Exports and Economics in Greece, Day 11 #HogsAbroad

Group dinner in Thessaloniki.
We have a couple birthdays on the trip!

Today was a very light day for us and included a lot of free time. We started off the day with a great lecture that everyone really enjoyed. The lecture was over exports of the Greek agricultural sector led by the assistant dean of Perrotis College, Konstantinos Rotsios, and former student, Athanasios Bizmpiroulas.

The lecture was very interesting because was composed of various types of research regarding exports such as how Greek exports are perceived and how the quantity of exports has shifted since the crisis. The recent Mediterranean diet craze and promotion of Greek foods has kept Greek exports on the rise in recent years.

However, Greece is still in a depression and it appears it will last many years more. From speaking to our various tour guides and observing different areas our group can see many impacts of the crisis. Cheap prices and numerous vacant buildings are a few of the obvious effects, but many more cannot be seen to the eyes of tourists. For instance, we were told that it is common for the government to take sixty percent of incomes in taxes. This just after pay has been cut up to fifty percent.

Even among the depression Greeks continue to live the laid back, care free lives they have for many centuries. We all love experiencing this relaxed atmosphere when we go into the city and get to walk and shop (YAY!) or sit and drink coffee.

Today we walked around downtown for the first time without a guide which was a lot of fun! We shopped and adventured around for the afternoon and then met our favorite tour guide and professor Tryfon! He took us to this wonderful restaurant that had great seafood. He has not led us astray yet when it comes to food. It was tough to beat that wonderful pasta dinner we had last night, but the seafood was close. After dinner we experience some more of the terrific nightlife of Thessaloniki. We all love it here and are having a wonderful time experiencing and embracing the Greek culture!

Until next time,
Emily King

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Read more from these students at http://bumpersingreece.weebly.com/
Find our more about the U of A Faculty-Led: Food, Agriculture and Sustainability in Greece program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/aggreece