Opa! Stephanie's Greek Travels: Week One (ένα)

Now that I have already been in Thessaloniki for almost a week I thought I should do a quick recap of everything that has happened.

Jan 31-Feb 1: Managed to make it out of Omaha and Chicago despite the snow and ice on Monday night. Luckily I didn't miss my connecting flight after a quick sprint down the concourse. Unfortunately my luggage didn't make it and i had to rough it for five days. I had a seven hour layover in Germany and then onto Thessaloniki. I arrived around midnight local time tired and empty handed, but grateful I made it out before the snow storm shut down O'Hare.

Feb 2: Orientation Day One
Wake up call was bright and early at my apartment building Panepistimio. All 65 or 70 of the study abroad students from all over the US went to our school, The American College of Thessaloniki, for orientation. The number one thing I learned was that smoking is a good thing, according to one of the full-time students. Nearly everyone I have met so far does it all the time.

Later that night our entire group we to a cafe to get a traditional greek coffee and learned how to order it. We also had our fortunes read by a lady who specializes in reading coffee grounds.

The other important fact I learned today that everyone traveling in Thessaloniki should know is that the drivers always have the right of way. They will hit you and I don't know if even that would stop them. Crossing the street is an art in this city.

Feb 3: Orientation Day 2
Another early day... I felt like sleep in Greece just doesn't happen. They normally tend to sleep later (the earliest classes are at 11 am), they don't eat breakfast, but rather eat a large meal for lunch around 2 or 3. Then there is a siesta from 3-5 pm and everything shuts down. All the shops are closed and there the city has mandatory quiet hours. Dinner is very late at about 10 pm and not very heavy. Then if it is a Thur, Fri, or Sat night everyone goes out at midnight at the earliest and stays out till sunrise. Bars don't close at 2 am and there is not such thing as last call.

We had a survival Greek crash course (it's very strange not even understanding the alphabet) and learned some basic phrases that were deemed necessary: hello, goodbye, how much does this cost, my name is..., and of course, where is the bar?

We did a scavenger hunt of the city and then went to a traditional Greek dinner at a taverna later that night. Dinner was feta cheese, salad, olives, taziki (cucumber and yogurt spread), lots of bread, pork, chicken, rice, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. Then of course several deserts. My favorite was Comoras a chocolate breadlike dish with hazelnut.

This is the Kamara (Arch) that is a place many people meet up and is pretty centrally located in the city.

Feb 4: Orientation Day 3--Field Trip to Vergina

Today we went to Macedonia (region of northern Greece) to see the grave of King Phillip II, Alexander the Great's father. No pictures were allowed, but it was all very extravagant with huge stone pillars of, marble walls, and very intricate/elaborate figurines, basins, and crowns.

Later we had a tour of Thessaloniki and a St. Demetrios Church (one of several hundred churches in the city). St. Paul had a huge presence in Thessaloniki starting around 49 AD (Thessalonians = people from Thessaloniki from his letters--I never seemed to put 2 and 2 together). Ninet-five percent of the people here are Greek Orthodox.