Magical Moments of Erasmus

Hello everyone! Erasmus is a great experience for everyone. Each of us have our own stories to tell, awesome and less awesome (but never bad) memories. Today I want to share this Erasmus experience from my point of view.

The start

First of all Erasmus was my high school dream and I studied very hard to get this opportunity. I counted down the months, the weeks and the days... and then that day arrived. Everything was set and I was ready. I got on the plane with all the expectations. But the first week wasn't like how I expected it to be. Nobody had arrived and I was feeling very lonely. At the end of the week there was the first erasmus party and I met a lot of people there. Amazingly, there we were 7 people hanging out together and then 3 others joined us and we were always together with the same group.

Greece

Greece is a great country to learn about history and architecture. We had a lot of trips in and around the Athens and saw many historical places.

The people are amazingly kind to foreign people and they are very helpful. When I had diffculties because I couldn't speak Greek they always tried to help me in Gnglish and also taught me some basic Greek sentences.

Athens is full of strikes, so you should pay attention to facebook pages to follow if there is a strike on that day (there is even an app for that!).

The people are very similar to Turkish people and to me which means they are very hospitable and helpful. If you are going to Athens I am 100% sure that you are going to have an amazing time and great memories.

Crete

The party life is awesome, ESN Greece works amazingly! Every semester they organize a different huge trip to some island. In the spring semester we went to Crete! Crete is the biggest island of Greece and it has 4 cities inside. They had planned the trip stunningly! The Matala beach, the parties -especially the one on the boat and the foam party, no who am I kidding, all the parties- were awesome! But you should be careful because there are strong>crazy waves at Matala beach, but the sea is warm even in May.

We had a very weird experience while we were in Crete. I was staying with two Turkish friends, a girl and a guy. On our first night we returned to the hotel pretty exhausted and we slept immediately. My guy friend still says that he locked the door and he is pretty sure about it, but somehow while we were sleeping somebody sneaked into our room. I am a light sleeper so as soon as I heard the door opening I opened my eyes and what I saw left me speechless! There was a guy standing right in front of us naked. Literally. I couldn't say or do anything but in the end I was able to say "Whaa..?". And then the guy friend woke up and froze him off. We still don't know who he was and probably will be a mystery forever.

Greek cuisine

To speak about the Greek cuisine, be ready to put on a lot of weight if you're going to spend the next one semester or a year in Greece because Greek people love eating Kebab. You will see Souvlaki restaurants everywhere and plus it's cheap so you will probably end up eating souvlaki all the time. It is delicious especially with the yellow sauce (mayonese and mustard mixture) and tzatziki. I also recommend you to try Mantı (which is actually a Turkish dish but I had the best mantı in Athens) in Savvas Restaurant (in Monastiraki square, walk down the road opposite the car way). There are also many Falafel restaurants in Exarcheia and they are awesome.

Places to go to

And finally, the night clubs I always went are Why Sleep and Soho and there are many others in Gazi (Kerameikos metro station) one next to another. You can find one for your own gusto. 360, A for Athens are very nice bars in Monastiraki square and Anafiotika is a very nice cafe in Plaka (close to Monastiraki). All these bars have Akropolis view on the roof top which is amazing at nights. For sweet cravings I recommend you the crepa place right next to Starbucks in Monastiraki (the guy who works there, his name is Alexandros, is super friendly) and another crepa place right next to the Thissio metro station.

Exarcheia square is another popular place to hang out with friends and also has a very different atmosphere, I'm sure every erasmus student will love there. If you want to try a taverna night I can recommend you without any doubt a taverna called Euxaris which is very close to Monastiraki metro station (and there are many other tavernas on that street).

If you love ice cream like me, you should go to Da Vinci, which is very close to Euxaris, and plus they prepare waffles and they are also very delicious.

Another nice place to see is Lykavittus Hill which I thought was the highest point of Athens (but it's not, Immitou Mountain is the highest). You can watch the sunset there and have a drink, but you need to go a bit early cause there's always a lot of people.

Whatever you do, wherever you go, the most important thing is to meet amazing people from all around the world and spend nice time together. You know it's worth every second when you're back in your country, you tell everyone how you spent your time in Erasmus and you realize how magical it was, put a smile on your face with all the memories picturing before your eyes. That's what happens to me everytime I remember my time in Athens. Hope you have a stunning time wherever you go!

Photo gallery