Lessons learned: Living in Greece for six months.
Foreword: I wrote this article in September 2013 for the greek magazine “Hello Corfu”. After eating some member-berries I decided to republish this on my own blog. I have left the text as it is (except some minor grammar changes) but added some photographs to it.
Hello Corfu
Hi, recently I found out my name I was going for 24 years is just a short version of the real name Alexandros. This is one among a lot of things I have learned during my last six months on Corfu. My family lived in Germany ever since I can image it. Beside my yearly holiday trip, the inspirational stories by my parents and the incredible recipes at home I didn’t have much contact to my Greek side. Last winter I found myself in the cold days of south Germany deciding that I want to change my surroundings for a while. My decision fell very quickly to the beautiful island of Corfu where I had the opportunity to “study” Audiovisual Arts.
It was when I got in contact with film director George Tsirogiannis that I explored the beautiful city at night. We would stroll around the city taking pictures every night for many hours. Trying out many different styles, places and techniques I got excited about the motives and light sources you could play with. I started the “Everyday Project” where I forced myself into making a picture or a video every day. It started as a 30 day project, though i continued it and am now at day 90.
One nice thing about Corfu is that it’s like a small family. The people you meet quickly become friends and you see them day after day ( although this might be bad for some situations.)
Taking pictures and videos was on my daily agenda and I could make many people happy with it. On one of my trips throughout the country I started taking videos with my fisheye lens. The 180 degrees perspective simulates the human eye. I was fascinated by the idea of capturing my activities since I knew that my time in Greece was limited. Instead of planning a music video with actors and a film crew I shot everything on my own without faking any situation. If I’d watch that video many years later I would immediately know how it really was. And also the song I picked was done by a friend of mine who makes music for people and not for a living.
Lessons Learned
How can you describe the experience you have while living in another country for sixmonths. This country and the people in it influenced me in a way that was beyond my perception. It is difficult to define but here are some things I learned on my journey:
1. Always have olive oil next to your bed in case of an emergency (late night salad sessions)
2. Every day is Sunday
3. It doesn’t make you Greek when you eat Greek salad, you also have to have a moustache.
4. It helps sometimes to have a friend who is a cop.
5. Rule number one when driving with a car: There are no rules…
and most important:
6. There is no such thing as a vegetarian. “You don’t eat meat? Well then we make lamb!”
