It was January 16th, 2024.
We had arrived in Thessaloniki the day before and visited the archaeological museum. Then, we had a buffet dinner at the hotel (City Hotel). This hotel was one of my favorites that we stayed at on this trip because the staff were so wonderful! The main dish that night was pork-based. Since I only eat chicken and fish (and they knew this ahead of time), they made me my own special meal! It was the best fish I had ever tasted. I had been planning to eat the sides (there were plenty of options!), so this was a nice surprise.
The next day was a free day, meaning we had no class or group plans, so we could do whatever we wanted! A few of us went on a short hike, walked around the city, and then went on a pirate ship cruise. It was a lot more chill than our free day in Athens, which involved going to three different museums!
For lunch, we sat outside at a nice restaurant and relaxed. I wish I could remember the name, but I’m pretty sure it was close to the hotel. I had the most amazing polenta there!
THAT is what I loved most about Thessaloniki: the food. Everything that I ate there was phenomenal.
After resting at the hotel for a while, a group of us went to a restaurant called Charoupi. This food was delicious too! Once again, we sat outside because 1. it was a beautiful night and 2. because our group was too large to fit comfortably inside.
Our plan had been to go to a karaoke bar after dinner at around 9pm. We were planning to meet up with another group of our classmates. However, they texted us saying that they went to the place and found out that karaoke doesn’t actually start until 11pm. They decided to go back to the hotel, as did most of our group.
A few of us, however, were determined to have a karaoke experience in Thessaloniki. We roamed the city until 11 and then went to the bar. And boy, did we have fun!!!
I don’t usually like to do karaoke because I’m a terrible singer. But, Ellie was somehow able to convince me to sing with her anyway! We sang “Gives You Hell” by The All-American Rejects. It was so much fun!
Jack and Haakon also sang a song together, and I was truly impressed. They had the whole crowd singing along!
One of my favorite performances of the night was by a person wearing an all black, gothic outfit. They had on a choker with huge spikes and a lot of dark makeup. They sang — more like screamed — the song “Dragula” by Rob Zombie, which is now one of my favorite metal songs. Their performance was so amazing that I actually told them “wow, that was amazing”.
We made it back to the hotel around 2am. This was our last night in Thessaloniki, and we had a departure time of 7am the next day, which meant that I had to pack as soon as I got back to my room. I didn’t go to sleep until nearly 4 am. Somehow, I still made it to breakfast by 6:30 am!
At breakfast, Ellie and I ran into Jason and Amy. They said “we’re so sorry to hear you guys didn’t make it to karaoke last night! We know you were excited for that.”
The other group must have filled them in on the fact that the bar didn’t start karaoke until 11pm.
Ellie and I looked at each other and then replied, “wellll…. we actually did go… we got back a couple of hours ago”
Jason’s face lit up. He was so happy for us, which was funny considering he was our professor.
I made it my mission to be extra engaged and involved in our class discussions that day. I owed it to Jason to be a good student since he was so supportive of our wild night out!
Believe it or not, that day was the most attentive I had been on the entire trip. It was our last day in Greece before heading across the border to Turkey. You can read about that unforgettable day here!
Until next time,
Clara