Everybody who knows me a bit is familiar with the fact that I LOVE to travel. And since I'm a student (budget issues) and like to call myself rather a traveller or a globetrotter than a tourist, I usually seek for unconventional ways of traveling. And that's how I found myself in Cyprus. #Cyprus #CyprusDiary #ErasmusInCyprus
Okay, I know that the Erasmus+ programme is not THAT unconventional anymore. There's literally thousands of people every year who take off for a few months to study or to do an internship abroad. They get a scholarship from the EU and yeet - they're gone.
Since high school, I was sure I would be one of them. I've never had a particular country in mind but over years I was starting to grow fond of the UK and the British Isles in general. And although I visited the country a few times over the years, I have spent so much more of my time in the Mediterranean (you can check that out here. Or here.) So when the time came and I had to choose where I'd like to go, I had these two areas on mind.
But then, reality hit me. The UK was an amazing and prestigeous option but how in seven hells would I pay for it? The scholarship wouldn't even cover the acommodation and comparing the average wages and prices between the UK and the Czech Republic where I'm from - I wouldn't even be able to afford bread. Ha ha.
So I thought - let's go for the south then (again)! My first thought was Spain as I have spent quite some time in there and absolutely loved it. The second thought was Portugal and Italy but there was an issue connecting all these countries: the language. Although I had been attempting to learn Spanish over the years, I haven't yet got to the point where I'd be confident enough to study in that language. So I went for Cyprus because that was the only country that officialy spoke English.
And it worked out! So in the beginning of January I celebrated my birthday, then I said goodbye to my family and friends and took off. It wasn't that easy though. I had to get to the airport in Vienna first and that was easily said but not that easily done considering the fact I had to get both of my really heavy trunks there too. And that included two trains, a tram and three buses (I was stopping by my student apartment to get some sleep before the journey).
A lot of sweat and two hours of sleep later I was boarding my final bus to the airport and four or five more hours later I was finally boarding the plane and taking off watching the sun rise above Vienna (yeah, so romantic). The plane was almost empty (because who would go to Cyprus in January) so I had the whole isle for myself. Not that I would need it cause I was glued to my window the whole time. The views were incredible but the most beautiful of them all happened to be the island that would become my home for the next few months.
When we landed in Larnaca, I dramatically took out my sunglasses outta my bag, nonchalantly put my winter scarf around my neck and walked out the plane... without my cabin luggage. And of course noticed the fact when I stepped off the bus at the terminal. I panicked for a bit but fortunately they already knew and brought the bag along in a few minutes.
And that was the epic entrance that started the whole five months of me in Cyprus.
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