Putting the "Study" in Study Abroad

Last night, strong breeze and cool front rolled in, making the night air enjoyable and the morning even better!  For the first time in a long time, I felt very rested when I woke up this morning, and even had the sheet covering me.  It was such a nice change; hopefully it lasts!
Class was fairly routine.  Our professor announced that our final would be held Thursday morning instead of Friday, which is nice.  Most people have their finals on Wednesday, so they'll all be done and wanting to do fun stuff while some of us are stuck studying.  Plus I want to get it over with.
A few students were asked to stay after class and meet with a woman who runs the study abroad program at a university back home in America.  She is interested in sending some students to different colleges in Greece and stopped by to ask our opinion on our experience here in Thessaloniki and ACT.  The meeting was short, and we got free food (always a plus).  I was flattered that they thought of me to be a good representation of my time here.
After the meeting, I went home and got straight to work on finishing my paper.  Finding the information I needed to complete the research portion took the longest, and is always much more difficult for me than the actual writing aspect.  It took me all night, with a few breaks in between, and I had to miss out on hanging out in the center with the girls, but I finished it!  I tried to reward myself by catching up on the Men Tell All episode of The Bachelorette, but my computer doesn't always appreciate the illegal streaming and shut down in the middle of the episode.
Because they're doing final room checks tomorrow, my roommate and I had to sweep and start packing up so they could do a proper inspection.  I didn't realize how much stuff I brought until I had to start shoving it in my suitcases!
Tomorrow will be another busy day between studying for my final, and going out for Jade's last day here!

Let the "Lasts" Begin

Today starts the last week of classes!  I'm still in shock at how fast my time here has flown by.  It was also the hottest day of the week, at least I hope so, reaching over 104 degrees this afternoon.
Was ready to go about 10am this morning, and Jade and I headed down the street to the post office.  She wanted to get some fragile things wrapped, and I sent off some postcards.  Look for them in a mailbox near you!  Hopefully they make it there before I do!  Came home and blogged for a bit before it was time to go to school.
Class was pretty routine.  We asked if he could change the day of our final to Wednesday or Thursday instead of Friday since most other classes had done that, and so that we could have more time to travel one last weekend if we wanted.  All fingers crossed he says yes!  We always have a break about halfway through class, but today's was especially long- about 40 minutes.  During this time, I walked over to the main building and got an iced chocolate and some toast, my usual.  Although I don't have much choice considering toast is the only food they serve besides ice cream.  After class, we had to stay and take an exit survey to provide feedback for the program.  It was fairly lengthy, but I was totally open and honest with my answers so they would know what they did right and what areas could use some improvement.
Attempted to stay in the library and get some work done on my paper in the AC, but the computers are a little dated and were moving insanely slow so I decided to come home.  Getting started is always the hardest part for me, so it took me a while to get going.  I really need to crank it out tomorrow, because we're all starting to get antsy and trying to fit in a bunch of fun stuff last minute before everyone leaves and I don't want to miss out.  But I finished my book last night so I really don't have an excuse to not do it any more, so I should be able to finish it today.
Tomorrow we'll review for our upcoming final, and I'll have to start packing up some things before they do a room inspection on Wednesday.  Things are starting to wrap up around here!

The Greek Orthodox Church

6:30am came very early this morning.  I was exhausted and didn't want to get out of bed, but forced myself because I knew I wanted to experience church here at least once.  Got ready to go and met the other girls downstairs by 7:20am.  A girl on our program, Rachel, invited us to go with her.  She's Greek and therefore Orthodox, and is also a theology major, so she was our little tour guide for the day and was gracious enough to explain to us what was going on and the reasons behind everything.

As usual, attempting to take the bus anywhere was quite the experience.  We ended up going to a different church than we wanted to because we missed our stop, changed buses to try and go back, then got on the wrong bus, but it was okay.  We attended service at St. Dimitrios here in Thessaloniki, and it was very different than any other church I've ever been to, to say the least.  The outside of the building was beautiful, but the inside was something else.  Wooden chairs with rich, red velvet seat cushions, silver and gold candelabras everywhere, ancient religious relics everywhere, lots of candles, a huge floor to ceiling and wall to wall painting taking up the entire back wall, marble columns and arches making up the walkways; it was truly extraordinary.

I'm not sure of any official names of any of the people or things we did, so bear with me.  Also, because the service was held in Greek, I'm not entirely sure of what was going on.  We got there at 8am, but the service hadn't quite started yet.  Rachel guided us to buy a few candles, and light them for ourselves and others we wanted to lift up.  While we sat down, she went around to all of the icons and kissed their pictures.  She explained to us that they don't worship the icons (although it very much seemed that way), but they use them for inspiration and as a way to communicate to God.  She also said they kissed their pictures, on either the hands or the feet, to show respect.  Throughout the entire service, there was a group of men singing;  I believe they were called "chanters".  There was a lot of sitting down and standing back up, and everyone would make the cross on their hearts after nearly everything that was said.  There was a group of men and boys in white robes carrying large gold crosses and bibles that paraded through the church multiple times.  At one point, the head priest stood up and delivered a message.  Rachel informed us that someone had recently passed away, probably in the past four days, so there was a short death ceremony held just before communion was taken.  A few more songs and prayers finished the service, ending about two and a half hours later.

Taking the bus back was a fiasco, yet again.  We weren't sure where to get off, and ended up riding it to both opposite ends of the city.  Another 2 hour adventure.  By the time we got home, I was starving and exhausted, and could barely keep my eyes open long enough to finish my leftover pizza before taking a nap.  Woke up around 3:30pm to catch up on blogging and attempt to start my paper I have due on Friday.  I rewarded myself with little breaks to read a chapter or two in my book.  I want to finish it because I want to know what happens, but also because I want to make sure to have it done before I have to give the Kindle back!

A few observations about church this morning (I hope this doesn't offend anyone):

-I already knew that the dress code for churches in Europe was very strict, and this was reinforced in Corfu when we weren't allowed to tour the church because we had on shorts and tanks.  Today, we were told to wear dresses that were at the very least knee length, nothing too low cut, and to have our shoulders covered.  Someone asked if we could wear pants, and Rachel said that they would need to be extremely nice dress pants.  Since we're tourists and visitors, open-toed shoes would suffice.  When we got there, there were locals in shorts, in tanks and strapless tops, open-toed shoes, and in pants.  It's not that I had a problem dressing this way, it was just confusing to me.  But I would rather be dressed too nice than not nice enough.

-We were also informed that we couldn't take pictures of the church because that was disrespectful, but some people were taking pictures all throughout the ceremony.  Right after we left, a tour group came in and was taking a bunch of pictures.  I was a little disappointed because it was so beautiful and I don't have any pictures to remember it by.

-There were two gift shops inside the church where you can purchase candles, pictures of icons, keychains, jewelry, etc.  Definitely not used to that.  Also, this seems a little more disrespectful than some other things we supposedly weren't allowed to do, but maybe that's just me.

-I understand that kissing the icons is just a part of their routine, and I respect that, but I can't imagine that to be sanitary.

-When they took communion, people lined up to drink from the same cup (again, can't be healthy) up front, and then took bread from large silver bowls lining the sides of the church.  I found it amusing that most people took at least three pieces of bread; one to eat now and some to stick in your purse for later.

-The non-stop chanting got old very quickly, and to be honest was a little creepy.


Got to Skype with my family and my puppy today, which always makes makes my day and gets me through the week :)

Last week of school and last week here in Greece starts tomorrow!  Crazy how time flies.

Sani Resort and Jazz Festival

Because I was so exhausted from canyoning yesterday, I was able to sleep in until 10:30am this morning!  It felt so good. to finally get some quality sleep in.  Got ready, packed up, and was at the bus stop by noon waiting to be picked up to head to the Sani Resort in Halkidiki!  If you haven't noticed a pattern, I've been to that beach a lot during the past month; 3 separate trips, to be exact.  No complaints, though :)

The resort was amazing!  It was a swanky, 5-star place that was spotted with yachts and lavish house-boats, gorgeous landscaping and crystal chandeliers.  Because it is a more touristy destination, most people spoke English, which was a nice change.  (If you're curious, here's a link to their website:  http://www.sani-resort.com/en_GB)  When we arrived, we headed straight for the beach.  Like the other areas on the beach we had been to, there were umbrellas set up with cushioned lounge chairs underneath them.  However, those were for reserved for paying guests of the resort, which we were not, so we had to use cheaper chairs to lay on and no umbrellas.  If you can't already guess, this lead to a sunburn, but fortunately it was only on my arms.  There was a pretty strong breeze all day, which was amazing and was probably why I didn't feel my skin burning.  The water was crystal clear, the perfect temperature, and shallow until quite a ways out into the sea, which was perfect to relax in.  I spent most of the day in and out of the water, and reading while laying out (I've started The Lucky One by Nicolas Sparks on a friend's Kindle).  It made for the most relaxing day on the beach here so far, despite the fact that the beach was packed- not only because it was a Saturday, but also because it is such a large tourist destination and because of the festival later that evening.

Around 5:30pm, a few of us packed up and headed to the only public restroom to change and attempt to look presentable for dinner and the concert.  You'd think with it being such a fancy place, they'd not only have multiple restrooms, but would at least keep their single one clean.  If you know my issue with public restrooms, you can only assume how well I dealt with that.  Anyways, about half of the group headed to dinner around 6:15pm, because they couldn't fit our entire group of 50+ students and chaperones in the restaurant all at once.  We had to walk quite a ways across the resort, emphasizing just how large the property was.  We passed a bunch of little cafes and restaurants and some tourist shops before arriving at the Sani Beach Hotel (there are 4 hotels on the property!).  There, we went inside and downstairs to the Poseidon Restaurant, where we enjoyed a fabulous buffet filled with nearly everything you can imagine.  For starters, there was a cheese and deli meat section, and a salad bar.  There were tons of main course options, a bread area set up to look like a bakery display, and last but certainly not least, the dessert station.  I tried a little bit of everything and it was fabulous.  I probably ate too much, but it was already paid for, so why not?

After dinner, we headed downstairs to the gorgeous pool area where we were all supposed to meet before heading to the concert.  While waiting, I read some more of this addicting book.  At 9pm, our very large group headed to the top of a hill next to the hotel where concerts and this year's jazz festival was held.  Besides the humidity from being by the sea, it was a lovely time to sit outside and enjoy the night.  I'm not the biggest fan of jazz, but it was interesting for a change.  Don't know if it was part of the show, but there were fireworks over the sea!  It almost made up for missing some on the 4th of July... almost.

By the time the concert ended around 11:30pm, our entire group was dead on our feet.  The bus picked us up in front of the hotel, and nearly everyone put in headphones to listen to music and immediately passed out.  As exhausted as I was, I stayed awake for the majority of the ride home and reflected on my time here.  It's been amazing so far, and I can't believe it's coming to an end!  Got home, took a shower, and was in bed by about 1:30am.

Waking up bright and early tomorrow to head to church!

Canyoning Mount Olympus

I barely got any sleep last night.  I was too nervous I would miss my alarm and have a repeat of yesterday!  Therefore 8am came very early this morning.  Woke up and got ready to meet everyone downstairs by 9am so we could head out and start the day's adventures.  Everyone loaded up in a van and a car and we hit the road;  off to Mount Olympus!

For those who didn't watch the video from yesterday's post, today we're canyoning down Mount Olympus!  Canyoning (or canyoneering, as it's known in the US) is basically making your way down through a canyoning by repelling, jumping, sliding, walking, etc.

We arrived at the base of the mountain and started to prepare for our excursion.  The two guides gave us wet suit socks to protect our feet, and they very much hurt inside my tennis shoes.  On our backs, they tied our helmet and wet suits to our harness.  By this point, we were all anxious to get going!

The trek started off with an excruciating 40 minute hike up the mountain.  Apparently the last half was at a 45 degree angle uphill.  It was rough.  That was was definitely not mentioned in the informational meeting.  By the time we reached the top, we were all exhausted, sweating buckets, and terribly thirsty.  Good thing we had the river with fresh spring water to drink from!  It was honestly the best water I've ever had, so crisp and clean and delicious.  We put our wet suits in the water to get the wet, which was supposed to make them easier to put on.  We all looked ridiculous and it was hilarious.  We were all anxious to get started, but had to go through a short safety lesson before we made our way to the first waterfall.
We were told that this first waterfall was the shortest, but was also the most difficult.  We had to repel down it, but it was wet and slippery and at a funny angle.  Not  at all intimidating at all for a beginner.  I, as well as most of the others in the group, was extremely nervous, but at that point it's not really an option.  I just went for it.  I wasn't very good at first, and slipped a few times before reaching the bottom.  Despite the fact that the ropes were very strong and secure, I was terrified.

After a short walk, we had reached the next cliff we needed to repel down.  This one was dry, but it was 60 feet tall!  I slipped and hit my knees against the rocks a few more times on the way down, convinced I wouldn't be very good at this canyoning thing.  When I reached the bottom, I walked a few steps to another 40 foot drop.  This time, you had the option to choose between jumping off the side, or sliding down the waterfall into a large pool.  I chose to waterslide.  It was so much fun!  The water was absolutely frigid, and hurts going up your nose as you enter, but it's such a nice change from the blistering heat that I wasn't complaining.
To get to the rest of the waterfalls and drops, we had to do a bit more walking through the river.  The part I found most amusing was that I struggled the most with simply walking!  The rocks were usually mossy or smoothed out from the water constantly flowing across the top, making walking extremely complicated.  I slipped in the water more times than I could count, and it kind of became the running joke of the day.  This fact made it a bit scary when I had to get on the very edge of a rock to either jump or get my harness hooked to the rope.

The next waterfall we came across was my favorite.  It was the tallest, probably around 70-80 feet tall, and led into a deep blue pool of water.  This time around, I was determined to make it all the way down without slipping; and I did!  Practice makes perfect, I guess.  The rope was cut just short of the water, meaning at the end you had to jump backwards and just fall into the water.  This water, because it was shaded and was the deepest of the pools, was ice cold and was quite a shock as you hit the water.


After climbing out of the pool, the leaders had set aside some snacks for us in a waterproof container.  It was mainly just granola bars and such, but since we hadn't eaten since breakfast and had been using so much energy we were starving.  I finished my snack and climbed up the side of the rock to where one of the leaders was taking pictures, and decided to be brave and jump off into the pool.  It was scary, had to have been at least 50-60 feet, but fun at the same time and I'm glad I did it.
More walking through the river, or for me falling, and a few more short jumps and repels.  The last area we got to zip line down, and that was really fun too.  We had about a 15 minute hike around the side of the mountain that led us to a small pool where some local families were hanging out and swimming.  We all took our wet suits off and slowly got in the freezing water for a quick swim before heading home.  In the process, I got stung by a wasp of some sort on the finger.  I had never been stung before and wasn't sure if I was allergic, so I wasn't sure how to react.  Nothing happened though, so no worries.
We gathered all of our stuff up and headed back to the cars to dry off, change into dry clothes, and pack up.  It was after 5:30pm when we left!  None of us could believe it took us all day.  By this time, all of our adrenaline had worn off, and we realized how exhausted we all were.  Not a single person was awake for the ride home.  I came home and took a nap before the girls and I went down the street to Roma Pizza for dinner.  I only ate half and brought the rest back to save for later.  Decided to call it an early night tonight.  Not only am I still exhausted from today, but we have another long day planned tomorrow!

Maison Crystal

Somehow managed to sleep through my roommate waking up and getting ready for school, two of my alarms, and friends coming by to knock to see if I was ready to go.  Needless to say, I didn't make it to class today.  Slept until 11:30am, which is exactly the time class starts.  The only explanation I can think of is the heat, which makes me not be able to sleep until odd hours of the night and therefore exhausted come time to wake up in the morning.

When Jade got back from class, we headed to the pool.  We decided to go to the closer one down the street this time instead of all the way across town to Bennigan's.  It was called Maison Crystal, and was obviously THE place to hang out.  Like most of the nice places here in Greece, the decor and outdoor furniture made the place super sophisticated and posh.  I have a feeling that's part of the reason things are so expensive, you're paying more for the environment than anything else.  We accidentally entered through the restaurant part instead of the pool area so we initially thought it was empty, but when we rounded the corner we saw that it was totally packed.  We had to wait for someone to leave before we even got lounge chairs.  The pool was so refreshing and was exactly what the doctor ordered on a scorching July afternoon.  We laid around and chit chat for awhile, ate some overpriced club sandwiches, and relaxed the afternoon away.

Came home and took a quick shower before getting ready for yet another group dinner.  So many people in our group have birthdays this summer!  We walked to a close place called Olive and Lemon, and our overwhelming presence pretty much dominated the place.  Typical.  What else is typical?  We ordered and ate too much food.  It was delicious and cheap, which always makes the food somehow taste better.

The group all went their separate ways after dinner, some going out, some going home, some off to the movies.  A few of us went to the boardwalk to enjoy the breeze and the view.  Talked and laughed until a little after midnight, when I came home and tried to get plenty of rest before tomorrow!  It's gonna be a big day.  Here's a link to a sneak peak at what I'll be doing tomorrow:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f3hBWdwgvs&feature=youtu.be:  

Details of that adventure coming soon!

I Love the Mall

Today may have been the hottest day of the week so far, although they mostly blur together between all of the sweat and heat exhaustion.  It was a pretty typical day:  yogurt for breakfast, cab to school, trying to stay awake through class, awesome nap in the library after.  Right after nap time, we hopped in a cab and headed to the mall!
Jade didn't come with us the first time, so it was all new to her.  By the way, there are two Jades that I hang out with, maybe that will clear up some confusion haha.  The first time I went, we only explored the top floor;  we didn't want to look at everything and get bored since we knew there would be other unbearably hot afternoons we'd want to spend there.  The bottom floor was much different from the top.  There were less clothing stores and instead were sit down restaurants, a pet store, the movie theater, electronic stores, and a book store.  We started in the pet store since we're both obsessed with our little ones- her kitty, Mister, and my sweet puppy, Trina.  I wanted to buy her this cute little pink argyle sweater, but it was too expensive.  I was disappointed that we weren't allowed to play with the bunnies and puppies and kitties, though.  Went to the bookstore next and picked up a book for the flight back- Safe Haven by Nicolas Sparks, of course.  It was so exciting to finally find a place with books written in English!  My favorite stop was in the Swarovski store.  I felt like a little kid in a candy store, dying and drooling over all of the gorgeous, sparkly jewelry and accessories and everything else they could think to bedazzle.  I had to try not to squeal with joy the whole time.  It was pretty much what my dreams are made of.  After exploring for about an hour or so, we went to TGIFriday's for a small snack before dinner.  I ordered a chicken bites something appetizer, but it ended up being a ton of food.  It was yummy though!  Before we left, I went back to a store a bought a cute maxi dress I had seen earlier and couldn't stop thinking about.  Still proud of my self-containment while shopping!
Came home and relaxed a bit before getting ready for dinner.  Almost our entire study abroad group went out together this time, since it was one of the girls' last night here (she had to leave early to go on a mission trip to Nigeria).  We went downtown to a place called Bit Bazaar, a place our business professor and some other students in our class suggested earlier in the day.  They said it was a place where a lot of students and young people gathered.  It was tucked in the center of a bunch of buildings, blocking what little wind there was and making it miserably hot.
Dinner was family style, and of course the Greek people ordered entirely too much food, nothing out of the ordinary.  We started off with a bread basket, a Greek salad, grilled feta, and tatziki, and had chicken souvlaki skewers, pork in red sauce, and Greet meatballs as a main course.  Despite it being a ridiculous amount to eat, it was delicious.  While a few people went out after dinner, I was feeling drained from the heat and just wanted to go home to sleep before heading back to school tomorrow.


Sad I'm missing out on Free Slurpee Day at 7/11!  Can't wait to enjoy one of those when I get back.

Too Hot to Function

I barely slept at all last night.  Looked at my clock at 3:30am and was exhausted, but still couldn't sleep... it's THAT hot.
Went to school as usual, but got smart and decided to take a nap in the air-conditioned library instead of the oven I call home.  It was the best two hours of sleep I've gotten in a while.  After everyone got out of class at 4:30, we headed home on the bus to quickly change into our swimsuits and head to the pool.  The Bennigan's we went to before had a pool (a surprisingly rare commodity here), so we decided today would be the perfect day to try it out.  After getting there at 6pm, we learned that the pool area closes at 7pm.  We were disappointed, but an hour of relief was better than nothing.  In fact, it was amazing.  I was almost chilly when I got out of the pool and cherished all 2 minutes of that haha.  Came home and grabbed some crepes from our favorite spot, Mammy's, before getting ready to go out.  I know, I know, who goes out on a Tuesday night?  Not only is our time here winding down, but it's too hot to sleep, so why not?  Around 10pm, about 6 of us girls went to a little taverna down the road to hang out before we went out as a huge group.  Afterwords, we went to two different bars/clubs.  It was fun, but pretty laid back because it is a weeknight, after all.

Melting, Literally

Today, the temperature reached a high of 107.8 degrees, with a heat index of 120 degrees.  And I don't have AC.  This is supposed to last all week, and in fact, get worse.  The only word I can think of to appropriately describe how I feel during all of this is melting.  At night, I just lay in bed sticking to my sheets, too hot to sleep.
Besides the absolutely unbearable heat, today was fairly routine.  Went to school.  Took a nap (or at least attempted to).  But mostly, I just laid around feeling miserable, as did everyone else. For dinner, 5 of us went to our favorite little place a few blocks down, hoping to escape the heat a little bit.  We had Greek salad, grilled feta, souvlaki (Greek meatballs), and grilled chicken and rice.  It was delicious!  Came back and wallowed in our misery for the rest of the night.  This is such a boring post, but it's literally impossible to do much else.

Ghost Town

Disclaimer/ Clarification:
It has been brought to my attention that somewhere between the pictures I've posted on my Facebook and the stories I've told here on my blog, I've started to come across as a "wild party girl".  If you know me at all, you know that couldn't be farther from the truth.  The nightlife here is huge, and is in all of Europe for that matter.  Drinking alcohol/ going out for drinks/ going to the clubs is a big part of the culture, but in a much different way than in America.  Here, you go to a cafe or bar and only have one-two drinks maximum, and are there for at least two-three hours.  Especially during the week when my days are fairly routine and there's nothing new to report, I'm sure the "going out" part really stick out.  I am by no means going out and getting trashed and making a fool of myself; I have more self-respect and am smarter than that.  That being said, I do go out to those places a lot and try to have fun.  Not only because everyone is doing it and I don't want to miss out, but also because I'm trying to experience and soak up every part of this culture while I'm here and that just happens to be a part of it.  I hope this clears up any confusion there may have been as to what I'm doing and how I'm spending my free time.


As usual on a Sunday, the city of Thessaloniki is pretty much dead.  It's always eerily silent and dreadfully hot.
Also the usual, this is my "be-lazy-and-catch-up-on-everything" day.  I slept in til 1pm today, still exhausted from the weekend.  Back home in the US, I would feel like I wasted my entire day if I slept that late.  But here, the unbearable heat makes it impossible to sleep soundly through the night, so I cherish any amount of sleep I can get.  Laid in bed for about an hour before going down the street with Lauren and Erin to get some lunch.  We stopped at the gyro place, one of the very few places open on a Sunday.  Now that I think about it, I don't ever think I've seen this place closed.  Instead of my usual pork gyro, I got a beef and cheese one, and it was entirely too salty.  I've come to learn that's how they prepare the beef here, not ordering that anymore.  Came back home and read some, meaning I'm procrastinating doing my homework.  It's not due til Tuesday, but I'd like to get it over with while I don't have anything else to do.  Sunday's are also the days I catch up on my blog since we're usually back from trips by then.
It's back to school tomorrow!

I know, I know, none of this is just riveting to read.  Besides our trips on the weekends, things have become almost routine around here.  I can't believe my stay here is almost over!  Only 15 days left before I leave and head back to America.  Such a crazy and weird thought to me!  It will be very bittersweet, that's for sure.  More to come about that later when it gets closer to time.

Beach, Yet Again

Slept in til 1pm today, it was awesome!  Not only was everyone exhausted from the beach, but we were actually getting good sleep for once in the air conditioning.

About half the group headed straight for the beach, while four of us went to the local seafood joint.  Considering it was literally steps away from the water, I could only assume it was delicious... I was definitely not wrong.  The Greek boys ordered for us, meaning we got a ridiculous amount of food.  For starters, we had bread with olive oil, tzatziki, and fried zucchini chips.  Next came out the seafood and main course, which consisted of calamari, octopus, and mussels.  I tried all of them, and the octopus was much better at this restaurant.  In fact, I almost enjoyed it.  The mussels were okay, kind of a slimy texture that I was not a fan of.  But the calamari was incredible.  As usual, they brought us free dessert.  It was watermelon, which I don't care for, and this other weird Greek dessert that I don't know the name of.  It's a weird gelatin thing that looks and feels like sand, bleck.  But I was full from all of the yummy seafood so dessert was almost out of the question anyways.

By the time we got to the beach, there were no chairs near the rest of the group.  Since it was finally the weekend, there were people everywhere, so we just sat in the shade closer to the cafe.  I didn't mind that I didn't have a place on the sand, I was a little sunburned and didn't want to risk it getting worse.  When I wasn't in the water, I just relaxed and read my book.  It was a nice day :)

5pm meant it was time to head back to the house to clean the house and pack up to go home.  I don't know how I managed it, but I got lucky and was able to ride in the car back instead of having to take the bus.  Got home and relaxed awhile before heading to a cafe to catch up and exchange stories with some of the girls that went to Santorini for the weekend.  I'm so jealous I wasn't able to go with them!  But I am very grateful to Alex for letting us hang out at his place for the weekend.

Beach and Club Pearl

First full day at the beach!  The gang woke up around noon and we all headed straight for the beach.  Although the water was only about a block away from Alex's house, we decided to walk over where the businesses were since there were little cafes that had umbrellas and chairs set up for us to lounge around.  Besides grabbing some gyros for lunch around three, the nine of us just relaxed on the beach and in the water all day long.  It may sound boring, but it was very chill and relaxing and I loved every minute of it.

After showering (which was interesting with 1 tiny bathroom for 9 people, 4 of which were females) and getting ready, we went back into town to grab some dinner.  We got toast (aka sandwiches) and crepes at the same little cafe we lounged at during the day.  Since the Greeks, and probably all Europeans, don't go out until around midnight, we hung out at the house for a little bit before heading out.  We stopped at a bar first before heading to a place called Club Pearl.

This place was easily the nicest club I ever have been and ever will be.  It was multiple levels, and an all white setting with an open air roof that was retractable.  There were giant, gorgeous chandeliers, mirrors in cool shapes, and smoke machines lined the walls.  We all had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves.  I was exhausted by the end of the night, we didn't get home til 5am!  Everyone immediately crashed in bed, knowing Saturday would be another long but relaxing day at the beach.

Back to the Beach

Today was a typical Thursday.  Class, lunch, naptime, the usual.  The most exciting thing about today meant that it was time to head back to the beach!

This weekend, a group was supposed to go on a climbing trip to Mount Olympus, but it ended up being cancelled because not enough people signed up.  I may not be the most athletic and can honestly say that I wasn't looking forward to the hiking part, but how cool would it have been to say "I climbed Mount Olympus"?  Needless to say, I was very disappointed it was cancelled.  Those who hadn't originally signed up for the Mount Olympus trip had all planned other trips to places in and around Greece:  Santorini, Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul.  As much as I would have loved to go to all of those places, I was planning on doing the Mount Olympus trip, meaning by the time that trip was cancelled, it was too late to make big plans to go with some of those other groups.

The few of us who weren't going anywhere this weekend got invited by Alex to go to his family's beach place down in Halkidiki.  (Alex is a Greek student at ACT and also works for them.  He basically shows us around, helps us out, and makes sure we all have a good time!  He's awesome and we all love him.)  Alex picked up the girls (Casey, Megan, Jade, and myself) at 6:45pm and we hit the road.  It was only about an hour trip, and it was through the gorgeous countryside with a view of the water almost the entire way.  The other three boys rode the bus and met us there.  When the girls + Alex arrived, we took a stroll through town and just relaxed at home while we waited for the others.  Everyone was starving by the time they got there, so we immediately left to get some food.  There was a little Italian place still open, so we got some fabulous pasta there.  We were all exhausted and it was super late when we finished dinner, so we went back and went straight to bed, knowing it would be a long day at the beach tomorrow!

This weekend, I learned that Halkidiki is the beach we go to, not necessarily the name of the town we stay in.  I'm not sure of the name of it, but this town may be my favorite beach town so far.  It was absolutely tiny, but it was just bustling with life.  Apparently Alex and his family have lived there for years, so he knew most everyone around town.  It was gorgeous and quaint and the people were so friendly and I absolutely fell in love.

God Bless America

Happy Independence Day, y'all!  This day especially I wish I could be at home to celebrate.  Don't worry, our entire group is being "obnoxious Americans" and running around in red, white, and blue all day long :)


Even though it was wonderfully cool and I actually had to use the top sheet, I wasn't able to sleep very well last night, so this morning I slept in as long as possible.  Ate some more yogurt for breakfast before getting ready and heading out to school.  I wore a red shirt with white polka dots, my navy blue shorts with a bow, and my white sandals.  My eyes were extremely heavy all of class, but I made it through without dozing off.  The last five minutes of class, our professor called us up to make our presentation haha.  It went really well, plus it's nice to have it over with and off of my chest.  Now it's time to start preparing for another one next week.  Ate lunch on campus again; they serve the same thing every day, but it's good and super cheap so I don't mind.  Came home and took about a three hour nap, I don't know why I was so tired!  I feel much better now, though.  Went to pick up a few things at the grocery store.  I'm really gonna try to save money by cooking a few simple things at home instead of going out all the time.
Now I'm sitting here blogging.  It's almost time to start getting ready before we go to dinner, a boat ride, and out to celebrate :)  pictures coming soon!


UPDATE!

Jade, Erin, Katey, and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner, it was the most "American" place we could think of haha.  We walked around on the boardwalk for a few minutes before we met up with everyone to go on a boat ride on the harbor.  It wasn't very long, but the breeze felt amazing.  They passed out some sparklers for us!  Afterwords, we all went out to celebrate.  Even from thousands of miles away, we all showed pride for our amazing country.

I Got My Nose Pierced.

Yup, that's right.  I got my nose pierced today.  It doesn't have to be permanent, I'll be able to take it out any time I need to and even let it close up if I want.  It's not that big of a deal, plus I like it.  Sorry if you're unhappy about it, but oh well I guess.  So the end.  Now that that's out of the way...

Just like last week, I was planning on going to the street market this morning, but ended up hitting snooze for an hour instead.  For breakfast, I tried some Greek yogurt I bought from the supermarket last week.  Since I can't read the Greek labels, I just go by the pictures.  This one looked like a cinnamon/ vanilla something, and it turned out to be pretty good.  But by the end of the little bowl, it ended up being too strong and tasting like a candle.  I got to school a few minutes early and was able to read some before class.  We were supposed to do a short presentation today, but our professor talked to much and had to move two groups to tomorrow. Erin was sick today, so it ended up working out just fine.  I finally remembered to snap a picture of Bissell Library, the building in which my class is held.  Ate lunch on campus again today while I waited for Jade to get out of class so we could ride home together.  After about an hour long nap, it was time for an adventure.

Laura, Student Services Director at ACT, has a boyfriend that works at Tattooland, so she sent us there so they would take good care of us.  It was quick and hurt much less than both my rook and tragus piercings (different parts of the cartilage in my ear).  I didn't bleed at all and shed a single tear, but that's typical when you get your nose done.  The girls and I walked around downtown and window shopped (such a tease) for about an hour before heading to our favorite new place, El Burrito.  We're slowly getting used to the Greek thing of hanging out at the dinner table for a long time, and were there just chatting away for almost three hours!  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.  I was able to catch up on the Bachelorette when I got home :)  When I haven't watched it, I can never get on social media sites like my Twitter and Facebook pages because they spoil the entire episode!  Glad to finally be caught up on all of my blogs; it's so hard to keep up sometimes!

Big plans for the 4th tomorrow! :)

Just Another Manic Monday

Another weekend has passed, Monday is here, and it's time for another four days of school.  I was extremely exhausted from the weekend, so I hit snooze on my alarm for about 45 minutes this morning.  Finally got up just before 10am to get ready for school.  Erin and I grabbed some breakfast before hopping in a taxi to campus.  I got a spinach and herb pastry;  yes I did just say spinach... unbelievable, right?  Even more unbelievable, I liked it!  Went to class as usual, but today even our professor noticed how tired everyone was from our trip.  He said he would relax today's lecture a little bit because of it, but I didn't notice anything different.  Between me being tired and the class being hard, it's sometimes very difficult to decipher what he's saying through his thick accent.  We had to stay after class for an informational meeting about a trip in a few weeks, so we ate on campus and had turkey and cheese subs and iced chocolate.  The guys from the company taking us on the trip showed up around 3pm and made the meeting and sign up short and sweet.

Once I got home, I updated my blog some and did a little bit of homework before some girls and I adventured out to the MALL!  In the area that we live in, the shopping is not that great.  Plus it's local businesses so they're closed every day for quiet hours from 3-5pm, and on Mondays and Wednesdays most of them don't open back up.  We stopped in H&M and Zara (these are stores we have in the US, but nowhere close to home so I've never been to either of them) and some other Greek stores I've never heard of.  I only bought a total of 4 things!  Which I am very impressed with myself for that accomplishment, by the way.  After exploring for a little bit, we ate some pizza in the food court.  Some other places looked good and smelled even better, but it's always hard to order when nothing's in English and we feel rude just pointing all the time.  While trying to find the exit in a mall with a confusing layout, we spotted an awesome outside area.  It had fancy restaurants, theater style seating to hang out, and a place with a pool (something you almost never see)!  We could also see a carnival and a church, but I'm not sure if those were part of the mall or just close enough to be seen.

After shopping, it was time to crack down and really prepare for our presentation in class tomorrow.  Even though the presentations are short and aren't a big deal at all, I'd hate to get in front of people and look like I don't know what I'm talking about.  After we finished, the girls and I rewarded ourselves with some ice cream :)  now I'm back in my room catching up on blogs and finishing preparing for my presentation, such an exciting life.

Home Away From Home

11am Sunday morning meant time to make the trek back "home" to Thessaloniki.  We wanted to enjoy every last second in our air-conditioned room hotel room and big beds, so we ended up missing breakfast.  The bus ride to the ferry was short, and we got some pastries there.  Even though the ferry ride was the same length of time, about 2 hours, it seemed to take so much longer this time around.  I don't think I had prepared myself for such a long trip back.

We docked at a port in Igoumenitsa, and drove to a small town called Ioannina.  Our trip itinerary says that "Ioannina is the capital of the Epirus province and an important commercial centre of the North Western region of Greece.  The town is located along the shores of a lake and holds an important place in Greek history during the early 19^th century.  During the Ottoman Occupation, the region was ruled by the wealthy and strong Ali Pasha and became a major intellectual and commercial centre.  The Turkish influence in the old town is apparent, with the narrow lanes flanked by Turkish buildings and the  ruins of two mosques within the old town walls”.  We ate lunch at a quaint little place that overlooked a lake surrounded by beautiful mountains.  It was a very small town, but that was really beautiful.  The pork and green beans were fantastic, followed by a Greek take on ice cream cake!  Definitely the best dessert here so far.  We had about an hour to walk around before it was time to load the bus, but thankfully some tourist shops were open despite it being a Sunday.

I slept the majority of the ride back to the city.  I tried to read while I was awake, but unfortunately that was during the section of the trip where we were in the mountains and we went through nearly pitch black tunnels every few minutes.  Apparently we went through a total of 57 tunnels!  Crazy and cool at the same time.
Arrived back in the apartments somewhere between 9-9:30pm.  I was able to Skype with my dad, sister, and puppy for a little bit before bed time.  I miss them and everyone else so much!  I really do love it here, but I will be excited to be back home with them in a few weeks.


Although the island of Corfu was beautiful, interesting, and fun, it was nice to come home to familiar things.  Another week of class starting tomorrow, bring on week three.

Achilleion Palace

Full-sized beds in an air conditioned, 5-star hotel after two weeks of sleeping on a twin in an un-air conditioned apartment are probably the most comfortable place ever.  When my alarm went off this morning, the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed, but I was excited for the day.  And after the amazing dinner last night, I was also excited to check out the breakfast buffet.  Spoken like a true fat kid.  I was, however, slightly disappointed.  There was no milk (I can't tell you the last time I had breakfast without milk), the scrambled eggs were weird looking and mushy, and the bacon was more like undercooked ham.  I also had pancakes, sunny-side-up eggs, and some breakfast muffin/cake things that were all delicious, so I suppose it made up for it.

The Island of Corfu

Although 9am is a little early after a night out on the town, everyone was excited for our trip to the island of Corfu!  The second largest and the greenest Ionian island, the island of Corfu is located just off the West coast of Greece.  It was Homer’s “beautiful and rich land”, and Odysseus’ last stop on his journey home to Ithaki.

We made a quick pit stop around 10:30am for a bathroom break and a chance for everyone to get some food.  I got a chocolate muffin to eat there, and a ham, cheese, and tomato sauce pastry for later.  To get there, all 50 of us plus chaperones/ program leaders piled onto a giant charter bus and set out for the 4 hour trek through the mountains.  Literally though, we drove through the mountains, as in we went through tunnels inside the mountains.  I've never seen anything like it before.  Although I slept through most of it, I was awake enough to catch a glimpse of the incredible views and to read some (I've started reading "The Help").

Once we arrived at the port of Igoumenitsa, we then had another 1 1/2 ferry ride to get to the island.  I've never been on a ferry before, so that was another new experience for me.  The bus drove onto the back of the ferry, and the gates closed and we immediately took off.  I stayed on top of the boat the entire time and enjoyed the perfect weather and even more perfect views.

At around 3:30pm, we had finally arrived on Corfu!  It took a while for this massive bus to navigate through the tiny streets; there were some times I was convinced there was no way we would make it around such a sharp corner.  The hotel we stayed at was called "Corfu Holiday Palace" and was 5 stars!  It was nice to be pampered in such a nice place, even if it was just for the weekend. 

We somehow ended up a bit ahead of schedule, so there was some time to go to the beach before dinner.  From our hotel, you took the elevator down to -2 floor (SO weird that they do that here!) which was by the pool, and from there you had to take another elevator down the side of a mountain to get to the beach.  It was super tiny so it was a little scary, but still cool.  Unlike the beach at Halkidiki, this beach did have some real sand, but in the sand were much bigger rocks, making it painful to walk on.  We laid our towels out and jumped in; the water was cold and felt amazing on my sweaty, hot skin.  Just like last time, no sea creatures here!  Only lots of sea weed and a few schools of teeny-tiny fish.  Jade and I only swam around for a few minutes before we went back to lay out and I kept reading.  It was such a relaxing evening.  I went back inside a little early so I would have enough time to shower and get ready before dinner.
Dinner was served on the -1 floor on the hotel, and was a buffet style meal.  There was a salad/cheese/deli meat bar, a main course area, and a desserts area; I usually filled up one plate from each area so I could try a little bit of everything.  Because Corfu is in between Greece and Italy, it has a lot of Italian influence, which means there was lots of yummy pasta (something that is not very prevalent in the traditional Greek meal).

9pm meant it was time to load up on the bus to take us all downtown to shop and explore.  We were in such a quaint little town and it was so cute all lit up at night.  I believe the town was called Corfu Town, but I'm not positive.  We shopped around for a few hours before the whole group met up at a cafe/ bar for drinks.  A few of us wanted to stay out even later, so we went to this club called Drops that was right on the port and had a great view at night.  (If you haven't noticed a common theme, you can get a great view almost anywhere in Greece!)  It was super packed but a lot of fun.
Lots of educational adventures on the schedule for tomorrow!

Stain Thursday

Nothing terribly exciting about today.  Woke up around 9am so I could do a load of laundry before we leave for the weekend.  I needed to wash my towels and sheets, hoping that would be the last step to get rid of the weird bug rash (which is gone now, thank goodness!).  The washer is tiny and super old, so I wasn't able to fit anything extra in like I had hoped.  Instead of paying to use the dryer, I just hung everything over the balcony to dry since it's so hot out.
Class was boring, as usual.  Although because we're generally past the basic review part, it is getting more interesting.  When class got out at 2 and we were ready to go home, we found out that the taxis were on strike for wanting higher wages.  This meant we had to take the bus back.   Public transportation here is very interesting, to say the least, and not just because of how crazy everyone drives.  First off, most of the buses don't have AC, just like everywhere else.  So packing a bus full to the point of almost literally overflowing of people who are hot and sweaty makes for one stinky and uncomfortable ride.  It was even worse today since people were forced to take the bus because of the taxi strike.  Took a nice nap, which I'm happy to say is becoming quite routine now, before heading to the center to shop with Erin.  Stopped by a few places, but all I bought was a necklace.  So proud of myself and my self restraint!  After shopping, we got some ice cream before exploring the center a little more.  The lady said the flavor I got was "cream and biscuits", which I finally figured out was cookies and cream haha.  It's so interesting to me that even though we were both speaking English, there was still a language barrier.
For dinner, a few of us girls decided to try a new place down a side street close to our apartment.  It was more of a sit down type place instead of the fast food joints that are along the main road.  We ordered an appetizer of grilled feta, and shared plates of pork cutlet and souvlaki (Greek meatballs).  It was so delicious, the people were so nice, and it was a good price, so I'm sure we'll go back again sometime.  I am gonna try and eat in a lot more this week; things add up so quickly money wise!  Came home and got ready before going out for the night.  We went as a big group to this place in the center called club Stain.  They passed out sparklers for everyone to light at the same time, it was so cool!  Here's a picture of Erin and I at the club, it was so packed that we had to stand on the speakers!  Notice my new necklace :)  It was a blast despite hot unbelievably hot it got in there.


This weekend is our trip to the island of Corfu... updates and pictures coming soon!

Bug Invasion

I wake up literally every morning covered in new bug bites.  I currently a minimum of 20 all over my body, including 4 on my face.  How does that even happen?!  That's a new one for me.  I started getting them on the beach trip to Halkidiki last weekend, but I knew they were an issue there.  I bought bug spray before that trip but forgot to put it on until it was time for bed.  Saturday afternoon in Halkidiki, I noticed a terrible rash completely covering my arms and legs, but just assumed it was heat rash.  So for the rest of that day I put on extra sunscreen and relaxed in the shade.  This morning, Wednesday, I woke up with the same rash.  It was actually really cool Tuesday night, so a heat rash didn't seem to add up.  It was when I remembered that I had used the bug spray for the night all over my body and even on my sheets that I put two and two together and assumed it wasn't a heat rash, but an allergic reaction to the bug spray.  Which means I get to choose between getting eaten alive by bugs in my sleep, or wake up looking like a leper... Awesome.  I'm gonna wake up a little early in the morning and go see if the supermarket has a different brand and try that.  But until then I'm taking Benedryl and trying to sleep it off; it usually goes away fairly quickly. (PLEASE don't freak out about this!  It doesn't hurt or itch or anything besides look really ugly.  I promise I'm fine :) ).

So besides the fact that I look like a diseased child, today was pretty normal.  Woke up earlier than usual to take the free shuttle to school, and slept in the basement of the library until it was time for class.  Our group presentation went pretty well, it was no big deal really.  Even though the material is difficult, I've heard that he's the kind of professor that is fairly laid back and just wants your participation more than anything.  We usually get about a 20 minute break the last hour of class, which is nice and helps keep me awake.  After class, Erin and I grabbed some lunch pastries at a little bakery just around the corner from our apartment.  Besides chicken, not too sure what else it had in it, but it was flaky and yummy.  Lots of carbs in the Greek cuisine, so delicious and dangerous.  Took some medicine and a nap to try and help the rash go down (it helped a little but not totally gone).  A bunch of girls were craving burgers, so we ventured over by the airport to the local Bennigan's.  Yes, Bennigan's.  I don't like that place in America, so I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea in a foreign country.  Ordered a bacon cheeseburger, but apparently bacon here means ham.  *sigh*.  It was not worth it.  I'm home now and am doing some laundry the ghetto way, aka in the sink, before I take another dose of Benedryl and hopefully sleep off the rest of this stupid rash.

I love being in this lively city, but am always very grateful for the weekends that are full of travel and fun.  Much needed!

Wishing it was Taco Tuesday...

Tuesday mornings there is a farmer's market a few blocks away and I was really excited to go check it out this morning, but I woke up with a massive headache.  I decided I had a few more weeks I could still make it, so I went back to sleep for a little bit.  Thankfully, the headache was gone when I woke up.  I went to the supermarket today to pick up some more milk and some detergent so I could to some laundry before our trip this weekend.  It was nice to run errands this morning before it was deathly hot out, even though the fairly short walk still made me sweat a little bit.  Got ready and went to class as usual.  Took a "quiz", but it was much different from the quizzes I've ever taken.  It wasn't graded or even taken up, and we went over it as a class when we were finished.  What makes this class most difficult is that although we understand and can follow what he's talking about, it's close to impossible to answer his questions.  I know I'm not the only one; we don't get what he's asking or where he's going with the question.  Grabbed an iced chocolate (basically a hot chocolate with ice) and a grilled turkey and cheese sub on campus for lunch.  Came home and did some homework, we have a case study to present as a group tomorrow, and took a short nap.  Four of us just now went to a place called El Burrito (haha!) to scout out a Mexican food restaurant because we've been craving it!  Don't get me wrong, Greek food is absolutely delicious, but some variety every now and then is always nice.  My quesadillas turned out to be pretty yummy.  Definitely hit the spot.
Because today was the hottest day of the week (hopefully that doesn't change), I feel super sticky and can't wait to take a shower.  Hopefully I can find the latest episode of the Bachelorette online somewhere to catch up, and then call it an early night.


More to come tomorrow!

First Full Week of Classes

Today began the first full week of classes.  I feel like these posts have become so boring!  My apologies in advance.  I will say though, it is nice to feel like we've finally settled in a little bit and are on some sort of routine.  Went to class at 11:30am as usual.  Although it's technically considered a management course, it most definitely should have been called economics.  Not only do I hate economics, but it's definitely not my strong point.  But this is the only class here that would give me any credit, and since it's a short summer session, I know I can do it!  It's just so hard to pay attention when you can see the sun shining through the windows and know you're missing out on a beautiful day exploring a fascinating city where you find something new every day.  Grabbed a crepe for lunch at our favorite spot called Mammy's and came home for the afternoon.  I tried to be a good student and look over the notes from class, but it's just too dang hot to study.  So, logically, I took a nap instead :)

Later on, while I was planning to stay in for the night, but everyone was talking about going on the boat ride around the Thessaloniki harbor, and I obviously didn't want to miss out.  A few of us were told we were going to take the 11:00pm tour, so about five of us were ready about 10:30 so we could walk to where the boat picks you up.  Too bad our group is the most unorganized group of people ever.  Because we're spread out between two different buildings and multiple floors, communication and planning always seems to be a mess.  While the five of us were waiting downstairs, we were informed that people wanted to do dinner at 11 and then the tour at midnight.  So instead of dinner, we decided to hang out on the boardwalk and meet everyone there... which, of course, never happened.  As we were walking there, we got distracted by this really nice cafe/bar that overlooked the harbor and decided to stop by for a drink.  Even though the night air was cooler, walking such long distances always seems to make you sweat.  We had such a good time laughing and just hanging out, it was really nice.

(PS- sorry for two posts in a row with no pictures! hopefully something eventful and picture worthy will happen soon!)

Also, I keep forgetting things I want to mention!  Just a bunch of random observations I've made about the city and culture over here.

-Greece runs on a cash economy, so not only do most places not take credit/debit cards, but they seem almost upset with you when you don't have exact or almost exact change.  Which is hard when you withdraw from the ATM and it gives you a bunch of 50s!

-I've been seeing the forecast back home in Texas, I know it's really hot over there.  While it's usually less than 100 here, it's a different kind of heat.  Because we are in a big city, it's pretty much solid concrete everywhere.  And since space is at such a premium, everything is built on top of each other, which means little to no breeze.  Add on to that the lack of A/C, and you're sweating pretty much 24/7.  IT'S HOT.

-While it may be the second biggest city in the country, Thessaloniki is not a major tourist destination.  I had never heard of it before until I started looking into the study abroad program here!  This means most people don't speak English like they would in more touristy spots.  But again, I'm learning how to say a few things.  Plus people who work in businesses usually do, and that's usually all I need.  I think that's another reason everything shuts down from 3-5pm every day and all day Sundays.

-Not only are the drivers here literally insane, but they're honking all the time!  For seemingly no reason at all.  The driving scene is a total disaster.

-Before I came, I was told that Europeans dressed much nicer on a daily basis than Americans do, aka no jeans and t-shirts or nike shorts.  I've found that to be partially untrue here in Greece; a lot of people are dresses fairly casual doing the day to day activities.  That being said, even with casual outfits, the majority of the women here wear heels (especially wedges) ALL the time!  Don't get me wrong, you know this girl of all people loves a great pair of wedges, but I can't imagine doing the type of walking we do here in shoes like that.  Especially with the streets all torn up in most places like they are.  No thank you.

-The interior design and furniture here is AWESOME!  It's super modern and funky and I love it. The mirrors, chandeliers/ lighting, and chairs are what stick out most to me.  If I could afford to buy and ship stuff to decorate my entire house in the great things they have here, I would be more than content.

Typical Sunday

Sundays in Thessaloniki are extremely lazy.  First of all, almost everything is closed.  It's even hard to find a place open for a quick bite to eat.  Secondly, it's ridiculously hot over here.  Since we're usually back from our trips by then and can't go anywhere because it's all shut down, we're left to bake in our rooms.  My roommate and I joke that we're getting really close really fast considering we usually run around in as little clothes as possible to try and stay cool.  Because it's so hot out, we leave the door to our balcony open to circulate the air.  (Just to clarify, we live on the "first floor", but that is different from the ground floor.  Living quarters are usually above the small businesses.  We're on top of an empty billiards place.)  The outside noise from people starting to get going in the morning usually wakes me up earlier than I would like.

Honestly, for the majority of the day, I just laid around in my bed alternating between napping and doing absolutely nothing.  And I must say, it was pretty awesome.  Around 5:30, a few of the girls went to hunt down some food.  Finally found an open place with quite a few people sitting around, so we assumed that was an indicator that they served pretty good food.  Looking back, I now know it was more likely because they were one of the very few places that were open.  The food was super salty and didn't really taste like anything.  As much as I like the gyro and crepe places close to our apartment that are considered "fast food", I really love when we get a giant group of us to go out and do a family style dinner at a nice restaurant.  The food is much better, still cheap, and it's much more fun that way too.

While we were finishing dinner, it started raining!  None of us thought we'd see that on this trip.  You'd think I'd be used to the lack of rain being from Texas and all, but it was very much welcome.  It was much cooler for the rest of the night.   The girls from dinner talked about going to see a movie around 9pm, but it ended up just being Jade and I.  We saw "What to Expect When You're Expecting"; it was really cute and funny!  But also made me tear up a bit... I'm such a sap.

Like I said, literally nothing exciting happens on Sundays.  I'm usually alright with that though after the hustle and bustle of the school week and traveling on the weekend.

A few things I forgot to mention in my posts about the weekend that I thought were interesting:

-I put on lots of sunscreen and I didn't get sunburned!  If you know me at all, you know this is a fairly big accomplishment for being at the beach for 48 hours.  Still managed to get a little tan though; also a feat to be proud of.

-There were almost NO animals in the sea.  We saw a few sea urchins stuck to the rocky areas, and a few tiny schools of tiny fish, but other than that there were literally none.  It was also interesting because the little fish were practically invisible to blend in with the clear water, where back home they're darker to blend in with our dirty, murky water.  Halkidiki beach was on the Aegean Sea, and this weekend when we go the opposite direction to an island it will be on the Ionian Sea, so I'll be able to compare and see if that makes a difference.

Tomorrow will be the first day of a full week of classes!  This probably means nothing terribly exciting will happen, but, when in Greece...