Γεια σας, Θεσσαλονικη!
- swbennett97
- Jun 22, 2017
- 4 min read
Hello, Thessaloniki! After a brutally long flight, I made it! My journey began late Wednesday night (how has it already been one week!?) when me and my travel buddy, Natalie (who also goes to Illinois State University), were greeted with gusts of sand-filled winds after exiting the airport; locals told us that storms like this pass through about twice every summer. Thessaloniki has presented us with a (literal) whirlwind of fun ever since! I have made a great group of friends, including Natalie and my sweetheart of a roommate, Darian. Classes started on Monday after orientation and a quick trip to the beach. We took our Mercedes Benz buses to Chalkidiki, where it was a little cloudy, but the Aegean Sea still proved to have the clearest waters I have ever stepped foot in.
Once we got home from the beach, we learned that Thessaloniki was hosting its sixth annual Pride Parade. I was so excited to participate in my first march of any kind, and I made friends with some great people in the process. All the rainbow flags were gone and waved by the time we got there, but we had fun with glitter face paint and trivia games. Fun fact: the apple was chosen to be the logo for Apple computers because Alan Turing, the man behind the algorithm that helped to decrypt Nazi codes during World War II, used a poisoned apple to kill himself after having to choose between imprisonment and chemical castration. If you have not yet seen The Imitation Game, I highly recommend it; the movie depicts the sentence Turing had to face due to his homosexuality, despite the millions of lives he saved with his invention.
My new friend, Tori, wanted to "pick up a girl"...maybe I took it too literally?
To wrap up our first weekend in Greece, we visited the Royal Tombs of Vergina on Sunday. Vergina was originally "Aigai", the first capitol of Macedonia, where Alexander the Great reigned. Here, we visited the Museum of the Royal Tombs, a UNESCO world heritage site, which houses the ancient structures that were built as King Philip II's and Alexander IV's graves. Unfortunately, pictures inside the museum were prohibited, so I can't show any of its beautiful artifacts. But if you ever get the chance to visit, don't second guess it. Sitting in front of the marble doorways of the tombs will blow you away. These incredible structures bring you back 2,300 years and let you imagine what life might have been like in the time of the Macedonians. We also perused the outdoor gift shops where I bought a tiny bottle of ouzo (drinking age is 18!). The classic Greek liquor is made with anise, and you can definitely tell; if you love black licorice, this is your drink!
Before I dive into classes, some observations of the city: Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, and the amount of coffee shops proves it (one per every nine people!). Parking is crazy, there are bakeries and boutiques everywhere, and dogs and cats own the place. A city with coffee, food, and dogs? It's the place for me! On one of our first nights here, my new group of friends and I met one dog in particular that seemed to take a special liking to us. Despite our lack of food he came right up to us and walked with us for fifteen minutes from the boardwalk all the way back to our apartment- and continued to wait there for us for another few hours. It almost seemed like he knew the way and was leading us back to our temporary home. We fittingly named him Zeus before another stray tagged along, whom we later dubbed Athena.
But the best thing? Food. Souvlaki. Baklava. Gelato. And last, but far from least, gyros. Y'know those piles of lamb toppled upon pita with plenty of spices? Yeah, those aren't gyros. Your options here are pork or chicken, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Like every other ethnic food, the Greek gyro was highly Americanized by adding (a rather un-American meat, in my opinion) lamb. But here in Southern Europe, we get the good stuff. My diet has consisted of at least one pure Greek gyro every other day since I've been here; what am I going to do when I get home!? For those of you that are not feeling the pita bread full of meat and french fries, you'll be sure to find some other food that fits your fancy just around the corner- any corner.
At 10:15 AM on Monday, our bus came to pick us up for our first day of classes. It was like kindergarten all over again. Everyone was so excited, but also a little nervous (at least I was) to start they're classes with new teachers and classmates. But everything proved to be even better than kindergarten, and I've already learned so much. For example, in my Greek language course, Σπουδαζω στην Θεσσαλονικη. To you, "I study in Thessaloniki". My mythology class is taught by a rockstar. Yes, you read that right. He is in a world-traveling band called "The Gang". All of his students have been invited to his concert next week and you know I'll be there; more on that next week. Also, we get to watch Hollywood movies (300, Troy, Clash of the Titans) as educational videos. Any questions as to why it's the best class I've ever taken? Okay, didn't think so.
After my first eight days in Thessaloniki, I can say that without a doubt, I will never forget these next four weeks of my life and they have only added more desire to travel the world.'Til next time!
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