What did we do in Serres besides uni? Well we went to cafes, dinners, drinking, hiking (more about it in the next post), some events when there were any, playing cards and so on. To be honest, there was not so much to do besides going to eat, drink and meet people. Most of the Greek students who were studying in TEI, did not speak good English and also were not so into talking to us. We had Erasmus coordinators who we hung out with the most and did stuff together after uni.
The first time I arrived to Serres to our dormitory, the other Erasmus students told me about an event in the city to which we went to. The event was just some stands of food, drinks, car parts, technology etc. But at least we went to the city all together, I met the Erasmus coordinators and also went to a cafe later. Soon we also we went to eat together in one of the taverns called Tabernáki, to get to know each other. They had live music and well, could not hear anything as the music was really loud. Greeks somehow are used to it and can hear each other over the loud music. We tried Retsina which is a Greek white wine, but man it is so bad. Not my taste at all.
Once we were watching the independence day of Finland where all the celebrities and people who have done something for the country get an invite to the parade and greet the president. I saw the actor Peter Franzen who played King Harald in the series "Vikings". I was excited about that. I got a lousy photo of him because it does not take a long time to walk to the president, greet him and leave. And taking my phone out to take a picture takes time as well.
Another time we went to the city with Marcel and Denis and found a small Christmas market, like one Christmas market stand small. We got mulled wine from there and they also sold some ginger bread, muffins and other sweets. Guys were talking to the sellers in German as they were from Germany but came to live in Greece. After we went to 'Frozzy Waffle House' where I got a hot chocolate and a waffle. I felt soo bad after that many sweets, I do not eat much sweets. The muffin and glogg from the market + hot chocolate and waffle were too much for me.
More things to do were eating in the uni cafeteria where we, Erasmus students, got free food.
During our last month in Serres, we were told there were more international people in Serres and apparently they had been there for a couple of months already. The Erasmus coordinators knew about them, but didn't seem to mention there are more foreigners in Serres who you could meet and spend time with.. The other internationals were doing their EVS for ca 11 months. Since they also were multinational and did not know much about others countries, they had an event introducing their countries. We also joined them to talk about our countries. I, as the only Estonian, went alone and made a small funny presentation to keep people's attention and a quiz at the end. Some countries were presenting all of their states and the food from that region which noone cared about. I was just making jokes to people next to me during their presentations.
Some dogs were on the premises of uni who were just chilling and sleeping, sometimes we were playing with and feeding them. When it was cold I felt so sorry for them as they did not have a place to go inside.
We had A LOT of problems with the internet. It never worked. And when it did, it was so slow. Once some people came to fix it and when we came back home, we found one of those guys sleeping in one of the unused rooms. The internet got a bit better but not much.
I took Cards Against Humanity and normal cards with me to Greece and we played them on some nights. It was not that fun to play CAH with Greeks as I needed to translate a lot of things from the cards which took the time and the fun out of the game.
Once the Finns wanted to go eat in the city and I joined them. We chose 'Bresson Cafe' where I chose a black burger which seemed interesting. The burger is seen on the picture.
Before we left for Christmas holidays, we met for Christmas dinner and had the Secret Santa. For those who do not know what is Secret Santa, you draw a name of a person beforehand and make a gift for him/her. In the end when the gifts are handed out, you will find out who was your Secret Santa, who made the gift to you. I drew the name of one Finn and as it turned out in the end, the other Finn had my name. I got a calendar notebook which I actually left in the dormitory. It was just an unpersonal gift and I get a calendar from my father every year which I like a lot more. + I did not have that much space in my luggage. I bough a nice necklace to the Finn I was the Secret Santa to. I got her something nice as she was complaining about everything and I did not want her to complain about my present. But you never know.
The dinner was nice, food was good and ofc with very loud live music. I did not enjoy the last part so much as I was sitting at the edge and could not hear shit. After we went to some night clubs but they weren't good. No people were dancing, which was weird. After couple clubs we decided to head home. Every time when we were going back to the dormitory, we were passing the guards at the entrance. But that is a bit longer than over the fences which are next to our house (fences are all over the uni campus), so sometimes we climbed over the fences to avoid the guards and walking more.
In short, not that much to do in Serres. But it was a new experience how to live with terrible internet, visiting cafes and restaurants, meeting people, hiking and driving to nearby places with the car.
