IKEA & SNOW

Today was the first day of orientation. It went really well and was information packed. Then we all went to IKEA and bought some room essentials like tubberware and towels. It feels good to finally have stuff to cook and clean with!

Orientation was held at the school so it was good to finally see the campus. It had olive trees lining the walkways and has geometric inlaid designs in the concrete sidewalk and steps. The main building has a kind of high-school feel to it. But I only did explore the one room where our orientation was held. Lunch was served at orientation and boy do the Greeks know how to cook!! There were mounds upon mounds of food to be served! I ate a huge lunch of bread with tzatziki sauce (why would I EVER use butter when there's tzatziki sauce around?!), greek salad, rice, fried leeks, and sautéed pork. Then we had a kind of custard-filled baklava for dessert. Even after everyone was eating, there was so much left over! The Greeks believe that when you feed someone, you should make three times that which a person can eat as a measure of generosity or affulence. I don't know if that's what was coming into play at the school, but there was more food than a group of our number could possibly eat.

Last night I went out with 16 of my other floor friends and we had a large dinner, served family style and with wayyyy too much food again. Then we went out for drinks at a bar. Drinks here are ridiculously expensive at the bars. Any beer or wine is 5 euros and any alcoholic drinks like a mojito or martinis are between 10-15 euros. That's ridiculous!! I can't afford that night after night... And it's not traditional for men to buy drinks for women here, so I'm kind of left to fend for myself. I had one glass of sangria which was on special for 5 euros. It's great to be out with the group and to get to know everyone better. There is actually a couple people from Iowa which is nuts because I thought that NO ONE was going from Iowa. There's one guy, Lawrence, who prefers to be called LA who actually is a junior AND an english major at UIOWA. How have I not ran into him before? Same school, same grade, same major? Strange. And there's three people from Iowa State: Stacy, Lefonda, and Travis. Then there's other people from lots of other states too.

My favorite memory so far is of one of my friends, Tianna, who is BEYOND hilarious. She keeps on talking about this 3-pound-sweater that she had to take out of her suitcase because it was 53 pounds and  to take it on the plane, it had to be 50 pounds so she had to leave her sweater behind. And it was a GREAT SWEATER. Tianna also has no voice in the mornings so we joke that she's going to have to stomp or pound the walls to get our attention if we can't see her or can't see that she wants our attention. Tianna just might be one of the funniest people I've ever met. I look forward to more adventures with her, and with other members of my great group :)

It also SNOWED today! That's a first in ACT history, never has it snowed for an orientation. It's been at record lows for greece lately. YIKES. Not so fun to leave Iowa to come to Greece and get snow. Yeah, that's not exactly what I expected. But at least it's not blizzarding or anything too crazy and it should hopefully warm up really soon.