Week 4, Snowfall and the Erasmus Gala

During the Monday a heavy snowfall covered Athens and more or less paralyzed the society. Snow is common in the Greek mountains and in the northern part of the country, but is more infrequent in central Athens and on the islands and the society isn't built for it. Last year the snow fell too, but it only lasted for a short time. This time the snow kept falling, and falling... and some parts of Athens had as much as 1,5m of snow. 

During the morning the authorities warned the public, by sending out emergency alerts to cell phones, to limit their movements outdoors and the while schools shut down. People got trapped in their cars on the highway for over 20 hours, electricity was knocked out in large parts of the city and people were unable to get to their jobs. This resulted in the whole city shutting down for almost the whole week. 

 

From Monday to Wednesday I was studying the entire days, and on Wednesday evening we celebrated Mias birthday with a small gathering at her place. 

Thursday morning started with me having a short speech and a presentation to my home university about my experience on studies abroad in an attempt to inspire more people to apply. After that I had a walk with my friend Thora in the bright sun to get a coffee and some fresh air before digging in to the studies again. On Friday I had another presentation for a group assignment followed by hours of studying and in the evening Pauline and Marion came over for dinner and movie at my place. 

All of a sudden it was Saturday and after going out to get groceries, going to the Farmers market and face-timing with my mother, the girls came over to my place for pre-drinks before heading to the Erasmus Gala. Even though the semester hasn't ended, they arranged the gala now so that everyone would be able to attend before going home. During this Gala they announced different awards that had been voted by the Erasmus-students, and I had the honor to get the award for "Erasmus Queen". Words can't explain how grateful and happy I felt, and still feel. So blessed!! 

Then Sunday came and I spent the entire day with a friend having coffee, dinner and then finishing off with cinema watching the movie "Belfast" at the Athens Mall. Best possible way to end the week, and to recover from being hungover (And yes, the subtitles were in Greek but the movie was in the original language which was English).

With love, Elsa ♡