The sun burns everything: bushes, asphalt, skin. “C”mon guys, only five minutes walking!”
Soon everybody knows that in Greece time flies different. Those five minutes suddenly became 35, under the sun, with our luggage. Arriving to the gym, a bunch of participants are already there, staring at the new ones. Slowly, we start to sniff each other, talk to each other.
Everything is wide and new just for five minute. Greek timing. Spanish, Italian, German, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Chinese, Czech, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Dutch, Estonian, Greek faces became quickly our own family. Every single gesture, every single detail became our little routine. The keyword of our ESSU was, for sure, SHARING. The first week, we learnt to trust each other and share everything, from big emotion to small needs. Trainers shared with us their knowledge, participants shared their lives and their past, organisers shared with us Red Bull. Lessons, city tours, European nights… Time passed faster (much faster) than we could imagine, and soon, it was time to pack and leave our beloved gym in Patras.
But, apart from the serious part…
We were tourists, discovering the world of legends. Patra’s Castle, Ancient Olympia, and the fortified town of Mystras… All in all, Greece gave us the Olympic Games, and, let’s face it: we may not be athletes, but after all these trips we certainly felt like it. It was tiring, but it was worth the effort. The landscapes were amazing, and the atmosphere…simply from a different world, which we might have only seen in history books. Time to refresh ourselves! By more than 40 degrees, the best place to be is…under water. The sea was warm, calm and clear, whether we went swimming by day or by night. And for someone who is coming from a city which is not by the sea, two weeks of sea-side was clearly a blessing.When you say Greece, you also mean good food. Moussaka, Tzatziki, Greek salad, stuffed peppers and tomatoes, plenty of sea food, and some ouzo (must be careful with the last one, though!).
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia & Alexandra Vilcu, AEGEE-Milano