Dear Greece,
A year ago I was just a girl with dreams of visiting you. The months following, my dreams turned into a reality when I applied to study abroad in Athens! With high anticipation, I planned out every single thing I wanted to do when I arrived. Including what to eat, what to see, what islands to go to, where to go to get the best pictures and the list goes on and on… and on. I google searched Greece day and night to try to learn everything I could about your gorgeous country before the day came. It is crazy thinking about those giddy moments when here I am now about to leave to go back home after spending a semester here. I definitely did not do everything on my list but spending four months here taught me so much more about you than Google ever did! I learned the correct way to pronounce my new favorite food, gyros (you say it “year-os”). More importantly, I learned how amazing you are and that there are many things I will miss when I leave to go back home and here are five reasons to prove it!
Food
Oh boy talking about leaving Greek food is hard for me. I loved traveling to new places, but I was always excited to get back and eat Greek food! Gyros are my one true love. I honestly could not even count how many I had, but I definitely had at least one (and many times more than one) per week. Another thing that I’ll miss is the Lays tzatziki chips! Those were my favorite snack food and I am sad we do not have the in them states. My favorite dessert was loukoumades! They are fried dough balls usually topped with honey and other yummy things. My favorite place to get them was at Lukumades in downtown Athens!



Islands
Greece is known for its islands and rightfully so as they are amazing. I only got the chance to visit three islands, but will definitely be coming back in the future to explore many more! I am going to miss the islands because I had so much fun there. I love how each island has its own characteristics that make it special and unique.





History
Greece is filled to the brim with history which was so fascinating to me! It was so crazy seeing lots of ancient ruins and archeological sites that were built hundreds and thousands of years ago still standing today. I will miss getting to stare at ancient relics and learning about their interesting past!



Campus
I will most definitely miss the American College of Greece campus! It is so beautiful and so different than my school back home. It was so cool to walk from class to class and see mountains!


Beaches
Coming from the Midwest, I do not get the chance to see beaches all that often so I will miss going to beaches on my days off of class! Greece has so many beautiful beaches to see and explore. These three beaches were some of my favorites that I saw during my time in Greece.



So yeah, Greece, I am going to miss you a lot. These are just a few of the reasons you made my study abroad super special. I am so glad that I got to spend my past four months in your wonderful country. I am sad to be leaving, but it is time for me to go back home. Like they always say, it is not goodbye it is a see you later! So see you later Greece!
Sincerely,
Mariah
Mariah Mikel is a student at Iowa State University. She is an ISA Featured Photo Blogger and is studying abroad with ISA in Athens, Greece.
Thanks for sharing informative articles about Farewell letter to Greece.
Amazing photots. Glad you had a nice time. I am going to miss it also!