy events. The next one coming up is on Wednesday: volleyball and swimming with the marines at the Embassy. The pool happens to be the Ambassador's. He is away on vacation ;)

Anyways, the results of the first day are promising. I could totally live this life. Granted, Cyprus is not exactly a hardship post, but still...

Here are a few pictures from my apartment/room thing:




The coordinator is really nice and keeps giving me menus from places that deliver and such. My little fridge is quickly filling up. Off to sleep now. 7am bike ride to the Embassy tomorrow...

Back in Europe

So I am finally in Cyprus and mostly settled. No pictures as of yet, but here are a few things that I have learned about Cyprus thus far:

1. They drive on the other side of the road, thanks to huge British influence
2. I have been told by everyone I have met so far that the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots have no issue with each other and are quite amicable
3. It is HOT. Temperatures in the 90's with humidity (though not as much as Richmond), but the nights usually bring cool breezes
4. You can't really see the island without a car
5. Cyprus has one of if not the highest car crash rates in Europe - due to EU entrance a few years ago, everybody got lots of money and bought real fancy cars that they love to drive and race

Thus far, I have spent my time in my room, trying not to move, but still somehow sweating entirely too much, and catching up on tv that I haven't watched since I left Italy. Work starts tomorrow.

New Travels...

So I am leaving America once again. Getting ready to head to Cyprus for a ten week internship with the US Department of State. I will be working at the Embassy in Nicosia. Hopefully I will have some time to check out the rest of the island while I am there. Look for an update in about a week or so.

Venice

Went to Venice today. It was awesome. I splurged and bought a really beautiful mask. I also bought a bunch of souvenirs for people, something which I have yet to be able to do. Anyways, here are pictures:

PICTURES

Kristin and I stayed up all night in order to try and knock our terrible sleeping habit of going to sleep at 6am. We had very little sleep on the 2.5 hour train ride to Venice, then walked around for 7 hours or so until we were exhausted.

If you ever go to Venice, and want to see everything, give yourself more than one day.

Rich Life in Milan

So here in Milano, there are a few canals. The neighborhoods on the canals are considered fairly rich and well off areas. They are also well known areas for going out; lots of good restaurants and bars. One of my friends lives in an apartment building on one of the canals and yesterday she threw a birthday party for her and her sister. Here are a few pictures from the night.

What happens when you have nothing to do?

You entertain yourself in any way imaginable... Including playing with mattresses.. Pictures can be found here:

PICTURES

There are also a few videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOPsEJ4yv6c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0r7CD32n-Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4zilk6HL_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e1O4fb95lg

Yes, that really did happen...

Pictures from Geneva

Can be found here:

PICTURES

Awkwardness of last post...

Sorry to all. Apparently this website does not like it when you copy and paste from Word. So in reference to the post below, the items in parenthesis are supposed to be under the pictures. The text should not look so retarded... I do not feel like fixing it, so you just have to live with it.

Richmond in Geneva

So I have just returned from a visit to nearby Geneva, Switzerland. It was a bit of a reunion as I met up with 4 friends who know Richmond, VA very well. One friend, Catherine, who’s blog is linked on the right side of this blog, actually lives in Geneva. She graciously allowed me to sleep on her couch (THANKS YO!). We met a few years ago at VCU before Catherine graduated. Cat, who’s blog is also linked here, rode the train up from Chambery, France (there’s no accent, deal with it). She is currently studying abroad there, but attends VCU with me (If you do not

remember, Cat is the one who came to Turkey

(Tammy and Tiffany) with me). Lastly, my friend Tammy, whom I worked with at Red Robin, flew in from Virginia, along with her sister, Tiffany. Their mom surprised them for a graduation present with a trip to Geneva, so I could not pass up the chance to see everybody while they were so close.

I boarded the train in Milano early Monday morning, and proceeded to sleep the entire four and a half hours. I did wake up at one point, however, and looked out the window to see giant mountains and quaint houses, and thus realized I was no longer in Italy. Passport check? Customs? No sir. Switzerland is one of them Schengen countries, ie borders do not really count. So even when I arrived in Geneva, there was no sort of passport control or customs.

(THE jet plus boat)

Catherine found me and we headed down to the lake and walked around for a while. We passed lots of important buildings which house various international organizations such as WTO, UNICEF, etc... We also walked by part of her school, which happens to be situated right on the lake. Yeh, on breaks from class, they go swimming... Jealous.

After wandering for a while, Tammy called me and we met up with her and her sister. We walked a little more, and then got dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I was quite excited for my burrito and the guacamole. Four months sans Mexican food is harsh, so paying the expensive price was totally worth it. Geneva is not exactly the cheapest city to live in, but the people who live there, are paid quite well to make up for the high cost of living.

After dinner, we headed to a local Pub where you can get a ‘column’ of beer. Debauchery ensued. Catherine and I headed back to her house (Me, Cat, and Catherine) and crashed for six hours, maybe less? Then, we had to go pick up Cat from the train station.

After finding Cat, we headed to Starbux for caffine fix. We proceeded to talk about VCU and various members of the VCU community for about three and a half hours. No seriously, we sat and talked in a Starbux in Geneva for three and a half hours. Months away from home does silly things to you sometimes.

We finally motivated ourselves enough to walk a little, and headed to the ‘old town.’ We ran into a small protest, but were able to walk around it. Our goal was lunch, involving chicken and potatos for cheap, so I was not about to let anything get in my way. And the chicken and potatos were like fireworks in my variety deprived mouth. Mexican food? Chicken and potatos? Things I have not had for months. Pasta gets old after a few months guys, just trust me on this one. No matter what you put on it, pasta just loses its appeal eventually. Unfortunately, we are students, studying abroad, in expensive countries. So we had pasta for dinner. And breakfast/lunch the next day...

After a delicious lunch, we headed over to Calvin’s church. It was closed :/ At least I can say I have seen it, sat on it’s steps, walked around it, etc.. We then proceeded to walk around various streets. We saw Catherine’s old living quarters: a

(Green prettiness of Geneva) Catholic boarding house. Saw a few beautiful parks as well. Everything in Geneva is green. And clean, or sterile as Frommer’s likes to say. We eventually met up with Tammy and Tiffany again, but at that point, Catherine, Cat and I were too tired to move. We decided to head back to Catherine’s house and just made some dinner and watched hours of CSI Miami (in English!). Horrible show, but like I said, being away from home for months does silly things to you. We also decided to Skype Jeff Wing, the scholarship advisor at the Honors College. He knows all three of us fairly well, so it is okay that we pretended to need some money to pay off the local police.

Sleep came rather quickly, and heavily. We got out of ‘bed’ around 12:30 the next day, ate some, or rather all of the left over pasta and then headed back down to the lake. We made a stop at an American store and oogled at all the American products. I bought a box of pop-tarts, reses pieces, a mini reses peanut butter cup, and a cherry 7-up. Again, fireworks in my mouth. It took a lot of self control not to buy various other items such as corn bread mix, betty crocker cake mix and frosting, peanut butter, chex mix, mac n cheese, blow pops, etc.. We ran into a guy from Louisiana there. Perhaps foreign service?

Tammy and Tiffany arrived shortly after, and we walked around the lake to the massive jet of water (supposedly the biggest in the world). Funny waste of power in the town that houses the UN and such.

Afterwards, I had to head back to the train station to catch my train. Said good-bye to Tammy and Tiffany (they were heading to the chicken and potato place) and went to grab some food in preparation for my four and a half hour train ride back to Milan. Got back half an hour late, and finally got home in time to say goodbye to another roommate. Tomorrow, after the roommate leaves around 6am, I will have the house to myself, at least until midnight or so when the other roommate returns from Paris. This last roommate, however, is leaving sometime this weekend. The house will be all mine after that! Kristin arrives the 25th, so I will not be alone long, but I can live with her.

(THE jet)