Hi again! This is my second weekly column about studying abroad in Greece during my freshman year with the N.U.in Program. I’ve been here two weeks, and I can’t believe how busy it’s been. I probably have enough material already to write a book. I’ll guess I’ll start with where I left off last time.
TRAVEL
After hugging my mom goodbye at JFK airport, I joined several dozen other NUin students waiting at the gate. We spent the time introducing ourselves, tapping our feet impatiently and fanning ourselves with our boarding passes. Ahead of us was a long day of travelling, and a semester that none of us could possibly imagine.
On the plane ride that felt like forever, we passed sprawling green fields dotted with villages of orange roofs, and above the cloudy mountains of central Europe. Before I knew it, Thessaloniki’s iconic White Tower whizzed underneath the plane. A few minutes later, I was walking down the stairs and stepping onto the tarmac under a mostly cloudy sky. I was in Greece.
So now, it’s been two weeks since I got here. In some ways it still feels like the first day, and yet at the same time I’m so busy and having so much fun that I can barely remember living anywhere else! We arrived on a Monday afternoon, and school didn’t start until the following Monday. For the first week, we explored, got adjusted and had a schedule packed with orientation activities.
ARRIVAL
The day we arrived, we went straight to the hotel. As soon as we all shuffled in and the doors closed behind us, we were told we were about to pay for any overpacking we’d done — the hotel has just two teeny elevators, each with a maximum capacity of 3 people, or two with one suitcase. The only alternative is the narrow spiral staircase to the second floor followed by regular stairs up through the rest of the floors. There were 155 of us, and who knows how many suitcases — hence began our first group adventure. Practice for Mount Olympus, a classmate and I deemed it.
The evening of our travel day, I ventured outside with my roommate and a couple of floormates. We found a small grocery store a few doors down, and then made our way toward the boardwalk, hoping to see the sunset on the water. The heat of the day had become a comfortable room temperature. We couldn’t find an opening in a construction fence that ran along the street, and we’d later find out that we’d walked in the wrong direction. Still, we put our fingers through the fence and looked at the orange color settling on the horizon.
THE CITY
The next morning I woke up to my phone alarm and propped myself up. We’d left the window open overnight, and the curtains were floating as a breeze came in. I turned my head toward the mirror on the wall inches from my bed, making eye contact with my reflection. It was undoubtedly the face of someone who’d spent nearly 40 hours awake followed by just 7 hours of sleep, but I knew I was in a very good mood.
The view from our room window, in every direction, is the balconies of surrounding buildings. They’re made of thin, curled white bars just beginning to rust, and they’re all beautifully decorated with plants and flowers. I’ve come to love how the items people leave out there all seem to tell different stories: children’s toys on one, old rugs hanging out to dry on another, tables with playing cards and empty wine glasses, etc. They’re also surprisingly close together in the air – close enough for neighbors to talk to one another comfortably. I remembered the Greek value of close community that I’d been told about.
That morning we set out for tours of the neighborhood from the staff. They told us that all the locals from the nearby shops and businesses had been excited for weeks for the arrival of ‘the American students’ that come to the hotel every fall. We were shown all the best gelato shops and bakeries, introduced to the friendly man who ran the local laundromat, and learned how to walk to the water’s edge.
Thessaloniki is a historic and beloved town. It sits on a bay in the north east of Greece, and is known as its ‘second city’, next largest after the capital Athens. It’s always been a cultural, economic and religious crossroads between the east and west, and it was fought over for centuries by the Greeks, Slavs, Romans and Turks. Today, it’s a bustling city of about a million people, and provides a refreshing mix of its long-term history with its energetic population of young people.
I think it’s so cool that old, elaborate churches and ancient Byzantine-era landmarks are found among all the modern clothing stores and Internet cafes. The city feels like a combination of lots of places in the world: It’s very European with its cobblestone streets, abundant motorcycles and little food shops; it reminds me of New York with its tall gray buildings and endless city noise; and some areas have enough palms and big flowers to make you think you were in south Florida. There’s more graffiti than you could imagine, and as I get better at my understanding of Greek I’m trying to decipher some of it. Stray dogs and cats are everywhere, and so far they seem well-fed and friendly, following you like they’re your own if you so much as look at them. I do a lot of walking around. The city itself is fairly easy to get around on foot — except for the repeated adventure that is crossing the street. Greeks drive like madmen.
The downtown center of Aristotle Square is the best place for meeting, shopping and getting to the rest of the city. It’s an open square on the water, filled with stout palm trees and darting motorcycles, lined with cafes and gyros stands. Beggars, withered old women and young children alike, shuffle from tourist to tourist holding out their hands and softly rambling in Greek. As much as I pity them, we’re told not to acknowledge it. There’s a pair of African-looking men who are well-known in the square. They call out to the obvious tourists like us in loud, friendly English. They give out high-fives and say things like, “Hey, for peace and love, man!” and tie little woven bracelets around people’s wrists. Then they ask for money as soon as the person walks away. It’s something we all laugh at now – because without fail, it happens to at least one person every time.
THE BOARDWALK
The town’s trademark is its long, wide boardwalk that runs the length of the city on the curve of the bay. So far, it’s everybody’s favorite place to be. Locals walk their dogs, push children in strollers and hold hands. Old gray fishermen sit on crates at the edge, waiting next to their long poles like statues. In the daytime, the silhouette of Mount Olympus is even visible in the distance. There are men selling souvenirs at makeshift stands, and buskers playing instruments. One night, I saw a group of people playing tribal drums and other instruments together – and I noticed they were in a circle, some of them dancing in the middle, set way back in the trees a few yards away from the boardwalk. From what I could tell, they were just playing for themselves, for the sake of making music together, rather than for money. Again, I remembered how the Greeks really value their groups of friends, as well as their time spent on enjoyment and relaxation. And there they were, having a great time.
I’ve been running on the boardwalk every day with a friend, sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the evening. I can’t decide which is more beautiful! In the morning, the warm sunrise comes over the back hill and makes the whole town glow, and in the evening, we get to run towards the lit-up skyline.
At the end of our first evening run, my friend and I collapsed at the edge. We pulled off our sneakers, lying back and letting our feet dangle over the water. After a moment, the muffled thumping music from a nearby restaurant drowned out every other sound but the water below us, and we looked up at the stars as we caught our breath. The Aegean Sea gently splashed our socks. I remember saying how I couldn’t possibly think of a better place to run. We both quickly corrected that statement, agreeing that we couldn’t think of a better place to go to school. We made plans to run every night.
THE SCHOOL
I remember walking out of my hotel room and heading down the stairs on the first day of school, and the feeling of the words ‘first day of college’ sprawled across my mind like the title at the start of a movie.
It felt funny to be getting on the morning school bus with new classmates just the same way I had every September I could remember, knowing in truth how far away I actually was and how different everything would be from now on. After lunch, I found two wrong classrooms before the right one and had to rush across campus to be on time, just like I had on many past first days. It was right then, running down the first set of outdoor stairs, that I realized I was suddenly a college kid. College wasn’t far in the future anymore. My old pink backpack had become a black messenger bag, my pigtails were now long waves bouncing off my back, and my long legs were galloping me down the steps toward the next building.
Needless to say I always knew this part of my life was coming, especially with all the preparation for college that comes with school over the years – it was just one of those split seconds where all your progress really hits you, and you can feel how quickly time has passed. I felt it sometimes in coffee shops studying for senior midterms, and in long car rides on my college road trips. Still, I certainly never imagined I’d end up starting my next chapter here, five thousand miles from home, winding through olive trees on a mountain path overlooking a Mediterranean port city, trying to get to Econ 102. But here I am!
All in all, I love it here so far. I do something interesting every day. I’ve already explored a lot of this amazing city, sat on the boardwalk at sunset, eaten gelato at midnight, seen ancient tombs and caves, started my college classes, stargazed on the beach, even gone out to bars (a very new scene for me); I’ve made lots of new friends who have amazing life stories, and discussed things like fantasy travel plans, the future, religion, politics, fears, ideas — everything that nobody ever talked about in high school. I’ve even learned a little Greek!
I’ve had to take a lot of daring chances since I got here, whether it’s asking for directions from a Greek person by playing charades, or grabbing the pen to sign up to go canyoning down Mount Olympus (still can’t believe I’m doing that!). But that’s exactly what I wanted out of doing this program. When I got in, it occurred to me that I’d have been really comfortable at all my other college options. And it was then that I admitted to myself that that wasn’t at all what I’d been yearning for. I’d felt the brave aspect of my personality really grow as my time in high school came to an end, and so I took advantage of this excuse to be bold for three months straight. So far, it’s totally paying off, and I can’t tell you how excited I am for the next ten weeks. Opa!