A Day in the Life

           I am a man of routine, and so it was important to me to arrange some semblance of order with my day-to-day schedule. I would wake up most mornings around 6:30 or 7:00 AM. This was pretty early, considering breakfast didn’t start for another couple of hours. However, I found it worked best for me to get an early start to the day. I can be a bit sluggish right after I wake up and wanted to make sure I could be fully present when we started with whatever activities we had planned. And anyways, Cyprus is rather sunny and the blackout blinds in my room weren’t the best, so sleeping in too far past sunrise was in itself a bit of a challenge. 
            The university we were staying at kindly provided breakfast for us every weekday at 9:00. So, after I had taken some time to stretch my legs walking by the beach and sat down with my laptop to catch up on any messages from home and solve the day’s crossword, I’d mosey on down to the kitchen. It was always the same food set out, but there was enough variety I never got tired of it. There was ham, goat cheese, fried eggs, cucumbers, toast, yoghurt, and cereal. Usually all of the seven of us students would eat together, and it was a great time to chat and get to know each other.
            Classes were held in the mornings at 10:00 and could last anywhere from an hour and a half to four hours (with a lunch break in between, of course). In the Pitt in Cyprus program you take two courses (Wealth and Power and Peace and Social Movements) and we would usually alternate between them every other day so as to keep it fresh. The class periods were actually the highlights of most of my days. The material was always interesting, and the discussions were always lively.
            Unless class ran late or we had a day trip planned, the afternoons and evenings were left as free time for us. Often this meant an early-afternoon nap, hiding away in my room to avoid the hottest hours of the day. I didn’t get much out of sitting on the beach, so usually I’d choose a direction to start walking and explore the city for a few hours. Or, if I was running low on groceries, I might hike down to the supermarket and do some shopping for my lunches that week. Paphos, the town I was staying at, was very spread out and had generous space on the sidewalks, making it ideal for pedestrian activity. There were plenty of things to see within a reasonable distance: tourist shops, ancient ruins, and beachside views.
            Us students would also usually eat dinner together at a nearby restaurant, although some nights I would skip eating out to cut down on my expenses for the trip. There were a wide variety of cuisine options, from South African to Greek to Italian, which meant it was a great deal of fun to decide on a location and see how it compared to the other places we had been. By the time we returned back to the university it would be late into the evening. 
Now, the nightlife of Cyprus is certainly vibrant, but going out is not my vibe, to say the least. So, the other students would often check out a nightclub or a karaoke bar, but I would start heading towards bed. The view at sunset was lovely, so I would take advantage of the seating in the middle area and wind down next to the pool with some journaling or catch up on social media. The nights were calm and quiet—none of the noise that you’re used to in Pittsburgh—and so it was good to take some time to relax and be mindful. Most nights I would be asleep by 10:30, marking the end to a full and productive day.