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...