Chris Tealey: I Kalí Kardiá (The Good-Hearted)

Gigi and I were making our way towards the three-mile-long boardwalk in Thessaloniki, as we did nearly every day of our time together, to grab a cup of traditional Greek coffee and talk about our plans for the evening. It was the third week of my break away, around lunch time on a Wednesday, the sky was cloudy, and the thick, humid air of Greece was swirling in from the Aegean Sea.

Gigi was my roommate while I was studying abroad in Greece, and we spent every day together. He was a skinny kid, 18 years old, fresh out of high school and enjoying his first semester away at college. He was a Greek student from Alexandropoulos, which is a city that lays on the border of Greece and Turkey. He was a funny, genuine, kind-hearted person, and we became best friends right from the start of our semester together.

As we left our apartment, we were in the middle of a conversation discussing the differences and similarities in each other’s home lifestyles. The conversation consisted of mostly similarities. Both Gigi and I were raised in lower middle class, close knit families. We both played sports growing up, we enjoyed spending time with our friends and we had similar interests in music and in movies. It is easy to see how we became such good friends so quickly. The main difference that we talked about, however, was the difference of growing up in Greece, and growing up in America.

The main focus of growing up in different countries that we discussed in this talk, was the quality of life in Greece as opposed to America. Greece has been in a major economic crisis for years now, and it is far less developed than America. With this economic situation, even though our families were from the same class, we discussed how Gigi’s family was not exposed to the same quality of living that my family was, and how in effect to this his family lived through harder times than my family did. For example, the biggest impact this had on our time in Thessaloniki was the amount of money we were allowed to withdraw from the ATM each week, provided for us by our families. In my case, I did have a little extra money to withdraw each week, but this is due to the fact that I had worked the entire summer before my trip and I had saved a good portion of my earnings. Gigi however, was only allowed to withdraw 20 Euros each week, which was provided solely by his mother, due to his father currently being out of work thanks to the economic crisis.

With only one meal a day being allotted to us on week days in our abroad program, we were forced to eat at local restaurants for all of our other meals throughout the week. Gigi usually ran out of his allotted money, and I helped to pay for some of his meals. I did not mind doing this at all though, because I understood the circumstances we were in. Plus, Gigi was my best friend, so of course I would help him out if needed. In our talk we had many instances where we reflected on our living situations, and we agreed that no matter the money situation, we were both extremely grateful for the opportunities we had in life, and we were extremely fortunate to be able to further our education, at a quality university far away from our homes no less.

That day, as we walked towards the boardwalk, we passed by local shops, restaurants, cafes, markets, and thousands of people that walked in Aristotle Square, Thessaloniki’s center. The streets were flooded with cars and motorcycles making their way through the heart of this ancient city, vendors were yelling out their specials of the day to the crowds of people walking past them, and the smell of freshly made gyros and coffee brews filled the air.

Gigi and I took our usual route, where we would walk through the square, and window shop as we passed by all the stores and vendors. As we were walking and discussing the spending money we had available until the next day, we discovered that Gigi only had 6 Euros to last him until Friday. Coming off of our earlier discussion in our walk, I offered to buy his dinner that night so he could spend his 6 Euros the next day on dinner. However, at this same moment, we passed by a homeless lady, who was sitting on the ground outside of a shop with her young child, and an open hand resting out for money.

This was an image we were very used to seeing in Thessaloniki. Due to the crisis in Greece, there were many homeless people who were out of jobs and could not afford places to live. However, due to the conversation that we were having, this situation was different than when we passed by the other homeless people in the city. This time, we felt much more empathy, and Gigi especially connected with her, as he had just stated that if his mom were to lose her job, that their family would be in very hard times, and in due time could end up homeless.

This is where Gigi did something that surprised me, and made me really reflect on my life. He reached into his pocket, grabbed his remaining 6 Euros for the week, and handed them to the lady. I was left confused. I asked him, “Why did you just give her the rest of your money?” In my mind, surely he could have given her just a few Euros, and that way she and her child could eat, and he could eat the next day too. But Gigi responded, “Sometimes we underestimate just how fortunate we are. She and her child have had multiple days in their lives without any food, and I have never had one where I didn’t eat. To give them money to eat in exchange for a day or two of me not eating, is no sacrifice to me.”

What a statement that was. It made me think a lot about just how fortunate I really am, not just because I have the great fortune to further my education, or because I have a supportive family that loves me, but even more basic than that; I have been lucky enough to always have shelter, and food, and clean water to drink. In America, the problem of not having these necessities is not as prominent as it is in other countries, such as Greece, and so we don't really think about it too often. Therefore, thanks to Gigi's actions and my study abroad experience, I have a better view on life, what it means to give to others, and an even better understanding of how fortunate I truly am. I am forever grateful for our friendship, and the study abroad experience I was lucky enough to have.

Chris Tealey is a senior business major with an emphasis in marketing/management. He plans to graduate in December of 2017, and pursue a career in sports management. He studied business abroad at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece in the Fall of 2016.