Everyone here is much more fashionable than I am, and I didn't pack a lot of clothes, but everything I DID pack was wrong. Everyone wears skinny jeans and high-heeled boots, which I don't even OWN, let alone bring with me, and I look like a homeless person, although I've been here for several weeks and have yet to see a homeless person in Cyprus. Luckily my roommates are determined that I shall NOT remain a fashion-trainwreck, and one of the Cypriot girls in my class has made it her mission to teach me Greek, so by the time I come home, I will be as foreign as any alien. I'm going to have worse culture shock going HOME than I did when I came.
My style is comfy jeans and non-flattering clothes and scrubby looking hoodies, so I am covered pretty much all the time from neck to wrists and ankles, feeling rather prudish. About the only time that any skin between my neck and toes is showing is when I'm either sleeping or showering. Recently our bathroom light went out, and we discovered we needed a new lightbulb, so we bought one, even checking the watts first... and it still didn't work. So instead of trying again, we've just let the bathroom stay in the dark. ...which makes it very awkward and creepy to shower, because you're in the dark, showering, and the door is open with everyone just chilling in the other room. Not the sort of thing I'm used to.
Also in weird things I'm not used to, I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but we've got drag racers that race along the street directly in front of my apartment (in fact, directly beneath my balcony). They start racing around 11 at night and keep going (VERY loudly) until about 4am... EVERY NIGHT. So far we've heard a few blowouts, but no crashes and no one's been hit, although we expect at least one of those two to happen. I'm more liable to get hit by one of these drag racers than I am to get into any other sort of trouble here in Cyprus.
And lastly, in addition to the expected greek graffiti, anarchy symbols, "f&@% the police," and strangely enough an advertisement for Smirnoff Ice, we found these gems:
1 Comment
John Matthews
3/22/2009 10:13:09 am
Check if any of the outlets in the bathroom have a "test/reset" button. If so, reset it and then try turning on the light. This is called a GFCI switch and they are common in bathrooms so that you don't electrocute yourself if you drop the hairdryer in the tub. Also, if there is a fuse box in your apartment, check that all the breakers are lined up straight in a row.
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AuthorSenior Classics major at University of New Hampshire. Archives
February 2009
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