Alert! Only two weeks left!

I have two things to say right now. Please don't get mad at me when I tell you :)

1. I turned down a trip to Santorini. WHAT? Rosie, how could you! If you don't already know, Santorini is the Greek island with the steep-sloping cliff on the edge of crystal water, with the round, white buildings with the blue rooftops that looked like they are stacked on top of each other. I know you've seen pictures. Even people from Greece say that Santorini is the most beautiful place in the whole world. And guess what? I could have gone, but I didn't. About seven girls from my program decided to go on their own, and they actually took the time to invite me for once. Man, did I dig myself into a hole by telling you I didn't go.

Saturday was my dad's last day here, and I wanted to see him one more time. My classmates took the ferry on Friday, and on Friday I had a presentation to give in my philosophy class. On that note, I missed a lot of school last week as is. I didn't want to endure two different eight-hour ferry rides and then only be there for two days. The weather was not promising. And lastly, I'm not in any hurry to see new places. That's six legitimate reasons I turned down the most beautiful vacation of my life.

I did say in a previous entry that I wasn't even all that excited to see Santorini because I'd already looked at a million photos. And it's true, but I will keep in mind that if I were picked up and dropped on Santorini, I would more than likely discover that the pictures don't do it justice. I would count myself lucky if I ever make it to that rumoured wonderful island. Living for four months on "Greek time" really calmed me down about this subject, though. I already know that this is not the only time in my life that I will visit Greece, so I am completely at ease with waiting for a better time in my life to go to Santorini. I discussed this with my study-abroad-mate (classmate? roommate?...let's call him my study-abroad-mate), and he told me to just go there for my honeymoon. And tell my future husband it was my study-abroad-mate's idea. So I'll just wait, rather than hurt myself trying to get there amidst multiple uncomfortable circumstances.

Here's the second infuriating topic: school here sucks, and I miss NAU. I was talking to another study-abroad-mate about this today, and she's more knowledgeable than I am about it, but here's what I interpreted, partly from what she said, and partly from what I experienced: my school here is using the UK grading system, which means that instead of focusing on tests and quizzes, like the US does (generally speaking), the teachers assign one group project, or in my case midterms, and then a final. And that's...pretty much all the criteria they have to grade you on. Not very fair, I think. Not to mention that the letter grade scales themselves are different, too, but I can't remember how at the moment.

In my experience, I have already failed a midterm and gotten low B's on two others. In all three cases, I had thought I'd done way better. I tried to ask the teachers what they'd wanted from me, but they didn't seem to want to talk about it, as if I should have already known. I have also experienced the teachers yelling at students about things that were not their fault, saying things like, "do as I say, not as I do," and telling students that their opinions are wrong.

I'm supposed to graduate next semester, so if my classes transfer back as not passing, I have to take more classes and work really really hard to graduate in time. I feel like this isn't really my fault.

I reported this because I feel it is a necessary piece of advice to give to someone who wants to study abroad. It was a worthwhile experience to be in school here, I will not deny that at all. It's just something to remember, that all cultures are different and require patience and research! Part of it is my fault, I guess, for not having asked first, but then again, I had no reason to ask, I was a good student before I came here :)

So! Two weeks left, and I am ready to return to NAU. And also sad that I have to leave Greece! More on that some other time.