Well, here I am, in Thessaloniki (Θεσσαλονικη), Greece. I am tempted to write some more Greek letters, but not now (not that I know how to do it).
I am writing this from a lavish Internet cafe (very comfortable chair!) down at Egnatia street since I can’t get access to the Internet from my studio. After spending two nights here, first few impressions of this city are: vandalism, big (wild?) dogs, and small studio. More details and other first impressions after the jump.
Vandalism. You can find walls with spray paint all over it everywhere. Even church’s and university’s walls are not safe from naughty hands with spray paint. Please don’t imagine beautiful graffiti with unique images, not even creative type font like “Boedoet”. Here, what you can find are similar to “Pribumi” letters in front of houses and stores back when Indonesia was in chaos. I heard that last year, for the whole term (that’s a semester to you Indonesian students), university is closed because the students’ union had a strike protesting something (I couldn’t remember what). Probably these paints are related to that? I went pass through the university building and I found a building which the main wall (facing the main street) has spray paint all over it.
Tattoos, lingeries and DVD. There are a lot of shops that offer tattoos and small stores that offer lingeries, all of which are within walking distance from where I live. I am not a pervert that stares at mannequins wearing transparent undergarment. But after a walk to the town centre and went past through at least five of them, I became just a little bit distracted. DVD rentals also seem to be everywhere. I think that young adult Thessalonikians (I just made up that word) love to have tattoos on their body, interested in sexy lingeries, and often watch Star Wars marathon?
Big (wild?) dogs. There are dogs with no tags wandering around the pedestrian walk. They are big dogs, whose height is almost half of my own height. I have to admit that they are a bit scary.
Small studio. A studio is a room in which a bathroom (toilet and shower facilities) and a kitchen are practically in the same room as the bedroom. My studio has a 90cm x 200cm bathroom, in which to reach the shower part you have to literally jump over the toilet seat. The kitchen is in a cupboard. That’s right, imagine a cupboard where you can open the door and inside you find an electric stove and a wash basin. My studio is on the 4th floor (Greek as English count the ground floor as 0th floor), and I have a balcony that faces the back of the building. Birds’ excrements are all over a corner of my balcony 
With my laptop, I can detect there are secured wireless Internet signals, so I hope it’s possible to get Internet access from my room. I should discuss this with the University personnel (it’s actually a private accommodation, but arranged by the University). But overall it’s an OK studio.
Not so friendly weather. I imagine that when I’m going to southern Europe (check the map below), I can get a friendlier weather than that of England. But it turns out that here, it’s a bit colder and it sprinkles most of the time. Well, it’s winter, hopefully it will get better with time.
Okay, that’s about it. I still have to struggle with my Java assignment as I am still way behind. The deadline is at the end of next week! Wish me luck.
One more thing, this Arch of Galerius is actually close to where I live. This great picture is not mine, and is courtesy of robwallace. Also check out the mark on the map below.
