Kalimera friends! The last two weeks have been less chaotic than usual… mainly because I have been sick. Today I am writing this as a dinner that I am hosting tonight simmers on the stove, so my little old house smells like garlic, mushroom, and onion (yummy). October 28 is a big holiday here in Greece known as Ohi Day. 

Ohi Day celebrates the day that the Greek government said “No” to the fascist occupation of Greece and joined World War II on the side of the Allies. They celebrate by having large military parades in the streets. This morning I went for a long swim (it was cold), and when I got out they were out with their trumpets, ready to begin the parade. 

Tonight is my current roommate’s last night in the house, so we will be having some friends over to have dinner in our courtyard (as it may be one of the last sunny days for a while). I believe I’ve talked about this in my past blog posts, but an unfortunate part of living on an island of transit is that you say A LOT of goodbyes. A part of me is getting used to it, but another part of me still struggles with getting so close to someone only to have to say goodbye again. 

In other news, I had to take a few days off last week because I have been sick, so my project is moving a bit slowly. And although being sick and having to miss out on activities SUCKED, it was nice to have such a lovely community of people reaching out to make sure I was okay. That being said, the combination of being sick and the shift in the weather has been making me feel a bit homesick, so I have been trying to come up with fun activities to make me feel better. And of course, going for swims and getting out in nature has been a part of that. 

For the last bit of this blog post, I wanted to talk about some aspects of Greek culture that I have found interesting… 

1. It is a very matriarchal culture. Women are often powerful figures, own their own businesses and homes, and if they are in a relationship (whether that be married or have a boyfriend) they often don’t bring it up. 
2. Community culture, even as the weather gets colder, the community is much closer knit. Rather than going straight home after work, people will be going to the cafe to grab a coffee with friends. It’s almost impossible for me to walk home without seeing someone I know. 
3. The Spanish siesta… but times 10. From the hours of 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. almost nothing is open. People go home, they rest, take a long lunch, and then don’t head back to work until 6 (although they do often work far into the evening… I can hear the music from the cafe’s in my room until 3 a.m. even on weekdays). 
4. Greek Maybe Time – as in “Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t”. I’d heard this as a joke but it is so true. Timeliness just isn’t a thing here. And as someone who is chronically tardy, I love it. 

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chill little blog post. Stay tuned for my next one though, big things in the works 🙂

Attached are some photos from the past two weeks… although I don’t have much. 

Group photo of the team at Lesvos Solidarity

Getting some work done at a cafe

Had the loveliest evening at an event commemorating the history of the crisis on Lesvos

Ya friends! These past two weeks have been busy busy busy and (as per usual) it is so hard for me to summarize my time here in these short posts. Between my internship, my volunteering, and spending time with friends, it feels like I never have a rest, but in the best way possible.

Internship

presenting LESOL to faculty at the Metochi Monastery 

A large part of my work here has been adapting to the constantly changing nature of working with an NGO involved in refugee support. Laws are constantly changing, needs are constantly shifting, and with that my work is constantly changing. While, for the most part, the project I am doing here has remained relatively close to the project I set out to do, the role has definitely been a bit different than I imagined it to be.

The past few weeks I have been acting primarily as communications support. This has included editing videos for grant proposals, creating new social media content, writing advocacy content for our website, and lots of Shopify edits to better advertise our products.

In addition to that, last week I got to go on a little excursion with Lesvos Solidarity, where we presented our project to faculty of a potential university partner at a monastery in the hills of Greece (it was gorgeous... photos below)..

Community

Another realization that dawned on me today was that I found a community here. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, one of my top priorities when I arrived was finding a group of people that I could count on. Not just friends, but a true community.

This past weekend I went camping (if you can’t tell by my past posts... I really, really enjoy camping). The weather was chilly but the people were incredible, as were the views. But the most beautiful part of the camping trip wasn’t even the night under the stars, or swimming in the sea in October, or the lovely taverna dinner we had on the way back the next day.  No, it was all the people asking me about my camping trip when I got back.

I’ve been so busy here that it can sometimes be hard to take a step back and look at how far I have come in just two months. My first week here I was lonely, scared I wasn’t going to make any friends, and nervous about all of the challenges ahead of me. And although I still have two months of growth left, I wanted to make a list here of things I once found challenging that I can now do comfortably:

1. Navigating a grocery store not being able to read the labels
2. Public speaking
3. (Attempting) to speak a language I am learning with a native speaker
4. Biking up large hills

Outside of camping and visiting the monastery, I also had some lovely excursions within Mytilene, including many home cooked meals, some Sunday morning swims (but that water is getting chilly!), long walks around the island with my camera, and countless chats with people who are infinitely more interesting than I will ever be. Photos below!

taken while camping in Skala Eressos, a beach on the other side of the island

taken in Mytilene on my walk home from my internship

And... of course... here is the playlist 🙂

Baby Steps by Olivia Dean

You Get What You Give by the New Radicals

Fool for Love by Lord Huron

Kalispera friends – this post is a few days late because I’ve been grappling with how to go about writing this. I’ve been apprehensive to share this story, because it is one that is so common on this island yet also so fragile and sensitive that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share it publicly. However, I’ve tried multiple times to sit down and write other stories from the past two weeks, and this is the only story I wanted to share. 

The past two weeks here have been beautiful, full of the last beach days of summer, delicious food at the local taverna (zucchini flowers and fried feta are some of my personal favorites) and saying goodbye to friends leaving the island to return to university. Swim lessons have ended as the water gets colder, although I am continuing to volunteer in the evenings at the gym that hosts the swim lessons. 

But amidst this beautiful experience I am having here, there is the duality of this island. Recently, I went on another camping trip and it was lovely. We looked at the stars, talked and laughed for hours, and shared an amazing meal together. But little did we know that just a few hours after we zipped ourselves into our tents and sleeping bags for bed, safely protected from the strong winds, a boat carrying asylum seekers would be arriving about 100 feet away from us. 

I have seen a lot of the media surrounding the crisis and talked to people about their experience coming to the island, but something about seeing it firsthand brought tears to my eyes. After they had been taken to the camp, my friend and I walked along the shore to make a pile of life vests to be made into bags. We found about 10 life vests for a boat carrying dozens of people. So many people made this trip with nothing to protect themselves if something were to go wrong, on the windiest and coldest night since I have been here. 

These are the stories we don’t often hear in the United States. We know about the crises abroad, but we don’t see this. The people who make these journeys, the few things they carry with them, and the courage they must have to leave everything behind. 

I want to write more about life on Lesvos and all of the beautiful things I am experiencing in this place I am falling in love with. The interesting people, the beaches, the close-knit community of island life, and the work that I am becoming even more passionate about by the day. But this was a part of my experience that will resonate with me for years to come, and for now it is all I wanted to share here. 

In the meantime, I had a busy two weeks, here are some photos of things I got up to...

morning run with the craziest view

had traditional food from pakistan for lunch at my internship... it was delicious

gryo on the beach to start my weekend !

some more bags in the workshop!

Last Days of Greek Summer

Kalimera friends! Sitting down to write this blog post has been a struggle. Over the past two weeks since my last post I feel as though a lifetime has passed. Life moves so fast yet so slow here. It is hard to summarize everything in 500 words, but I will try my best.

Internship and Volunteering

As the weeks have gone on, it has gotten easier and easier to make friends. The NGO community here is very close knit due to the fact that many of the organizations work together. Additionally, I picked up even more volunteer work outside of my internship teaching swim lessons to refugee women in the evening.  One thing I find so interesting about this experience in Greece is that every single thing I have been interested in or passionate about has somehow come into play. I taught swim lessons for four years in high school and college and loved it, and here I am, doing it again, albeit in a very different context.

Biking to swim lessons after my internship... biking on the hills of Greece is NOT for the weak

At my internship, I’ve been primarily working on social media content and photography for our website as the other aspects of the project I am working on take a little longer. The unfortunate reality of doing a PR campaign is that you spend a lot of time waiting for people to email you back.

Office with a view of the sea... whaaaattt?

Some bags in the shop ready to be sold

Additionally, I’ve started learning the process of sewing the bags and am excited to start working on those those as soon as I am done with updating the website and social media.

Island Life

Outside of my work, I’ve also gotten to go one a couple of fun excursions. This past weekend, me and a group of volunteers went camping at Farra beach, about 45 minutes away from Mytilene. I was tasked with driving the car as the American drivers license is pretty strong internationally (shocking considering how easy our driving test is). That, I was terrified for, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

The camping trip was amazing. I brought my camera and messed around a bit with it. A fun new hobby I’ve been picking up on this trip is photography. At the beach that night a local band played some authentic Greek music which was beautiful. Additionally, I had some of the most incredible swims. The water here is so clear and, even right on the shore, there are hundreds of beautiful fish swimming at your feet. It feels like another world underneath the surface, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

But somehow it gets better. I have some friends who work at an eco-farm about 15 minutes outside of Mytilene and last night they invited me over for a meal full of fresh ingredients. And I do mean fresh, because right before dinner we went out and caught the mussels and sea urchins we ate with our meal. It was truly one of the most incredible meals I’d ever eaten. Mussels sauteed in tomatoes and feta, fresh risotto, and rice stuffed zucchini flowers.

Harsh Realities

However, as incredible as this island and this experience is, it is also very sobering. Meeting the people who came here and learning about their experiences is hard to hear. Suddenly the news headlines aren’t just headlines. Bombings in Yemen, Gaza, and Kuwait, flooding in Pakistan, they are so much more than a death toll. Knowing that people I am friends with have loved ones who could be one of those numbers is hard.

It has also made me realize that I am an incredibly blessed person. Not just blessed to have this experience and be in this beautiful place, but blessed for where I was born. I am blessed to call my family without fear that something has happened to them. I am blessed to swim in this sea and see the beautiful fish and catch mussels and not be scared. I am blessed to have a passport that took me two weeks to get. I am blessed to feel safe here. I am blessed to travel freely.

And of course... here is the playlist

Ladies Room by Olivia Dean (of course... more Olivia Dean)

Ya Habibi by Mohamed Ramadan (this was playing in the car for most of the trip to Farra)

November Air by Zach Bryan

Yasou!!!! That’s the more casual way to say hello in Greek. This week has been exciting and challenging in all of the best ways. I’ve been meeting people, stepping out of my comfort zone, settling in with my NGO, and adjusting to living alone (coming from a large family... this is definitely the hardest part).

Last Saturday, I landed in Lesvos running on 6 hours of sleep over the course of 48 hours. Turns out, getting a taxi, finding a house, and buying groceries with a language barrier is a lot harder when your eyes are half closed (shocker). After taking Sunday to sleep, I spent the week meeting with the team at my non-profit, hashing out details of the PR campaign I will be doing, cleaning the old house I am staying in, and exploring the island.

On the tarmac wearing sunglasses because there is no life behind those eyes.

After spending the first few days wandering the city by myself and going for some lovely sunset swims, I challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone and go to an event alone. I am glad did because I ended up meeting an incredible group of volunteers. This past weekend, we explored Mytilini and the rest of the island together. One thing that I didn’t realize about Greece until I came here is that it is incredibly mountainous. Some of the crazy cliffs I’ve seen while I’ve been here are pictured below. I also got to swim in a hot spring for the first time (well... sit) but sadly didn’t get any photos.

Beyond these fun little adventures, however, I have been focused on creating community and routine here. As I learned during my exchange program in Australia, having a routine and people you can call when you’re in a pinch is the key to feeling at home in a new country. Going into this experience, I expected the volunteer house I’d be staying in to be the natural community I’d create here. However, after discovering that I’d be living alone, I’ve had to go out of my way to create those connections.

Thankfully, the team at my non-profit has been incredibly welcoming, and I am quickly settling into life there. These two weeks have been crazy, but I find that every time I step out of my comfort zone, whether it be going to eat alone, swim alone, or go to an event alone, I am always rewarded by the experiences I find and people I meet.

The Statue of Liberty (not to be confused with New York) where I have been going to swim in the evenings to create routine here.

That being said, this trip hasn’t come without its fair share of challenges. The night I arrived in Greece I spent many hours crying on the phone to my parents saying I wanted to go home (My dad made me screen record our conversation to watch back when I leave). Maybe it was just a combination of sleep deprivation and jet lag, but I did want to talk a little bit about how hard the adjustment was coming here because I feel it is less often shared in travel content. Culture shock is real. Homesickness is real. Moving to another country and not knowing anyone is hard. You feel as though your body and nervous system are constantly “on” and no matter how hard you try, you can’t find the off button.

Despite all of this, I am falling in love with this place. I love walking everywhere. I love how friendly the people are. I love stumbling through my broken Greek (and the sense of pride when a Greek person says “bravo” if I get it right). I love the work I am doing. Even when I am homesick, I still wake up every day with gratitude for this experience and this place.

The water is so blue here.

The hills you see in the distance in this photo... that’s Turkey.

It is so crazy to me that I literally live right next to a castle on the hill. Ed Sheeran who?

And, as a final note, here’s the playlist...

Lady Lady by Olivia Dean

Watch Me Go by Lord Huron

Ooh La La by Faces

Hello! Or should I say yasas, which is how you say hello in Greek. I have two full days left in the States before I depart for Greece and I could not be more excited. Currently my closet and room are in disarray as I pack my life into one checked bag and head to the island of Lesvos for four months. However, to procrastinate finishing this endeavor, I am going to share with you guys a little bit about what I’ve been up to since graduation and my thoughts on the trip.

June: Italy 

View on Lake Como

With the bridal party in Bellagio (P.S. I sewed that dress hehe)

Giving Maddy snacks while she gets ready for her wedding

This summer I got to do a bit of traveling and spend some quality time with friends I won’t see for a few months. I went to Bellagio, Italy to see one of my closest friends, Maddy, get married. It was  incredible to not only share in this special life moment for her and her husband but also to experience Italy for the first time (all I can say is that it is definitely popular for a reason). Between wedding festivities we laughed over dinner, chatted on patios until midnight, and swam in the ice cold water of Lake Como.

July: Visa struggles 

Taken immediately after my visa application was finally accepted. I was more excited than I look in this photo, I promise. 

This was the least fun part of my summer. As amazing as Italy was, I returned home on Saturday, June 14th with the head cold from hell. And on Monday the 16th I had my visa appointment. I decided to power through it and, along with my parents, made the 2 hour trip to Atlanta, documents in one hand and tissues in the other. However, due to some issues with my documents, my application was rejected.

What followed was a mess of struggling to get a new appointment (appointment slots can get booked out months in advance), a delayed trip, and tedious hours spent working on my new application. As miserable as the experience was it did give me a better understanding of just how difficult the experience is for refugees. The Greek migration system is confusing, bureaucratic, and slow, and that is coming from a privileged white Westerner with immense support from a credible Greek NGO. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for the refugees waiting on Lesvos for months to hear back from the Greek government. Although I will never be able to empathize with them, I now understand a crumb of their experience, and have so much admiration for their ability to keep going along with more drive than ever to help where I can.

August: To Greece we go!

A clock in my parents house, telling what time it is where I am (my brother in Tashkent has one too)

Sisters and I matched for fourth of July

Against all odds I finally secured a visa (huzzah!!) and am ready to  leave. This Friday is a big day for my family. My older sister moves to Nashville, my brother moves back to Uzbekistan, where he works as an English teacher, and my little sister moves back to her university to work as an RA. Although my trip getting delayed was unfortunate, I am grateful to have spent one last summer living under the same roof as most of my siblings before we depart on our separate adventures.

And now it’s time to leave. I expected to feel more nervous for this trip, but in all honesty, I am experiencing a weird sense of calm (that is subject to change). Right now I feel that I am going where I am supposed to be at this point in my life. So thank you guys for reading this first post, and keep reading to follow along on my journey 🙂

P.S. My big sister told me I should include a mini-playlist with each blog post... so here are my current favorites if you want to listen along with me.

Songs: 

Heavy Foot by Mon Rovia

Rein Me In by Sam Fender ft Olivia Dean 

Universal Sound by Tyler Childers

Leaving on a Jet Plane by Peter, Paul, and Mary