Frustration, Beauty, and Realization

Today I experienced my first frustration with the Greek culture. Flowers arrived for me on Saturday, however the gatehouse at my college neglected to mention it to someone who could get a hold of me to let me know until today, 5 days later. Now the roses are completely dead. Because the European culture is so layed back letting me know about the flowers was not a priority of theirs. Normally I am all for the relaxed structure, however today it really got to me.

Also, I have a friend here who is also studying abroad who was outwardly discriminated against and was refused a cab ride because she was from America. Her blond hair makes her stand out like a sore thumb here, and the driver refused her service because of where she came from. At first I was annoyed that someone could be so outwardly discriminating of someone by where they are from, but really is it all that different from what we do? Sure, in America our discrimination is much more veiled, but it is definitely palpable. They just are more expressive.

However, the positives of Greece far outweighs the negatives.

Everyday I notice something else beautiful about Thessaloniki. Today when my friend Chelsea and I were on our way home from school and we were looking driving down from a hill towards the city and we realized how white all the buildings are. In the states, in an urban area, everything is black, but here it remains its' purity. Looking down upon the city and on towards the ocean with the sun setting... Mountains in the background.. It is incredible in its' own way.

I think that everyone should make a trip to Europe at sometime or another in their lives, just to see that life is not like the US everywhere else. Sure, in some ways the Europeans envy the Americans, but I think we have just as much if not more of a reason to envy them. The majority of Europeans are very welcoming and outgoing, whereas Americans are out for themselves. Money, money, money. Career. Seeking the "American Dream". Who cares? What about everyone else and just enjoying life for what it is? We all seem so certain about what will make us happy, but along the way we seem to lose focus of what truly matters and lead stressed and chaotic lives in the mean time. Coming here is helping me remember to STOP. Look at the little things. The sunset. Cherishing new friends. how lucky I am to be here. Learning to actually LOOK at what is seen as typical, and think about what it really means.

Yesterday, I was talking to my RA in my apartment and a class friend and they were telling me about the bombing of Serbia, which is where they are from. Apparently the members of NATO (which america was a member of) bombed the shit out of Serbia in the 90's. Inflation skyrocked, the cities were left in ruins, and people fought over loafs of bread. The economy was so bad that it became haggling based for some time. I'm not attacking America for what they did, I'm sure they had some reason for it, I just can't believe that I had never heard about it before. To see how it traumatized these fellow college students lives... America acts like they are so high and mighty and go fix everything they break, but what about Serbia? Ha I realize this was a hardcore random tangent... It's two am and I can't sleep because my mind is whirling... To tell you the truth I love America. I appreciate where I came from. It's just nice to have a different point of view and more knowledge from other sources. It's fascinating.

That's all for now. Off to bed.