Hello! Welcome to my blog about travel and food! I am starting this little project the same time that I am starting my 3 month study abroad trip in Thessaloniki, Greece!
A Little Bit About Me
I am a junior at Iowa State University double majoring in Event Management and Hospitality Management, minoring in Culinary Food Science. I love to travel, bake, and eat! I’ve been abroad a few times for shorter trips – Spain, France, Bahamas, and Dubai. My favorite part about traveling is eating all of the traditional food, whether it be spectacular, weird, or just not for me! This upcoming trip will be my longest time away from the United States – just under 90 days! I’m studying food science at Perrotis College (or the American Farm School) with 24 other study abroad students. I hope to blog every week about my time at class and weekend trips, so follow along!
The Flight Out
I began my crazy adventure on January 19th with a treacherous drive to the Minneapolis airport. Thanks to the wonderful blizzard that took place the 2 days previous, the interstate was a sheet of ice and we were lucky to travel faster than 40 mph. 4 hours later, I arrived at the airport and began the day long journey east!
Once I boarded in Minneapolis, I was rushed all day to each flight. De-icing delayed my first flight by 30-45 minutes, getting me to Chicago just in time to board. I enjoyed the best flight of my life (no sarcasm at all) on my trip to Munich! I was lucky enough to have an entire middle row to myself – 3 whole seats for me to spread out on! I actually could LAY DOWN on an airplane. For the first time ever, I slept more than 20 minutes on a flight, and I have never felt better getting off. A 45 minute layover in Munich (closer to 20 once I was off the plane) led to a scramble across the airport. Luckily, I made it just as they were ready to close the doors, others weren’t so lucky! Finally, I arrived in Thessaloniki on Monday afternoon.
Welcome to Perrotis!
Once I arrived on campus (about 15 minutes from the airport), I settled into my dorm room. I have a wonderful roommate, Dimitra, who is a permanent student at Perrotis. We have a balcony and a bathroom to ourselves and share a common space with two other girls from Greece. To end the night, I enjoyed a “pizza social” with a few of the other study abroad students who had arrived. It was a very early night for all of us!
Tuesday was a full day with orientation, exploring, and eating! We started the day with a campus tour, and let me tell you, it is the cutest little campus I have ever seen. Perrotis actually hosts preschool to Masters students, so you seen tiny children planting a garden to college students driving a tractor. It was really exciting to see the different places we will be studying and living for the next 3 months.
Later, we learned how to use the public bus system! This was an experience – crowded, loud, and jerky. We took the bus to a small town very close to the college called Thermi. There, we went to a grocery store and had lunch at a local restaurant. I had a great sandwich with meatballs, cinnamon tomato sauce, and feta along with a local beer, Alpha (my new go-to)!
After lunch, a few of us stopped to get coffee. I tried the Frappe – a Greek staple. Basically, this is an iced coffee made with instant espresso frothed like crazy. The caffeine was insane (I say as I write this way past my bedtime). Overall, a great drink, but I think I will stick with the Freddo Espresso (frothed espresso drink!). We were joined by a stray dog sunning himself by the table - honestly living his best life.
Thessaloniki
On the last day of orientation, we went via bus (packed like sardines!) to Thessaloniki. The school is about an hour bus ride away, or 15 minutes by taxi. Once there, we went to the Archaeological Museum. Thessaloniki has an interesting story involving Alexander the Great and his half sister, Thessaloniki. If you are really curious, look it up! The museum highlighted the ancient artifacts found in Thessaloniki and explained the importance of each. A huge part of the museum focused on the use of gold (you know, those leaf crowns you all think of…solid gold). We also saw some beautiful mosaics. Along with the museum, we went on a walking tour to see the old city. Throughout Thessaloniki, there is evidence of where the city used to sit and how it was laid out. A lot of the city lay completely outside the old city, including the University inside of Thessaloniki, which was a grave yard in ancient times.
Walking around Thessaloniki, you see some crazy things. For example, there are no rules when driving in this city. Parking on the sidewalks was a constant, and accidents happened frequently without anyone really being concerned. We witnessed a smart car rear-end another and zip away like it was no problem. The street parking was bumper to bumper and all I could think of was how painful rush hour would be. The best incident I saw, however, was not a vehicle interaction, but a casual drug deal. Being a staring tourist, I saw this go down in one of the busiest squares. The men who were doing it actually saw me staring and yelled, “we are smoking a cigarette” as if I was going to tell on them. We quickly learned to avoid this area after dark for this exact reason.
We had lunch at a Taverna, where we were served tradition Greek food, including potatoes, mushrooms, and a variety of pork, chicken, and “burger”. OH and let’s not forget the amount of wine Greeks drink. Definitely my kind of meal. To end the evening, a few of us decided to go down to the water and have a cocktail. We first stopped at a bakery and picked up some pastries – baklava the size of our head and delicious cakes. We quickly learned drinks in Greece are a lot stronger than in America while we sipped our cocktails. Everything was delicious and I was beyond exhausted by the end of the day thanks to jet lag and a full stomach. I was out like a light and ready to go for our weekend in Athens….stay tuned 😉
