I learned so much from my time in Greece and traveling in that area of the world. I definitely have become a more confident person and I am much more aware of the world around me. While in the last few days I was wishing to be home, now that I’ve been here, I’m wishing to be anywhere else in the world. Stonehill and Hollis just feel so small to me. Now that I’ve experienced just a tiny taste of what is out there, I realize that there is so much more out there to see, to do, or to be. My time abroad has really caused to me to reevaluate my goals and where I see myself in the future. Now that I know what’s out there I feel better prepared to make a decision on what’s out there for me. I may have picked the wrong majors, but there is still my entire life ahead of me to live how I want to. My world view has been widened, but there is more room for me to grow. I am now more inspired than ever to travel and to experience the people and cultures of this world. Three months is a long time to be away from home; but I firmly believe that it could take even longer than that to truly experience a culture. While traveling was great, I wish that I could have spent a lot longer in some of the places that I visited to get more of a feel for that country’s and culture’s identity.
I am also much more proud of myself now than I was before I went to Greece. I saw and experienced a lot of there; and each of those things makes me a stronger person. Living in such a foreign culture as Greece and actually learning the language was also a huge part of the experience and I’m so proud that I challenged myself with my study abroad. Coming back to the Stonehill and living with girls that studied in London, Scotland, and Australia, I realize how truly different my experience was compared to most others’. I faced challenges everyday that many of my peers never even had to think about. I lived through a period of great civil unrest in Greece, and learned so much about Greek culture and myself through that experience.
My time in Greece truly changed me. I now feel like a more complete person. A person that can endure and understand. A person with a greater passion for life and all the gifts that it can bring. A person with goals and ideas bigger than herself. Through my experience in Greece I feel like I have found me.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Friday, 12 December 2008
Riots in Greece
Last Saturday, we all decided to go out to celebrate a lot of people’s last weekends in Thessaloniki. We walked down to Kamara to meet up with everyone and were surprised to see a lot of other people there too. Kamara is usually a big meeting place, but that night just seemed different. All of a sudden all the people started chanting “Basti, Gorounia, Dolophoni” which means “Cops, Pigs, Murderers.” Luckily, we were with Vicky and Stephanos so they were able to tell us what was going on. Earlier that day, the police in Athens killed a 15 year-old boy in Omonia, a typically anarchist neighborhood. The entire country was outraged and started riots because of it. Turns out, we were at the exact place at the exact time of a riot in Thessaloniki. Once all of the thousands of people started marching in the streets and setting dumpsters on fire, we walked down some side streets to avoid getting caught up in all the mess. It was pretty scary, but we didn’t really know what was happening, and we made it to our destination safely.
On the walk home, several hours later though, we were really able to see the devastation that this first riot caused. Stores had been broken into and looted, all the dumpsters were in the middle of the streets and on fire, and broken glass covered all the sidewalks and roads. Smoke could be seen from streets were stores had been burned.
The next day, we were instructed not to leave our neighborhood. During this time, we all did a lot of research and were trying to figure out why all the violence was happening. The Greek government is very unstable, with the anarchists close to being the majority. Because of this and other previous clashes with law enforcement and government, Greeks generally strongly dislike the police. We were told that contrary to our instincts, in this situation, we should avoid the police at all costs, because wherever they were there would be trouble.
No one really knew how long the violence would last, the only other experience we had with riots were the ones that never even happened on Polytechnic Day. I was really nervous about it because Kayla arrived on Monday, and if I couldn’t leave my neighborhood (and on Monday we weren’t even supposed to leave the building) how was I supposed to get her at the airport, let alone show her around my city? I spent much of Monday afternoon calling taxi services, many of whom refused to come into the neighborhood. Hours later I finally had success when I called a taxi driver friend and he agreed to drive me to and from the airport.
My neighborhood is at the edge of the public university’s campus, where most of the rioting is happening. There is an asylum law in Greece that states that police are not allowed to enter university grounds. Because of this, protesters and rioters use the university as a safe haven to throw their fire bombs and rocks. My apartment is literally on the same street as the university, so most of the roads around here were closed.
I was so relieved to get Kayla to my apartment safely. I could tell the taxi driver was agitated and nervous about driving through my neighborhood, but I’m so glad he agreed to. When we got into the building though, we were informed that we wouldn’t have school on Tuesday because the bus wouldn’t be able to pick us up safely. Normally, I would be overjoyed at this news, but I had finals scheduled that I would now need to find time to make-up. As we were watching a movie that night, we could see fire bombs being thrown from the roofs of some of the university buildings.
While we were told to stay inside the next day, I couldn’t keep Kayla indoors all day, and I too was itching for an outing. The violence was only happening in the heart of the city so I decided to take Kayla up to the Old City Walls, which are on the outskirts of town on top of hill where you can see the whole city. There are also some great ruins on the walk up there. We ate at a taverna on the edge of a cliff so we could see the whole city. Every once in a while, we would see clouds of smoke coming from the university area, rioters no doubt.
Wednesday, we decided to go out to lunch and grocery shopping, against ACT’s suggestions. Because the funeral for the boy was that day, we knew to expect more violence. While we were in the grocery store, a huge crowd of people marched by chanting the “cops, pigs, murderers” thing again. Moments after they passed, police went running after them in all their riot gear. A man in the grocery store started yelling about how it was a peaceful protest until the police intervened and escalated. Coming out of the store, the tear gas hung in the air. Luckily we’d caught on to the European scarf trend, and used them to cover our mouths and noses. Walking past the intersection at the campus, we could see a huge crowd of people running inside the campus gates to avoid the police.
I spent all day at school yesterday taking 4 finals and a midterm that I’d missed when I had strep throat last week. It was rough, but at least I’m finished with the semester! That’s a lie, I still have an ethics paper to write, but that isn’t due until January. We planned a great night out to celebrate, regardless of the riots, but I received some bad news from home, so I wasn’t in a celebratory mood. My grandmother passed away yesterday. I knew it was coming, but the fact that I can’t be home with my family, especially when they are so worried about me anyway, makes it more difficult.
Today Kayla and I went to all the museums of Thessaloniki, and actually went into all the ruins in the squares. I am so glad I went to the museums, and I regret not going sooner. I learned so much about the city that I’ve been living in for the last 3 months. The museums also had a lot of great artifacts and historical items that were really interesting to see.
Tomorrow, we’re off to Italy for the week. Kayla and I will be visiting Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome, and two friends from home will also be meeting us to travel together. I know I should be so excited about going to Italy, but really all I want to do is go home. After everything, strep throat, the riots, my grandmother, home is the only place that I want to be right now. But instead, we’re celebrating the end of the semester tonight at Apostoli’s and then going to Dante to reminisce about our first days here. I’ll come back to Thessaloniki for 2 days after Italy to relax and pack up, my only hope is that the riots and everything will be over. Wandering around the city the last few days, it is clear the billions of dollars of damage that was caused. Tsimiski, the street with all the designer shops is basically destroyed as are several of the kiosks and most banks throughout the city. It is crazy to me that these people would destruct the property of their friends and neighbors just to get their point across. But get their point across they did, and Americans could learn from the Greeks to assert their freedom of speech and right to protest. While it was more destructive than it may have needed to be, Americans would never put that much effort into an outcry and to really get noticed and listened to.
On the walk home, several hours later though, we were really able to see the devastation that this first riot caused. Stores had been broken into and looted, all the dumpsters were in the middle of the streets and on fire, and broken glass covered all the sidewalks and roads. Smoke could be seen from streets were stores had been burned.
The next day, we were instructed not to leave our neighborhood. During this time, we all did a lot of research and were trying to figure out why all the violence was happening. The Greek government is very unstable, with the anarchists close to being the majority. Because of this and other previous clashes with law enforcement and government, Greeks generally strongly dislike the police. We were told that contrary to our instincts, in this situation, we should avoid the police at all costs, because wherever they were there would be trouble.
No one really knew how long the violence would last, the only other experience we had with riots were the ones that never even happened on Polytechnic Day. I was really nervous about it because Kayla arrived on Monday, and if I couldn’t leave my neighborhood (and on Monday we weren’t even supposed to leave the building) how was I supposed to get her at the airport, let alone show her around my city? I spent much of Monday afternoon calling taxi services, many of whom refused to come into the neighborhood. Hours later I finally had success when I called a taxi driver friend and he agreed to drive me to and from the airport.
My neighborhood is at the edge of the public university’s campus, where most of the rioting is happening. There is an asylum law in Greece that states that police are not allowed to enter university grounds. Because of this, protesters and rioters use the university as a safe haven to throw their fire bombs and rocks. My apartment is literally on the same street as the university, so most of the roads around here were closed.
I was so relieved to get Kayla to my apartment safely. I could tell the taxi driver was agitated and nervous about driving through my neighborhood, but I’m so glad he agreed to. When we got into the building though, we were informed that we wouldn’t have school on Tuesday because the bus wouldn’t be able to pick us up safely. Normally, I would be overjoyed at this news, but I had finals scheduled that I would now need to find time to make-up. As we were watching a movie that night, we could see fire bombs being thrown from the roofs of some of the university buildings.
While we were told to stay inside the next day, I couldn’t keep Kayla indoors all day, and I too was itching for an outing. The violence was only happening in the heart of the city so I decided to take Kayla up to the Old City Walls, which are on the outskirts of town on top of hill where you can see the whole city. There are also some great ruins on the walk up there. We ate at a taverna on the edge of a cliff so we could see the whole city. Every once in a while, we would see clouds of smoke coming from the university area, rioters no doubt.
Wednesday, we decided to go out to lunch and grocery shopping, against ACT’s suggestions. Because the funeral for the boy was that day, we knew to expect more violence. While we were in the grocery store, a huge crowd of people marched by chanting the “cops, pigs, murderers” thing again. Moments after they passed, police went running after them in all their riot gear. A man in the grocery store started yelling about how it was a peaceful protest until the police intervened and escalated. Coming out of the store, the tear gas hung in the air. Luckily we’d caught on to the European scarf trend, and used them to cover our mouths and noses. Walking past the intersection at the campus, we could see a huge crowd of people running inside the campus gates to avoid the police.
I spent all day at school yesterday taking 4 finals and a midterm that I’d missed when I had strep throat last week. It was rough, but at least I’m finished with the semester! That’s a lie, I still have an ethics paper to write, but that isn’t due until January. We planned a great night out to celebrate, regardless of the riots, but I received some bad news from home, so I wasn’t in a celebratory mood. My grandmother passed away yesterday. I knew it was coming, but the fact that I can’t be home with my family, especially when they are so worried about me anyway, makes it more difficult.
Today Kayla and I went to all the museums of Thessaloniki, and actually went into all the ruins in the squares. I am so glad I went to the museums, and I regret not going sooner. I learned so much about the city that I’ve been living in for the last 3 months. The museums also had a lot of great artifacts and historical items that were really interesting to see.
Tomorrow, we’re off to Italy for the week. Kayla and I will be visiting Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome, and two friends from home will also be meeting us to travel together. I know I should be so excited about going to Italy, but really all I want to do is go home. After everything, strep throat, the riots, my grandmother, home is the only place that I want to be right now. But instead, we’re celebrating the end of the semester tonight at Apostoli’s and then going to Dante to reminisce about our first days here. I’ll come back to Thessaloniki for 2 days after Italy to relax and pack up, my only hope is that the riots and everything will be over. Wandering around the city the last few days, it is clear the billions of dollars of damage that was caused. Tsimiski, the street with all the designer shops is basically destroyed as are several of the kiosks and most banks throughout the city. It is crazy to me that these people would destruct the property of their friends and neighbors just to get their point across. But get their point across they did, and Americans could learn from the Greeks to assert their freedom of speech and right to protest. While it was more destructive than it may have needed to be, Americans would never put that much effort into an outcry and to really get noticed and listened to.
Monday, 1 December 2008
EGYPT!
Never in my life have I felt more at home in such an unfamiliar place. My trip to Cairo, Egypt went flawlessly. Maggie, Alex, and I arrived in Egypt at 3 am, a time that could create some uncomfortable situations no matter where you were in the world. After landing, we bought our tourist visas and headed out of the airport. Before we even took a step outside we saw my name on a paper and one of the guys that worked at the hostel. He promptly put us on the bus to the parking lot (vehicles are not allowed to park directly at the terminal for security reasons) and then we were off to find our hostel in a car much nicer than you’d expect a hostel to have. Driving through Cairo in the middle of the night was awesome, a lot of the mosques and other sites were lit up as we drove past. When we got to our hostel though, I didn’t know what we’d gotten ourselves into. It seemed to be in a kinda sketchy neighborhood, and anyone could just wander in from off the street. We sat down in the reception area of the hostel and were offered anything we wanted to drink. I can speak for all of us when I say all we wanted to do was go to sleep, but we didn’t want to be rude. We talked with the guys, Kerim and Ahmed for a while and settled into a short nights sleep.
The next morning we woke to one of the other guys offering us breakfast in our rooms, and he brought bread, jam, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. Ahmed had arranged a driver for us to take us around the city to see some of the sites before the rest of our group arrived later in the afternoon. We drove up the citadel, the former home to the police and military training academies. There were a lot of cool things to see in the mosques and museums there, but by far the best thing was the incredible view of the city. Smog in Cairo is a big problem, but from the citadel we were even able to catch a glimpse of the pyramids! I guess that’s when I got really excited, and it hit me that I was in Egypt. Awesome. We ended up staying too long at the citadel and just headed back to the hostel.
Now would be a good time to explain traffic in Cairo. I thought Greek traffic was crazy. No. Cairo makes Greece look like dirt roads in New Hampshire. There are lane lines in Cairo, but in no way are they observed. Just imagine the worst traffic jam you can, and then imagine all the cars moving in every possible direction in every possible position. One car was even reversing and turning around in the middle of traffic. Right in front of us two cars collided, and without moving their cars they got out and started arguing about it in the middle of traffic. No wonder all the cars in Cairo are all really beat up – it really was just insane.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel and were met with Mike, Luke, Kyle, Dana, Danica, and Erin. Finally everyone was together! While a few of them took a quick nap, the rest of us went out to explore our neighborhood and exchange money and pick up some necessary items. Our hostel was in downtown Cairo, but was still relatively quiet. There were hookah bars everywhere, and pharmacies were as prevalent there as in Thessaloniki.
After our exploring we went back to the hostel to get ready for a night on the Nile. Kerim had arranged a dinner cruise on the Nile, and he came with us to enjoy the night. There were whirling dervishes, belly dancers, and stick fighters. It really was a great night on the Nile. After that, our driver took us to the 24 hour market, where we bargained for souvenirs for a few hours. Bargaining in Egypt is the same as in Istanbul; try to get the most ridiculously low price you can. Men in Cairo were also pretty similar to the ones in Istanbul, but maybe a little more aggressive. They kept offering the guys thousands of camels for us girls, one guy even offered 2 million camels for Maggie, so it became a running joke to see how many camels we could be bargained for. While it was kinda sketchy, it was never really that uncomfortable.
The next morning we were up bright and early for our pyramid excursion. Again everything was arranged by the hostel, making the whole thing really easy for us. They drove us to the camel stable where somehow we got an amazing price for our trip into the desert to see the pyramids of Giza and the sphinx. Getting on and off a camel is certainly an experience, and while we did it several times, I never really got used to it. The camels are sitting down when you get on, and then my camel was the first to stand up, so I had no idea what was happening. Because they do their front and back legs at separate times, you basically have to hang on for dear life until they’re standing up completely. After we went through a security checkpoint we were off into the desert. Our first sight of the pyramids was breathtaking, and every moment that we got closer, the whole thing just got better. Because the pyramids are right outside of the city we were also able to hear the Muslim call to prayer while we were out there coming from all over the city. We had a guide that knew all the good places for photo ops, so we were on and off the camels a lot. Unexpectedly we were also able to climb up the pyramids as far as we wanted to. I had assumed they’d be roped off and untouchable, but that was not the case. So we climbed up the biggest pyramid for a little bit and then were off on the camels to what I think was called Panoramic Mountain, the best place to take a picture of all 3 of the big pyramids. There were also 2 sets of 3 smaller pyramids around the big ones.
Then we went down to the sphinx, which was actually a lot smaller than I had expected, but still very impressive. Everywhere in Giza were people trying to sell their goods, but we were told by our guide not to buy anything no matter what. Even if you want something, the other sellers will see you buy something and pounce. The last thing you want is to be mobbed. We wandered around the sphinx a little bit and then headed back to the stables. Back at the stables, the owner took us into a traditional Egyptian home, just to see what it was like. There were 9 of us just taking a quick peek and the women living in the home offered us something to drink – I can’t say it enough, Egyptian hospitality was outstanding.
We were back in the car and we went to a perfumery, to see how Egyptian perfume was made. They offered us drinks and ice cream and showed us several of the unique kinds of perfume that are sold all over the world with name brands. We’d been to a perfume place in the market, so we knew the prices there were better, so we didn’t want to buy anything. We felt bad that they’d taken the time to show us everything and feed us and we didn’t want to buy anything, so we tried to give the guy a big tip, but he refused to take it.
Our next stop was the Egyptian Museum, which is home to millions of artifacts. Everything found in Egypt of value is placed in the museum. It was huge and extremely easy to get lost in. We saw mummy tombs, scarab beetles, and monuments galore. The only thing that I’d change about the museum was that I’d like more of an explanation of what things were and where they were found. It was hard to put everything into context from the museum. After a while in the museum we walked back to hostel for quick naps and then headed back to the market to pick up any last minute gifts. Maggie, Alex, and I had to leave the hostel at 1:30 am to catch our 4 am flight back to Greece. Back at the hostel we packed up and spent some time with Kerim. The Bedouin Hostel wins Best Hostel Award in my eyes. Never have I felt more at home anywhere that wasn’t my home. They were so welcoming and open to us. Anything that we asked for, we got. They really took care of us too, without them helping to plan everything we either would have gotten lost or terribly ripped-off. I was so grateful to them, and they were so grateful to us.
The Cairo airport was a little confusing, but soon enough we were back in Athens and then off to Thessaloniki. We were circling Thessaloniki for a while, and then had to go back to Athens because it was too foggy to land. It was annoying and an inconvenience, but luckily the flight is only 45 minutes and there are frequent flights between the 2 cities. We got home a few hours later than expected, but it wasn’t too big of a deal.
This was really the best weekend of my life. Looking back on it, I honestly can’t believe that I was in Egypt – even the pictures don’t seem real. Never in my life did I think I would be able to see the pyramids. Studying them in school, they always seemed just too far away, just too mystical to actually be seen.
The next morning we woke to one of the other guys offering us breakfast in our rooms, and he brought bread, jam, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. Ahmed had arranged a driver for us to take us around the city to see some of the sites before the rest of our group arrived later in the afternoon. We drove up the citadel, the former home to the police and military training academies. There were a lot of cool things to see in the mosques and museums there, but by far the best thing was the incredible view of the city. Smog in Cairo is a big problem, but from the citadel we were even able to catch a glimpse of the pyramids! I guess that’s when I got really excited, and it hit me that I was in Egypt. Awesome. We ended up staying too long at the citadel and just headed back to the hostel.
Now would be a good time to explain traffic in Cairo. I thought Greek traffic was crazy. No. Cairo makes Greece look like dirt roads in New Hampshire. There are lane lines in Cairo, but in no way are they observed. Just imagine the worst traffic jam you can, and then imagine all the cars moving in every possible direction in every possible position. One car was even reversing and turning around in the middle of traffic. Right in front of us two cars collided, and without moving their cars they got out and started arguing about it in the middle of traffic. No wonder all the cars in Cairo are all really beat up – it really was just insane.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel and were met with Mike, Luke, Kyle, Dana, Danica, and Erin. Finally everyone was together! While a few of them took a quick nap, the rest of us went out to explore our neighborhood and exchange money and pick up some necessary items. Our hostel was in downtown Cairo, but was still relatively quiet. There were hookah bars everywhere, and pharmacies were as prevalent there as in Thessaloniki.
After our exploring we went back to the hostel to get ready for a night on the Nile. Kerim had arranged a dinner cruise on the Nile, and he came with us to enjoy the night. There were whirling dervishes, belly dancers, and stick fighters. It really was a great night on the Nile. After that, our driver took us to the 24 hour market, where we bargained for souvenirs for a few hours. Bargaining in Egypt is the same as in Istanbul; try to get the most ridiculously low price you can. Men in Cairo were also pretty similar to the ones in Istanbul, but maybe a little more aggressive. They kept offering the guys thousands of camels for us girls, one guy even offered 2 million camels for Maggie, so it became a running joke to see how many camels we could be bargained for. While it was kinda sketchy, it was never really that uncomfortable.
The next morning we were up bright and early for our pyramid excursion. Again everything was arranged by the hostel, making the whole thing really easy for us. They drove us to the camel stable where somehow we got an amazing price for our trip into the desert to see the pyramids of Giza and the sphinx. Getting on and off a camel is certainly an experience, and while we did it several times, I never really got used to it. The camels are sitting down when you get on, and then my camel was the first to stand up, so I had no idea what was happening. Because they do their front and back legs at separate times, you basically have to hang on for dear life until they’re standing up completely. After we went through a security checkpoint we were off into the desert. Our first sight of the pyramids was breathtaking, and every moment that we got closer, the whole thing just got better. Because the pyramids are right outside of the city we were also able to hear the Muslim call to prayer while we were out there coming from all over the city. We had a guide that knew all the good places for photo ops, so we were on and off the camels a lot. Unexpectedly we were also able to climb up the pyramids as far as we wanted to. I had assumed they’d be roped off and untouchable, but that was not the case. So we climbed up the biggest pyramid for a little bit and then were off on the camels to what I think was called Panoramic Mountain, the best place to take a picture of all 3 of the big pyramids. There were also 2 sets of 3 smaller pyramids around the big ones.
Then we went down to the sphinx, which was actually a lot smaller than I had expected, but still very impressive. Everywhere in Giza were people trying to sell their goods, but we were told by our guide not to buy anything no matter what. Even if you want something, the other sellers will see you buy something and pounce. The last thing you want is to be mobbed. We wandered around the sphinx a little bit and then headed back to the stables. Back at the stables, the owner took us into a traditional Egyptian home, just to see what it was like. There were 9 of us just taking a quick peek and the women living in the home offered us something to drink – I can’t say it enough, Egyptian hospitality was outstanding.
We were back in the car and we went to a perfumery, to see how Egyptian perfume was made. They offered us drinks and ice cream and showed us several of the unique kinds of perfume that are sold all over the world with name brands. We’d been to a perfume place in the market, so we knew the prices there were better, so we didn’t want to buy anything. We felt bad that they’d taken the time to show us everything and feed us and we didn’t want to buy anything, so we tried to give the guy a big tip, but he refused to take it.
Our next stop was the Egyptian Museum, which is home to millions of artifacts. Everything found in Egypt of value is placed in the museum. It was huge and extremely easy to get lost in. We saw mummy tombs, scarab beetles, and monuments galore. The only thing that I’d change about the museum was that I’d like more of an explanation of what things were and where they were found. It was hard to put everything into context from the museum. After a while in the museum we walked back to hostel for quick naps and then headed back to the market to pick up any last minute gifts. Maggie, Alex, and I had to leave the hostel at 1:30 am to catch our 4 am flight back to Greece. Back at the hostel we packed up and spent some time with Kerim. The Bedouin Hostel wins Best Hostel Award in my eyes. Never have I felt more at home anywhere that wasn’t my home. They were so welcoming and open to us. Anything that we asked for, we got. They really took care of us too, without them helping to plan everything we either would have gotten lost or terribly ripped-off. I was so grateful to them, and they were so grateful to us.
The Cairo airport was a little confusing, but soon enough we were back in Athens and then off to Thessaloniki. We were circling Thessaloniki for a while, and then had to go back to Athens because it was too foggy to land. It was annoying and an inconvenience, but luckily the flight is only 45 minutes and there are frequent flights between the 2 cities. We got home a few hours later than expected, but it wasn’t too big of a deal.
This was really the best weekend of my life. Looking back on it, I honestly can’t believe that I was in Egypt – even the pictures don’t seem real. Never in my life did I think I would be able to see the pyramids. Studying them in school, they always seemed just too far away, just too mystical to actually be seen.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Istanbul
I spent this last weekend in Istanbul, Turkey on a school trip. The NUin program had organized the trip for their students, but when spots opened up, they offered the trip to the regular study abroad students. We left Thursday night at 9 pm, and didn’t arrive in Istanbul until 10 am the next day. It was a long bus ride, and we spent 3 hours at the border getting visas and such squared away. Turns out the NUin director, Tom, had to bribe the border guards to get us across for 10 euro – I don’t know why though. So we didn’t get much sleep on the bus ride, but as soon as we got off the bus in Istanbul we were off for activities all day long. Our first stop was the German fountain, a gift from the German Emperor to the Ottoman Empire. As we walked further we ran into the Egyptian Obelisks, brought over to be placed in the middle of the hippodromos – or racing track in the middle of Constantinople. Our next stop was the famed Blue Mosque, a giant mosque in the middle of Istanbul. We entered its grounds and heard the Muslim call to prayer while we were there. We couldn’t enter the mosque at this time because of the prayer service, but it was so cool to hear the call to prayer while being on such sacred ground. In my religion class freshman year we learned all about Islam and watched a video of the prayer services at the Blue Mosque. The entire religion class intrigued me, so it was especially awesome to experience it all in person. The next place on our tour of Istanbul was the Agia Sophia, which was the main church of Constantinople. There is a smaller replica of this famous church in Thessaloniki, so it was really cool to see the real thing. The church is no longer used because 95% of Istanbul is Muslim, but the entire inside of it is awe-inspiring. There is evening a wishing wall in which you place your thumb inside a worn in hole in the wall and make a wish as you spin your hand in a complete circle. Our next stop was the Basilica Cistern, a huge underground tank used to store water. There was also a huge aqueduct that we had to drive through in order to get to this part of the city. Inside the cistern there were so many pillars lit from the bottom with dim yellow light. It felt like we were inside an underwater cave. There were also 2 pillars that were held up by statues of Medusa. After the Cistern, we went back to the Blue Mosque to actually go inside it. All along the outside walls were these fountains, where Muslim men wash their hands, feet, and faces before entering the mosque. This ablution is a cleansing process required of Muslims. Muslims are required to pray five times daily, whether they go to the mosque to do so or not. We took off our shoes and covered our heads with scarves before entering the mosque. Inside of the mosque was this huge open space with a very low chandelier covering the entire area. The ceilings are painted with intricate designs and there was a huge golden temple area facing in the direction of Mecca. While we were inside the mosque, we heard the call to prayer again, and got up to leave. One of the guards said that we could stay because we had all been so respectful by covering our heads. Women visitors are not required to cover their heads, but it is a sign of respect, so we all had done it anyways. So we stayed in one of the corners to watch the prayer service. The women needed to pray behind screens in the very back of the church, so we were even separating them from the men. Even in such a huge space all the men crowded up to the front as much as possible, leaving a lot of space still in the middle. The service lasted about a ½ hour with a lot of chanting and a lot of getting up and down and kneeling and praying and repetitions of “Allah u Akbar,” which means “God is great”. When the service was over we left and had some free time throughout the city. We walked over to the Topkapi Palace grounds and wandered around there for a while. After that we decided to find some food (Turkish food does not look appetizing at all, so we went to McDonalds – sad, I know) and head to a Turkish Bath.
The Turkish bath had been on our group itinerary for later that night, but a few of us decided to go earlier to get the most out of the experience and not have to wait with 40 or so other girls. It was a good thing we did that, because it would have been very uncomfortable to be there with them. We didn’t really know what to expect out of a Turkish bath, but what we did experience was definitely not what I was expecting. We’d been given a towel to wrap ourselves in, and we expected to be able to stay in the towel the entire time. When we walked into the room, there were about 10 other women in there completely naked. A Turkish bath is basically a giant steam room with a hot marble slab to lie on in the middle of the room. We stayed in our towels for a while, but when we saw what would happen, we decided to just embrace it, because there was no going back. After about 20 minutes or so a group of women came in and poured hot water all over us and then used a rough towel to exfoliate our entire bodies. After that was done the towel turned into a huge soap bubble holder and we got soap bubble massages. Besides for the initial awkwardness, the whole thing was very relaxing and I don’t think I’ve ever been so clean in my life. After the bath we went back to the hotel to nap for a while and then went back to the area we’d been in earlier in the day to have some dinner and baklava and our first experience with Turkish apple tea. The stuff is amazing…it makes me never want to drink any other kind of hot drink ever again in my life. After dinner we went back to the hotel and to bed.
The next day was bazaar and Asia day! The Grand Bazaar is certainly an interesting experience. 10000 people work in the bazaar and there are over 5000 shops all condensed into a small area with people everywhere. Bargaining is a must, and if you start bargaining, the shop owners expect you to buy. There were about 5 different kinds of shops. Scarf/cloth shops, lamp/hookah shops, ceramic shops, rug shops, and designer knock-off shops. The whole thing was a little intimidating, and I’ve never been hit on so many times in my life. I was in a group of 4 girls and we kept being called the spice girls. Men asked if we were from paradise; some men asked if we were from Japan because they know its ridiculous enough to open the lines of communication.
After a couple of hours of shopping and exploring the bazaar we hopped on a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul. Istanbul is the only major world city to be a part of 2 continents, so it was cool to experience them both. We got off the ferry in Uskudar, the most religiously conservative area of Istanbul. We weren’t in Asia for long, but it was cool to see the entire city of Istanbul from it. After Asia we went back to the hotel to get ready for our night in the Taksim shopping/restaurant district. By this point it was raining heavily, which was kinda a bummer, but we still had a lot of fun. We went to an Irish bar (again. really) but there were 2 guys playing Spanish music there for a while. After that we went to another bar and inadvertently crashed a traditional Turkish birthday party or rehearsal dinner or wedding party or some sort of celebration. It was really cool, but we clearly didn’t belong there.
The next day the bus ride took only 10 hours for some reason, so it was really nice to get home earlier than expected. I really liked Istanbul; it was a lot like Thessaloniki, but more worldly. The culture there is similar to Greek culture except for the heavy Muslim influence. It was a great city to visit, there’s so much history there that was so cool to experience.
Next up: Cairo, Egypt
I decided to book an impromptu trip to Egypt for this weekend. I’d always said I wanted to go while I was in Greece, but I didn’t think it would be possible. A few of my friends managed a trip last weekend though and had such a great experience that I had to see if I could do it too. So, when you’re all eating your wonderful American thanksgiving dinner, I’ll be landing in Egypt for an adventure of a lifetime.
The Turkish bath had been on our group itinerary for later that night, but a few of us decided to go earlier to get the most out of the experience and not have to wait with 40 or so other girls. It was a good thing we did that, because it would have been very uncomfortable to be there with them. We didn’t really know what to expect out of a Turkish bath, but what we did experience was definitely not what I was expecting. We’d been given a towel to wrap ourselves in, and we expected to be able to stay in the towel the entire time. When we walked into the room, there were about 10 other women in there completely naked. A Turkish bath is basically a giant steam room with a hot marble slab to lie on in the middle of the room. We stayed in our towels for a while, but when we saw what would happen, we decided to just embrace it, because there was no going back. After about 20 minutes or so a group of women came in and poured hot water all over us and then used a rough towel to exfoliate our entire bodies. After that was done the towel turned into a huge soap bubble holder and we got soap bubble massages. Besides for the initial awkwardness, the whole thing was very relaxing and I don’t think I’ve ever been so clean in my life. After the bath we went back to the hotel to nap for a while and then went back to the area we’d been in earlier in the day to have some dinner and baklava and our first experience with Turkish apple tea. The stuff is amazing…it makes me never want to drink any other kind of hot drink ever again in my life. After dinner we went back to the hotel and to bed.
The next day was bazaar and Asia day! The Grand Bazaar is certainly an interesting experience. 10000 people work in the bazaar and there are over 5000 shops all condensed into a small area with people everywhere. Bargaining is a must, and if you start bargaining, the shop owners expect you to buy. There were about 5 different kinds of shops. Scarf/cloth shops, lamp/hookah shops, ceramic shops, rug shops, and designer knock-off shops. The whole thing was a little intimidating, and I’ve never been hit on so many times in my life. I was in a group of 4 girls and we kept being called the spice girls. Men asked if we were from paradise; some men asked if we were from Japan because they know its ridiculous enough to open the lines of communication.
After a couple of hours of shopping and exploring the bazaar we hopped on a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul. Istanbul is the only major world city to be a part of 2 continents, so it was cool to experience them both. We got off the ferry in Uskudar, the most religiously conservative area of Istanbul. We weren’t in Asia for long, but it was cool to see the entire city of Istanbul from it. After Asia we went back to the hotel to get ready for our night in the Taksim shopping/restaurant district. By this point it was raining heavily, which was kinda a bummer, but we still had a lot of fun. We went to an Irish bar (again. really) but there were 2 guys playing Spanish music there for a while. After that we went to another bar and inadvertently crashed a traditional Turkish birthday party or rehearsal dinner or wedding party or some sort of celebration. It was really cool, but we clearly didn’t belong there.
The next day the bus ride took only 10 hours for some reason, so it was really nice to get home earlier than expected. I really liked Istanbul; it was a lot like Thessaloniki, but more worldly. The culture there is similar to Greek culture except for the heavy Muslim influence. It was a great city to visit, there’s so much history there that was so cool to experience.
Next up: Cairo, Egypt
I decided to book an impromptu trip to Egypt for this weekend. I’d always said I wanted to go while I was in Greece, but I didn’t think it would be possible. A few of my friends managed a trip last weekend though and had such a great experience that I had to see if I could do it too. So, when you’re all eating your wonderful American thanksgiving dinner, I’ll be landing in Egypt for an adventure of a lifetime.
Life in Greece has been pretty standard for the past few weeks. Besides for going away on a few weekends, its daily life as usual in Thessaloniki, but I’ll tell you about 2 events that shook things up a little bit.
1.The US Election – Throughout my time in Greece, whenever anyone heard us speaking English or heard that we are from America, they would – in the middle of conversation – shout “OBAMA!” Throughout my travels in Europe as well, people were overwhelmingly in love with the man. No one ever really said anything about Bush even; all political talk was centered on Obama. So when election day came around in Greece we were all excited and anxious about the outcome. If McCain had won, we would have been in trouble in the states, but maybe even more so in Europe. A McCain victory would probably have increased anti-Americanism ten-fold, something I would not want to have to experience for the last 2 months of my journey. Because of the time change, we were all well-aware that it would be at least 6 am before we heard anything, but more likely much later than that. Kathryn and I however, kept a live stream of the results on her computer all night long and we listened as we drifted in and out of sleep. At 6 am, right as the polls on the west coast closed, we heard that Obama had won. It was definitely an exciting moment, but I went back to sleep and asked Kathryn to wake me up to hear the speeches. McCain’s speech really impressed me, and if he’d ran his campaign to the tune of that speech, the outcome may have been different. Obama’s speech was fantastic, as we’ve come to expect from him, and even made me tear up a little. What a historical moment for our country and the world. I never thought that there would be a black president in my lifetime, but his victory proves that race lines are diminishing. One part of his speech really struck a chord for me. He said something like, “And for all the people in the far off corners around the world huddled around their radio…” That was us! While we did have video, we were huddled around a computer to watch this historic event. The following day walking around Thessaloniki, I’d hear “Obama” in the middle of several conversations, mainly because it’s a word that clearly stands out in a jumble of Greek language. Besides from that though there wasn’t much more mention of it than that. One of the things I’ve noticed though is that people respond much more favorably when I tell them that I am from the states – which leads into my next event.
2.Polytechnic Day – November 17th marked the 35th anniversary of the Polytechnic riots in Athens against the military junta and the influence on it that America had. In the years following the riots, polytechnic day was a celebratory event with parades and pride that people stood up against the government. However, in more recent years, polytechnic day has become increasingly violent in both Athens and Thessaloniki. I don’t know why violence has erupted, but I think it has to do with tradition and wanting to relive the events of the day. The US Consulate sent a Warden’s message warning about the riots, which have in recent years included Molotov cocktails and firebombing cars and banks and the few American establishments left in the city like Starbucks and McDonalds. We were all a little on edge about the whole thing because while we live in a very safe neighborhood, the university campus is just down the street. The road that the university is on was blocked off all day and there was a huge increase in police presence and command posts popped up all over the city where riots usually occur. A few of my friends wanted to see what the riots would be like, so later that evening they walked down by the campus and what did they find? A concert on the quad. Because Greek people like Obama, and now America, polytechnic day was peaceful for the first time in years. I don’t know if it was the same in Athens, but Thessaloniki experienced a peaceful day.
Next up – Istanbul!
1.The US Election – Throughout my time in Greece, whenever anyone heard us speaking English or heard that we are from America, they would – in the middle of conversation – shout “OBAMA!” Throughout my travels in Europe as well, people were overwhelmingly in love with the man. No one ever really said anything about Bush even; all political talk was centered on Obama. So when election day came around in Greece we were all excited and anxious about the outcome. If McCain had won, we would have been in trouble in the states, but maybe even more so in Europe. A McCain victory would probably have increased anti-Americanism ten-fold, something I would not want to have to experience for the last 2 months of my journey. Because of the time change, we were all well-aware that it would be at least 6 am before we heard anything, but more likely much later than that. Kathryn and I however, kept a live stream of the results on her computer all night long and we listened as we drifted in and out of sleep. At 6 am, right as the polls on the west coast closed, we heard that Obama had won. It was definitely an exciting moment, but I went back to sleep and asked Kathryn to wake me up to hear the speeches. McCain’s speech really impressed me, and if he’d ran his campaign to the tune of that speech, the outcome may have been different. Obama’s speech was fantastic, as we’ve come to expect from him, and even made me tear up a little. What a historical moment for our country and the world. I never thought that there would be a black president in my lifetime, but his victory proves that race lines are diminishing. One part of his speech really struck a chord for me. He said something like, “And for all the people in the far off corners around the world huddled around their radio…” That was us! While we did have video, we were huddled around a computer to watch this historic event. The following day walking around Thessaloniki, I’d hear “Obama” in the middle of several conversations, mainly because it’s a word that clearly stands out in a jumble of Greek language. Besides from that though there wasn’t much more mention of it than that. One of the things I’ve noticed though is that people respond much more favorably when I tell them that I am from the states – which leads into my next event.
2.Polytechnic Day – November 17th marked the 35th anniversary of the Polytechnic riots in Athens against the military junta and the influence on it that America had. In the years following the riots, polytechnic day was a celebratory event with parades and pride that people stood up against the government. However, in more recent years, polytechnic day has become increasingly violent in both Athens and Thessaloniki. I don’t know why violence has erupted, but I think it has to do with tradition and wanting to relive the events of the day. The US Consulate sent a Warden’s message warning about the riots, which have in recent years included Molotov cocktails and firebombing cars and banks and the few American establishments left in the city like Starbucks and McDonalds. We were all a little on edge about the whole thing because while we live in a very safe neighborhood, the university campus is just down the street. The road that the university is on was blocked off all day and there was a huge increase in police presence and command posts popped up all over the city where riots usually occur. A few of my friends wanted to see what the riots would be like, so later that evening they walked down by the campus and what did they find? A concert on the quad. Because Greek people like Obama, and now America, polytechnic day was peaceful for the first time in years. I don’t know if it was the same in Athens, but Thessaloniki experienced a peaceful day.
Next up – Istanbul!
Monday, 10 November 2008
Athens
So Athens. I’ll preempt this post by saying that man, am I glad I chose to study and live in Thessaloniki instead of Athens. It makes me sad to imagine all the people that visit Greece and only see Athens. If you want to see the real true Ellada, don’t go to Athens. It is a very large, americanized city. You can’t even go to a taverna in Athens that isn’t in the touristy section. It’s huge, dirty, confusing, and very easy to get lost in – I would know. Thessaloniki is a lot smaller, a lot more Greek, and nearly impossible to get lost in. I know the city a lot better now, but even in the first few days I felt like I knew exactly how to get back home from anywhere, and not even have to take a taxi to do it. I also feel a lot more welcomed in Thessaloniki, but maybe its just me. People that live in Athens are accustomed to tourists and therefore aren’t at all interested. Yet, when I meet people in Thessaloniki, they seem to very interested in where I’m from and why I’m here.
So we started on our journey not nearly early enough on Friday morning. If you have a 8 hour bus ride ahead of you why in the world would you start at 10:30 am? Anyway, 2 buses each filled with 60 college students and their stuff left the wonderful city of Thessaloniki to begin a very eye-opening weekend. Greek law, or the law of the bus company requires busses to stop for a ½ hour every 2 hours on the road. Ouch – made the journey an even longer one. After some marathon napping, chatting, and even a movie we finally arrived in Athens around 7:30 pm. We had a nice dinner at our hotel on the waterfront and made plans for the night. It was my friend Florida’s birthday on Sunday, but she was running the Athens Classic 10K, so we decided to celebrate on Friday instead. Imagine trying to get 30 or so kids to the same place in a city that no one is familiar with. Can you say disaster? We split up into a bunch of cabs and all told the drivers the same thing. Somehow though, people ended up all over the city. Eventually we were able to get at least most of the group together in some sketchy neighborhood that we later found out was actually not supposed to be sketchy at all – interesting. To sum up the night, we got shooed away, the boys almost got into a fight with these greek men, and Kyle, Alex, and I got lost on the way home and ended up miles from our hotel at 4 am, even though I’m pretty sure we did exactly what we should have done to get home.
On Saturday we started the morning with a bus tour of the city and saw the Olympic Stadium, the university, the temple of Zeus, and made our way up to the Acropolis. I was psyched to see it – literally almost jumping out of my skin to see the Parthenon and the temple of Athena. When I got up there however, I was unfortunately under whelmed. While it is a great site to see and experience, there were tons of people and there was scaffolding on the Parthenon that really took away from what I was expecting it to be. After a few hours at the acropolis we walked down to the Ancient Agora, which was a little more on par with what I was expecting from the acropolis. Afterwards we had lunch in the touristy taverna neighborhood and had some free time to wander the city. Not wanting to wander too far, we pretty much stayed in the same neighborhood for a few hours and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. I fell asleep at 7 pm, woke up at 9 for dinner and a little socializing, and was back in bed by midnight.
The next morning we had the choice of going to the archeological museum, the folk music museum, or to have more free time around the city. I chose to go to the archeological museum, which was a great decision on my part. They had exhibits from all over Greece and even from Egypt. They had statues and jewelry and vases galore and it was really interesting to see artifacts from different time periods and places. After the museum we all got lunch at a different taverna and then left at 4:30 for our journey home. I was hoping to nap, but ended up playing cards with Kaci, Alexa, and Luke for most of the way. It certainly made the time go a lot faster.
I have to say one of my favorite parts of the weekend was that everyone in our program was together for the vast majority of the time. The NUin kids all know eachother really well because they all live in the same building and have to take special classes, but the rest of us regular study abroad students are split between 3 apartment buildings and aren’t in that many classes together. While I’ve met everyone and spent time with everyone, it was so nice to get to know a lot more people a lot better. We all expanded our horizons this weekend, and I think a lot of us needed that change from what we’re used to. I think we’ve all also gotten a little homesick in the last few weeks, but after being in Athens for 2 days, everyone was overwhelmingly excited to get back to Thessaloniki, a city we’ve all come to know and love.
I’m really excited for the last month here in Greece after this past weekend. Next weekend I might go to Bulgaria with a couple of the guys from one of the other buildings – that would definitely be an interesting trip if it ends up working out. Sophia, Bulgaria is just a cheap train ride away, and I know some people who’ve gone and really enjoyed it.
Classes are going great except for econ, but that’s not a surprise. My professor is really just a terrible human being and I wish I was a more aggressive person and that I had stood up for myself in class the other day. I guess I’ll just save it for the evaluation at the end of the semester. She really just sucks at life. I really wish I had known that I could have taken either macro or micro econ to fulfill Stonehill’s requirement, I definitely would have chosen the other one. Oh well, life goes on, and luckily the credit transfers while the grade doesn’t, so all I have to do is pass.
So we started on our journey not nearly early enough on Friday morning. If you have a 8 hour bus ride ahead of you why in the world would you start at 10:30 am? Anyway, 2 buses each filled with 60 college students and their stuff left the wonderful city of Thessaloniki to begin a very eye-opening weekend. Greek law, or the law of the bus company requires busses to stop for a ½ hour every 2 hours on the road. Ouch – made the journey an even longer one. After some marathon napping, chatting, and even a movie we finally arrived in Athens around 7:30 pm. We had a nice dinner at our hotel on the waterfront and made plans for the night. It was my friend Florida’s birthday on Sunday, but she was running the Athens Classic 10K, so we decided to celebrate on Friday instead. Imagine trying to get 30 or so kids to the same place in a city that no one is familiar with. Can you say disaster? We split up into a bunch of cabs and all told the drivers the same thing. Somehow though, people ended up all over the city. Eventually we were able to get at least most of the group together in some sketchy neighborhood that we later found out was actually not supposed to be sketchy at all – interesting. To sum up the night, we got shooed away, the boys almost got into a fight with these greek men, and Kyle, Alex, and I got lost on the way home and ended up miles from our hotel at 4 am, even though I’m pretty sure we did exactly what we should have done to get home.
On Saturday we started the morning with a bus tour of the city and saw the Olympic Stadium, the university, the temple of Zeus, and made our way up to the Acropolis. I was psyched to see it – literally almost jumping out of my skin to see the Parthenon and the temple of Athena. When I got up there however, I was unfortunately under whelmed. While it is a great site to see and experience, there were tons of people and there was scaffolding on the Parthenon that really took away from what I was expecting it to be. After a few hours at the acropolis we walked down to the Ancient Agora, which was a little more on par with what I was expecting from the acropolis. Afterwards we had lunch in the touristy taverna neighborhood and had some free time to wander the city. Not wanting to wander too far, we pretty much stayed in the same neighborhood for a few hours and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. I fell asleep at 7 pm, woke up at 9 for dinner and a little socializing, and was back in bed by midnight.
The next morning we had the choice of going to the archeological museum, the folk music museum, or to have more free time around the city. I chose to go to the archeological museum, which was a great decision on my part. They had exhibits from all over Greece and even from Egypt. They had statues and jewelry and vases galore and it was really interesting to see artifacts from different time periods and places. After the museum we all got lunch at a different taverna and then left at 4:30 for our journey home. I was hoping to nap, but ended up playing cards with Kaci, Alexa, and Luke for most of the way. It certainly made the time go a lot faster.
I have to say one of my favorite parts of the weekend was that everyone in our program was together for the vast majority of the time. The NUin kids all know eachother really well because they all live in the same building and have to take special classes, but the rest of us regular study abroad students are split between 3 apartment buildings and aren’t in that many classes together. While I’ve met everyone and spent time with everyone, it was so nice to get to know a lot more people a lot better. We all expanded our horizons this weekend, and I think a lot of us needed that change from what we’re used to. I think we’ve all also gotten a little homesick in the last few weeks, but after being in Athens for 2 days, everyone was overwhelmingly excited to get back to Thessaloniki, a city we’ve all come to know and love.
I’m really excited for the last month here in Greece after this past weekend. Next weekend I might go to Bulgaria with a couple of the guys from one of the other buildings – that would definitely be an interesting trip if it ends up working out. Sophia, Bulgaria is just a cheap train ride away, and I know some people who’ve gone and really enjoyed it.
Classes are going great except for econ, but that’s not a surprise. My professor is really just a terrible human being and I wish I was a more aggressive person and that I had stood up for myself in class the other day. I guess I’ll just save it for the evaluation at the end of the semester. She really just sucks at life. I really wish I had known that I could have taken either macro or micro econ to fulfill Stonehill’s requirement, I definitely would have chosen the other one. Oh well, life goes on, and luckily the credit transfers while the grade doesn’t, so all I have to do is pass.
Monday, 3 November 2008
On the way to Meteora, the bus stopped for lunch in a small city named Trikala. Trikala was gorgeous. It was a lot like Thessaloniki with the old city walls and castle and a similar street layout. But it was a lot smaller and a lot prettier than Thessaloniki. Trikala isn’t on the ocean, but it had a beautiful river that ran through the center of the city that was lined with trees and fountains and statues.
Long before we got to Kalambaka (the village at the base of the rocks of Meteora) we were able to see the rocks. They are giant rocks formed by an ocean that long ago covered the area. The entire area around Meteora is mostly flat with the exception of these huge imposing rocks. We got to our hotel and got settled into our rooms. When I opened the curtains to our balcony I was faced with a beautiful view of the rocks of Meteora and even one of the monasteries atop of them.
That night we explored the village of Kalambaka. We’d been told that there was a great Mexican restaurant in the town, so a pretty small group of us went there. Pretty soon though, we were joined by almost all of our classmates and the restaurant had to turn people away. After eating we walked around the village and took a lot of annoying touristy photos at the fountains that popped up all over the place. There was a bar that I guess Daphne (a professor at ACT who was our chaperone) had gotten to agree to entertain all of us, so pretty shortly the entire group was in the bar dancing to a mixture of American and traditional Greek music. It got loud and crazy pretty quickly, so a few of us went over to the bar across the street. There were 3 people in there and the bartender wasn’t at all busy so he talked to us for a while. Pretty soon he was playing a bunch of oldies songs that of course we had to dance to. There were 3 older men in the bar, and one of them got up to dance with us. He was probably about 70 years old, but let me tell you, he could boogie. His friend was laughing at him, but we probably gave him the night of his life.
The next morning we were off to the monasteries of Meteora. The first monastery we stopped at was actually a nunnery. When we went inside the girls had to put on these really embarrassing skirts to cover up our pants. We took a tour of their chapel and their grounds and saw the amazing views from their home. On the way to the bigger men’s monastery we stopped at a few places to take pictures of the entire valley. We even stopped at the place where one of the James Bond movies was filmed, and our own dare-devil behavior scared Daphne half to death. So what if we all got really close to the edge?
At the next monastery, which was the Grand Monastery of Meteora, we hiked up a bunch of steps and had to put on the annoying skirts again. We walked through their grounds and saw where they buried the dead monks (we actually saw their skulls and bones!) When we had finished touring their chapel we were free to explore the grounds for a little bit. They had a large patio overlooking the entire area of Meteora, and the view was breathtaking. On a few of the rock cliffs there were some people rock climbing, which looked like it would be really difficult. Because the rocks were formed by water, they were really smooth and at a 90 degree angle. I don’t know how they were able to find any hand or footholds in order to climb those things.
Once we were finished at the monasteries we went back to Kalambaka for lunch at a taverna and some souvenir shopping before heading back to Thessaloniki on a 4 hour bus ride. I’m not looking forward to the 8 hour bus ride to Athens next weekend, or the even longer bus ride to Istanbul in 3 weeks, but I know it’ll be worth it.
Today I have a lot of work to do. I feel like I haven’t done anything all semester (I have, just not nearly as much as I’m used to) so I feel like I need to get myself all caught up with project proposals and maybe even get myself ahead in some of my classes. I have a Greek test tomorrow that is covering a LOT of material, so I’ll need to study a while for that.
Hope everything is going well at home! I’ve been a little homesick lately – this is probably the longest I’ve been away from Hollis and my family and friends. While I still talk to my parents almost every day (thank you skype!!!) it’s really hard to stay in contact with friends because of the time change. I love you guys, but I’m not gonna stay up until 4 am to talk to you. I’m halfway through the program and the time is flying by, and I’m sure it will continue to do so. It feels like just yesterday that I nervously arrived in Thessaloniki and started the adventure of my life.
I love and miss you all!
Here's links to some photo albums on facebook!
Prague:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003943&l=093da&id=1326450028
Prague and Berlin:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003944&l=1e045&id=1326450028
Meteora:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004011&l=24044&id=1326450028
Long before we got to Kalambaka (the village at the base of the rocks of Meteora) we were able to see the rocks. They are giant rocks formed by an ocean that long ago covered the area. The entire area around Meteora is mostly flat with the exception of these huge imposing rocks. We got to our hotel and got settled into our rooms. When I opened the curtains to our balcony I was faced with a beautiful view of the rocks of Meteora and even one of the monasteries atop of them.
That night we explored the village of Kalambaka. We’d been told that there was a great Mexican restaurant in the town, so a pretty small group of us went there. Pretty soon though, we were joined by almost all of our classmates and the restaurant had to turn people away. After eating we walked around the village and took a lot of annoying touristy photos at the fountains that popped up all over the place. There was a bar that I guess Daphne (a professor at ACT who was our chaperone) had gotten to agree to entertain all of us, so pretty shortly the entire group was in the bar dancing to a mixture of American and traditional Greek music. It got loud and crazy pretty quickly, so a few of us went over to the bar across the street. There were 3 people in there and the bartender wasn’t at all busy so he talked to us for a while. Pretty soon he was playing a bunch of oldies songs that of course we had to dance to. There were 3 older men in the bar, and one of them got up to dance with us. He was probably about 70 years old, but let me tell you, he could boogie. His friend was laughing at him, but we probably gave him the night of his life.
The next morning we were off to the monasteries of Meteora. The first monastery we stopped at was actually a nunnery. When we went inside the girls had to put on these really embarrassing skirts to cover up our pants. We took a tour of their chapel and their grounds and saw the amazing views from their home. On the way to the bigger men’s monastery we stopped at a few places to take pictures of the entire valley. We even stopped at the place where one of the James Bond movies was filmed, and our own dare-devil behavior scared Daphne half to death. So what if we all got really close to the edge?
At the next monastery, which was the Grand Monastery of Meteora, we hiked up a bunch of steps and had to put on the annoying skirts again. We walked through their grounds and saw where they buried the dead monks (we actually saw their skulls and bones!) When we had finished touring their chapel we were free to explore the grounds for a little bit. They had a large patio overlooking the entire area of Meteora, and the view was breathtaking. On a few of the rock cliffs there were some people rock climbing, which looked like it would be really difficult. Because the rocks were formed by water, they were really smooth and at a 90 degree angle. I don’t know how they were able to find any hand or footholds in order to climb those things.
Once we were finished at the monasteries we went back to Kalambaka for lunch at a taverna and some souvenir shopping before heading back to Thessaloniki on a 4 hour bus ride. I’m not looking forward to the 8 hour bus ride to Athens next weekend, or the even longer bus ride to Istanbul in 3 weeks, but I know it’ll be worth it.
Today I have a lot of work to do. I feel like I haven’t done anything all semester (I have, just not nearly as much as I’m used to) so I feel like I need to get myself all caught up with project proposals and maybe even get myself ahead in some of my classes. I have a Greek test tomorrow that is covering a LOT of material, so I’ll need to study a while for that.
Hope everything is going well at home! I’ve been a little homesick lately – this is probably the longest I’ve been away from Hollis and my family and friends. While I still talk to my parents almost every day (thank you skype!!!) it’s really hard to stay in contact with friends because of the time change. I love you guys, but I’m not gonna stay up until 4 am to talk to you. I’m halfway through the program and the time is flying by, and I’m sure it will continue to do so. It feels like just yesterday that I nervously arrived in Thessaloniki and started the adventure of my life.
I love and miss you all!
Here's links to some photo albums on facebook!
Prague:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003943&l=093da&id=1326450028
Prague and Berlin:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003944&l=1e045&id=1326450028
Meteora:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004011&l=24044&id=1326450028
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