The journey

The leaving was set for 2 a.m. in Rapallo; It was finally time to start this whole new chapter of our project and we were happier than ever. We set off really early, so we tried to sleep a bit both on the bus and the plane, but we hardly managed as the excitement and anticipation have been building up for weeks.

Firstly, we arrived at the airport of Bergamo Orio Al Serio, and we had breakfast there. Then we landed at Thessaloniki and started our trip by bus. It took us some time to realize that we actually landed in Greece: it was surreal.

Expectations

Indeed we had very high expectations for this trip,  as we have been constantly talking to the Greek guys we hosted here in Italy for weeks at that time. Looking forward to meeting our friends once again was the predominant feeling, we missed them lots; But also, getting to know new people and seeing the place we had been hearing of for a long time, Edessa.

As we started leaving the big city and getting in the rural area we noticed the first the differences in the landscape and the buildings. Everything we saw was very green, the houses small and every writing in Greek. In the beginning it was fun to try and read the sign with the correct pronunciation, but soon we realized that modern Greek was very different than Ancient Greek, that we study at school. Just like we expected. We also pictured the typical greek architecture sites and historical patrimony that we are used to study on books, and it was all there.

Reality

When we first arrived, screams and shouts. We warmly hugged our Greek friends, who greeted us kindly, and started to realize just how different our cultures were.

The place had barely any signal, different climate and different colours, but getting to know all of this was a beautiful experience.
All of the streets were clean of any rubbish, covered in stray cats and dogs, and it was very safe. Some locals told us it had been about 6 years since the last theft, which is impressive.

It’s time to come back

We made the most out of this project, lived every minute of this amazing opportunity. Indeed, when it was time to get back home, we were all sad. Romanians, Greeks, Armenians, Spanish, Polish and Italians: we were all crying. It has been  an incredible experience, we met new people and built new friendships, we were able to get to know new cultures, not only the Greek one but all the other countries’ too. Exchanging knowledge, habits, opinions…our points of view were widened by all of this.

On the way back to Rapallo we realized just how much this project gave us and that now we could count on a friend on the other side of the world.