Ciao!

I'm in Italy!

It was a full 24 hours of traveling to get to Naples between the airplanes, trains, and buses oh my! We arrived at our hostel at about 10 pm friday night, and were created by Giovanni. Lets just say there is a reason that his hostel is rated top ten in the world. It is cheap, and he is very welcoming. He made us a map of sites to see, and what not see. Apparently the mafia controls a good third of the ton and he put a big x on the area, telling us not to go there. Personally I think the whole mafia thing is fascinatig and i would love to chill with them.... haha. Sam and I decided that wer were going to join, or at least have boyfriends in the mafia.

Our first full day here we followed the site seeing guide he provided us. We saw a few churches, did some good shopping, saw a castle, and had some bomb pizza. Sam and I toold a ridiculous amount of pictures with graffiti on the walls, my mother will be so proud! :) We also went to see a tunnel that is under the city. The first part used to be an amphitheater and a stage for the actors that was not discovered until 11 years ago and its 1200 years old, and another portion was greek aqueducts. This were pretty cool! These were used later in 40's as bomb shelters. There was one part of the tunnel that we could only see our way through the use of candles. I fell down of course! haha. I also bought a small purse, a dress, and a pair of boots earlier that day! That evening Giovanni made us dinner and played us songs on his guitar. He is truly an interesting specimen.

Today we ventured to pompeii! Definitely a place worth seeing. We all took an obscene amount of pictures and got a little rosy. Tomorrow we are going to the island of Capri and having a beach day :) it will be a very nice change from all the running around that we have been doing! Less expensive as well, I'm pretty sure my wallet is crying silently... Tuesday we are off to rome for the colleseum, Wednesday the Vatican, and then not really sure of our plans the next few days after we part with Becky... We shall see! Love Italy but I miss Greece already. I consider it my home. I'm pretty sure my heart is Greek and my genetics just got screwed up. Thats all for now, there are only 2 computers at the hostel had to make it quick!

Close Call

Sooo.... I've decided that by the time I leave Greece I will get hit by a car/motorcycle/moped at least once. Today was a very close call... I woke up early to go for a run before class, and when i was walking through some traffic where they had a red light a motorcycle stopped an inch from me. I didn't see him because I was walking past a bus and he was weaving around cars... haha needless to say I screamed and my heart jumped out of my chest a little. I'm pretty sure leaving this country without a collision is unavoidable because absent-minded me + crazy greek drivers = baaaaad.... haha. At least I am prepared for it!

So last weekend when I was shopping I saw two very interesting things... The first was a group of junkies smoking pot in the middle of the street in the afternoon. I asked one of my Greek friends later why they do not get in trouble and apparently everyone here has close connections with the cops. As long as they know you you don't have to worry about any consequences. You just stop what you are doing if they are around and they dismiss it. I thought that was interesting because Greece seems to make such a big deal about being totally against drugs, but the government is so corrupt that they do nothing. It is just interesting to see how things work in different countries, I wonder if people look at everything wrong with the US when they come to see us!

The second interesting thing I saw was a man laying in the grass on the side of the sidewalk. At first, I payed no mind to him, but as I passed him Sam and I realized that his pants were down to his knees and he was DEFINITELY exposed... All I had to say was wow. Middle of the day, busy area, no one does anything. I love the Greek attitude of no one caring, but I could have gone without seeing that!! hahaha.

So last night I starting looking into grad schools... Boy is that a bucket of stress all over again. I'm thinking about coming back to Greece after I graduate from Eau Claire in spring of 2011.... More like I'm just entertaining the idea... Aristotle University which is like a block from where I live now has a Graduate Program in Social Psychology. I emailed the school to see if it is even a possibility and also emailed my psych professor here to see where some other Psych Grad Schools in Greece are.I realize me coming back for grad school is VERY unlikely but a girl can dream!! I also started looking into Grad schools in the Twin Cities, Chicago, and L.A. I am determined to go to grad school in a big city so I can do an internship there and end up staying. We shall see. So much to do! Sorry for all the letters from grad schools you are going to get in the mail Mana!! (mother) I get to see my parents a week after I get back I'm very excited! Showing them around the city and introducing them to the Greek culture is something I have been looking forward to since they bought their tickets!!

Leave for Athens tomorrow night... Ecstatic :) Italy the next morning! Watch out world here I come :)

Tonight I am going to hang out with some Greek friends, do some laundry, and perhaps pack... hahah no I'll pack tomorrow... Oh how I adore the Greek ways! I'm starting to get really attached. Can I just stay forever?
I'll try to write a post while I'm in Italy or Egypt... We shall see...
<3 Brit

Here the picture of my new tattoo as promised. I adore it. Only 100 euro which suprises me. Sorry mom... I did not want you to see it until you had to but...

The picture on the left was taken on a walk way at my school. Beautiful right? The ocean and mountains are in the distance. This overlooks Thessaloniki.

So the past few weeks? Crazy. I leave for Italy on Thursday night. Can't wait!! Egypt after.. I was looking up the dangerous animals in Egypt.... Eeek Camel spiders, scorpions, and snakes galore! the whole giant spiders thing makes me a little nervous... I may have some troubles sleeping. However, I am ecstatic about riding a camel at the pyramids though :) With the pyramids of Giza and the colleseum I will be visiting 2 of the 7 wonders of the world over spring break! Not to brag or anything... :)

This Wednesday was St Patricks Day. Somehow I lucked out and had all my classes randomly cancelled on Thursday and I never have class on Fridays so Wednesday I went out to celebrate. There was an irish bar here that threw a huge celebration and basically every study abroad study from ACT went. It was a BLAST! I got to talk to friends that I rarely see at school, which was nice. There was lots of free shots and hats, and my friend Melissa was even given a really nice Jameson glass!! Overall, it was a good night, even though the majority of us had a bit too much to drink. We brought a few of our greek friends with us to the bar. They had never heard of the holiday before. As we tried to explain it, we realized we didn't really know much about hte holiday, just that we use it as a reason to drink in America and wear green. They kind of thought we were crazy! haha.

Friday night I went to my first party at the local university with several of my greek friends. They all attend that university. Now that is an interesting experience. The campus is covered with graffiti, and cops are not allowed on campus, so as you can imagine there are all types of illegal things going on out in the open... Very interesting nonetheless, I would not mind going to one again!

Last night i went to something called a Bit Bazaar, which looked like I had walked into The sisterhood of the traveling pants. There were dozens and dozens of chairs and tables set up outside and in restaurant/bars where people just drink and eat a little. Conversing. Ouzo is very common at these gatherings, which I think is a very gross, strong white drink that tastes like black licorice. I chose to remain sober.

Tuesday I have my first midterm. I'm a little nervous, but glad that I am getting one done before we leave for Spring Break for two and a half weeks. Recently I have been learning many phrases from Greek friends:

endaksee=ok ya sou= hello ya mas= cheers malaka= asshole

to ksero= I know poso kanis? = How much? Pos = what

te kanis? How are you kala, esi? = good, you? kalimera= good morning

adio= goodbye

and many many more!! It is very nice knowing greek people because I can ask them anything!! I only wrote them down here because I would like to be able to remenber them later.

The weather is gorgeous here. This week I sat out on my friends balcony for 45 minutes because it is just getting so nice. 70 degrees tomorrow!! :) Although I would like to write more, I really need to start studying for my Psychology exam.... Hopefully I'll get a chance to write again before I leave this week!

<3>

Greek Apathy

So I think it is safe to say that my writing on here will never become constant. I've always been the type that gets distracted easily, so living in a foreign country amplifies it without a doubt. Not to mention the Greeks are all very lazy and just don't care about much... I've adapted to the fact that not even the teacher will be to class on time. It's interesting. In Eau Claire I've always been that girl that arrives to class 2 minutes before it starts and be the last one there... Now you come to class two minutes before and the class room is empty. Next year will be restricting... haha.

Yesterday, my professor cancelled my psychology class for next thursday. I of course was overjoyed. Bad idea. Turns out that in Greece in a professor cancells a class often times they have a make up class. That is bizarre to me. A make up class?? Why? They are the ones that are not coming to class! Anyways, so next Tuesday instead of having Psychology from 11:30-13:00 I have it from 11:00-14:00!! Ha. Awesome day.

I received a package from Mama Dog on Monday!! Got a few more books... shirts... season of house... candy.. fruit snacks... :) Needless to say the candy is almost gone and the fruit snacks already are.... Turns out Greeks have never had fruit snacks! I gave my friends Alex, Christos, and Demetris some and they were scared to try them! I was asked why they are not shaped like fruit and they though that they were too sweet. I found it hilarious of course. I'm sure I appear exactly the same way when I'm scared to try the things they eat on a regular basis though!

It's only 50's outside right now... I miss the 60's :( It's warmed in Minnesota and Wisconsin then it is in Greece! However, on a positive note, I am getting another tattoo today! I am getting seize the day in greek on the side that doesn't already have a tattoo. It looks like this: Αδράξτε την ημέρα I'm excited! I talked to my rockstar friend John about where he goes for his tats and he showed me his place. I'm starting to think I should get that boys autograph. haha. I'll put pictures of the new ink up as soon as I get it :) My friends Chelsea and Sam are going to accompany me and then I'm headed to SD to meet up with some other friends.

I leave for Italy in 2 weeks from today!! I'm ECSTATIC about it! We have all of our hostels in Italy payed for, as well as our tour, hotels, and transportation payed for in Egypt. Three days of class this week, three the week after, and then off we go! I've accepted that I'm going to melt in Egypt. It will be 90 degrees there when I go, but women can not where shorts or tank tops there. Bah. Good thing I'm going with friends so there is no one to impress!!
<3 Brit

I should probably start paying attention in psych 340 instead of writing poems...

Judgement

The Rain Silently Paints The Sidewalk,
Washing The Land Of All Its' Sins,
The Earth Is Ready For A Fresh Attempt.
Once Despair,
Now Serenity,
One Can Breath Again.

Is That Rainbow An Upside Down Smile?
A Second Chance We Are Granted,
Our Tainted Layer Is Shed To The Ground,
Reveal Your Guilded Lies!
Relax.
Free For Now.



Home

Home Is Where You Make It,
Comfort, Love, Appreciation,
A Bed To Sleep In, A Place To Be Yourself,
A Different Country Is No Matter.
That Natural High, How I Adore You,
Give Me The Strength To Conquer My Demons,
All I Need Is You.

Ioannia, Meteora, and Random

Bones of the monks (left) View from a monastery (right)

Ruins from the old city in Ioannia (left) Monastery(right)

Haven't gotten around to blogging recently... Don't really have an excuse for it to be honest. This weekend I went on my first trip! We traveled to the cave at Ioannia and also the monastaries at Meteora. I have been to several caves before, but this was by far the grandest. The largest formations dated back to one million years, and the cave is located in the side of/underneath a large hill.

After our tour, we went on a walk through the old city, which was constructed before the Ottoman empire. When the Turks took over the area, they built their mosque on top of residents place of prayer (See picture above). I climbed the top of part of the castle in another area and actually saw the slits where bow and arrows were used to shoot at the enemy. This was also around the time that I tripped and ripped my favorite pair of shoes, but you win some you lose some :) We stayed the evening at a hotel, and a group of friends and I went out to a taverna for dinner. When we got to our hotel my friend Sam and I immediately turned the TV on. It's interesting to see how much you rely on something once it isn't made available.

The next day, we got back on the bus for another 2 hours to head for the monastaries. We were surrounded my beautiful mountains the entire time, but I crashed for the whole bus ride due to the rude awaken by the 15 year olds in the hotel for the entire night. In Meteora, the monasteries used to be located in the city, but eventually the monks decided they did not want to be around people anymore, so they headed up the mountains. The city is surrounded by amazing cliffs formed a million years ago when the area was once surround by ocean (See the pictures above).

Although I am not religious, I found the monasteries absolutely breathtaking. It's fascinating to see how they live. Monks live on very different cycles compared to us. They go to sleep when the sun sets, which sometimes could be as early as 4 pm, and then rise 8 hours later, which can be as early as 2 am! 8 hours a day are also spent working, which means in prayer. With all the fasting that they do (40 days before easter, christmas, mondays and wednesdays, etc), monks spend half the days of the year this way. That's insane! It definitely takes strong will... Contrary to popular belief, monks were not always peaceful. In times of war they were forced to bear arms to protect themselves and their homes. Although the cliffs kept them safer, every one of the 6 monasteries still functioning in Meteora was attacked at least once. The invaders would not destroy everything, however did scratch the faces off of all of the frescos on the walls as an act of disrespect.

On another note, all monks must be buried at the monastery, however with all the generations of monks, there fails to be room. To solve this, the deceased are buried for 7 years, and then they are dug up. They are completly decayed by this time, so the bones are cleaned and systematically placed on shelves in a particular room (See picture above). As a skull obsessionist, I found this technique absoulutely fascinating. I had never seen real human bones before, and I was definitely taken back by this way of life.

Overall, it was a very good first weekend away from Thessaloniki, however I am very happy to be back home. Last Friday marked one month of being in Greece. Time is flying! Only 3 and a half more months. It's amazing how at home I feel in my apartment... The comfort of a bed I can call mine. It seems to me that home is where you make it. For me, this is home. The United States seems like a distant planet. Aww the beauty of Greece :)

Earlier this week, I went on a date with a greek famous musician friend of mine. Boy are american and greek ways different on this front! I mean sure the guy still makes it clear that he is paying, but it was definitely out of my element.. Granted I had never been on a date with someone I didn't know before, so maybe it's just me :) Overall it was an interesting and worthwhile experience, but nothing more. I sort of have a potential from my home town that could be blinding this entire field of my vision, it just made me miss him more. Not to mention any sort of relationship here would be completely fantasy. I'm looking for something long term and that just won't happen while I'm in a foreign country. Definitely one every study abroad student should experience while they are here though! It's fun!

Another thing I noticed today when I was on my way to get groceries is that I'm no longer afraid of crossing the street! I come from a small town so any form of walking through traffic has always terrified me, but living in a city of 1 million people has cured that fear. You walk when the Greeks walk! No need to wait for the little green man, just make sure no cars are coming and go! Otherwise you will be waiting at that light for several minutes sometimes, and it's definitely not worth it.

Anyways... it's March first!! I leave for Italy in 26 days :) Egypt after that!