The Transition

By Konstantinos Kochilas

Hi, my name is Kosta (Just in case you didn’t notice the top right corner). I came from America and I have been living in Ikaria for about two years.

It was a pretty big change for me and my family, but

I’m really glad we made this decision considering all of the great people I’ve met other than the people I already knew. I would come here every summer so I was familiar with a big portion of the class. The thought in the beginning of coming to live here was a lot to process. I thought of Ikaria as a place that was just nice for vacation. Having this in mind, and thinking of all the friends in America I would miss I was pretty scared to come here. I was even crying when I heard that we were going to move here! I lived in a small town called Pittsburg near Oakland. There wasn’t anything special about the place. To be honest the most entertaining thing to do there was go to Starbucks. It was just a little town, with a small population of about 60.000 people (That is considered small in America) and that one group of friends that you hung out with all the time. It already sounds like more fun here but I’m a closed-minded little brat and I don’t like change. Then I came here. I’m ashamed that I didn’t want to come to live here because now I don’t want to leave. I feel so much freedom here, something that I didn’t get the chance to feel in America. You could do almost anything you want here. Here (like in America) I live in a small town called Christos. It shares some pretty similar characteristics to where I live in America. Small town, small population, you hang out with the same people and never get bored of them and you know everyone. There are of course differences but they only make it better here, like being able to go out at night because you aren’t afraid your child will be abducted, more relaxed living and it’s awfully quiet because there aren’t cars passing by your house playing loud music even though they know it disturbs neighbors. Overall, it’s just better here and I’m trying to get as much out of it as I can before I have to move back to the States.

Fin