Monday, August 24th - The End... For Now ;-)

It’s back to where the trip began. I arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece two months ago frantic about the travel plans on which I was beginning and nervous about what was to come. I have since relaxed and enjoyed some of the best days of my life. I’ve had good times of introspection, fun with friends, and met a lot of people as well. I’ve learned an incredible amount along the way and can only hope that I retain as much of it as I can.

Thessaloniki is Greece’s second city and includes an incredibly interesting past. As a part of what was previously known as the region of Macedonia, it has not followed the same exact history as the southern part of Greece (Attica and the Peloponnese). Until the Balkan War (1910’s), the area of Macedonia was owned by the Ottoman empire, before being split between Greece, Serbia, Albania, and Bulgaria. As a main center of Byzantium, the historical monuments here are plentiful with a beautiful church around every corner. But it’s not just about the monuments here. Walking down the streets is a very interesting experience in Thessaloniki, and specifically slow as you move through different parts of town. Where some parts have a labyrinth style plan (unharmed by the fire in the early 20th century) others have a very boulevard and avenue feel of a highly planned city. And these monuments that I was speaking of before are not out in a field or on a mountain top. They are surrounded by multi-story apartment and office buildings that come from any range of styles (International, Modern, Neoclassical, Colonial, Romanesque, etc.). I will have today and tomorrow to discover it further and think this time is required, especially since the Biennale of Contemporary Art ( an event that goes on every two years opening many monuments as art exhibits) is now going on throughout the city.

This will be my last post on the blog for a while. However, I hope to post every once in a while to bring up ideas that I’m thinking about or even new places that I explore within the Twin Cities. I hope to be granted another opportunity next year as well and am currently preparing an application for a Fulbright Grant which would allow me to do a year of research in Cyprus on the Nicosia Master Plan.

As my trip comes to a close I would like to again thank everyone for all their support throughout the process. For those of you I didn’t get to communicate with while I was gone, I hope to see you before I get back to school (or at school) or sometime in the near future. A huge thanks goes to the Metropolitan Design Center and Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program at the University of Minnesota for funding me, Netti for getting my flight in and out of Thessaloniki, Rachel and Nikos for housing me for almost an entire month, and also to Easy Travel and their representative Takis for all their help in the coordination of the end of my trip.

Don’t forget to check back periodically to see if I have added anything!