Hello All,
This week involved sightseeing in Thessaloniki, Greek Culture, and volunteering, of course along with classes.
Classes this week were pretty uneventful as we are starting to delve into the hard material. My Greek Culture class offered us a wonderful opportunity to learn about traditional Greek cooking. During this time we learned how to make traditional Spanakopita, a Greek spinach pie, Stuffed Grape Leaves, and a traditional Greek salad. Greek culture makes it very much known that women must know how to make traditional meals if they want to get married as it is important for them to cook for their future mother-in-law and future family gatherings. To make a traditional Spanakopita we rolled out dough, the chef had a very specific technique; after it was large enough we poured olive oil on it and added a line of spinach, fresh onion, dried onion, and other greens. It was then rolled and baked. The Stuffed Grape Leaves were filled with a rice mixture, the chef was especially specific with these as they had to be very tight. If they were not he would dump the contents and make you redo them. The traditional Greek salad was the easiest to make as it was just a personal combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, olives, feta cheese, olive oil, and oregano. I originally did not like this salad when I first arrived, but it has quickly grown on me.
(In the first two, I am making Spanakopita; Second two, I am making stuffed grape leaves; the last picture is the chicken and rice they served us after making traditional Greek food)
This week we decided to explore more of Thessaloniki and parts of the city that we had not seen. One place was The Umbrellas by Zongolopoulos; these are a very popular landmark for both tourists and natives. It offers a stunning view of the sea and the umbrellas make for adorable pictures! For a while, we just hung out and took in the sights and conversations. We continued to walk around Thessaloniki.
In Thessaloniki, I, along with two other ladies, discovered a spa. Here we received traditional Turkish Baths and let me tell you, they were relaxing! A traditional Turkish bath included laying in a sauna-like room for approximately 30 minutes after which we were laid onto marble beds where we were exfoliated, and had water poured on us multiple times. It also included lots of soap and bubbles. It included a full body and head massage and then tea afterward. The experience was amazing, and I will definitely go back.
This week I began my volunteering position on the campus farm. After the first week of classes, I along with two others went and talked with our study abroad coordinators and the farm manager as we were looking for something to do to fill our time. In the United States, I have always taken over 16 credits per semester while being involved in clubs and sometimes having a job. So, this semester I was lost and bored with the amount of time I have as I am only taking 12 credits and there are not any academic clubs to join and we are not allowed to work. With all of this time on my hands, I wanted to volunteer on the campus farm to get more immersed in the agricultural setting. For the volunteering position, we split half of our time in the chicken/egg production area and the other in the dairy cow/milk production area. For my first half, I started in the chicken/egg production where I will be working with natives to package eggs for retail.
(Where the eggs are processed and packaged; the sleeve that goes over the carton of eggs)
Their chicken operation has lots of technology to process the eggs from the chickens. They have two chicken barns, where the chickens are in cages. The EU only allows for 10 chickens per cage and their barns have automatic water, feed, manure, and egg systems. This helps to keep a very clean and healthy chicken operation. With the automatic egg systems, the eggs ride a conveyor belt to the sorting area, where a person watches them come in and removes the broken ones. The good eggs then go through a UV light to kill bacteria that might be on the eggs and then they are separated by weight. Anything under 53g is used within the school, 53-63g is packaged in one container, and then 63g and up are packaged differently. They are packaged and sold in sets of 6. This volunteer position allows me to see the processing side, whereas I usually see the production side. This volunteer position also allows me to work on many of my soft skills as only one of the workers speaks English. This can be quite challenging.
This week had nothing crazy happen but was important to learn more about where I am learning and living currently. It has also allowed me to learn in non-traditional ways, which is how I learn best!
- With Love, Cambrie
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