GREEEEEEECE

Ya Sou! Ti kaneis; Kala!

Hello! How are you? Good, well!

Greece is beautiful! The people, the language, the culture; its all so different from home, which makes being here even more special.

My trip started with my mom dropping me off at the Portland airport Saturday morning for be to board my flight that took me to Chicago first. In Chicago I discovered that the airline had no record of my checked baggage. Knowing this happens from time to time, I only put my sheets, some shoes and my towels in that bag, and all of my clothes were safely on my back in my travel backpack.

When leaving Chicago, I arrived in Zurich and had a 12-hour layover. I locked my bag in a locker at the train station, took a train into the city, and walked around Lake Zurich Canal, which I think is called Limmat Canal, for hours. I went to a lookout over Zurich, Uetilberg, where on a clear day you can see all of Zurich and the Swiss Alps. Of course it was cloudy and I couldn’t make out much of the Alps, but it was still wonderful!

I went back to the airport for about 2 hours and slept until my flight to Thessaloniki that took off around 10:30 PM. The sky was so clear almost the whole flight, it was super clear and I could see some of my favorite stars and constellations :] As the plane got ready for landing, I started feeling really anxious about being gone for so long, thinking “why did I do this!!” It didn’t help that it was 1:45 AM, and I had been traveling for almost 24 hours straight. When we landed I tried to walk calmly over to the baggage claim, knowing my bag might not be there. I just started praying for my bag; I was tired, anxious, and did not want to deal with filling out a claim… And there it was! It came around the corner and I almost started crying out of relief, but forced my eyes to remain dry.

I walked out into Greece and a fellow ACT student was there to greet me up and take me to my apartment. My roommate, Leslie, was already sleeping so I set up my bed, emailed my mom, and went to sleep. I had all day Monday and Tuesday to explore the city of Thessaloniki, which I will call home for the next 3.5 months. I came here not having many expectations of what the city would look like, what school would be like and how life would be. I have been very happy here for the last 2 weeks. There is so much to see here, different sounds and tastes that I have yet to discover.

Orientation started last Wednesday and our classes started up on Monday. I have Greek 101 Mon/Wed; H.R. Management and Art History Tues/ Thurs. Which means I have my Fridays open to travel and explore the city!

A few things I have learned while here:

1. Ya Sou! Hello. Signomi! Excuse me!
2. Cars do not stop for pedestrians.
3. Dinner is usually around 8:30 or 9, and people start going out around 11:30 PM.
4. An adapter and a converter are 2 totally different things…
5. I rely way too much on other people knowing English.

I will try to be updating this periodically to give you a glimpse of my life while I’m here :]

Adio!

Paige