We finally arrived to Paros Island yesterday! I had to be up at the crack of dawn to catch the ferry from Athens to the island though, so that wasn't too cute. The boat was massive. I didn't expect it to be so huge. I am not one to get sea sick, never have. When I got on this rig and it started rockin' my stomach wasn't happy. We had standing room and upper deck tickets. All of those areas were full so we sat on the inside in rows of chairs that looked like they do on an airplane. I was luckily able to curl up and sleep for 4 of the 41/2 hours spent getting to the island.
Paros is amazing. It's the picture perfect calendar image. The bright white architecture, with blue roofs, and gorgeous flowers everywhere. I can't believe I'm in paradise.
We spent yesterday mostly getting to know the island and exploring. The director of our program, Barry, took us straight from the boat on a tour of the main market/store front and showed us where the school where our classes will be held. (Hellenic International Studies in the Arts or HISA for short) From there we went to our apartments where our luggage was waiting for us.
Fortunately, I was assigned a single so I have a pretty big room with a double bed and twin bed to myself with my own balcony, bathroom, and kitchenette. The apartments take up two buildings and of course I am in the one not equipped with wifi. If too many people aren't on it at once, like right now, the signal reaches my room sometimes.
After our room assignments, we had all day to do whatever we wanted. Hilary, Megan, and I explored the small shops and went sight seeing. We also went to the supermarket to get groceries now to save money since we have our own appliances. That was an interesting experience considering not a single product is labeled in English. I'm hoping the milk I bought will be alright considering I had to scope out what other families were buying trying to figure out which one was safe. haha. Carrying a case of water and 3 bags of groceries a mile to my apartment was probably entertaining to watch.
We ate dinner as a group with our professors at a seafood place. If anyone knows me, they know I'm not big into seafood at all. So for someone like me, salad with shrimp & octopus, a round of mussels, and calamari was not good. Once dinner was over Hilary, Megan, and I went to a Mexican restaraunt because Megan is allergic to shellfish and couldn't eat it either. Stupid Americans, in Greece, eating at a Mexican restaraunt. Oh, well!
Afterwards, we all met up with the group and went out dancing and such which was a lot of fun. It's kind of humorous to me to have my professors going out on the town with us at night. When we name drop our director we get into places for free or he calls ahead for us. How awesome is that? Definitely not something that would happen at GVSU.
I love this island and everything about it. The water, beaches, town, scenery, it's perfect. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't homesick though. My mom put international service on my cell phone but it's still pretty pricey so I bought a Greek cell phone today for 15 Euros that came with 60 minutes calling time to the U.S. I'm used to being away from my family, friends, and boyfriend for weeks at a time since GVSU is 2 hours from home... but 5,000 miles feels wayyyyyy different! I wouldn't trade my time here in Greece for anything though.
Today I had my first class - photography. And in a little bit I have creative writing! My class schedule is different every day and some days I do not go at all/ We have excursions planned to Mykonos, Antiparos, Naxos, and a 3 day trip to Santorini!
These pictures were all taken on my iPhone so they really aren't the best quality but I promise my next post will have better pictures of the island! Hope everything is well back home. :)
Paros is amazing. It's the picture perfect calendar image. The bright white architecture, with blue roofs, and gorgeous flowers everywhere. I can't believe I'm in paradise.
We spent yesterday mostly getting to know the island and exploring. The director of our program, Barry, took us straight from the boat on a tour of the main market/store front and showed us where the school where our classes will be held. (Hellenic International Studies in the Arts or HISA for short) From there we went to our apartments where our luggage was waiting for us.
Fortunately, I was assigned a single so I have a pretty big room with a double bed and twin bed to myself with my own balcony, bathroom, and kitchenette. The apartments take up two buildings and of course I am in the one not equipped with wifi. If too many people aren't on it at once, like right now, the signal reaches my room sometimes.
Top right balcony is mine
Don't mind my mess. I am yet to unpack.
After our room assignments, we had all day to do whatever we wanted. Hilary, Megan, and I explored the small shops and went sight seeing. We also went to the supermarket to get groceries now to save money since we have our own appliances. That was an interesting experience considering not a single product is labeled in English. I'm hoping the milk I bought will be alright considering I had to scope out what other families were buying trying to figure out which one was safe. haha. Carrying a case of water and 3 bags of groceries a mile to my apartment was probably entertaining to watch.
We ate dinner as a group with our professors at a seafood place. If anyone knows me, they know I'm not big into seafood at all. So for someone like me, salad with shrimp & octopus, a round of mussels, and calamari was not good. Once dinner was over Hilary, Megan, and I went to a Mexican restaraunt because Megan is allergic to shellfish and couldn't eat it either. Stupid Americans, in Greece, eating at a Mexican restaraunt. Oh, well!
Afterwards, we all met up with the group and went out dancing and such which was a lot of fun. It's kind of humorous to me to have my professors going out on the town with us at night. When we name drop our director we get into places for free or he calls ahead for us. How awesome is that? Definitely not something that would happen at GVSU.
I love this island and everything about it. The water, beaches, town, scenery, it's perfect. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't homesick though. My mom put international service on my cell phone but it's still pretty pricey so I bought a Greek cell phone today for 15 Euros that came with 60 minutes calling time to the U.S. I'm used to being away from my family, friends, and boyfriend for weeks at a time since GVSU is 2 hours from home... but 5,000 miles feels wayyyyyy different! I wouldn't trade my time here in Greece for anything though.
Today I had my first class - photography. And in a little bit I have creative writing! My class schedule is different every day and some days I do not go at all/ We have excursions planned to Mykonos, Antiparos, Naxos, and a 3 day trip to Santorini!
These pictures were all taken on my iPhone so they really aren't the best quality but I promise my next post will have better pictures of the island! Hope everything is well back home. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment