It's All Greek to Me

 5 perks about going to university in Greece:

1. 
   If Ioannina's identity as a university was forgotten momentarily and the campus was a place frequented regularly by locals, it might be a place you steer clear of for your own benefit. Echoes of what once were new buildings are now vandalised with graffiti and characterised by flaking paint, broken hinges, non existent locks. We might expect that the buildings aren't occupied and are a prime target for dodgy behaviour. It's only at the start of term, when buses ship in masses of native students to the campus for their lectures, that you begin to understand that the nature of the campus buildings doesn't phase students from here. Groups of friends congregate beneath archways of cement, standing beside artistic attacks on the government and the police. Artistic justice and the license to express yourself through graffiti is a key aspect of a student's life in Greece which doesn't come naturally to us and our sensibility. As a student who speaks Greek, I was fortunate enough to benefit from my citizenship, having my drawers fixed by the cleaner who stole a handle from another student's room. The only remaining problem in my room now is the lack of hot water: two nights in a row, I have been blessed with involuntary ice baths. 
   
   
2. I remember that as a fresher at Durham, I basked in organisation with a digital timetable, a thorough email system and an easy support network. Coming to Greece, I was filled with an ongoing anxiety for the beginning of term since even the week that term had begun, I had not received a timetable and could not get in-touch with the head of my department or the Erasmus coordinator. I was shortly after reminded that Greece is a free for all- people can either turn up (or not) to lectures. Lectures can be accessed by any member of the public. I have no set timetable, I can become part of any class I desire.
   
   
3. Delivery drivers in Ioannina are people who I envy on a rainy day. Whilst I was forced to speed walk home in the pouring rain, protected by no umbrella or rain coat, the delivery drivers around the city have everything figured out. Prime examples of extreme DIY skills, they appear to have bought a child's pop-up tent and using rope and staples, attached it as a cover for their bike. All bikes now look like they have been decorated by a child- typically blue with a rain drop design covering them.
4. 
   I've never been to a place so in touch with the natural world. Ducks, cats, dogs, giant beetles and spiders...Ioannina has it all. Even on the island in the middle of the lake here, restaurants sell frogs legs (I'm yet to try them!). 
5. I'm fortunate enough to have access to 3 free meals a day at university. A block of feta is usually served as a side dish and cake is one of the main options for breakfast. As someone trying to stay gluten free, it is safe to say that I will begin to make meals in my room on my little hob.