it's over?

I can't believe 4 months have passed and I am back in America. It's so strange to me to be here and I think readjusting to life back in the states is going to take some time. Le sigh. Anyways, I wanted to give a brief review of my final days in Athens.


I finished my finals on Tuesday, and had the rest of the week to explore my city and spend time with the friends I had made in my program/Greek friends. Sakina and I decided to check out what was formerly the Gas Works of Gazi. It was a really neat area, in terms of architecture and use of space. Apparently they use the buildings now to hold conferences for architecture. We went in the later afternoon, around 4, just when the colors in the sky were beginning to change and the sun fade. It was so peaceful just sitting there, recounting all the experiences we had while abroad. I felt extremely fortunate to have met Sakina and be able to create such a wonderful friendship. I'm currently experiencing Sakina Mou withdrawals.

the clouds are always incredible.

graffiti <3

gas works.

create into a cafe.

sat at the top of these stairs.

The rest of the week included last minute shopping, a concert wednesday at one of our favorite bars and lovely dinners at some wonderful tavernas. It was nice to end things in a relaxed manner instead of coming directly off stressful finals. Our last nights we said our good-byes to our favorite bar/club owners in the Gaz Gaz. Our favorite bar owner, George, at Soho sent us off well and it was sad to have to leave. I had created such beautiful relationships with the people of the city and country that I felt as though I was really leaving home. 

blog link and picture

here's the link to Alex's hair blog and a photo he took of me!

hope you enjoy


Hair Blog

hair cut anyone?

As many of you know, I take great pride in my hair, so I always seem to have a hard time deciding what to do with it in terms of cutting it. I'd like to think that one day I will take that huge leap and chop it all off, but we all know that day is far from today. Anyways, my good friend Yiota from CYA showed me this blog of her friend who cuts hair and takes photos of his work. He's a hair stylist as well as a photographer. Talk about amazing in art. I saw some photos of others and of her that he had done and thought he was amazing.  After mentioning to her weeks later from seeing the blog that I wanted to cut my hair, she asked me if I would want to have Alex cut my hair. Heck yeah! I was so excited but also really nervous. There have only been 2 people that have actually styled my hair when cutting, so it was going to be a big step for me. As the days came closer I played with the idea of cutting it short, keeping it straight or going with something in the middle. At last I was on my way to his place where I was meeting him and Yiota. It was after a really stressful Greek final, so in a way it was a nice shift in moods.

I arrived at his beautiful loft and immediately we got down to business. I threw out the idea of cutting it short and immediately he said "no". Haha. In a good way of course. He explained to me that with my hair, he was going to respect the length because it is just too "beautiful" as he said. I was really relieved actually because I didn't know how well I was going to deal with chopping it off. Ha, go figure. As we talked, he mentioned to me that he would really like to shoot me for his photo blog. I was ECSTATIC. Because I had agreed, he told me I would have my make up done by his make up artist friend, Renny, and that he had an idea for clothes to put me in. This had gone from a hair cut to a full blown photo shoot and I was not complaining.

The styling began and he did the most amazing job. He took off about 4 inches, which to many might be a lot, but with my hair you can barely even tell it's been cut. He also did a few layers that made my hair feel a lot lighter and look really healthy. All the dead ends and dry parts were gone. Next we talked about what to do with my bangs. He wanted to give me this new fringe. I was scared because I've always done side bangs, but began to grow into the idea. In the end we decided to keep the side swipe because it works well with my face. Whew! In total it took about an hour and a half to style and cut my hair because this head has a lot of hair. During the entire time we had some hilarious conversation about Greek life, relationships, zodiac signs and pretty much anything you can think of. The three of us enjoyed one another's company and I really started to feel comfortable.

Next we moved to the make-up and photo shoot. Romy is this beautiful German who has lived in Greece 18 years. She came here when she was 4, so she considers herself Greek. She was lovely and so pretty. She told me that my eye shape was easy to work with and that made me happy because I call my eyes big ol' fish eyes. Haha. She works in the fashion and film industry doing make-up for the productions. At last Alex showed me the "outfit" he had planned for me. It was a fun dotted type, bubble-y top with strings in the back. It was complicated to put on, but once we figured it out (3 of us), I really loved it. I was placed against a white wall with lighting, shadows, etc. So awesome. I had tons of fun being a model for a day. He's going to post to his blog and send me the link/pictures from the shoot. I'll be sure to post that link late.

Overall I had one of the most amazing times since being in Greece. Alex and Yiota were so fun and kind to me. We shared music, talks, advice and laughter. It still amazes me that I have been able to meet such genuine, wonderful and beautiful (inside/outside) human beings here in Greece. I'm so grateful that I can make positive impression on people to the point where they want to introduce me to their friends. I'm glad I have a friendship with Yiota and now Alex. We've planned to get drinks on Tuesday :D

People and Opportunities.

A few years ago, I was asked, "What do you have to be thankful for?" I was first thrown off by this question because you normally hear it during the holidays (i.e THANKSgiving and Christmas), but this was just an ordinary email from an old friend. I thought about it, gave a quick answer and continued with my day. However, I continue to think about my answer then and my answer now. While there are enormous differences, one thing remained constant: the people in my life. I have had incredible luck in being able to call certain people in my life "family", and not in just the literal meaning of being blood related.

I come from a very complicated past, one that resulted in a very slim number of blood-related family members being a part of my life. As a result, I found myself making my OWN family, one that included the people in my life who most wished to see me succeed and more importantly, be a part of that success. Even though I don't have my own set of parents, at Bowdoin I have found more pairs of parents that any other person I know. I like to think I'm the lucky one because most people have two parents, sometimes four with remarriages, but me, I have double that. In addition to that, I get to CHOOSE my siblings. Yeah, talk about winning! There are countless people in my life these days that I consider family and man, do I have a great family. So, I'm grateful for what happened in my past because I was presented with an amazing opportunity to create my own family.

I'm also most grateful for the opportunities that have come my way. Thinking about my past 6 months alone, I have to really take it all in. I often lose sight of everything I've done. From living in India this summer working on a project with the most amazing students I've ever met to traveling all around Europe/Greece this semester. I never imagined that at 20 I would have done the things I have done. I forget to slow down and embrace that sometimes. I am grateful because what I've been through has made me the incredibly strong person I am today.


I wanted to give a few shout outs and thanks to the following:

Casey Family
Amaez/Purnell Family
Kitch/Cooper Family
Elmer and Nicole
Rhoan
Scott, Claudia and the Admissions staff
Matoin Family
Otrickey Family ;D
My Bowdoin Lovelies
Caron Family
Dean of Student Affairs office
McKeen Center
Sakina

Sakina Mou

I wanted to take this opportunity to write a bit about someone who has become my foundation and inspiration here in Greece. Her name is Sakina, but I call her Sakina Mou (my Sakina in Greek) or 'Kina for short. We met on the first day because we both arrived late, and she was to be the roommate to the other girl to arrive on the last day. Little did I know that our friendship would blossom into one I see lasting til the end of time.

Her birthday was towards the beginning of our program, so we decided to go to Santorini. After all my travels up until now, that is still one of my favorite weekends to date. Sakina is one of the most genuinely, warm hearted people I have had the opportunity to meet. She constantly thinks about others' feelings and is quick to ask, "how are you?" In a place where we're all struggling to get the most out of our time, I think it's so vital to ask that question in order to maintain sanity. It's a small gesture, but one I don't take for granted and neither does she. We've gotten to the point in our friendship where we can look at each other and already know the mood, ideas or feelings of one another. It's something I admire in our friendship.

Not only do we connect well in terms of where our heads are at, she is always up to dance. I love dancing and never thought I'd find someone who loved it as much as me, or someone who'd be willing to dance at any time: weekday, daytime, anywhere. Sakina is my main dance partner. We can go out, just the two of us and dance our happy butts off into the wee hours of the morning and do it again the next night. #Awesome.

Not only do we share our passion for dance, Sakina and I spend a lot of time talking about serious things within our lives. I've found it amazingly easy to open my heart to her, and in return she has been able to gain the same trust and confidence. Whenever I have a problem, big or small, I know I can turn to Sakina to get a REAL, honest answer or opinion of the matter. Her rawness is something I think is hard to find no matter where you go and no matter how long you've known someone, it's never easy to be brutally honest. I would die here without her.

is there a bar near by?

Today Greek class got real hands on. Believe it or not, my Greek professor played wing woman to me. Yeah, I know. AWESOME! We were in class and all of a sudden she tells us all to get up because we're taking it to the streets. Ha, I felt like I was in Step Up 2. Anyways, the objective was to ask random people on the street if there was [fill in the blank] near by. I got mine quickly out of the way asking an older gentleman if there was a pharmacy near by. Whew, thank goodness I was able to mutter the correct question. Believe it or not, I also understood the answer! Aw yeah.


A few more people continued to find other people and ask their own questions. Then while at a bus stop, our professor spotted a cute, hazelly blue-eyed gentleman and gathered us to ask which girl was going to be brave enough to talk to him. Clearly I jumped at the opportunity. When would I ever had the chance again? So, I walked up to him scrambling to think of the Greek word for 'bar'. I freaked and that was the first thing that came to mind. Keep in mind it's not even 2 in the afternoon at this point. When I ask, he immediately replies, " A bar? it's in the afternoon". Of course it was in Greek- which I also understood! He looked at me funny and continued to chat and I said, "yeah, a casual beer". Bah, it was hilarious. My professor began to laugh and told me it was time to go. I was into the conversation so I was bummed we had to skiddadle.


As we were walking away, I asked her how to say, "what's your number" in Greek and she began to laugh saying, "Now, you are too advanced, Macy!" Bah, it made me cry with laughter. It was hilarious because when we were back in class, she started saying other things I could've said to him INCLUDING: "when will you be back at your house?" and "when will you be at MY house". Greatest. wing woman. ever.

Prague in Pictures.

love the architecture :D

charles bridge anyone?

green domes :D

favorite picture from the whole trip.

hi.

Lenon wall!

stretch!

Prague Castle.

violence...tisk tisk.

would you like some h2O?

streets :D

night scene.

bridge at night :D

petrin tower!

spooky castle at night.

goulash: aka awesomeness :D