Halkidiki Beach

Hello! It is my second week of school, and my homework is already piling up. The good thing: I only have these classes twice a week, so I have 5 days in between the first and last :]

This past weekend a group of study abroad students and I went on a boat tour of Mount Athos and stayed the night at Halkidiki Beach. Mount Athos is “The Holy Mountain” and there are 20 Monasteries located around the area, in which only men live. Only males over the age of 18 who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church are allowed to live on Athos.

The next day we spent most of it at Halkidiki Beach, lounging, swimming, and exploring. The weather was perfect, and the Aegean Sea had the clearest water I have ever seen. We bought $2 goggles at a local store and spent at least half of our time floating on top of the water looking down at the sea life (I will post pictures soon!). We packed up and on our way back to Thessaloniki stopped at a cave where the first European human was found. They say he dated back something like 1 million years old. Weird. We saw a replica of how he was found, and his head was attached to the wall, about 2 feet above where his body was, they think possibly because the limestone had “glued” it on. On the way back from the weekend trip we took a little tour quiz to see how much information we had retained and I got 8/10 right; I won a prize!

I am getting used to the Greek life and some of the ins and outs of the city: the bus system, ordering at restaurants, and the crazy schedules people follow here. I know my way to the grocery store, the ATM, the shopping district (duh), and certain restaurants we like to patronize. I have learned that girls don’t wear shorts here, even when running, so I have been subject to many weird looks.

It is nearing election time here, and everyone living in Greece is required to vote in their home town, unless they live 200 miles outside of the city. We were warned about election time, many protests and riots happen, and some of them are targeted at Americans living in Greece. We were told to not attend any of the rallies or protests for our safety. While I was shopping yesterday I walked out of a store to find the air filled with the aftermath of several smoke bombs and protesters covering the streets. Thessaloniki is a safe city altogether, I still felt somewhat threatened by the position I was in and walked as fast as I could in the other direct, which, thankfully, was home. But I was proud of myself: even in my hurried and nervous state, I made it back without getting lost!

I joined the volleyball team here at ACT, which is open to anyone and everyone. There are some who are really good, a few of us who play for fun, and some who have never played before, so it’s a very, very diverse college team. Practice is only once a week, Wednesdays from 5:00 – 6:30 PM and at the end of the year we are going to have a big scrimmage with the high school team. I’m just excited I can keep up on my skills for intramural volleyball, come this spring!

On a personal level, I am finding this place to be very healing and happy. I am doing very well here, a lot better than I had expected. It is nice to meet people and have them like me. That may sound self-centered, but it is true. After Jared’s accident I felt like I lost my personality; that I had lost a part of who I was after he died. Which I think is true, but I also know that I have gone through a lot of healing, and I have been able to harmonize with that and regain some of my “original personality” back. So, to come to a foreign place and have new people accept me how I am, to enjoy being around me and my personality, unaware of my past, is nice.

Thank you to those who have sent me letters – it brought joy to my heart. I LOVE receive mail (hint, hint).

Thanks for reading and I’ll make sure to post more later this week :] I must not be late to volleyball practice!!

Adio!