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.