My first week's experience

Well it has been one week in Greece and I am loving every minute of it. I have finally started to feel comfortable walking around the city. I have seen many ancient ruins, experienced the 'tavernas' (taverns), and sampled many of the great foods that Thessaloniki has to offer. On Tuesday I went to the beach right outside of the city where a few of my roommates were asked to join a Greek family for dinner/lunch. It was about 3 o'clock and we were starving. So of course we said yes. Until 7 we ate and drank with our new Greek family. It was a great time and had fun singing(well listening) to Greek music. They way they drank their wine was different. They poured coke into it. Surprisingly it was delicious and from now on I think I will have to have some coke with my wine.
Yesterday we took a field trip to Vergina, the grave site of Alexander the Great's father Phillip. We learned of the rise and fall of the great family and also viewed beautiful sculptures and artifacts from his tomb.
This weekend I have been at school. There is a 'digitale' workshop that is mandatory to attend. It is one of two weekends that I will not be able to take in the night life here in Thessaloniki. Actual class starts on Monday, so I will need my rest for this up comming week. I finally slept through the night for the second time so I am getting aclamated to the time difference. Greece is a blast! Peace out

Are We Lost? (Walking around Thess)

The White Tower

Rotunda of St. George

Ice-cream

My roommate Mike

Sunset over the pier

Kiosk

Ella, our friend/translator

Scooter and car parked on the sidewalk

Byzantine church that dates to the 4th century

Home Sweet Home

Auston Martin (There you go Kane)

Audi (And I thought you would like this one Brandon)

Jack always travels well

Flying in to Thessaloniki

The castle on the hill

Cemetery

The last bite of my gyro

A view down the square

My crazy Serbian friend

The White Tower

Parking Thessaloniki style

My apartment

My apartment door

View from my balcony (Down the street)

View from my balcony (Up the street)

4 Deadbolts (I'm Safe mom)

My door

It's All Greek To Me

Well yesterday I flew into Thessaloniki, Greece. The flight was only 2 hours and 50 min and I slept the entire way. The night before I woke up at midnight and couldn't fall back asleep. We landed on time and thought I was going to be able to go right to the apartment, but no. We had to sit in the airport for 3 hours waiting for the rest of the people to fly in. Once I settled into the apartment some of us went around the town to find some food. That is when I had my first gyro. It was amazing and only coast my 2 euro! Being in a city with millions of people is a bit different than back home in North Dakota. The people are loud and they are very crazy drivers. It seems that there is no rules when it comes to parking. People pull up on the curbs and medians to fit in the tightest spots. This morning I woke up at 11 o'clock to go get breakfast and some food for the place. Food is really inexpensive here. I bought a fresh loaf of bread for .6o euro and a liter of water for .80 euro. It was amazing! Overall I spent 27 euro on food today, which includes some groceries for the week. I still have to buy some cooking utensils but I think I have the basics right now. It is going very well over here and am having a great time. Well that's all for now.

London

Waiting for the plane

On the plane

Heathrow airport

Hotel room

View from hotel room

English neighborhood

Church by the pub

The 'Ye Olde Six Bells' pub

Fish and Chips

Mable

"Bloody Hell!" (The London Experience)

I'm in Europe!!! Yay I finally made it here after six months of planning and preparation. It started off at 9:45pm from Minneapolis and arrived in Heathrow airport in London at 12:20 local time. The eight hour flight seemed to go by fast since I slept for half of it. As for the other half that I was awake for I played movies and games on the personal tv screens. Then the real 'fun' began. (sarcasm) We landed at 12:20 and didn't find our hotel until the 4 o'clock. Yeah, we were struggling to find our way around London. Customs was a breeze, but took 45 min. Then we finally booked a 50 min. bus ride to Gatwick airport, that coast 20 pounds. From Gatwick it was a 2 min bus ride from the airport to the hotel, which coast 3 pounds. What a rip off! So what should have taken us a couple hours actually took twice as long. But now we know to have a map print out of the hotel location, because airport wi-fi is expensive and so are the pay phones. After that disaster of an afternoon, we (Jordan and I) decided to hit up the pub for a couple pints and fish and chips. The pub was amazing and the food and beverage even better. For the first round we had 'London Pride' and the second go 'round we sampled a pint of 'Harvey'. The Pub experience was exceptional and all that I was expecting. It was leisurely where you came in and ordered a pint right away, found a table and decided what you would like to order, then went up to the bar and ordered another pint with your food. We sat out on the patio in the beautiful gardens eating our fish and chips with our new friend Mable. She was very friendly but all she wanted was a bite of our fish and chips. I had a great time in England today. Everything is a bit expensive here, but the people are very friendly. All you have to do is ask them if you are having any troubles

Its the night before I leave top fly across the big pond and I am so excited to go. I don't know how much I will actually be able to sleep. I was thinking today that the only thing that I am not going to miss is the winters in North Dakota. For a short while I will get a break from the harsh windchill and blizzards. It will be nice to be in a warm mediterranean climate for a change. But it's going to make it that much harder to come home to sub zero temps.