Thessaloniki

Alright, I think it's about time to update this thing again. Sorry I haven't been consistent, but things have just been so busy lately. We left for Thessaloniki last Wednesday as a program trip. We rode the train for about 6 hours and finally got to our hotel (Egnatia Hotel, which was actually pretty nice. AWESOME BREAKFAST BAR with the best toasted croissants ever). The next morning, we set out for day one of a tiring weekend that involved us covering the entire city of Thessaloniki on FOOT. We left the hotel at 9am and went to..I don't even know how many museums and churches. They all started blending in together. I couldn't tell you what we saw at what exhibit. I think on the first day we covered the Rotunda (church) and then visited a the house of a Turkish man named Kemal. A Jewish museums...All I know is, during our lunch break, we went to this game cafe where everyone was playing a board game of some time, so we sat and played UNO :) Then during our break time we found this cafe called the Playhouse where they had HUNDREDS of games to choose from. You sit down, order a drink, and you they give you a selection of games to play from. We couldn't play alot of the board games because all the instructions were in Greek :( That actually didn't occur to us at all, so we ended up playing a variation of UNO called SOLO. It was pretty found and we found a few pretty cool bars that played live jazz. Then we did some more walking...and ended up walking like literally 3 miles at 8pm at night to go see this church. We walked to cold temperatures and winds. Then, they just left us at the church and told us to find our own way home and said they'd see us tomorrow morning. So we're standing there...thinking Great we have no idea where we are. I don't think we're even in the city of Thessaloniki anymore..so we all just hailed cabs and rode home. The second day was pretty much the same thing, covering more museums and churches. But I was able to get about an hour nap in that second day :) That was super helpful. I actually can't recall what we did that second night to be honest... Everything is all jumbled together. One of the nights, we went to go eat dinner down this little street that was lined with tavernas. When we walked in, all the owners ran towards us and were pulling us into their restaurants and offering us free wine and dessert. We didn't get up going into any of those. We chose this other taverna that was filled with loud Greek people and looked very traditional. But the moment we walked in, everyone stopped talking, and just stared at us as we walking through the crowded restaurant, up the stairs, then everyone upstairs stared at it. It was awful. The table next to us were watching us like we were animals in a zoo as we ordered and ate our food. Greeks have no problem with staring because they were never taught to not stare or point when they were little like the rest of us are. So obviously you know when they're talking about you because they whisper and stare, but they think that you have no clue. anyway, that was an experience.

The last day, we finally took a BUS! to everywhere. It was an ancient day where we went down to Pella (capital of Macedon) where Alexander the Great was born and where the royal family lived. Then we went to Mieza where Alexander and Hephastion were instructed by Aristotle. This is were we started our presentations for my Alexander the Great class. My presentation took place at the next site at the Tombs of Vergina. My group did the skit of the assassination of Philip II at his daughters wedding. It went well! :) Then we went in and visited the Tomb of Philip the II/Philip the III depending on which historian says what. There was a museum within the tomb that exhibited everything that was found. That was probably the best museum ever because everything was so well preserved. Sad part is, we couldn't take pictures because the entire place was dark. There were only lights within each glass exhibit and pictures weren't allowed. Exhibited were also the entrances to the actual tombs. Then as if that weren't a long enough day, we proceeded to make another bajillion mile hike up to the top of old Thessaloniki to a site a overlooked the city. It was beautiful, but it was FREEZING because by the time we got up there, the sun had gone down and it was just blowing winds everywhere. The thing that got me through was the prospective of Mexican food for dinner :) We ended up taking a cab down from that horrendous mountain and ate MEXICAN FOOD!! we finally found a place. It was pretty good for Greece. Could have used a bit more flavor, but eh it was good enough for me! We had some nachos with guacamole, sour cream, black beans and cheese. Then a chicken quesadilla. AH i can't wait to go home and just eat a big fat chipotle burrito. Oh how I miss big American food portions.

We walked so much that weekend that I don't think I will be able to wear shoes for quiittee a while. It was a fun trip but just way too jam packed. They worked us like machines this weekend and that's apparently because this is the first time the program has planned a trip to Thessaloniki and didn't know how much to do. Well looking at the itinerary was OBVIOUS that it was WAY TOO MUCH! it just turned out unproductive because people were exhausted, didn't pay attention and nothing seemed of importance anymore and we didn't actually enjoy much.

Then I had my first midterm today, which I think it's safe to say that I did pretty well! :) Then I have 2 more next week and then it's MARCH BREAK!! BARCELONA HERE WE COME!! This Sunday we're going to a soccer game: Olympiakos vs...Panthiakos? I have no idea. But I'm going to go buy a soccer jersey so I can repp Olympiakos haha and pretend like I know what I'm doing. We may or may not go to Hdyra this weekend (island) and spend the night Saturday night. all i know is, I want a relaxed weekend, definitely a relaxed Friday after last weekend. I'm still not recovered from that exhausting trip.

But I have to say I did like the city very much. It was laid out very well with big streets and open areas like plazas to walk with trees and stuff. It is also by the water so it was beautiful. It is just lined with restaurants and cafes and bars. There was also a big student population so that was fun.