First impressions of Paros/Parikia

I am officially here on the island, settled in where I will be spending the next three months of my life.  It's unfortunate that I can't convey the huge grin saying that gives me.  This place is beyond amazing.  The island itself is small, someone today said 7 miles by 7 miles, but it has two 'major' towns and maybe a baker's dozen smaller villages.  I am living in the largest, Paroikia (actually pronounced Parikia, weird transliteration from Greek to English).  This is a very popular tourist island, so the waterfront is lined with tavernas, bars, cafes, and hotels, along with a few motorcycle rental outfits and grocery stores. 

We have better accommodations than I could have imagined.  Each student gets their own apartment with a shower, mini-kitchen, and fridge, plus a personal balcony.  I'm on the first floor so I don't have much of a view, but we are far enough from the beach that we can't actually see the water (we're actually only about 500 yards from the water, but the land is very flat between here and there, so the neighboring buildings obstruct the view would could have had). 

The people on the island are very friendly so far.  Life here is a little bit more laid back than even Thessaloniki or Athens.  Each day most of the shops close from around 2:00-6:00PM for something like siesta, and reopen until late in the night.  I walked into a jewelry store last night to buy a chain for one of my crosses at 10:00, and we wandered into a brass worker's shop about the same time tonight.  The people are very used to Anglophone tourists, and most seem more friendly about speaking English than their mainland counterparts. 

We got a bus tour of the island today, including a few stops in Naoussa (the other 'major' town here).  This place really does revolve around the sea - there are fishing boats everywhere, and as we walked along the marina in Naoussa there were racks of fish and octopus drying in the sun.  The white and blue buildings everyone imagines when they think of Greek islands really are quite common here, especially in the older areas of town.  The winding, narrow alleys and odd arrangement of buildings was at least partially a practical matter - it's easier to defend your town from pirates if they can't find their way to kill you, and even easier if you can throw boiling oil at them from places they can't reach.  In that way, the entire old town is a kind of castle in itself. 

While the coast is home to the most warm, clear, blue water I have ever seen (trumping even the Bahamas and Hawaii by a huge margin), the interior is mountainous and arid.  The only real green I see in large amounts are hardy olive trees and a surprising number of cacti.  The mountains are miniatures of those found in Northern Greece, with wide valleys filled with olive groves and livestock.  The difference in topography between interior and coast is striking, and from either spot there are few clues to what lies just a couple of kilometers from you. 

We also visited Lefkes village, which was at one point used as the island seat of Paros, due to its less vulnerable inland position.  Here the streets are arranged in the same way as old Paroikia and Naoussa, but they are in the side of mountains rather than the coastal foothills.  I didn't have much time to explore here, but I definitely intend to go back and spend at least a couple of days wandering around. 

In more mundane news, I have signed up for classes, which is actually very exciting news for me.  I am taking Philosophy, Literature, Creative Writing, Historical Sites of the Eastern Mediterranean, and modern Greek.  The Lit and CW classes are taught by authors, and the Philosophy class is taught by the head of the HISA program.  I am actually most pumped about modern Greek right now, though - I didn't know that was going to be an option until Friday, and one of my main goals being in Greece was to learn Greek.  This means I don't have to set the lessons up myself, which is both helpful and helpful for my budget. 

Whilst walking to lunch with a group of students yesterday, I randomly mentioned that I wanted to buzz my head at some point in the near future, and one of the girls immediately jumped on with "me too!"  So we had a small haircut party on one of the decks, ending with Mattie's head being buzzed short and mine being made into a mohawk.  After about two hours of running around with punk hair, we finished the job and I'm now a closely cropped and very different looking person.  Although my change is nowhere near as drastic as Mattie's. 

Mattie's bravery also helped one of the other girls (Lorin) decide to finally take the plunge, and we now have 2 buzzed guys and 2 buzzed girls. 

I had forgotten how nice a buzzed head is when you're outside a lot, especially if there is water involved.  It's nice to dry off in 15 minutes instead of an hour. And for the girls it must be especially nice.

Tomorrow is my first day of class (actually later today..) so I will leave you with what I have here. 

My photos all seem to list slightly to the right - I apologize in advance for any that are especially heinous.  I make frequent use of the 'focus lock' button when taking a shot with focus near the edge of the frame, but the reach to do both that and release the shutter makes me hold the camera at odd angles. Practice makes perfect, I hope.