I'm dropping out of school and traveling the world

 Banya Boshi Mosque from time when
 Sofia was under Ottoman rule

Another weekend and another bus ride... Several of my friends and I searched Thessaloniki high and low this past week for a bus or train to get Sofia, Bulgaria. No one really wanted to tell us where to buy tickets, where it left from, or when we could go. I thinks it's a pretty accurate reflection of how things are run in Greece--not very efficiently at all.

Sofia was beautiful. It's nestled in the Balkan Mountains, so just the 5.5 hour bus ride made for a breath-taking trip. The city has it's own special charm, but it took a while to embrace it. The bus ride into town was a bit of a let down. We saw a lot of crumbling, derelict buildings that didn't look inhabitable. After we got off the bus and tried to get to the our Hostel we made the mistake of asking for the bus to Makedonia Square. People didn't really speak English though and we almost ended up on a bus to the country of Macedonia. Once we got a chance to walk through the center of the city (the place is very walkable--you can get from one end to the next in no time) did I get a chance to see what the place had to offer. The first thing I noticed was how slowly the people stroll through the streets, as if they have nowhere else in the world to be. Also the cars yield to pedestrians! Something unheard of in Thessaloniki.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

St. Sofia--recently built to replace a statue of Lenin 

We did a free walking tour led by residents who want to share Sofia's history with anyone willing to hang around for three hours. It was definitely a lot of history, but really informative. We even ended up on the city's news channel because the tours have become such a big deal. We saw a parade of socialist protestors marching through town and many churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. The tour guide was boasting about the religious tolerance of the city--in one square there were Bulgarian Orthodox, Catholic, Islamic, and Jewish places of worship. Yet apparently most of the people in the city claim to be atheist.

GO SWITZERLAND!!

Saturday night I got to go to my first European football game: Bulgaria v. Switzerland. The Swiss team seems to travel well and we ended up sitting in their section with a lot of crazy fans. We actually got to stay with some of the Swiss fans in our hostel. There was a group of about seven of them who were just a little bit older than me. One of them tried to politely explain why the Swiss didn't really like Americans. He claims that we think we are better than everyone else... Needless to say we didn't become great friends.

Lions are representative of Sofia--plus I just like lion photos (i.e. London)

Out hostel was one of the best parts about the trip. It's the best one I've gotten to stay in yet, so if you ever find yourself in Bulgaria make sure you stay at Hostel Mostel. For only 10 euro a night we got free breakfast, dinner, beer (they really like to take care of you), and a private dorm room just for our group. Plus everyone who travels to Sofia seems to lead the most interesting lives. We met a kid from Texas who just graduated from high school and and took a year off to backpack through Europe alone and farm for a month in Hungary. There was a young couple from Australia who are both studying to be doctors, but decided to also travel for a year. The girl, Lucy, told me that, "Life was too short to be uninspired," and I needed to do what I really enjoyed with my life. If only I knew with as much confidence as she did what that was. A boy from California was there for the weekend to see a dentist--he's in the Peace Corps somewhere in the Bulgaria. They all made me feel like I should just put my life on hold and travel for months on end... if only we all had that option.

Top right: Alexander Nevski Cathedral, below is the Cathedral of St. Joseph (the first stone was laid by Pope John Paul II), to the right is the Ivan Vanov National Theatre

Spring Has Sprung in Greece

It looks like spring is here to stay in Thessaloniki. No more false alarms (I hope!). I love my class-free Fridays. Today I was able to wander through the city by myself and get to know it a lot better. I hit up the market as usual to stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables. Then got some coffee and met a nice Greek man who told me about how he would like to go to the US, but mostly to Texas because he thinks it's like the old western movies he watches on TV. I told him I didn't think it was quite like that, but I couldn't be sure because I had never actually been. Didn't want to dash his dreams for no reason.

In the afternoon I decided to explore the Old City or Ano Poli. It's not a long walk from my neighborhood. I just followed the city walls that once enclosed all of Thessaloniki serving as protection from invaders. They run parallel to the street that I live on.

City Walls looking toward the water and downtown Thessaloniki

It was a bit of a climb, but I was distracted by the beautiful weather. I trekked up to Trigono Tower (Triangle) and stopped for a break and some people watching:

         

I decided to keep exploring and continued wandering up toward the hills and found some more ruins from the wall and the Fortress of Seven Towers (Eptapyrgio), which was built when the Ottomans ruled the city, around 1400. It was converted to a prison in the 1890s and remained one until 1989.

I finally found the green space in Thessaloniki

I think that's it today for the history lesson--don't want to make things too boring. Instead you can enjoy my attempt at some artistic photos. I just can't seem to take postcard worthy photos, but I'm working on it. Anyway, for a Friday afternoon I think I got lot accomplished, maybe not work-wise, but I made an effort to get out and see more of what Thessaloniki has to offer. It definitely has a different sort of charm than a city like London, but if you wander through the side-streets (or up the hills), off the main roads, you can find some quaint streets and beautiful sights and scenery. 

Americans Celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Greece

There aren't a lot of Irish people in Greece, but for the handful that there are, plus most of the study abroad students, Thursday night was a night to go out, have fun, and paint our faces with clovers. We headed to a bar called Lotus, which was hosting a St. Patty's Day party. We met the owner, Stavros, in our first few weeks in Thessaloniki--he's the guy who told us the Greeks like to celebrate everyday. They definitely fulfilled that saying on Thursday night. There was traditional Irish music, plus some Dropkick Murphys singing "For Boston," the unofficial anthem of Boston College. Green beer, homemade bread with green butter, hair dye, face paint, and free hats made for an exciting St. Patrick's Day celebrated Greek style.

Pounds, Pubs, and Pandas: A Brief Trip to London

Big Ben!                

Friday afternoon I left Greece behind for a weekend in London. Two and a half days wasn't nearly enough time to even begin to see all of the sights, but I made the best attempt I could. With advice from Laura, my British librarian in Greece, and a chance encounter with a random BC friend who is studying in London and I ran into outside a used booksale along the Thams River (very small world), I think I managed to make the most of my brief stay.   

Random run in with a friend from BC--in
London of all places

It was a little shocking to be in a city where i could actually understand what people walking down the street were saying, minus some very thick British accents. I realized I was getting so used to not being understood or being
                                                                     able to understand other people in Thessaloniki. Also I could read the street signs--rather than straining to try and sound them out like I have been doing in Greece. Not having to fous on the language barrier was probably a good thing because it allowed me to focus all my attention on not getting hit by cars. The United States might be strange for using Fahrenheit and our own measuring system, but at least we don't drive down the wrong side of the road. Luckily all the cross walks conviently told me which was to look before crossing.

Kyle and I outside the London Eye

I was met up with my friend Kyle for the weekend who is studying in Leiden, just outside Amersterdam. Seeing a friend from BC was a nice change for the weekend and we had a lot fun, besides walking about 25 miles on Saturday. We started out by visting the Tate Britain Museum, The Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey (from the outside), and of course, Big Ben. One of the great things I learned about London is that food and shopping may be expensive, but their free museums help make up for that fact.

We headed to the London Eye and then got some delicious Thai food at a Pub. Our hostel was in Victoria, pretty centrally located, but it had 21 people sleeping in a room: seven triple decker bunkbeds. Luckily most of the people tended to be college students on spring break or, like us, studying abroad and just visiting for the weekend. We met people from all over--Canada, Australia, New Jersey, Germany, Italy, and Kansas. It was an interesting type of sleeping arrangement, but I'm not sure I'll do it again.

Thames River with Palace of Westminster i

Lions in Trafalgar Square

The next morning we woke up bright and early for our free hostel breakfast. Nothing fancy, but they had peanut butter, which you can't get in Greece, so I was in heaven with my pb&j. We headed out and wandered around enjoying the beatiful sunny day. Seems like everyone else was too. There were runners everywhere (another thing you don't see in Greece), all training for the London Marathon in a month. We walked along the Thames, went to Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, Covent Garden, and Borough Market for lunch. I even tried duck there--tastes like chicken. Andrea, from Greece, was also in London on Saturday and we met up with her for the day. That night we did a pub crawl and got a chance to meet a lot of other students from abroad as well as a couple friendly pandas. 

Trafalgar Square

The tube was pretty hard to navigate, simply because it seemed like half the lines were shut down since they are getting ready for the Olympics in 2012. Or that just might be their excuse... 

Random Panda in Covent Garden
during our Pub Crawl

Sunday night we went to a traditional London pub before  heading to the Gatwick airport for a night of sleeping on the chairs due to our early morning flight. It seemed to be a surprisingly popular place to sleep. We landed in Greece about noon and took the public bus straight to class. It was a rude awakening. Sometimes I forget that I'm studying abroad. 

Ethiopian food from Brick Lane

"Clean" Monday

Bright and early monday morning a bunch of study abroad kids headed to the town of Tyrnavos two hours away for a festival celebrating the start of Lent. We had the day off from school for Clean Monday--a day meant for fasting (no meat, dairy, eggs). The city each year holds a festival in honor of the god Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine, to mark the start of fasting in the Greek Orthodox Church before Easter. This famous Phallus festival as it is called is known throughout Greece, and drew quite a crowd despite the bad weather (cold, snowy, damp in general). And let's just say that it was quite the spectacle. There was good food (no meat though) and deserts, as well as a spinach soup called bourani that men make in cauldrons on the street and try to force you to eat. Everyone was munching on bread in the shape of phalluses that the bakeries made since bread was technically just about the only food you were supposed to eat today. The funniest part was how into the entire event the old men in the town got. They were dressed up and chasing people down with all sorts of inappropriate objects... I'll leave it up to your imagination and my photos to explain. Needless to say I'm sure I'll never experience anything quite like this again. Of course we all stuck out as Americans, but we had fun attempting to Greek dance in the street. Many Greeks tried to show us how to do it--not many really caught on, but it was a sight to see. It was some of the most fun that I've had in Greece so far. The Greek Church, however, doesn't really approve of the festival due to its celebration of a pagan god. And I'm sure also because it's a little irreverent and generally inappropriate. 

At a taverna in Tyrnavos with a couple Greek students (Giannis and Nantia)  from Aristotle University

BUT (there's always a but), getting home turned out to be some of the least fun I had in Greece so far. We took a bus from Tyrnavos to the town of Larisa and from there we were supposed to catch another bus back to Thessaloniki. I made the mistake of saying, as we sat on the warm bus drying from the snow (yes SNOW in Greece, who would have thought?), that in three hours we would be home, warm in our beds. WRONG. First we learned that they had overbooked our bus back and since we didn't check in ahead of time we would have to wait for the next bus. Tomorrow morning. Five minutes later they said we could sit on the stairs/in the aisle for the two hour ride home. We agreed because we didn't want to spend the night in the town. Twenty minutes into the ride the bus is forced to pull over. We have no clue why because no one speaks English, but everyone was pretty worked up (Greeks yell a lot--or talk really loud and it sounds like yelling). We sat for over an hour in the blowing snow, not going anywhere. Finally we got going, but drove only ten minutes. The police were on the side of the highway yelling at all the drivers to turn around. They closed the roads for half an inch of snow! Greece can't handle any bad weather apparently. So we drove back, unsure what we were going to do now. We spent over two hours on the bus and ended up back exactly where we started. Luckily we met three very nice Greek girls who were heading to Thessaloniki as well, and served as our translators. They got us a taxi to the train station, tickets to Thessaloniki, and on the right train headed home. If we didn't have them helping I would probably still be stuck in Larisa... So around 12:30 a.m. we made it back to Thessaloniki tired, a little grumpy, and only five hours later than we had wanted to get back. Some of my friends and I like to joke that we do things "for the story." I think that this is one of those days that was all done for the story. 

Babe's dead, but I bought my first piece of meat in Greece!

No, I didn't buy pig head, tongue, or feet, but I did by some fresh pork at the outdoor meat market. I think the FDA would have something to say about how sanitary the conditions are there, but at least you know your meat is fresh. The shop owners like to shove the meat in your face as you walk by to try and entice you. It smells pretty awful because there are tons of vendors with dead animal or fish just sitting out on ice. Then every once in a while they decide to spray the lanes down and there is a fishy smelling water you have to walk through. BUT I decided to brave the odor and sights and ventured into the meat section and for only 1.80 euro I probably got the freshest pieces of pork I'll ever eat in my life. Now if I could just learn to cook it. If you have any recipes let me know... Plus the experience in general was a lot of fun. I got to use my very rough and broken Greek to talk to random meat sellers. There was an Albania and I was able to tell him I was from American, studying at ACT, and my name, as well as ask him his. I would say the day was a success!

In other news... after countless hours, four hospital trips, three bank trips, investing in Greek health insurance, endless paper work, trekking to the municipality, creating my own passport photos (I'm thinking of starting a business), and many euros, not to mention the stress of it all, I have finally been granted me TEMPORARY residence permit!! I'll honestly probably never see my real residence permit because of the processing time to get it, but I am officially not going to get kicked out of Greece in 90 days or arrested at the border when I try and enter or leave.