By: Teddy Espinosa

One of the first things you will notice the first few days you arrive here in Cyprus is the crazy driving. If you’re like me and come from a small town in the Colorado boonies, this will likely be a bit of a culture shock for you as well. Firstly, let’s talk about the roads. All around the apartments that we stay in are roads just big enough for a typical one-way street. The issue is that they are not one-way streets. They are, in fact, 2-way streets with cars parked on the side of the roads as well. This means that everything is essentially chaotic. I have seen numerous shouting matches and altercations, as well as cars honking their horns at 11 pm because they are driving right at each other on these roads. Usually, one of them must pull over to the side as much as possible (if there is room) for the other car to get past them. If there isn’t room to pull over, then one of them must back up enough to create room for the other car to pass. This is where the shouting matches and honking come from. I have seen a single car make a whole row of 4 or so cars move backward just so that the single car could get to the turn it wanted. 

What is there to stop this from happening? Honestly, I have no idea if there’s anything that can stop this. There are street signs around; most of them feature a red circle with a white line going horizontally across, but I am unsure what they are supposed to represent. However, even if I did know, I don’t think anybody follows them anyway. It’s a weird and wacky free-for-all as well as an extreme game of chicken. 

So be careful walking around the apartments and pretty much anywhere else you go in Cyprus on this trip that has roads. There are not any stop signs, yield signs, or anything like that if you are going for a leisurely walk down to the beach. My best advice is to wait for all the cars to pass before walking across the street, or run across quickly and hope for the best. There is an unspoken road rule here. It seems that if you just go for it and walk across the street, the drivers will slow down and not hit you. Or, if you are standing on the sidewalk and appear to be waiting to cross the street, drivers will slow down and allow you to cross. Every now and then on this trip, you will have the opportunity to use an actual crosswalk at a traffic light, but you better pay attention because it only gives you about 10 seconds to cross the street before that light turns green again for the driver.

Overall, you should certainly be cautious when walking in Cyprus, but you will quickly become aware of the risks and be able to stay safe. You also needn’t worry about going on field trips; the bus drivers out here are experts at their craft. Lastly, riding with the professors up to the dig site is quite relaxing. You will be in good hands and don’t need to worry! Except, if you are riding with Professor Stephens…you might need to worry a little bit!