This is my last night in Denmark. I will share with you some of my thoughts. Disclaimer: I haven’t spent that much time on them, so don’t expect too much. Here it goes.

Erasmus Project is the best thing that can happen in your student life. For sure. Living with people from around the globe, people who love traveling and sharing their experiences with you is the best part. Only after 3 months here, I feel my room mates like my family… I feel sad for leaving them…

Erasmus Project broadens your horizons. There are so many new things to see and learn. So many people to contact. So many memories to keep.

Denmark is a beautiful country. Everything runs smoothly. There is a reason for everything. You can lead a peaceful life here. I liked that. I don’t say that I want to live here because there are soooooooo many places that I want to explore. But I could live here. For my Greek folks, please, don’t try to make any comparisons with Greece…

Danish people are “?”. That’s it. You can’t name a nation. To be honest, I met a few Danish because exchange students like us hang out with international people mostly. So, I met some smiley faces, really interested in listening your story, but I also met some who just didn’t care. But generally speaking, Danish are polite and if you treat them right, they respect you. This is very important to me. 

Danish language is sooooo difficult and a bit ugly for my taste. I prefer Spanish

Spanish people are sooooo cool! I have been living with lots of them and we get on really well! De puta madre!

Exchange students in general though are cool. I mean, they have chosen to do this trip, so they feel like doing it. Therefore, all of them are friendly, always there to help you, willing to party at anytime! So, after second thoughts, Spanish don’t have something special :p

The fee that my home university pays me every month is sooo good (aprox 630 euros). Spanish for example, they get 150 euros.

All in all, erasmus is a great experience. I would have made a huge mistake if I didn’t taste it. I’m lucky So, for you who still have the chance, go for it! For the rest, I feel sorry :p

Now comes the aknowledgments. I first want to thank my sweet parents for helping me mentally and financially. Their support has been tremendous. I just LOVE them! The weird thing is that I didn’t miss them I also want to thank all my new friends for the great moments that we shared! Pablo, Kike, Nikola, Teresa, Ione, Renato, Pedro, Reynald, Maurissio, Roberto, Ramon (both), Edita, Guillermo, Joao, Dimitris, Argyris, Haris, George, Vicky, Joana, Ola and so on (they are so many, for sure I miss some of them, sorry…)

So, what’s the best thing to do on christmas day in Denmark? Just go for a swim! Me and Roberto, my Italian friend, after having for lunch a delicious risoto that he cooked, had a ride to the seaside. And I couldn’t resist the temptation, I had been thinking of it for the last month. So here it is!

I just came back from my looong trip. It wasn’t that long at last, because when you travel time goes by so fast! What makes this trip different from the others is that I was traveling alone. Well, both at Paris and London I met some friends, but still I spent enough time wondering around on my own. How was it? Just great! Why?

Here are a few reasons I came up with. First of all, you meet tons of people! For me, that was the best part of the trip! You start with a single remark which can be about anything, and you end up talking about life in Mars! I truly believe that every person is precious and you can learn something from them. That’s why I really enjoy talking with people.

Secondly, you have time to think. About yourself, about your life, about your dreams. And since while traveling you escape the rat race and everyday routine, you make more innovative thoughts. It’s not like sitting at your coach, watching the same view out of the same window…

Moreover, when you travel alone, you can check which of your friends you miss more. Of course, that works better if you travel for a long time and not just for a week. But still, you can test your feelings about others.

Furthermore, traveling alone makes you more experienced on surviving and taking care of yourself. Ok, I know that when you have booked all your tickets online, you have checked the reviews of the hostel that you are staying and you have printed all the google maps to have them in your pocket  makes things much easier. But still, there are little things that you had never noticed to watch out, until you traveled alone.

Finally, you invent many ways of taking photos of yourself! All the pics at this post were taken by me.

All in all, that was one of my best traveling experiences. It was just the beginning of my next gen of trips, backpacking! It is my dream to travel around for a few months, just me. I will never forget the guy that I met last April. A friend and I were traveling from Athens to Ljubljana by train. At Skopje we had a short stop. There we met him. He was from New Zealand. He had been traveling alone for 2 months. US, Canada and now Europe.

So, I will try to remember all the people I met. That’s what this blog is all about, memories.

Before I caught my coach to Berlin, I was hosted one night by Giannis, a greek friend of mine that we get on really well. There I met 2 danish girls. Danish people are always so smiley and willing to help you, I really love them! On my way to find the bus station, I met 2 young Danish guys that helped me with directions. They had just graduated from highschool and they had their own band. “India” was the name of their band. One of the guys was talking so passionately about “India”, their influence from other groups and their goals. I just wished them good luck.

While waiting on the bus station at 6 in the morning, I met 2 girls from the US. They were studying for one semester in Ireland and they were just traveling around. My next co-traveller was Sasha from Denmark. She is organising art fairs and travelling around the globe! We had a discussion about danish people and their way of life, about Greece, about art, about Berlin. When we finally reached Berlin after 8 hours, she advised me where to go and what to see. I just had 5 hours. Her help was invaluable and I really thank her! At Berlin I met a group of Greek people. Greeks are everywhere!

From Berlin to Paris I just wanted to sleep, so, no talking… On my first day in Paris, during a short boat trip, I met an Australian veteran football player. He told me that back in Melbourne he was famous and it felt nice that noone had asked him for an autograph in Paris. We talked about football and making money. He mentioned young players that earn millions of dollars and after 10 years they are broke. I really enjoyed our short talk. I got his email written but he was in a hurry so I can’t make out his name and google doesn’t help me…

Later this evening I met an old greek friend, Diana. We had a walk and enjoyed the christmas spirit of Paris. Back in my hostel, I met 2 great guys, Heinrich and Rinhard. They were born in South Africa but raised like germans. They were just traveling around Europe. It was my pleasure to meet them! Next day I met another 2 friends of them. At the reception of the hostel, I met a Brasilian and I had the chance to practise my portuguese. I told him how much I love Brasil and we listened to some Brasilian songs while chatting!

During LeWeb, I met lots of people. If you need an extended review, just read this. First of all, the opencoffee.gr team consisting of George Tziralis, George Kasselakis, Dimitris Athanasiadis and Dimitris Kalogeropoulos. There was also Nikos Anagnostou, Stefanos Karagos and Costas Vlachakis. It was so nice to meet all these guys! Apart from Greeks, I met Akky AKIMOTO, a blogger and entrepreneur from Japan (here is his blog in japanese ), Wouter Cuypers from Belgium who has been working on this, miss Chrystelle Chinon from France who was full of ideas and energy  and Manuel, an iphone developer, founder of pomcast.net and father of 2 sweet daughters! I also had the chance to meet Boris, the Dutch serial entrepreneur and founder of TheNextWeb.com.  These are the people that I got their business cards, but I met much more. LeWeb is a great event for networking.

And then, London! My beloved city, the place that I enjoy to be. I was hosted by my friend Constantina, she is so sweet . Except for my old friends, I met a few more interesting people. While shopping at the flea market of Whitechapel, which by the way is really cheap, I met a guy who sells women clothes. He is British, trying to make his living among Chinese, Indians and lots of other ethnicities. He told me that he spent his vacation with his wife in Copenhagen last summer and he really enjoyed. That was a bit strange to find out that he sells on the street coats for just 15 pounds each, to spend his vacation on one of the most expensive cities of Europe . Then, during a walk to tate modern, I met a Finish guy who had been living for years in London and Berlin. When I asked him what he would choose, he answered Berlin, because the atmosphere is more relaxed. But that’s exactly why I would choose London! On Saturday night, I joined a party made by Aaron. Since then I didn’t know him, but he hosts great parties, therefore I respect him! At his party I met lots of Greeks! I also met a greek family. Antonis, the father, is doing his phD. Holding his little daughter, we had a talk about life and work in London. Eirini, the mother, was also studying. Raising a child and studying is tough, but they enjoyed! Finally, in the tube I met miss Olga, a Greek archaeologist and flamengo dancer. She has lived in Paris and London, so she gave me her perspective on life at these metropolis, making the needed comparisons. Her remarks were insightful and made me wiser!

This post is long enough to make clear that traveling is the best way to go through life. Once more I want to thank my beloved parents for giving me this opportunity.

So, what about you? Do you like traveling on your own? Any incidents worth sharing? I will be delighted to read your story!

Thanks for reading! ps for more pics, see my photos on facebook (Yorgos Dedes)

Saturday night @ Copenhagen. Sunday morning, off I go! Sunday midday @ Berlin, by coach. Stop for 4 hours, when I plan to visit Checkpoint Charlie and Brandenburger Tor in a hurry. Then, back to the coach. After 16 hours I’ ll be in Paris! 1500 kms babe!

In Paris I’ll stay for 3 days and nights! LeWeb is the cause and I love it! So, on Thursday I’m  flying to London where I’m going to meet my friend Costantina who is going to host me  (thanks sweetie!) London is THE city!

Finally, on Monday morning I’m flying back to Copenhagen where I have a thesis to conduct

So, during this week I’ ll try to sleep as less as I can, grab lots of experiences and make tons of pictures!!!

Of course, I have to thank my sponsors for their invaluable support!

It’s cloudy.

It’s time for studying.

Sitting next to my window, I see the raindrops running across it. The brown leaves seek their last chance to keep their place on the branches of the trees. But it’ s tough.

In less than 2 hours, darkness will come over…

Being a member of eestec LC Athens for the last 4 years, and also the chairman for the year 2007-08, I gained so many experiences, made good friends and traveled enough

So, if your are an ECE student around Europe and want to feel the enthusiasm of eestec, check here if there is an eestec Local Committee at your place. If not, you can contact me and we can figure it out

Check our workshop which was held in Athens back in April 2008. It was called “Renew Your Energy”, something that all the participants did!

LeWeb in numbers.

1500 participants, more than 25 countries, 30 startups, 2 days, 2 parties, 1700+ euros for a late ticket (I got it 200  Watch this video for more info!

So, a huge thanks to opencoffee.gr for their initiative and I will do my best to gain as much as I can! Paris, here I come!

So, after almost 20 days here, I like this place! I feel I’ m lucky! 

For the last 5 days, I had been hosting 2 friends of mine. We hang around together, went sightseeing and partying, cool stuff! 

Right now in our kitchen, there are more than 15 people. We had dinner! Nikolas, a Greek, has cooked plenty of pastitsio! And Pedro, a Brasilian, has cooked 45 coxinha! Now we are full!

It is nice to be an erasmus student in container K!!!

Kampsax is a cafe-pub-club that every Thursday hosts the most successful party at the campus. I’ ve been there only once, cause I’ve been here since last Monday, but I really liked it! And when you have a great company, like I do, things are much better

Databar are rooms with pc’s spread around the campus and dedicated to studying. They are open 24/7 and you enter with your student magnetic card. The fact that most of the Danish people talk to each other while studying is quite annoying. If you need silence, then you have to find an empty databar… Like this one.

So, it is now made clear that the title of this post can be rewritten “Partying vs Studying”. The obvious answer is Kampsax! However, I am working on a project that requires studying

Therefore, I try to spend my time doing both. What about you? What do you thing an erasmus student should do more?