The Island of Aphrodite

Cyprus is sometimes known as the island of Aphrodite. According to legend Aphrodite was born from the sea foam off the coast of Paphos in the south of Cyprus. I knew this legend long before I ever stepped foot on the island; I knew that Cyprus is the ‘island of love’. But I never expected to come to Cyprus and fall in love.

I love the island. I love the mountains, a cool and green escape in the dry heat of summer. I love the beaches, some nicer than even those on the Caribbean island I am from. I love the landscape, dry and bare in most parts, yet very beautiful in its minimalism.
I love the nightlife. From the repetitive club I frequented in Nicosia to the dangerously exciting nights in Ayia Napa: party capital of Cyprus.
I love the cultures. I love the history. From the time of the Venetian rule to current events still being disputed today. I love learning about Cyprus because I love Cyprus.
I love my mother’s apartment; so eclectically decorated and welcoming that it felt like home from the first night I spent there. I love my mother’s new apartment a stone’s throw away from the one I already call home, but bigger and full of promise.
Above all, I love my friends.

People who I have known for two years, some for one year and some only for six months but all who seem like I have known them for my whole life. I have shared the most amazing year of my life with these people and I will never forget them.
I love the girl who will leave a party on New Years Eve to get headache tablets for my sister, and the girl I knew for 3 months before I went to stay with her in London, and the girl who would walk to my apartment at 4am because she can. I love the friend who introduced me to all my other friends, and the friend who turns up at my house with a guitar to jam in the middle of the night, and the friend that always takes a joke too far, and the friend who loves the Jetsons, and the boy that made it that much harder to say goodbye.

I didn’t expect to come to Cyprus and fall in love, but I fell in love with the island itself. I love the island of love like a home now.
Goodbye for now Cyprus, you will be missed.