“From those sweetest people to cutest cats, my two months in Greece was full of surprises, wonders, and greatest experiences.”
After the fall semester, I travelled to Greece for two months for an internship. I worked in Thessaloniki, Greece, and also explored the city in these two months.
There are many cultural shocks and wonderful experiences I got during these two months. And I want to share you how the life looks like in Greece.
1. Hospitality and Kindness
One of the best things about Greece is everyone is so kind and friendly that you’ll be instantly feel like home.
I worked at a hotel as a social media marketing intern and the owner was really nice. They treated me like family, inviting me to their Christmas dinner, and celebrating New Year’s with them as well.
One more exciting thing about Greece is the warmth of complete strangers. At the bus stops, restaurants, grocery stores, and public places, they try to talk to each other like they’ve known each other. Some of the most interesting conversions I had were with strangers at bus stops.
2. No Racism
As an Asian in Greece, I had never experienced any bad words or racism in these two months in Thessaloniki. Instead, every Greek person I met was incredibly kind and eager to help me and recommend me the places and stores in the city.
The locals are amazing. They’re open to be friends with foreigners. They treat us as their guests and very responsible. They tried to help me with everything. They’re very generous.
Story time:
Two days before I came back to Hungary, I met a girl on TikTok and she invited me to hang out. She took me to a cafe called “Little Big House” in Thessaloniki. And we ordered Freddo Espresso and two cheese cakes.
When it was time to pay, I asked her if she used any digital wallets and she asked me why I’m asking. I was like, then how are we gonna split the bills.
And she went, “what do you mean split the bills? You’re the guest here in my country. And I invited you to hang out. And I’m not discussing about the bills with you.” And she paid for everything.
I had no words to say but feeling unreal and grateful to meet this girl. I’ve been to some other countries but this is the first time experiencing such thing, only in Greece.
She said it’s normal for the local Greek. That was the most surprising culture shock for me.
3. City of Cats
The cats are everywhere in the whole country. I stayed in Thessaloniki, so I saw at least 10 cats every single day. This is a good thing for a cat person like me and also a heartbreaking experience.
Most cats are very friendly and close to humans and I can pet them and they love it. But what’s heartbreaking is they’re living in the streets without owners and they want to cuddle with human.
Whenever I pet them, they try to come on my lap and it’s like they’re telling me to bring them home. That was such a sad moment for me.
However, people give them some shutters and food on the streets. So, they’re safe and healthy to a certain level.
4. The Best Part is Food
The next thing I love most is the Greek traditional food. Greece is so rich in their food culture and food is their love language. You’ll realize this when you meet older grandmas especially.
Luckily, I got the chance to taste the traditional Greek dishes made by the grandma of my hotel owner. I love them so much.
The next thing about food is portion. The portions are huge and the locals will proudly tell you it’s completely normal. The gyros, for example, one gyros would be enough to fill me up for the entire day. But the Greeks would eat two gyros in one sitting…
And their desserts are the best, my most favorite one is Galaktoboureko. There are so much more like, Baklava, Bougatsa, Kataifi, and so much more. One interesting thing is they use lots of syrups in desserts.
And yes, it’ll be difficult to be in a strict diet in Greece.
5. Transportation System
This is the only thing I don’t like about Greece. You can’t depend on Google map for buses. They take much longer than the apps say. Sometimes, I had to wait for up to 45minutes. And they’re usually crowded.
In Thessaloniki, they have this new metro system but you can only buy tickets with cash. Since I only use card, I only rode once and that was amazing and modern.
And the Thessaloniki metro system had a big history that it took more than 20 years to finish it. When you go to Greece, ask someone random and they’ll be willing to tell you everything about it.
The next thing to be a bit careful is their driving culture. Both the cars and the people don’t care about the traffic light. Even it’s red, people cross the roads. That was my biggest shock on my first day in Greece.
Also the cars, they drive through the red light sometimes. So be careful with crossing the roads and driving around the city.
Almost forget! There are some streets that are pretty small and tricky to drive. Be careful of that too.
Overall I had the most amazing two months in Thessaloniki, Greece. And I guess it’s better to visit there in spring or summer.
I hope you enjoy reading this and it gives you a glimpse of life in Greece. See you soon – love you, and bye.
