As most of my family and friends know, I was in a major car accident in 1997, here in Paphos. I spent the following week in Nicosia (Cyprus’s capital), mainly in a hospital after undergoing facial reconstruction. The boat I was sailing around the world on left Limassol a few days later. I flew home (abandoning my semester abroad) with my mom and grandparents who flew over, did a quick tour of Cyprus, and waited until I got the okay to fly back to the states.
So why did I come back to Cyprus now? After an overwhelming 3 weeks in Morocco, and a brief taste of heaven in Spain, I decided to leave Morocco 2 weeks early and see more of Europe, later meeting up with the Remote Year crew in Sofia, Bulgaria for next month’s locale.  A few people were going to Cyprus (one was already here), and I thought: now would be a good time to see Cyprus in a sober state and close the chapter on any fears I’ve had on returning to this part of the world. It’s also a launching point to Israel, which is my next destination, being a short flight away.
My memory of Cyprus is hazy, since we were drinking for the majority of the 2 or 3 days before the accident, but there are some spots I remember (mainly from pictures).  Now, I see this 3rd-world type island in a state of retirement, rocky beaches, and calm waters. The lighthouse in Paphos is a brief memory (I hopped on the back of a motorcycle and did a tour around it back in ’97), and I’ve spotted the last bar I was in before the car crash, but there’s no pain or creepiness about being here. If anything, it’s exactly what I was looking for: boredom. Aside from long runs in the morning, there aren’t too many sites to see here in Paphos, no Remote Year meetings, dinners, volunteer brainstorming sessions, calligraphy classes (though I’m sad I missed that one), or any of the hundreds of optional daily community gatherings we have when traveling with our group.
There’s nothing to do here but relax, think, and get excited again to jump back into life with Remote Year.