Submitted by Julia Diamond the 2024 Spring program in Athens, Greece…
Week 7 2/20-2/26
I spent most of this week in Thessaloniki which was really exciting because it was my first trip during the semester. I got to stay with a family member in the apartment that belonged to one of my great aunts. I had technically been there before as a very young child, but it looks very different now anyways—according to my parents. I got to see my brother which was very nice because I hadn’t seen him in almost two months. It was beautiful there because Thessaloniki is right on the water and the weather was great while I was there. The first day we got bougatsa for breakfast, which Thessaloniki is very well known for. We walked all around the city and saw tons of ruins and cats and we visited the White Tower. The view from up there was gorgeous. The next day we went to the Jewish museum—at its peak over half of Thessaloniki’s population was Jewish—and had brunch across the street. We also walked through the stone streets of the ladadika and sat on the pier by the water. On my last day there I went to the archaeological museum which was also amazing. I’m always so impressed with sculptures, especially how realistic the stonework can be. And every night I was there, dinner was always a ton of amazing food. It was an incredible long weekend. (Submitted on March 28, 2024)