What a beautiful day!

It began on Saturday. Carrie and I went into Thermi to explore for a few hours. After stepping off the bus I noticed giant bright pots of flowers down a side street. This actually marked the beginning on Thermi's weekly market where vendors from the city and locals gathered to sell and buy fish, produce, clothing, flowers and household supplies. Between the kind old Greek men and women brushing by us with their personal rolling totes to hold their groceries and getting free baklava from a vendor I found myself having a renewed sense of Greece's splendor. This is unlike any place I've ever imagined. It is beautiful and colorful with a culture completely unlike my own. Saturday at the market I bought my first pair of European boots, a black scarf, house slippers, a candle (which I learned later was a cemetery candle-haha), and homemade tahini! A woman who worked in a coffee shop gave me a sample of blueberry coffee. Another shop had all sorts of homemade things and paintings he did himself behind the counter. In his little store Carrie and I discovered in his shop I could buy genuine olive oil soap from Greece :)
Sunday I went into downtown with Nicoletta (a Greek student who speaks exceptional English) looking for the bread festival. Because the bread festival was dead we ended up getting icecream from one of the best places in Thessaloniki. Walking along the harbor with icecream in hand watching the sailboats so lovely. Later Kate's dad (she is a fulbright student here) came in town from Turkey! Micah, Carrie and I met up near Kamara (an ancient giant stone arch Galerius built around 315 BC) and decided to get drinks at a local shop. We found a warm little shop with Victorian crown molding and hookah inspired wall murals. After ordering hot chocolate whiskey drinks we sat and talked about his travels throughout Turkey, Italy, Morocco and everywhere else. After we walked to a beautiful neighborhood downtown known as La Dadica for AMAZING greek food.
Monday was beautifully productive and lovely... my clothes are almost dry! We do not have dryers here and must use drying racks. It has been really humid and rainy and keeps clothes from drying an since there are not enough drying racks it has been extra difficult. This might sound depressing or awful but it is just another thing to adjust to. I find myself chuckling in response to these sorts of things and saying alound "It's Greece!" All in all I've learned that the little things in life that I always took for granted I will now treasure.
Yesterday I met my sweet friend Gea who actually told me about this internship at FSU. She has come for the week to visit old friends. Yesterday we chatted for hours and still have not fully caught up on everything. After I went to the library where I found an English version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!!! I went up to the terrace on the top floor of my building intending on diving head first into Harry's magical world when I noticed the beautiful Greek sun setting over the mountains on the opposite coast over the sea. This sight was unreal and I will soon post pics.
Greece is unlike any place I could ever imagine and this adventure has already changed my outlook on so much and I've only been here 2 months.

Ups and Downs

This morning I walked back from breakfast with the sun on my back as the wind blew in my face. Wearing my freshly bought olive coat I walked down a paved street on campus of the school still thinking about the hot chocolate and chocolate spread that perfectly accompanied my whole wheat bread. It was a lovely Sunday but this morning I really missed home. I miss going to an English speaking protestant church service. Going to church isn't just a Sunday activity for me but part of my identity and today I hit close to rock bottom. On that street I could look to the left and see the Aegean Sea and to the right freshly grown organic plants. Birds chirped up in a tree while I passed the small vineyard. As beautiful as everything was I felt as though the excitement I would normally have felt was muted into a shade of gray. Later at lunch I sat with one of my sweet friends from Albania. She figured out that I was becoming homesick and began telling me how to keep this from happening. Later after lunch she brought me wild tulips she had picked to make me happy.

Friday night I went out with some students to try honey raki. This strong local alcoholic drink is served hot. After sitting around a table in a bar downtown near the Rotunda we headed to the Polytechnia. The Rotunda was built by Galerius in 306 BC and transitioned from temple of Zeus in 305 AD to Christian church then in the 500's became a mosque until 1912 when it became a church again... then the earthquake in the 70's ruined the structure and now it is a museum. At the Polytechnia (engineering school) college students had orchestrated a massive party... in the building. It was pretty crazy. After dancing to a mix of Beatles, Lady Gaga and European techno I put down my favorite forever 21 coat and it disappeared.

The girls that I had gone out with that night asked me to come to their room the next day. At this point I am used to Balkan hospitality and it's never ending measures but this was a new level of thoughtfulness. When I walked into their room they explained how that their friend had gone through her closet and gotten out her coats she doesn't wear anymore. They gave me one of her coats and they all expressed how terribly they felt about me losing mine.

I write this sitting on a yellow couch in a room that belongs to one of my Albanian friends named Toletho. Earlier when he saw me earlier sitting on the floor in the hallway on my computer he invited me to his room to be more comfortable.

Kate, an American Fulbright student here, told me that living abroad is all about learning to ride the emotional roller coaster with grace. I completely agree with that.

Balkan hospitality is unlike any other... and even though I've missed things and people from home it really helps to know so many people here genuinely care.

Relentless Hospitality

I regret admitting this but I can not remember one time when I was completely giving to a total stranger. At FSU when I was a resident assistant I constantly loved on my residents and their friends but this is quite the opposite. Instead of love and generosity flowing from authority to resident here it pours the other direction. Many times this last week I've felt overwhelmed by the amount of things to do. The new building I'm living in was just completed today (minus the standard hot water, electricity, wifi, and blinds) and my responsibilities will soon dwindle down to what will be typical for me. My days were so long and frustrating that I began rethinking if my position here was worth it and then I remembered why I was here at all... for the students. Every time I have come in contact with a student they offer me a homemade treat, coffee or tea. Last week as I knocked on a door to visit some girls they asked me to come in put a cup of frappe (strong iced greek coffee) and an organic Moldovan apple in my hands. I can not count the number of times in the last week I have been offered coffee or tea with cookies. I love these people! The last couple of days I've been sick from some bug I picked up or something I ate. Sitting in my room today I dreamt of a warm bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese. I didn't get any grilled cheesy goodness but I did get some wonderful tea and home made Moldovan wine! The students here are so diverse and international and yet they have created a family. Hospitality is so rich in the culture here that loving on people like family is standard. I really hope that I adopt this mentality of complete giving and take it home with me.  

Lately I've learned a few other things...
-Organic Moldovan apples are amazing!
-Greek washers (for clothes) take around 2 hours
-It gets bone chillingly cold in Greece!
-I'm really good at Texas Hold em... I played with Greek boys last night and for the most part beat them :)
-Google images can be vital when trying to communicate with people who don't speak the same language.
-Tonight I was reminded that I look like barbie... I think it's because I was wearing pink and my hair is really long now.

Kalinichta friends!