From Ten to Six

 

(Not quite a full) family photo 

It was a week of goodbyes this week, the new friends I made throughout my first semester at Frederick left their Erasmus studies here in Nicosia. A few went on to study elsewhere and some returned to their studies in their home country, but all were sad to leave and kindly offered me a place to stay if I wanted to visit them. Meeting them all made my first semester here one to remember, our Cyprus family will continue past our lives here in Cyprus. I never thought the memories and bonds with people would have became so significant to me in such a short time.

As a way for them to say bye to Cyprus we rented a car to travel to some of our favourite spots and have some last memories together. Here's a few from visiting Ayia Napa and Cape Greco and the nature trail we took to reach the top of a cliff.

Sea Caves of Cape Greco

A Natural Bridge
 

Nissi Beach  

On the day of the last goodbye to one of our friends here, we took a visit to Shacolas Tower, Museum and Observatory, located in the centre of Nicosia.We paid 2euros each to enter the viewing platform situated on the 20th floor of the tower to see the the panoramic views of Nicosia, including both sides. In the distant was the mountains covered with the Turkish flag across on the Turkish side of Nicosia and a larger mosque flying Turkish flags also. Their presence were made all that more powerful with the flags and you could really feel the divide seeing both sides from above.

 

 To document the time we all spent together a few of us have thought about putting together a film whilst also allowing us to hopefully promote the Erasmus experience. We will collectively share all of our favourite videos we have filmed from all of our adventures here then either separately or part of a group create and publish a film. As a few of us from Coventry are staying here longer, more films and experiences will be made therefore I aim to add to the collaborative Erasmus film and then publish it at the end of my time here.

NAP x

Finals

This week has been a little chaotic with 3 projects needing to be printed and presented together on the same day. From being set back lot before Christmas with my illness, this past few weeks have been full of work. I still wanted to make sure I had plenty of time for the finishing of my projects, as I feel the printing is an important part of showcasing my work in my presentation and portfolio. I wanted to leave plenty of time in case any problems occurred so they could be resolved in time for my presentation. I'm happy I planned to do this as the print shops were all very busy from all other students printing for finals week. I was the first to receive my final magazine printed and bounded out of our group (Erasmus students), I was very happy with the results and relieved I sent it to print early as some had problems with elements of their magazine and even received it late.

As my postcards were finished before our Christmas break , I simply had to alter a few changes for printing and left this till last as the prints were only to show in the presentation. We had given our final 5 to be printed as part of the set to our tutor in December who printed them professionally for the whole class. I picked up my full pack of postcards during my presentation, each pack had 5 postcards designed by each student in the class, it was interesting to see the variety of work styles and how different students had interpreted the same quote differently.

For my booklet I was required to create for my history class, I choose to print on a slightly textured and aged paper to give that rich and vintage feel representing the Art Deco period. I wanted to create an invitation as an extra element for my book to make to reader feel as though they were being  included into the very elite party that Art Deco feeling created. The grand affect of the architecture and design elements in Art deco were what I tried to capture in my booklet. I used a mix of photography, patterns and illustrations to fill the pages of my booklet.

I was very nervous in the lead up to the presentation as I didn't know what to expect. I was given 15 minutes to present all 3 of my projects and final pieces. I felt prepared to talk about my ideas and concepts for my pieces of work, I took my sketchbooks so my tutors could see my progress of thoughts and designs. In the room were all the design tutors, however the presentation itself seemed a little informal in comparison to those at my home university. The tutors seemed more interested in how I found the first semester in Cyprus as an Erasmus student and the level of work compared to my studies in the UK. My tutors discussed my work in their classes and how they feel I could improve upon in certain areas. I aim to take their suggestions and put them into practice in my upcoming projects next semester.

My last and final exam for Greek is next week, so I'm going to spend my time revising my notes ready for the test. As I focused all my efforts and time I could spare on my projects, I haven't looked at any of my notes for a while. In the time we have off between now and the exam I plan to use my time wisely to make sure I pass the final exam. Vasilis our Greek friend has agreed to help us again as much as he can, i found this very helpful last time and hope it will have the same effect to my grades this time around.

Until our classes start again next month I am planning to organise my work and include them into my portfolio from my time here. I will receive my final pieces back in a weeks time and hope to take some photographs of them to display on my behance site.

NAP x

Greek Tavern

It was a friend of ours 21st Birthday and we felt it only right to celebrate and sample a very traditional and highly rated Greek tavern close by. He is studying here part of the Erasmus group from Coventry University but part of another university here separate to Frederick. The tavern 'Louis' tavern' was a clear choice from its name, the same as his, and we had all been waning to try the food there for weeks. It served traditional Greek food and wine and all was presented as meze courses. Lots of little dishes to sample came one after the other, my first experience of local Greek Cypriot food as I unfortunately had to miss out on the feast laid out for us by the Erasmus trip to the mountains I talked about in a past post.

Our hosts were great and even let me into the kitchen before opening hours to store a cake, the food preparation was taking place before opening hours then too. The food was exceptional and definitely worth the multiple star rating on trip advisor. Within the restaurant was a large open fire in the centre of the dining room, it was a nice change to feel some heat again here as its been very cold lately. 

NAP x

Back in Cyprus

I have arrived back to Cyprus from my break in the UK with family and have now finally recovered from my illness with the help from seeing my doctor back home. From travelling this Christmas I found it hard to concentrate on my work and catch up as much as I felt I needed to. The past few days I have spent my time working on my magazine and booklet, putting together new spreads for each and adding finishing touches to create a continual feel to each bundle of pages.

I have been to tap with my magazine tutor today about my work and how I have managed to catch up with the work over the break. She feels confident enough in my work and designs to allow me to continue working in time for our presentations next week and achieving a good mark. i have been given a date and time for my presentation in which i will showcase my final work in a printed and bonded format. I have enquired about the printing cost of my work and my magazine with printing and binding to a professional standard should be around 30 to 40euros. I am aiming to have all my work completed and ready to print in plenty of time in case any problems occur during printing. My presentation will be held on the Friday 16th of January, for this I aim to have all work sent of to the printers no later than Tuesday so that changes may be made if needed on the Wednesday and my final products will be collected on the Thursday in plenty of time for my presentation early Friday morning. 

Once I have my final pieces printed I plan to showcase them in my portfolio, online portfolio and here in a blog post. 

NAP x

Happy New Year 2015

Hello 2015!

This year I experienced a very English tradition of watching London's new year's eve fireworks on the embankment of the River Thames along with an interesting mix of people. After standing and waiting for nearly 5 hours in the freezing cold wind from the river, the show was unbelievable and definitely worth the wait for a once in a lifetime experience.

 

NAP x