First week in Matsi

Matsi has strange rules, but is a good place to stay. The students that are already here for one semester are very friendly and tell us everything about anything. There are quite a few French people and some Spanish, and yesterday a lot of new people arrived; Italians, polish, Germans, Dutch, an English girl, a few from Slovakia, and some more. Most of them were shocked when they got to see their rooms, but most of them will stay in Matsi probably. I’m quite happy with my room and every Tuesday the cleaning lady changes your bed sheets and swops the floor and cleans your bathroom, so that’s really easy! Mieke has some problems with her rooms though. The first morning she took her shower, Levinia noticed that water was coming from Mieke’s room into hers. It turned out that Mieke’s room was 2 cm under water!! When the cleaning lady came to check she found something that got stuck in the system and took it out. So, we figured it would be fine now. But still, each morning her room still gets a bit wet and she has to wait for ten minutes in her bathroom till the water is all gone and she can open her door. Not so cool.

Last Wednesday we had to meet mrs Koutousi, she is from the international office and takes care of the Erasmus students. The opening hours of the international office are 11.00-13.00, so you always have to wait in line for some time. We got papers for our passo, with which we will get discount in public transport and we can eat for free in the university canteen and play sports. We had to get our passo from mr Tsourvakas, or as we call him, mr Souvlaki. However, since the students were still occupying the university, he was out of town and so we will meet him maybe this Thursday if we’re lucky. About the occupation; it’s like the revival of the hippie time. We have seen one demonstration last week with Greek guys with long hair and ponytails and alternative clothes. The reason why the students are on strike is that the government wants to privatize the universities. Right now, the Greek students do not have to pay for school, food, or accommodation; they get everything for free! If the government is gonna privatize it they will have to start to pay, and that’s what they’re fighting against. The occupation lasts for 2 months now already and some of the students are tired of it, but the diehards keep on demonstrating. All this striking means a lot of study delay, because exams can’t be taken and there are no classes. On some departments of the university the occupation has ended, but we are not sure if that’s also the case on our department. Usually the Erasmus students don’t have so many problems with it and get their credits.
But even though we don’t have our passo yet, we do go to the university for free meals in the evening. The first time we went there we were just walking around there, pretending to know what we were supposed to do. The canteen is quite big and simply and a lot of Greek students go to eat there. You can choose from two meals and at the end you just have to put your stuff away. The meals are very simple and not of high quality, but what else do you expect; it’s for free. So far we have been there 4 times. The first two times we went with the four of us and the previous to times with some other people from Matsi. We have aten spaghetti once with a tiny little bit of sauce, fries, potatoes and vegetables are the same every evening. But it’s ok, it saves money and it’s easy that you don’t have to cook.

Saturday was our first party in Matsi; it was the goodbye party of two German girls. Everyone in Matsi was invited to come and drink and eat in the kitchen and also some Greek friends of them would come. However, mr Happy (as the landlord is being called here, since he always looks so ‘happy’) decided that day to stay the whole evening and when the Greek people showed up he wouldn’t let them in. He was just shouting; nein nein nein! Only Annette’s Greek boyfriend was allowed to stay till 23.00. So that was really sad for the German girls. However, a French guy who was already in Matsi, offered to move the party to his flat. So we walked there and stayed till about 01.00. Some of the people went to a traditional Greek bar, but we didn’t really feel like going so we went back to Matsi.

Today, the 28th, we have been to the upper town with two French guys from Matsi. The upper town is the part of Thessaloniki where there is an old wall and tower and with views on the city. The weather was really good, the sun was shining and it was warm!! Way better than yesterday when it was Dutch weather; wet and cold! The upper town is very nice; it’s quieter and more like a village. And after that we went to the boulevard to enjoy the sunset and then we went to see the museum of contemporary art. People who know me, know that I’m not made to walk around in a museum, but this one was quite nice actually. However, the French guys are a bit too cultural and philosophic. In the time that I had seen the museum twice they only discussed one piece of art with sayings of famous people in French. Aaaaargh. The other girls had seen it as well after a while, so we left already leaving the two French to analyze all the art pieces.

So, even though we don’t have much to do yet time flies. We thought we might be bored, but there ain’t no time for boredom; before we know the day is over. Just like this day, so goodnight now, kalinigta!!