After the trip to Milos I started realizing that I've only got around one month left. Time goes past too fast. The next day I did some housework, went to the gym, studied some greek and went to the beach with my boyfriend. The next day it was time for me and Miina to go to the international office to get some paperwork done and return some reports. After that we tried to prepare ourselves for our greek exam.. The exam ended up being really easy for me and I did it in 10 minutes and got everything right. It was really sad to say goodbye to the teacher and hug her goodbye :( When our exam was over we went to sit in Egaleo and rewarded ourselves with ice-cream. :) We talked about going home and what we were scared and afraid of.. In the evening me, Miina and her friend went to Panourmou to some coffee place called Playce. It was a nice place where you can drink coffee and play different kind of card or board games. :)
On Thursday 7th of June I woke up early and went to the gym. After that I had a date with Miina in Monastiraki and I saw my language partner Despoina in the afternoon. I hadn't seen her in like two months! She had made me so lovely gift with pictures of Greece and a long poem in Greek which was about me and she told me she was inspired by all my facebook photos. It was so nice! We had a last chat and of course we were having coffee at the same time. Then we hugged goodbye and agreed to keep in touch and keep learning the languages. :)
Αν η Ελλάδα
καταστραφεί τελείως,
θα μείνει μια ελία,
ένα κλήμα
και μια βάρκα.
Είναι αρκετά για να
ζαναχτιστεί
από την αρχή.
On Friday I went to the rehabilitation center in Ilion to say bye to everyone I knew. It was sad to see my "supervisor" so sad. It was so difficult to just walk away from there 'cause I don't know if I will ever see them again and I'll never get to know what happens to the patients.. :/ I realized that the rest of my time in Greece would be saying goodbye to some people and see you later to some.. :( After I went to the gym again and then I discovered a new and faster way to the beach! It usually took me around 45-60 minutes but with this way (first bus 550 and then a tram for couple of stops) it took around 30-40minutes!
On Saturday afternoon I travelled to Miina's place since she was leaving back to Finland. We hang around and then it was time for her to leave. It was so sad. :( I helped her to get her stuff to the cab and then we hugged goodbye for this time. :/ In the evening I went out with my boyfriend to some place near his home and it was nice to just hang and listen to greek music and enjoy. :)
On Sunday 10th it was so hot day! It was around +38 but it felt so much more. It was burning hot. You couldn't even eat without getting sweaty. I took like five showers during the day. It wasn't even an option to leave the house and the aircondition. We had a barbeque on the balcony and once in a while for a short time I tried to sunbathe..
The next week or the beginning of it went past without me even noticing. On Tuesday I went to Attiko hospital to get a signature from the teacher and to see everyone there. On Wednesday it was time for the beach again and then on Thursday morning I went to the fruit market near by. It's only once a week and they sell everything like potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, strawberries, peaches = everything! And it was so cheap: three kilos of tomatoes was ONE EURO!
In the evening of
Thursday 14th me and Dafni left at 10 pm towards Thessaloniki by train since it was an election weekend (again) and she went back to her home town to vote and had asked me to join her. The train trip took so long and it was so cold on the train that we didn't sleep almost at all. We arrived to Thessaloniki 7 am and went to her friend's place where we slept until 1 pm or something. After me, Dafni and Artemis (aka. The Ninja or Fight, Believe, Rainbow) left to have a coffee in the center with some other Erasmus students.
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| The white tower |
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| Ninja, Dafni and me |
We had coffee with Irish, Greek, British and some other students. After we went to see one of Thessaloniki's sightseeing place: White tower. Then we spotted more Erasmus students and joined them in What'sUp Park where we just hang around. Some of us where playing rackettes, some juggled with balls and some of us where balancing on a narrow rope which we put between two trees.
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| In What'sUp park |
Then we went to have a nap and outside in the evening. I was really tired at the bar and I didn't feel like drinking or partying that much. I met the first greek people who like to drink and actually get drunk and party! :D I surprised my boyfriend by calling him at 4 am when he woke up to get to work.. We went back to Artemis' place at 5 am.
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| Taken from Edessa to the valley down |
On
Friday morning all three of us headed towards the bus station to get to Edessa where they were both from. Edessa is a city of 25 000 people in the northern Greece. There Dafni's dad picked us up and we went to their home to eat. After we headed towards "the center" to the Riverplace (a coffee place) to hang around with some people. It was so funny to see how most of the young people there knew each other. Then we started our way towards the famous and the biggest waterfall in Greece. It was nice to see the old part of Edessa and also the waterfall was beautiful. Aft
er when the sun set we went to sit this amazing place with a view towards the valley and eat crepes.
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| Old part of Edessa |
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| The waterfall |
In the evening we went out again and saw some crazy football fans getting crazy when Greece won one game on the European Championships. There was a summer opening to this huge bar (Club One) that night and it was outside and you had to walk there and get two outdoor elevators to go down to the actual bar. There also I felt so tired but we went back to Dafni's place already around 4 am.
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| Taken from Dafni's balcony |
On Sunday we slept late and just hang around at her place and ate delicious home made greek food. Then it was time to leave with her family to drive to their village: Florina. It took around 45 minutes to drive there. It was a tiny village with only one school where they went to vote. I think they said that only 400 people live in the village. Then we visited her grandparents and every one took me into their homes with open arms and so much warm and love! I felt like being part of the family. Her grandparents were so cute! Someone told me that I'm probably the first and last Finnish girl ever to visit their village. We also went to visit their cherry, apple, peach and other trees what they had. They also showed me a nice lake nearby. We also visited the border of Macedonia.
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| The place of Dafni's parents with their plants |
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| Cherry trees |
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| Saving a turtle from middle of the road |
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| The lake |
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| On the left side Macedonia, on the right side Greece |
We came back around 22 o'clock to Edessa, we changed and left outside to a restaurant with Dafni's friends to sit around. The next morning we left to visit Dafni's godmother and after her dad and mom drove us to the train station and hugged me goodbye. I'm gonna miss them, they treated me like their own daughter. :/ The train ride went surprisingly fast and I was at home around 7 pm.
On
Tuesday 19th me and Mido left to some beach a little more far away from Athens than where we usually go to. It was so different, not that many people and the water was much cleaner! :) On
Wednesday Mido surprised me and we left with his friend and his girlfriend to Mojito Bay, a beach around 30km from Pireus. It was so nice and relaxing place where we spent the whole day!
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| Mojito Bay |
On
Thursday we went to the fruit market again and in the evening I saw my friend Xenofon at Panourmou where we went to have a coffee. On
Friday I saw my friend Dora for the last time. :( We went for a coffee and to gossip about everything. It was so so sad to hug her goodbye. After it would have been the last party by my flatmate at our place but I had decided to move to Keratsini to my boyfriends place. On
Saturday it was time to watch some football games and on S
unday morning we went to bazaar in Pireus to buy some Nike shoes for me. :P
On
Monday morning I left for gym and it took me 90 minutes to get there! When I was there I was already so hungry that my training wasn't that good.. Last time at the gym and I was really gonna miss the cosy gym. :/ It was my last week in Athens I couldn't really understand it.. On
Tuesday we went to the beach. On
Wednesday morning when I opened up the tv I saw a familiar landscape of Helsinki. It was so weird feeling, I didn't know that the European Athletic Championships were held in Helsinki.. I felt even more sad when I saw Helsinki and the rainy weather through tv. Most of the people at the crowd were blond and they had jeans and jackets on while I had been wearing shorts and tops for like two months.. In the evening we went to Monastiraki to walk around and we took the tourist "happy train" around the center. It was so much fun! :D
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| Happy train :) |
The last days went past too fast. :( On
Saturday we went out to Gazi to spend the evening/night and we had so much fun!! I won't forget that night I really really enjoyed myself and the atmosphere and the warm night! We ate my last souvlaki/pito-gyro that night. It is just delicious! On
Monday I did my last shopping in Egaleo and actually got a little lost when I got too confident and took a wrong bus and ended up driving in it around one hour.. Funny, getting lost in the last day. Well that just reflects how huge the city actually is.
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| Keratsini <3 |
On
Tuesday 3rd of July was my last day in Athens. Or actually only half a day. It was indescribable.. :( I don't have words to explain what I felt. Saying goodbye at the metro station must have been one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I couldn't believe I was actually going home after almost 5 months! I felt so sad, like I had to leave my home or that I wasn't ready to go back just yet. The train ride from Egaleo to the airport took around 50 minutes and I felt miserable seeing all the Finnish people at the airport and hearing them speaking the language.. My exchange period had gone to the end. I can't write any summary about my exchange yet, since I really can't put together my thoughts, I'll try to do it in the next text.. :)
-Never stop smiling
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