and break begins...

Soo... This week began with 3 midterms before spring break truly began. Actually having to study was not fun.. especially because its finally starting to get nice out. Buttt studied away and got through those THANKFULLY and feel alright about it. But it's now break so all is good. Nothing to worry about for 2 1/2 weeks. So wednesday night we all went out for one last worahh with the people who hadnt left for break yet. Its always an adventure going out to silver dollar. Feels like our comfort zone bar. So me chels, brit, and tina went down there with the 2 ponos'. These guys are great and always have a good time. Decided to do a goblet for the 1st time. two shots balanced on top of a glass of beer. Take the wiskey, vodka drops in, and chug. Just a "wonderful" experience. Haha. Tina and I then adventured over to sknipa.. where the rest of our friends were. We danced, listened to greek music and woundered home later that night.

Thursday was the Greek Independence Day where they had a parade. Rich, laura J, Jenna, and I went down to watch it. Of course it started late (I love greece :) ) and it made us all realize how much better our parades are.. haha. well not better but much more entertaining. The parade was a number of different groups of different military units marching. They had pretty authentic outfits which were cool to see but no loud music, floats, or candy :( afterwards everyone was packing and getting ready to go.

We left thessaloniki at 11pm for our train tide to athens. overnight+cramped=not fun. Eitherway we got there.. at 530am. Attempted to sleep in the train station for abit but got poked. That was annoying. So we just went to the airport... slept on and off there but did get chicken curry which always makes me happy. Finally got on our plane to rome. Arrived and went to the train station to go directly to Naploli. Had to take the slow train so didnt get there until around 10pm. It was one WONDERFUL day of traveling.

Friday brit, chels, becky, and I went all over Napoli. We saw many different Beautiful churches along with different historical sites. We had to do a little shopping as well, things here are pretty dang cheap!!! and the pizza is AMAZING!! so thats what we did for lunch. Our hostel owner, Giovanni, is awesome. We pretty much live in his house... there are 24 ppl that stay each night and last night he decided to cook us all dinner. It was really fun hanging out with everyone and having a "family" dinner. After din he took out his guitar and starting playing us songs and making us sing the chorus. It was a HOOT. we also sang hey jude (LOVE IT) and he had a man from spain play and a guy from japan. It was definatly an experience.

Soo today, sunday, got up and made our way to Pompeii. Its amazing to see the ruins and how their city truly was built. Its huge!! The amphitheater was really cool and seeing the casted people was awesome. It is kind of sad to see the positions these people laid in as the volcano erupted but the history is fascinating. I have been taking tooo many pictures but i have to remember everything.

Off to Capri tomorrow for an island and tanning day wootwoot :)

frazzled

This week has definatly been full of ups and downs. Classes and time are flying by its amazing. Midterms next week then spring break starts on thursday! All of our planning is finally going to happen. Brit, Chelsea, Becky, and I are off to Italy for 8 days! im so exited. Then becky's meeting her family and the three of us are heading down to egypt. That is definatly one place i never thought i would go.. but now i am! Although were not doing the typical, all over europe, spring break im really excited to spend some time in both of these places and maybe get a dose of the culture's in these 2 other countries. All i have is 3 midterms to get through and then its 2 and a half weeks of vacation.. Wootwoot!

St. Patty's day was on wednesday. We all found an irish pub and had the time of our lives there. We all wore green, had green hats, and danced the night away. It was a great night where everyone was just happy and enjoying themselves. No drama or anger or crazyy drunkin people doing dumb things. And best part was no hangover for school on thursday. i was actually productive. haha

As good of a week as its been it has definatly thrown me into a shock. Yesterday i found out about a friend of mine from Eau Claire had passed away in a tragic accident. It was very sudden and I still dont know how i feel about it. I wish i could be there supporting my friends who were so close to him. It's a weird feeling being in a place that brings me so much joy knowing about all the pain thats going on at home. That on top of not knowing how to deal with this myself. I have many close friends here but talking about death is always such a sensitive subject that no one truely understands. I'm just going to stay in touch with people at home the best I can. Just letting them know how much I am there for them even though im not physically there is the best i can do and i know it means a lot to them. It makes me realize again that nothing is forever and not to take these friendships as well as past friendships for granted.

Soo... on that note im going to try and go out this weekend enjoy my time in Thessaloniki before leaving for Italy. We were thinking of a day trip so we'll see if that one happens.. I hope so.

Ioannina, Meteora and then somee..

Sooo.... with the crash of my computer :( sad i know its def been a while since i have updated this thing. I think im slowly starting to figure out that this blog thing is deff not the thing for me but im going to keep trying.


So lets rewindddd time.

The wknd of the Feb 28- march 1st we went the visit a cave in Ioannina. It had awesome formations inside. The bus ride also showed some amazing views. When we were going from Ioannina to Meteora we were literally driving on the edge of a clift... and our bus driver was crazzyyy. He was speeding past semis and stuff so i just closed my eyes. The view however was awesome. Meteora is definatly the most amazing place I have ever been. This city has monestaries build into the top of sandstone piler rocks. The way they are built is amazing, having the monks build them up soo high suck a long time ago. It was very cool being able to go through 2 different monistaries and seeing the similaries and differences. I learned a lot about their culture and religion when there also. Their mosques have amazing art work inside that all tells a story. You can just feel the sense of faith when being there. It was so peaceful. I also felt bad at some points because this is these monk's home and place of worship yet there are so many tourists and people just wondering around. It's a shame that such a religious place has been turned into a tourist spot, however I did love being able to be there and understand that part of their culture.

Sooo... besides that trip the following week brought more school and life. Everyday is a new adventure. I love getting up and going for runs by the water in the morning. its a great place to just reflect and have some time alone (which I love :) ) We also go to the open market every week which has become normal now. Its nuts that after over 6 weeks im already becoming so accustom to the way things are done here.

Greek culture truely facinates me. Everything is very laid back which is def a nice change of pace, especially for this girl. Im so used to having to plan out every minute of my life to fit everything in. In Greece though, I feel soo much for relaxed.. and no anxiety at all. Homework gets done at school and then its just being in the city and going where the day takes you. The changing economic issues here also facinate me. The greek economy is definatly not doing well and there have been a lot of cuts to the public sector, and these people have such a different way of voicing their anger. Strikes are just a common everyday thing here. Buses going on strike or taxi's. It's a once a week occurance that you learn to work around.

I also love that when you go to coffee of dinner it is NEVER a rush to leave. You can stay as longg as you want and just enjoy the time you have with the people you are with. Again its just a much more laid back atmosphere.

Ok im going to try really hard to make this a weekly thing from now on!

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!!!

Finally made it to Greece!

So its been quite the days of traveling but at least were finally at a "stable hotel" in greece. We landed in Zurich yesterday at about 11am there time... so 4am for you guys. Slept a whole 3 hours on the plane but oh well. I sat next to this swiss guy and he was really cool talked for a while but mainly watched movies and read.

Once we got to the airport it was quite the adventure.. we had figure out the best/easiest way to get into the city... after talk to people we figured out that it was by train. Then we had to figure out what station, how much (because they take franks or whatever) and then find a locker to store all our carry on stuff. So about you know an hour and a half later we were finally on our 15 min bus ride to the city area.

We got there and started walking around and didnt really know what we were doing because everyone speaks german. haha. so we went back to the station and found a tourist place where we went and asked a guy what was the best thing to do... he replied by circling some roads and churches which we figured was some path to walk so we found the streets and off we went.

Pictures are from Zurich when we walked around for the day!.

The architecture was so pretty... There were these areas off the roads that we made out of like stone and there were huge really pretty churches (dont worry i took pics) after about 2 hours of this wandering we decided we were cold (it was ummm about 30 degrees F and lightly snowing... as i wore my sweatshirt :) so we decided we should probably eat so went back to the train station found a cheap little place with sandwiches and wraps... grabbed one and went back to the airport.

By this time it was only like 330 maybe 4... and our plane left at 1030. so we began to wounder again and try and figure out how to get to where our gate might be. We found some chairs etc so all sat down... rotating taking or attemping to take a nap. Got delirious for a while because so bored/tired/nothing to do. Played cards etc

We finally got on our last plane where i met a "friend" who only spoke greek. haha ya that was funny. He decided we would be friends and had us take a picture together while his 6 friends around him all spoke greek and laughed and i just sat there laughing because i had no idea what was going on. Shoulda heard him try and say my name... i laughed.

Got off the plane about 230am and steph lost one of her bags... so we spent another half hour deal with that. Finally got to the hotel... which is tiny but cute?Finally went to sleep around ohh 5am. Now finally taking on the day at like 5pm... i guess we'll see where this day takes us..