Encounters with a Fat Chemist

Chris Payne writes a hilarious surreal account of life as a university professor at a dysfunctional university in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. On the beautiful island of Cyprus nothing works as you expect it to, from the primitive plumbing to the maniacal university bus service. The American Institute of Cyprus is a seat of higher learning like no other. The place is chaotically organised for students who attend class only if they feel like it. They cheat on their exams, photocopy their textbooks illegally and deliberately fail their courses to avoid military service. The management of AIC spends its time devising all sorts of money-making scams and schemes to cheat students and teachers alike. The business strategy of the Institute's owner is to sell as many university degrees at the highest price he can get, alongside his cake shops and his on-campus motorcycle franchise. But, as everybody says - 'this is Cyprus' - an edenic Mediterranean paradise where everyone is on the make and the main guiding principle is 'money is money'.