An Excellent Start

So, the remainder of the introduction days were amazing! I got along with my group very well, so we're still hanging out and having fun. During the introduction days, we had a "Crazy 88" city tour, where everyone got a list of 88 things that we could do around town to get points (like make a human pyramid, go in the fountain barefoot, sing to a grandma, give out 5 hugs to strangers, take pictures at certain places....). We also went to a street theatre festival that was going on in the city center, which was awesome. There was a hilarious Australian magician, people dancing with fire sticks and hula hoops, a puppet show, acrobats and all kinds of things. The next day was the sports day, where we got to play all kinds of sports (frisbee, soccer, field hockey....), check out the sports center, and talk to sports clubs that we might want to join. (I'm looking at joining either the running or climbing clubs!) That night we all watched a movie outdoors (Despicable Me :D) and then went to some fun parties.

We checked out the pool that is across from my apartment one day as well - it's AWESOME. There's a really good slide, a lazy river, diving boards and a sauna and steam bath!! Then that night there was a "Comedy Crawl" where we went around town to different theatres to see different comedians. Some were really good, but I got picked on a lot for being American. Whenever they asked if any Americans were present, I was ALWAYS the only one. Haven't met another one of my kind yet....luckily I seem to be fitting in well with the Greeks. Though, when I told one Greek girl that I was from Philadelphia, her response was "...That's near California, right?! I've always wanted to go there because I LOVE Baywatch!!" ....

On a day that it was super rainy, I had my "Alpine Adventure Race" workshop, where with 2 other people on my team I had to bike around the city and surrounding woods to different checkpoints where there were things like slacklining, monkey bars, rope climbing and shooting. I got very wet and muddy, but it was very very fun. The last day there was a Brunch and information market in the school's botanical gardens and a really good music festival at night. All the pictures from the week are up on facebook!

Overall, it was a ridiculously busy, but amazing week. A really great way to get to know people and learn about the town! Now I have a week off before classes start still!

So far, I'm loving it here and loving how international of a place this town is. I'm meeting people from all over the world and really getting to know about a lot of different cultures. Today I even ate chicken hearts (fed to me by my french friend) and learned that Greek people regularly call eachother "asshole" (Malaka!). Thats the only word I now understand when they talk to eachother in Greek. Better than nothing, I suppose...