Parga is a small slice of heaven..

Minus the overcast weather, our visit to Parga today was beautiful, and SO much fun! We stopped at a lot of ruins on the way there, go figure, and of course another fascinating museum. Parga is located on the sea, so it was my first time dipping my feet into the Grecian waters that I've heard about all my life. Although it wasn't exactly warm (I wore jeans and a light sweater), it was still a fantastic experience near the ocean. The people of the town all spoke English that we came into contact with, which was VERY helpful for the short time we were there. I think a group of us would love to go back when it's more touristy and sunny! Here are the pictures :) :)

LOOOOOOOOVE!! view of the town

Michelle & I at the castle overlooking one of the bays

toes in the (rocky) sand!

me at the beach, soo happy!

in the ancient grounds where they made animal sacrifices to the gods of the underworld, how pleasant!

What a fantastic way to spend a Friday!

Love,

Rochelle

Byzantine!

I am going to stop with the day tracking, because it's getting confusing for me to keep counting them since I always somehow lose track!! On Wednesday we went to the Byzantine Museum and Municipal Museum inside of the castle of Ioannina. We also started our ethnography study on Tuesday, where we will be interviewing citizens to get their opinions about certain issues that have arisen throughout the years. Thursday we had seven hours of classes, which was absolutely exhausting, mentally. Overall it was a great week filled with fascinating new sites to see! Check them out yourself :)

A painting of all of the Saints at the Byzantine Museum in Ioannina

The outside of the Byzantine Museum

The ruins that we got in trouble for climbing :) :)

At the top of the ruins with my new found great friend, Gracie!

One last picture for this post, the real reason why Europeans stay so thin!

Enjoy! I'll have my Parga post up soon! :)

Love you,

Rochelle

Days 13-15: Zagorhoria and a Mexican Fiesta

This post is going to be more photo dense, with a little bit of explanations in between :)

Saturday night we really wanted Mexican food so we headed to a restaurant called Poco Loco, which was DELICIOUS!

They took forever bringing me just my chicken fajitas, because of a mixup in the kitchen, so they brought me a free "sex on the beach" that I took a few sips of and pawned off on others.

They were well worth the wait!

Earlier that afternoon I walked around Ioannina and shopped while enjoying the sunshine and a lovely view of the lake! I also got a fantastic silver ring that I adore!

Friday was spent in a traditional village called Zagorhoria. This was one of the hotels there.

It was also home of the world's deepest Gorge, that we hiked around, even though I'm terrified of heights. I also hiked in my brand new Seychelles flats. Oh well, you only live once right?

Some of the girls sitting on the ledge :)

Awesome stone bridges just outside of the main village we spent our time in!

Shailee and Heidi admiring the teal worry beads I found there!

Friday afternoon we also enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken, potatoes, white bean soup, and delicious salad! So nutritious and filling :)

Love and miss you,

Rochelle

Days 9-12: Caves & Classes

Classes have officially begun here at the University of Ioannina. Well, actually they started Monday, but I guess I'm a little slow on the blogging front. The first couple days of Greek Language were incredibly rough because we felt like our teacher was pushing us too hard, but we met at a middle ground, and now things are going MUCH better. We also had a couple of Greek Culture lectures this week, which were both fascinating in their own respects. The one we had today was by our UW Professor, Taso Lagos. He spoke with us about the ethnographical study we will be doing of Ioannina, which is going to be very interesting and challenging. We have to interview locals, in english of course, but getting them to open up may be different because this is the first time it has been done in Ioannina.

Yesterday was the most fun day we've had so far since we've arrived at the college, with the exception of our first night out on the town. We went to the Cave of Perama, which is a massive cave located about 25 minutes away from the University. After the cave, we went out to dinner as a group, which was a LOT of fun, and a lot more satisfying than the cafeteria food.

So far I am REALLY enjoying myself, and loving every minute of being abroad and exploring the world around me. I haven't been too homesick yet, and Skype/Facebook have made life a lot easier lately. However, I know I'm going to start missing home soon, and that's okay. 56 days will go by a lot faster than I realize :) Here's some pictures for your enjoyment!

Thetas abroad!

Streets of Perama.

They looked like claws, so of course I had to take a picture

Michelle and I inside the Cave :)

first snapshot I got of the cave. so unreal!

Love you all,

Rochelle

Days 6-8: Getting Accustomed

Life is different in Greece. Especially when you don't understand Greek whatsoever, and they don't understand you. However, so far we have managed to have a great time. Friday night we went out for an adventure throughout the Greek pubs, which was a lot of fun, until my wallet went missing (blah!) However, I still have my passport and in the grand scheme of things, that's all that really matters. Then Saturday, we went on a long hike, and hung out around campus until late in the evening when we decided to go downtown so a few girls could get some crepes. Sunday was spent with Anna and Gracie at one of the only open cafes (happened to be a crepe shop) and we played cards and chatted. Today was our first day of Greek class, and we also got registered with the University. Greek is an entirely different language than French (which I learned in High School) and has a lot of unique symbols used for its alphabet. Luckily, being in the Greek System does help (somewhat) but not enough to put me ahead of the game, per say.

Here's some pictures so you can see what I've been up to :)

best chocolate, banana, and strawberry crepe EVER!

sheep from our hike :)

view of the campus from our hike

it rained here on Sunday :(

Thetas enjoying a night out in Ioannina :)

Love you all, good night!

Rochelle

Day Five: A Pleasant Surprise

When we pulled up yesterday to the University of Ioannina, we were less than impressed. It was most likely because of the 7 hours we spent on the busses, and the fact that we pulled into the outskirts of town, but we basically thought we were stranded in a town relative to Pullman. Boy, were we wrong! Today we ventured into the city, and it actually turned out to be a CITY! Great shopping, cute cafes, and a beautiful lake as well! I've come to be obsessed with leather bracelets, and here they come in every color and design for around 2 to 3 euros! It's a problem. I also got a fantastic scarf, and a few little goodies for some friends back home. One of the biggest differences between Ioannina and Athens, is the fact that not nearly as many people speak English here, whereas in Athens it was around 70% or so did. It became apparent today as we were ordering our gyros for lunch that it would be different here. However, the gelato people knew exactly what we wanted :) :) So far so good! Tonight we are going out to explore the night life and see what it's like around the city when the sun goes down. I promise to be safe, don't worry about me!

Lots of fantastic shops throughout downtown!

Some of the great bracelet purchases :) I have the pink sleeves!

had to represent Theta while abroad!

The first store we went into, naturally!

First glimpse of Ioannina!

Nap time now! More adventures to come :)

Love,

Rochelle

Days 3/4: Goodbye Athens, Hello Ioannina!

Yesterday was our last day in Athens, so we decided to be as touristy as possible, and ride the double decker City Sightseeing Bus. It was actually a lot of fun, because we got to see parts of Athens that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Then when all of that was over with, we went and got our 2 euro gyros again! :) After lunch, we went back to the hotel, packed, and met up with the whole group to go to the New Acropolis Museum. It was really interesting, and we spent two hours examining ancient greek artifacts and spending time getting to know one another. After all of our adventures, we went out to dinner at one of Taso's favorite restaurants, and it was absolutely amazing. The vegetables over here are so much more fresh than back home. I adore them!

This morning we had to get up at 6:30 am, head down to the bus station at 7:30, take a bus to the other bus station, take a bus from that bus station to Ioannina that lasted 6 hours, and then another bus to the university. Needless to say, I'm pretty dang exhausted by busses. Now we are sitting in our room unpacking. My roommate's name is Anna, and she is an Economics Major who is graduating as soon as we get back. She's super nice, and was one of the girls I travelled over to Athens with from day one. Here's some pictures from yesterday, I haven't uploaded the random pictures I snapped today..

being a true seattleite... with my complicated nonfat sugarfree vanilla chai tea latte :)

crazy stray dogs that followed our group for about 20 minutes around the national gardens area, so weird!

the bus we took around the city

first olympic stadium

Lamb Gyro = Heavenly :)

some of the girls at the entrance to the national gardens

the first stray dog that started following us! :)

well, that's all for now!

Love,

Rochelle

Day Two: Gyros and Cell Phones

Today was a very interesting day. We started off with a breakfast at our hotel, then went on an adventure to get cell phones that will work over here (requirement for the program, not by choice) and that took us on a trek all around downtown Athens in order to find ones that worked. Now we are trying to figure out how to get them activated and put enough money on them to make it work. However, I did just figure out how to call people from my skype account, so naturally I had to call my mom :)

These aren't really in order from today, but here you go!

This one's for you Dad, I had to take a picture of the UPS Van!

palm trees and sunshine, nothing is better. Well, I guess the beach would have made it better, but I can survive without it I guess for a bit :)

Some cool graffiti, everything over here has so much character, it's interesting.

Ancient Greek ruins, of course!

Giant ice cream cones :) We got Gelato later in the night. I got Honey Yogurt flavored, absolutely AMAZING!!

Some of the flea market shops

We found it very interesting that the signs were in english. However, we've found that English is actually quite common in Athens. According to our professor, 70% of citizens speak it, especially for business purposes.

City streets. Today was much more lively because the holiday was over.

All in all, a great day filled with flea market shopping, inexpensive gyros, and ouzo gift sets. Ouzo is the famous drink of Greece, and it smells like black licorice. However, it's clear, which kind of weirds me out. I don't think I want to try it, I'll probably bum it off on one of my friends from home :)

Well, it's almost midnight here, so I better get some rest.

Love,

Rochelle

Day One: The Arrival

Hey everyone! So this morning we arrived in Athens at about 8:30 am local time. After 18 hours of traveling, we were finally here! A group of six of us wound up together on the NY to Athens flight, which was really nice so we didn't get lost. Taso, our professor, picked us up and took us back to the hotel. I immediately fell in love with Athens as soon as I felt the sun on my skin and looked up at the Acropolis. We even have a great view of it from the balcony of our hotel room. We are staying at a little place called the Art Gallery, and the elevators are so tiny it's hilarious. I could barely fit my suitcases in there with just myself. Anyways, here are some pictures from today:

Parthenon/acropolis at night

and by day, i can't wait to actually get up there, it was closing because of the holiday by the time we ventured over

orange trees that line the street because they are the only kind that will survive the smog

view from the hotel room: acropolis :)

greek city living at its finest!

Well I hope all is well back home! Love you all, miss you already :)

Rochelle