Seeing Greece From A Chinese Student ‘s Perspective
I am a junior student of Journalism and communications from China and now an Erasmus student in Athens, Greece. My home and my university are in Hangzhou, a fascinating city of China, which is famous for its natural beauty and cultural heritage. This is the first time that my university cooperated with Greece and also my first time being so far away from home.
Before arriving here, I had the impression that Greece was just about an endless blue sky, blue sea and islands like the famous Santorini. Santorini is a magnificent place, which exhausted a captivating blue color in every road and corner you go; so it is almost inevitable that most Chinese choose it as their number one excursion and tourist attraction to the Aegean sea . A lot of people even choose Santorini as the destination for their wedding and honeymoon where they love taking wedding photos and look at the sea with the person they love. Such a romantic thing. This is also my dream. Sometimes I am a little surprised that I have been here for only about three months, in a place that could possibly even be the place for my own honeymoon in the future.
When I first came here, I was instantly impressed by the lovely weather, huge blue sky and fresh air. Seldom does it ever rain in Athens. Even if there is a possibility of rain, it never really lasts for a long time. Therefore, it maybe a little difficult for the Greek people to understand and imagine how the weather is back in Hangzhou, where the raining season sometimes lasts for even half a month usually in June and July. What is more, smog (smoke and fog) is a serious pollution problem in China, especially in the capital, Beijing. People are accustomed to wearing masks every single time that they have to go out. So I really appreciate the temperate climate, nice weather and clean environment of Greece.
In Athens, you have the opportunity to see ancient monuments and architecture everywhere you turn, such as the Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian. There are many different forms of tourist attractions in Athens, let alone in Greece as a whole. Beautiful beaches in Glyfada, high and sharp mountains in Meteora and ancient ruins in Athens; which are all showing the glowing beauty and the vast culture of the whole country.
When it comes to the lifestyle, there is a big difference between China and Greece. In China, people are very busy every day. They get up at 7 in the morning and return to their home at 6 in the afternoon. They devote almost all of their time to work, while whatever of it is left, is always dedicated to spending time with their family. Chinese encounter a variety of problems and deal with a lot of stress because of several modern day life issues, like the housing prices in the big cities being extremely high. Everyone is struggling to work and collect money in order to purchase an apartment in the city. Moreover, they always have to consider about the education of their children, the medical system and the parents' retirement, which means they are obliged to earn large ammounts of money. On the contrary, I find Greeks are very casual and at ease. Coffee shops can be found everywhere with many people always sitting, sipping on some coffee and chating, in the afternoon. Everyone enjoys a very slow life style here. I believe that this may be an ideal life and it would be great if Chinese people pursued it some time in the future. But we cannot deny the fact that China has witnessed a rapid growth in development and i think that this is owed to every citizen's great effort and hard work in every domain.
As I previously mentioned people in Greece are accustomed to a slow lifestyle, which, i believe, causes the inefficiency in certain ways. People get up late and go to work late. Everyone needs to wait long hours to handle any kind of affairs even if being in a hurry. One of my friends who is from the Czech Republic stil has not received her student card now while she has to return in her country in about a month. this fact is not even exaggerated. Even to see a doctor one needs to get an appointment and then visit the hospital after three days.
From my perspective, Athens is a fantastic destination to visit. It is nice to occasionally slow down and enjoy life. However, it is for the best if you just consider only as a travelling experience. For young people, I think that staying in China can bring about much more job opportunities and it is, also, a lot more challenging. But, again, this is only just my opinion.
