Spending your 2nd year in Cyprus: ‘The best thing we have ever done!’

Did you know that students in International Tourism Management and International Hospitality Management at UCLan (Preston) can choose to spend their second year at our Cyprus campus? You just need to let us know in the first year that this is what you’d like to do - simple. Other destinations in Europe and the USA are available through exchange programmes. Here is the account of three of our Tourism students who have taken advantage of this amazing opportunity on the beautiful island of Cyprus…

A new day in Cyprus

'For our second year the three of us (Natalie, Emily and Helen) who study International Tourism Management at UCLan, chose to study at UCLan Cyprus through ERASMUS PLUS, and it has been the best thing we have ever done!!! Before arriving in Cyprus we had a lot of pre-arrival support from everyone in Preston and also in Cyprus, we got help with the relevant documents needed. On arrival a pre-paid taxi was waiting for us at the airport, this was arranged by the Erasmus coordinator in Cyprus, the taxi arranged for us to stop at the supermarket to buy our essentials before heading to our new home for the next 8 months.

Student accommodation and a visiting tutor from Preston!

Our accommodation is situated a ten minute bus drive from university and is in the picturesque village of Pyla. Upon arrival the accommodation officer, Georgia, made sure everything was okay with our apartments and made sure she met all of our requests, such as wishing for our apartments to be close to one another. All of our apartments are spacious, homely and we had the option before arrival to pre-pay for all of our utensils and bedding, this made the move even easier. We also had the option to choose a two bedroom apartment, so you can live with your friend like two of us have. This made the move very easy as we always feel at home, we never feel lonely and we are always surrounded by friends. Even friends and family from home are allowed to visit and stay at the accommodation.

Inside student accommodation – the complex includes an indoor and outdoor pool!

It was very easy to adapt to the UCLan Cyprus University, every member of staff and student was very welcoming. All lectures are taught in English and all lecturers speak perfect English and are very easy to understand, so this was not a problem for us. As the University is smaller than Preston, the class numbers are smaller (12 in our class) we have very personalised lectures and seminars, we always feel comfortable and know the lecturers are available at any time to talk to. The University also has lots of events taking place, such as welcome parties, charity events including bake sales and barbeques, day trips (Paphos, Limassol, Nicosia, Larnaca, Pyla and Famagusta) and night events (Ayia Napa bar crawl and society nights/nights out).

The UCLan Cyprus Campus

Being in Cyprus we always have something to do, we have been on a number of days and nights out. When we first arrived in Cyprus Ayia Napa was still open, so we enjoyed our fresher’s week here, we introduced our other Erasmus friends to an English night out! J To return the favour our Greek and Cypriot friends introduced us to Greek/Cypriot nights out by taking us to local clubs, which we went to very often. On our days off from university, we made the most of our time here, we went to Nissi Beach, Water World, the parade on national Greek day and many different restaurants including American, Italian, Chinese, Indian, English and traditional Cypriot taverns, which the Erasmus coordinator arranged a meal for us and other Erasmus students, from Greece, in our first week here. All of which was very easy to arrange due to having a monthly bus pass, which is €20 and there is a bus stop at our accommodation. Being closely located to the British army base, we took advantage of this, on bonfire night they held a bonfire and a firework display on the base, we took our friends here and enjoyed bonfire night, and it felt really homely! The army base also has a traditional English fish and chip shop, café and shop with English products which we made good use of.



Clubbing!

Dining al fresco

Whilst studying in Cyprus we had the opportunity to make lifelong friends from around the world (Cyprus, Greece, China, Russia, Armenia, Nigeria, Italy, Bulgaria and South Africa…) and also learn about their cultures whilst teaching them about ours. We also learned a little of Greek (enough to get us by) and have also helped others improve their English.

Friends!

This experience has been the best experience of our university lives, we would encourage anyone to do this even if you regard yourself as a homely person, and we have become more independent and more confident, made lifelong friends and we have never regretted our decision to leave the UK behind for the Cyprus sun shine!’

By Natalie Riley, Emily Jones and Helen Deane.

For more information about our courses in Tourism contact David (djarratt@uclan.ac.uk) and if you are interested in our Hospitality courses please contact Dot (dujma@uclan.ac.uk).