Summer isn’t always spent flipping burgers and sleeping in.

For NIU Professor J.D. Bowers, the summer will be spent in Cyprus showing students what it’s truly like to live in a war-torn country.

NIU is conducting a trip through the Study Abroad office where students have the opportunity to study at the Near East University in Cyprus and experience the small nation as it truly is.

“The purpose of this trip is to take students to the island so that they can understand the role of nationalism, ethnic hatred and militarism,” Bowers said. “While the Cold War has ended and many nations were decolonized after World War II, nowhere are the continuing effects of both events seen and felt on a daily basis as in Cyprus.”

Cyprus is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, located just south of Turkey. For the last 100 years it has dealt with ethnic nationalism and communal division. Since the 1960’s, Cyprus has faced heavy violence and ethnic cleansing.

“The class will focus on the Cyprus problem as a detailed case study as well as a broader focus on the role of the U.S. in the Middle East/Southeast Europe throughout our nation’s history,” Bowers said.

Students on the trip will also have the opportunity to meet with government officials, scholars, UN Officials, UK representatives and everyday people in Cyprus, Bowers said.

“I chose to go on the trip because I’ve always wanted the opportunity of going to a foreign country,” said Micaela Damas,an NIU student attending the trip with Bowers.

“I think it’s important to take what we learn in DeKalb and apply it to the rest of the world.”
Currently Cyprus contains military troops from the United Nations, NATO, Greece, Turkey as well as Greek and Turkish Cypriot. Even the UK maintains bases there that contain French and U.S. troops, a fact that makes Cyprus one of the most militarized places in the world, Bowers said.

“In the U.S., you can go to Iowa, Indiana or any other state without a thought. But in Cyprus if you take one step in the wrong direction who knows what might happen,” Damas said. “This is something I think more people need to realize.”

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