After being in the States for two and a half weeks, my brain has been telling me, “Well, that was a nice vacation! Time to go home!” But my apartment is sold, my job position is filled, and Greece is not my home anymore. Needless to say, I’ve been pretty moody and nostalgic, so I went back and reread all my “Living in Greece” blog posts. Here are some of my favorites:
A Week in Greece #1: Everything is New | This is where it all started! I’m so impressed with how self-aware I was about the stresses of moving to a new country.
The Beginnings of Culture Shock | Includes an excellent list of silly things that are dumb on their own but add up to Major Frustration.
Language Learning Meltdown | One of the worst moments of my time in Greece and how being vulnerable helped.
A Week in Greece #12: HD Planning, Agatha Christie, and the Beach! | This is a fun snapshot of my life while living at the Bible College, and includes a great moment in which I visit a friend because I passed my bedroom door and was too embarrassed to turn around.
A Week in Greece #15: A New Friend, First Week at HD, and Apartment Furnishing | Enter Luciana, who would become my best friend!
Happy in My Homesickness | Wow. This post is extremely good and extremely relevant to my current feelings of being homesick for Greece.
A Week in Greece #27: Slumber Parties, Hiking, and Escape Rooms | Apparently, it took me nearly seven months to find comfortable friends that did not socially drain me.
A Week in Greece #36: Rambo Jesus, Goodbye Roommate, Two New Cats | A lot of these weekly recaps include me complaining about feeling overwhelmed, but this one is definitely one of the funniest and most self-aware.
Year 2 | A Week in Greece #1: I’m Back | After six weeks in the States for Christmas, I reunited with all my old friends.
Year 2 | A Week in Greece #5: Work Weirdnesses | A story about the highs and lows of working at HD.
Year 2 | A Week in Greece #8: A Lot of Luciana and Thessaloniki | Just…a lot of sweet memories.
Year 2 | A Week in Greece #13: US Team, New Baby, Mission Meetings | My last “A Week in Greece” post from my last week back in April 2017 when I naively thought I would be returning soon.
(I didn’t document my last three months (November 2017 – January 2018) because…I dunno, I felt like everything was Too Much. I regret that now, but oh well!)
Reading through old posts reminded me of how hard it was to live in Greece, how there were so many wonderful moments that made the day-to-day sense of being overwhelmed worthwhile. These past two years were genuinely the hardest and best years of my life so far. I grew a lot, and I made incredible friends and exciting memories. I’m so glad I can relive it all here.
It Is Trish 