These Are The People In My Neighborhood

In tribute to Mr. Rogers, I would like to tell you about the people in my neighborhood.  I live in the Stavros Niarchos dorm on the campus of the University of Ioannina.  The dorm is filled mostly with students who are here to study Greek language and culture.  They hail from 20 countries, mostly European, but a few from Africa, Asia and South America.  Even though I am not here to study Greek language and culture, they have embraced me.  Altogether there are 55 students in this program so a posting cannot do justice to all of them.  However, I will tell you about the students in these photographs and, hopefully, this will give you a good idea of the wonderful neighborhood that I inhabit.

The students at Stavros Niarchos love to celebrate birthdays.  We had eight in November!  Pictured in the first photograph is Aleksandra.  She turned 23 years old on December 10th.  She is from Romania.  The second photograph is from a birthday party in November.  It features Anastasia and Anna who are from Ukraine and sitting between them is Maged, who is from Egypt.

In the third photo, are the students in the program from Egypt.  In the back row from left to right: Farouk, Romali, and Maged.  In the front row, from left to right: Hassan, Mina, and Roida.  Farouk was one of the first students that I met when I arrived and I talk with him almost everyday.  Hassan and Mina love to play soccer and I enjoy watching their fancy footwork.  Romali, Meget, and Roida, tend to be more introspective, but they will always talk to me.

The next photo was taken on the steps of a monastery that is above the campus.  I shared pictures of it in one of my earlier postings.  The countries represented include Egypt, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Japan, Romania, Chile, and Ukraine.

An amphitheater from the B.C. era in the area of Dodoni is the scene for the next photo.  Benjamin from Thailand and Peter from Macedonia are featured.

Next up is Farouk whom I mentioned earlier from Egypt and Zorca who is from Montenegro and whom I mentioned in an earlier posting.  There are so many of these students that I enjoy, but these are two of my favorites.

The last photo features three students from Armenia: Aleksandra, Arthur, and Latef.  Arthur was also one of the first students that I met when I arrived.  He knows six languages and never ceases to amaze me as he switches from one to another effortlessly.

These are just a few of the students that I see on almost a daily basis.  I feel so blessed that I am living in Stavros Niarchos.  These students have enriched my life and I hope that I have done the same for them.  There is much that I will miss about Greece when I return to the U.S., but I will them most of all.  There are many times when I worry about the state of the world, but these students give me hope that the world will be fine after all.