The reasons why i chose Komotini

Truth is it first appeared to me as a backup plan. And then, I was given the opportunity to visit Komotini. And it struck me: not only it has the coolest name ever, but it is a stunning city. It isn’t big but it’s beautiful and really special. Walking among the paved lanes of this gorgeous town, I didn’t truly feel in Greece, but really at the edge of the oriental Europe. Komotini genuinely is halfway between Greece and Turkey, when it comes to the architecture as well as the population. The air in the city is filled with sounds and smells of a cultural blend, and this is where Komotini’s strength of attraction lies.

That’s how Komotini stroke me as being a place where I would be lucky to actually live. But given my unconditional love for Greece and therefore my lack of objectivity, I felt that I had to really think it through and not get carried away with my passion. This was underlined by my friends from Greece and family asking me “are you sure about this?”, fearing I’d suffer the lack of opportunity the country is facing nowadays.

But I believe that it is actually one of the reasons why it made sense for me to go to Greece, right now, in the middle of that mess. Yes, Greece is a mess. But so is Europe, and so is the European Union. It’s being torn by a crisis, and I don’t only mean the economic crisis. I mean the lack of interest for the union that turned into a lack of confidence and trust when things started going really bad. And this comes from the States –look at the UK stepping out at the moment when it had finally started really becoming a part of the EU- as well as the people, maybe mostly the people. The institutions, after a growth of their powers in the 2000’s, are now struggling with their weaknesses and miss support from the States and governments. This isn’t about Greece; it is a European situation, but all these absence of trust and insecurities are underlined here. The EU no longer appears as a stairway to progress and economic growth, but with the face of Angela Merkel and Germany it stands as an oligarchy focusing on the economic aspects and basically not giving much attention (to stay polite) to the people, their issues and needs. But everything that Greece is facing right now, Europe will face it too, that’s why I believe that Greece is the best place to study European law.

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