CATCH UP!

Time has definately been flying by. I haven't written on here in i want to say 2 weeks?

Soo we'll play a little catch up. This this start of our third week of school. Classes seem decent. My international econ class has already started to really inform me of whats going on with the world. I have always kind of known but as we discuss more and more i feel like im starting to actually understand this recession thing and how its effecting not just the US but ppl all over the world. We always hear about it but its such a different view from a different place in the world. Im also in this art class and lets me honest I have never really been the artsy type but my prof is making me respect art soo much! It's nice to have appreciation for something new.

So besides school Thessaloniki is wonderful! It has been raining on and off for the past 2 weeks which has been annoying but we get out and go out and do things as much as possible. Some main things that have been happening are:

1.We have a new "fav" spot at a bar called silver dollar, know the bartender as well as some of the ppl that go aka Panos our friend. It's been a lot of fun ending up there at the end of the nights with a bunch of people i like with.
2. rewind to Valentines day... a group of 10 of us went out to teverna for a "romantic" dinner. Awesome food i must say. We then went to a bar down the street which was fun. Wondered the city for a while and ended up at the silver dollar. That was probably one of my favorite nights so far being here. Its been a lot of fun getting to know people from all over the US and the greeks.
3. The following day (monday) was a greek holiday so we didnt have school... which was awesome! We went down by the water and walked around for a lonnggg time. Sunny days are just so gorgeous all you want to do is be outside. I tend to end up on 4 hour walks down random streets with richie or britt or anyone. Its nice to be ableto know its February and i can run around town in a long sleeve shirt.
4. Friday we went to this bar and seperated from chels and britt after and me and rich were wondering streets (which is what we alwaysss doo) and decided to go to a regae "rasttaaaa" bar :) haha we went inside and found out one of the greeks we know was there with his other friends. It was a really cool experience because their english wasnt very well and our greek isnt very well so communicating was a bit challenging. It was fun to be in a different enviornment tho and just be able to talk and chill out. Caitlin and Callie would have lovvedd this place :)
5. We went to a rock concert for the bartender john on saturday night. It was a good time except i couldnt understand any of the songs... except the 5 they played in english. Eitherway it was a cool experience. Ended the night a little early (around 3am) because i was sooo tired.
6. Sunday was a really fun and random day. I woke up and richie called asking if i wanted to go to Dimitris house (one of our greek friends) for the day to do homework and hangout. I was totally game so we went out there. It was such a different feeling that i havent felt since i have been here. Its been a long time since i was in a families home and it definately made me miss mine. His family was really nice even tho they didnt speak much english. I felt really lucky to be invited into someones home like that.. it was so comforting to be in a quite place more outside the cities that had the "family" atmosphere.

Yesterday when i got to campus i found out i had a letter... first mail since i have been here... it was a valentines day card from my sister... i was so excited and surprised i almost started crying (but i didnt cuz i dont cry :) ) it was soo nice recieving a little peice of familiarity... seeing her handwriting haha im such a loser.

Im going to try and be up to date posting just random things on here from now on... pics etc. I'm also verryy excited for the weather to get nicer and to be able to be in the sun. This weekend we are going to Meteora to see the monistaries. Its one of the trips i have really been looking forward too. We have also been planning out spring break. Me chels britt and becky are going to italy for a week, then Becky is meeting up with here family and the 3 of us are going to EGYPT!!! AHHH i cant WAIT to see the pyramids :)

This place always has a new adventure in store for the next day.. i miss my friends and family back at home and think about them daily but im definatly making the most out of this crazzyyy life im living inn :)

Crazy carnivals and tombs.

So thursday night we ended up going to that carnival thing which is actually like their haloween? anyways everyone was very dressed up so i was determined to take pics with everyyoneee! people definatly had some crazy costumes. I figured i would invest in what became the best wig every and rock out with my purple sunglasses. Epic night. We saw a concert went to a club that seemed just like a house. It was sweet...then ended the night with a gyro.

On friday we went to see the tombs of alexander the great's father. It was really interesting and the things we saw were sooo old. After going threw the museum we had lunch ata cute little restaurant and went back to Thessaloniki. We stopped at a few historical spots around the town and went back home. That night all the study abroad ppl met up at a tervina restaurant and had a 12 course meal of alll sorts of authentic food. It was sooo delicious but i literally thought i was going to throw up afterwards. Didnt do much that night because of being so tired.

On saturday we hung around the apartments because it was verryy rainy. We did a littlegrocery shopping but nothing exciting. Then that night we went to a club called dogs right on the water. It was verry packed and a loott of fun. We all danced the night away while all the greeks stared because they dont dance like we doo. We adventured back home at around 5am and decided it would be a great idea to stop at the ice skating rink in the middle of town. We all jumped the fence and ran around on the ice for a while.. it was a blast. Came back home and decided it would be a great idea to skype everyone and anyone. Thanks for talking to me Dan's and Samantha Quayle :)

Today we have just been hanging out... Richie made up a deal with a cafe near our apartments so were going to get all the study abroad students to go out tonight and watch the SUPERBOWLL :) its playing here at 1:25am so its prob going to be another late night... then start classes tomorrow... wootwoot.

First couple days!

So... we finally moved into our apartments on sunday. In our building its pretty sweet how its set up. Met a LOTTT of new ppl who are all pretty awesome. After we unpacked a goup of us went out with a guy we met who was here last semester so he showed us around during the day named richie. It was suchhh a big help. Thessaloniki is sooo beautiful and there is so much history right downtown its pretty awesome. We ate lunch at this tervina which had amazing foood

We also walked down by the ocean which was sweet too. This is place is definatly not what i expected but i still love itt! So last night we also went out with some ppl in our building. We met greek guys that are friends of the guy who showed us around which was a riot. They laughed with us and taught us some greek. i learned how to count to 3 and say purple :) ya impressive i know!!

I also tried ouzo finally which wasnt that bad. We left our apt and wandered around... stopped at a bar but wasnt very busy because it was a sunday night. We ended up eventually coming back and all just hanging out in a friends room.

on monday we woke up and went to do some grocery shopping. We went to this green market.. which was just like a farmers market back home so we baught all sorts of fruits and veggies. It was definatly a crazy enviornment.

This week has just been flying bye... i have been trying to finish this post since monday. Orientation started yesterday (wednesday feb 3) it was pretty boring but the campus tour was helpful. Afterwards we came back and 5 of us went on an adventure up the hill behind us.. The view at the top was amazing. We could see the entire city then the ocean and the mountains in the background. It was also where the castle I see out my window everyday is :) We also saw this amazing church!

Ok gotta get ready to go to some crazy carnival party... finish this tomorrow!!!