Day 4

Today was our trip to Vergina, which is a small town about an hour and a half away that is home to the royal burials. The tombs are underneath this small hill, and I actually got to see the large, square structures that King Phillip II and other members of his family were buried. It was amazing to get to see the structure itself that held all the artifacts instead of walking through a normal museum that shows pictures of the archaeological site. After the tour we ate at this little restaurant and I still cannot believe how much food you get. The plates seemed like they just kept coming one after the next. It is sad to think that after today I will not be eating like that anymore since I will be on my own for food instead of the program taking us out everyday for the best of the best.

When we returned to Thessaloniki I went exploring, trying to find a store with a hair dryer and a straightener. It is much harder than I thought it would be. On top of that everyone was staring at me, which I actually didn't mind. I figure if they stare at me I can look at them and the awkwardness balances out. I decided to embrace the awkwardness and now I say "ya sas" (hello) to everyone who looks at me. I think I startled a few people because they didn't seem to expect me to address them in Greek. But most people seem to like when I greet them as they pass.

I also went to the supermarket and bought some groceries, which is difficult since I didn't know what half the stuff on the shelves were. But I bought a lot of stuff, which was pretty heavy and while I was standing, struggling to hold my basket this little old woman came up to me and very sweetly gestured for me to sit the basket on the ground while I wait in line. Yeah, I know... I felt pretty dumb having not realized that option for myself. Anyways, moral of that story is I want to adopt her as my pseudo yia yia because she was really nice and absolutely adorable.

Oh, and I also went outside with a couple girls to the orange tree across the road to see if we could get an orange off of it. Pretty sure the tree is there for decoration, not to pick fruit from but we were going to try since, you know... its dark out. No one will see us. Yeah, that was dumb. We stood there staring up into the tree at an orange way out of reach while people walked past and looked at us like we were crazy. Oh yeah, we are great at blending in.

Finally found a negative about Greece.. There are a lot of bugs. And I am getting eaten alive. Top of my 'To Buy' list: BUG SPRAY