One day, Hannah, Paris and I decided to take the bus to the recently developed Larnaca mall. We’d heard from the professors and a few locals that the mall was kind of the place to be, and that it had become the only place in Larnaca for certain shopping opportunities. Navigating the public transit system was an interesting experience, but nevertheless, we persisted and found our way to the mall, and walking inside felt like stepping back into 2009.

The arcade was lit up and bustling, the food court lines long, and gaggles of teens and families filled the wide hallways. Going to the mall in America has increasingly less and less of this “mall magic”, the hustle and bustle, the sights and sounds and greasy snacks that people wanted to partake in with friends or family, not even to shop, just for the environment. Malls in Cyprus, on the flip side, are growing in popularity and many shops, particularly chain stores, that used to fill the streets of Larnaca moved locations to the mall. Walking around and shopping in Larnaca, we encountered many shop owners who complained about this very change in culture, as many of these shops used to make the area more populated and lively moved to the mall, and took the business that they provided the area with them.

While I certainly appreciated the chance to be a little mall rat once again, it felt so much more right to keep my business local for the rest of the time in Larnaca.

Annika Schramm