I'm in love with Greece!

I've almost been here a whole week!
On Tuesday we start classes.  I'm only taking Tuesday/Thursday classes to leave a lot of time for traveling! 
We had Orientation a few days ago and it was really nice.  Everyone of the faculty is very, very nice and laid back.  They really stress having fun, even more than studying!

On Friday, we went on a field trip to Vergina.  We got to see Philip the 2nds tomb.  He was Alexander the Greats father who was murdered in 336 B.C.  It was very interesting!  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures though.  After that we walked around the village which is a lot smaller.  It's way different than Thessaloniki.  We sampled some delicious grapes for someones vines. haha

After Vergina, we took a bus tour of Thessaloniki.  We stopped at the St. Demetrius church, it was beautiful! 

 

This is my favorite Greek lady!

The view of Thessaloniki & Aristotle Square

It really is all greek to me.

Today was my first full day in Greece.  We went to bed at 2:30 am and set our alarms for 10:00 and slept right through till 1pm.  In Greece from 3-5 shops shuts down for a nap kind of like a siesta.  It's a mandatory quiet time too.  During that time we just walked through the city searching for an ATM or a bank.   That was when I started feeling like I was in Greece, not Epcot.  We walked by the fresh markets and all of the fake purses!  They sell fake purses on the street here!  I was really happy haha.  After that we went to a CVS like store and got some snacks for the apartment.  It's a ton of walking and carrying heavy things, so hopefully It will get me in shape.  After that we decided to go out for our first Greek dinner.  We walked down to the waterfront and picked the first restaurant we saw.  I would tell you what it was called but it was all in Greek.  Erica and I just stood there not knowing if we should seat ourselves or wait to be seated.  Finally, a waiter told us just to sit down somewhere.  The menus had some English under the Greek so that was perfect.  I ordered a Greek coffee and ravioli with some kind of Greek cheese.  Yummy!  We felt very dumb at our dinner, we figured it out though!  It was really strange, people come up asking for money and trying to sell you things while you're eating.  Little kids came up to Erica trying to sell her a light-up clock with dogs on it... and the kids are so cute its really hard to resist them.  While we were eating, a man came over playing an accordian and singing... I gave him .50 euros. 

There are so many stray cats and dogs here.  All over the city.  They were walking under our table at the restaurant.  They're all so much prettier than the strays at home.  There are old ruins all around downtown Thessaloniki where they live too.  Emmaline, you would be in heaven... and It would really distract you at dinner!

Most everyone seems very helpful so far.  The traffic is crazy though!  The cars don't stop for pedestrians so that's pretty scary.  Tomorrow orientation starts. 
I miss you all.  Feel free to comment, anyone!
Also, you can call me free on Skype at my number, 814-331-4496, or email.  I love hearing from everyone!

Oh, I'm going to take more pictures too :)

Arriving in Greece

All of my flights went very smoothly!  British Airways was excellent-- I watched The Hangover on my flight haha.  I absolutely loved the London airport, it was basically a huge mall. 
ACT (American College of Thessaloniki) had students greet us to the gate and shuttle us back to our apartment.  I love the location of my apartment building.  It's in a residential area but about a block away from where everything is at.  Tonight we walked down to the waterfront and saw the famous white tower! 

We have the cutest little balcony in our apartment where we walk out and look up the street at everyone else sitting on their balconies.  It's pretty neat!   The room is absolutely tiny but its pretty home-y so far. 

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I'm so exhausted but I will update this tomorrow and add more pics!

7 hours to go!

Seven hours until I leave for my first flight!  Everything is packed and I'm crossing my fingers that my luggage is under 50 pounds..  I should be sleeping right now but I'm on a high.  I just met Chris Pine.  (The really cute guy from the new Star Trek Movie.)  And he was really upset that I'm leaving for Greece haha not.  However, he did tell me that I was very young and had many opportunities to be in a movie and not many opportunities to go to Greece.  Which was sweet.  I didn't have my camera though!

Oh, I have an online skype number that also is a Bradford number, so it's free for us to talk!  It's 814-331-4496
I almost took Carrie with me, or almost had to take Carrie with me... It was too cute.

Wish me luck!
I will miss you all!