Students Of Success

Thessaloniki- some European flavor in your vacation!

By Liana Metal

WHERE

Thessaloniki is located on the northern part of the Greek mainland, in the gulf of Thermaikos which is a major port in imports and exports. The city was set up in 316 BC and is the capital of Macedonia and the second big city in Greece after Athens.

WHY GO

European culture combined with a variety of other cultures from the north and east, international events such as trade exhibitions and art displays , local festivals all year round, business and fun -extensive nightlife-all these blended together in the unique picturesque setting of Thermaikos gulf in the deep blue of the Aegean and the extensive historic places of interest in and out of the city.

WHEN TO GO

The best seasons to visit are spring, when it is sunny and warm and you can explore the area around the city as well, summer , when you can swim at magic sandy beaches within easy reach of the city, and fall, when international exhibitions take place. In winter months it is cold -sometimes below zero- but it is sunny most of the time.

GETTING THERE AND AROUND

By air

There are direct flights from the UK and other European countries and regular connections from the USA and eastern and northern countries as well.
Departures guide at: http://users.otenet.gr/~cpnchris/skgd.html
Airport info at: http://users.otenet.gr/-cpnchris/skg.html
Olympic airways at www.olympic-airways.gr/passengers_info/oapaxaptskguk.htm

By train

There is a train connection from Europe and the East on a regular basis.

Getting Around

Local buses run on a daily basis schedule to and from all suburbs and resorts, towns and cities. The bus service is a good one and the easiest way to move around the city.
See info at: www.ktel.org/fokis/en/thessaloniki.htm

Train services are for distant locations only, not for urban use.
However, the metro runs in the city connecting busy to remote areas.
Visit: www.metrolpa.net/eu/the/thessal/htm

Taxis are easy to find , and if you need a taxi at a certain time you can call the station and reserve it. They are punctual and trustworthy. Call at White Tower station, tel: 0310 214900. See also http://users.forthnet.gr/the/dsilvestriadis/thessaloniki

However, if you want to see everything , you should walk. It’s not difficult to follow a route a day and explore the inner part of the city on foot.

Cycling is not recommended in the down town area as there is a lot of traffic. Rent-a-car agencies are easy to find at the airport and bus and railway stations, and it is a good idea to self-drive around the city and the suburbs.
See www.kosmos-carrental.com/thessaloniki/html

BEST MAJOR ATTRACTIONS

The visitor shouldn’t miss to see the round White Tower, a remnant of the ancient walls of the city dated back to 1866, which is now the characteristic symbol of the city. There are more towers around the city but they are all square shaped apart from two of them.

The Triumphal Arc of Galerius is in the middle of the city, an imposing monument dating back to the third century.

Ayios Dimitrios church, down town, attracts a lot of people, both tourists and locals. It was built in the 5th century and has great architectural value. Worth visiting the catacombs dug under the church which were the hiding place of the first Christians at that time.

St Sophia church, is also a building you shouldn’t miss.

There is a number of museums all over the city such as the Rotonda ,which is a church for St George, and the Museum of Salonica.
Visit www.greekembassy.org/culture/northgreece/thessaloniki.html

BEST UNUSUAL ATTRACTIONS

The Technology park, visit the site at: www.techpark.gr

The Technology Museum, see site at www.tmth.edu.gr/en

The International Trade Exhibition, a big international event, was set up in 1926 and has been running annually in September since then offering a great range of goods and services. It attracts a great number of people every year both business and fun lovers. See www.helexpo.gr

Also the World Trade center , visit site at http://iserve.wtca.org/wtc/thessaloniki_contacts.html

Mt Athos, within easy reach of the city , is a monastery for monks located on the Halkidiki peninsula . It is a well known for the famous ancient items that are displayed there, and it constitutes a small independed community on its own run by monks. They offer free lodgings and meals to all visitors . Female visitors are not allowed in. Prince Charles of UK has visited Athos many times, as well as other famous people.
See http://poseidon.csd.auth.gr/athos
www.medialab.ntua.gr/athos.html
www.bates.edu/-rallison/friends
www.culture.gr/2/21/218/e21800.html

Halkidiki peninsula beaches are sandy , extensive and ideal for summer vacations. The perfect place for camping lovers.
www.huntsidway.com/travel.html

BEST ACTIVITY AND TOUR

•A tour in the city to see the sights. Visit www.greekhotel.com/mainland/thessaloniki/home.htm
www.greekembassy.org/culture/northgreece/thessaloniki.html
For luxury tours-hotels,
www.luxury.gr/thessaloniki-hotels.html

•For sport lovers, Toumba stadium is renowned for the local team of PAOK . There are two more local teams, ARIS and IRAKLIS. For more activities, see
www.medcollection.com/region.asp?lc=53

BEST ALTERNATIVE

•Mt Athos www.it.uom.gr/project/chalkidiki/visit_Athos.htm

•The Aristotle University which is popular for Medicine, Literature, Law, Theology and other studies.

•The University of Macedonia which is the best for Ecomonics and Social studies,as well as for Computer programming.
www.uom.gr

•The concert Hall http://virtuals.compulink.gr/ommth

BEST LOCAL HAUNT

Kalamaria area , on the east of the city is the best place to enjoy seafood by the sea. Michaniona , one hour by bus from the city center , offers fresh fish by the sea as well traditional dishes restaurants along the bay.

BEST LODGINGS

Park hotel, in the center of the city , within easy reach of all the sights.
Contact: Tel 0310 52412

City, downtown area.
Tel: 0310 269421

Elektra, a higher class hotel in the city.
Tel: 0310 232221

Hyatt, a big hotel.
Website: www.thessaloniki.hyatt.com

See other hotels at: www.greecetravelonline.com/accommodation/hotelbyarea.asp?combArea=Thessaloniki

BEST EATS

Looking for fresh fish? Don’t miss the fish tavernas at Kalamaria, a popular suburb by the sea.

Down town there is a big number of restaurants offering all kinds of tasty dishes, from grilled meat to fish and sea food. Bakeries and pastry shops offer a wide range of traditional cakes that can be found only in Salonica, as well as homemade fruit jams.

Try To Horio (the village ) at tel: 0310 327080, and Ta kalivia, at Tel: 0310 845310, for a wide range of dishes, traditional and European ones.

So , what’s the best speciality to try?

A kind of pie called ‘trigona’ (triangles). It’s got a filo wrapping outside and rich creme inside. They are sweet and tasty and are kept in the fridge.

‘Touloumba’ is another sweet dessert . It’s a kind of pastry roll with no filling inside but dipped in heavy syrup. It’s like ‘Baklavas’ in taste, which is a typical Greek sweet in syrup.

Chocolate speaking the ‘anomala’ bits are delicious. They are small unshaped choco bites made of plain dark chocolate and have a filling of whole almonds.

The best meat dishes are Giros and Souvlaki pittas, and the appetizing Greek salad topped with feta cheese.

Take aways are very popular with the students and the locals. Freshly made dishes delivered to your place -hotels included!

You can call To Fournaki tis Giagias at tel: 0310 311 999 for grilled meat and traditional cuisine . Take away too.

Trocadero is a well known creperie. Tel: 0310 942001, and Pizza Hut is international at tel: 0310 049222.

BEST ENTERTAINMENT

The International Trade Exhibition is the most popular event in Thessaloniki. It attracts visitors from all over the world and has been running annually in September since 1926. Many art festivals take place at that time and it is difficult to find accommodation if you have not booked it a month or so in advance.
For more info visit website at: www.helexpo.gr

BEST SHOPPING

There is an extensive variety of shops downtown offering whatever one may think, from clothes and leather goods to trade products and machinery. See the link below for a guide to shopping in the city.: http://users.forthnet.gr/the/dsilvestriadis/thessaloniki

HEALTH AND SAFETY

There is no need to take any special precautions apart from the regular ones when you travel abroad. A Health Insurance will help if you need Private -Hospital medical care, but there are a lot of public hospitals that can help in emergencies.

During the summer months you should take care of the tap water. It is safer to buy bottled mineral water and avoid the sun at noon. A sun block cream and dark sunglasses is a must for everyboby staying in Greece.

MONEY AND COMMUNICATIONS

There is no problem with currency exchange as there are many banks around the city , at the airport and at the stations as well. Most shops accept credit cards and travelers’checks and most hotels change cash for you at low rates.

International phone calls are easy to make as there are phone booths in the streets and e-mails are easy to send as you can find Internet cafes all around the city. The post office service is reliable but there are many private couriers around the city that offer immediate delivery service locally or worldwide.

www.tnn.gr net news
www.wunderground.com/global/stations/16622.html
Weather report

BEST RESOURCES

WWW.THESSALONIKI.GR

History at http://philippos.mpa.gr/gr/recovered/thessaliniki/try(5)/eng
Hotels +apartments at www.greecead.com/gadhome/thessaloniki
American Consulate at http://virtuals.compulink.gr/us-consulate

Ends

About the Author

Liana Metal is a writer based in Europe. Visit her at http://lianametal.tripod.com or her ebook site at http://liamet.tripod.com

Choosing a college major is a challenge for many college students at one time or another. In fact, it’s not uncommon for college students to change their major after spending a year or two pursuing a college major that they are no longer interested in. And of course, it’s better to change your major than carry on in a career that you will not be satisfied with. But it does help if you can determine your college major as quickly as possible and here are five tips to help you do that.

1. First of all consider what natural talents or skills that you possess. Very often it’s a good idea to try to pursue a career in a field where you seem be naturally inclined or gifted. So consider your natural abilities and talents first, and see what careers are available where you could put them to best use. If there are no obvious talents or skills that you can identify, then think about the various career paths that are open to you and determine how much interest you have in each of them. Remember that you will most likely be successful in life if you are doing something that you really enjoy, not just doing it because you have to. So look for a career path that seems especially appealing to you, and then try to match the major to that career.

2. Before you choose your major, find out exactly what requirements you will need in order to attain your degree. Will you need to take supplementary courses? Will you need to complete an internship for your degree? Just make sure that you are prepared to complete whatever requirements there are for the major that you are considering before you begin.

3. You’ll also need to find out if there are prerequisites for the courses that you want to take. Very often, certain major courses require that you have completed other prerequisites in advance. So be sure that you have the credits that you need to be able to pursue a new major.

4. It cannot be overemphasized that you need to make sure that the course you will be taking, and the school that you will be attending for your major are fully accredited by a legitimate accreditation agency. There is a need to be wary of some colleges and online schools that offer exceptional educational bargains for your major. There is a very good chance that they could wind up being a diploma mill, meaning that the education you receive there cannot be accredited or verified by a recognized accreditation agency, and therefore is of very little value in the employment world. So check to make sure that the courses you are taking, and the school you will be attending, are fully accredited by a legitimate well-recognized accreditation agency.

5. Also considered the teachers or professors who you will be learning from. What kind of degrees do they hold and where did they go to school? What kind of reputation do they have as a teacher? You want to be sure that those that are teaching you are fully qualified to give you a solid education in the major that you will be pursuing.

There are other considerations as well when trying to determine what major to pursue in college, but hopefully the suggestions and tips given above will help you get started on the road toward making the right decision for you personally.

Steadman Issenburg writes on many consumer related topics including education. You can find college search engines and learn about a rn degree online and more by visiting our education website.

The outcome of Reason # 2 is that you become your own
worst enemy. That, in turn, leads on to Reason # 3 where

You place more value on doing than being

If you are at war with yourself, chances are you don’t
like yourself very much. How many other people who call
you to account, who expect more of you than what you
achieve are on your best friends list? That fact is as
true in your relationship with yourself as it is in your
relationships with other people.

The trouble is, you can distance yourself from others; you
have to live with yourself. So, one of the ways to come
to terms with that reality is to minimise the focus on who
you are (which we have determined you don’t really like)
and increase the focus on what you do.

After all, you can’t do much about who you are (or at
least so you think) but you can choose what it is you want
to do with your life.

There are lots of people who are playing the same game.
How often after being introduced to someone does the
conversation get around to what you do for a living.
In answer to that question, depending on the situation, I
often answer “breathe”.

I get some very strange looks at times! I might then
follow that up with a comment about who I am and how my
understanding of myself finds expression in the type of
work I do. If I meet with a glazed expression from the
other person, (which happens much of the time) invariably
the conversation moves back into ’safe’ territory until he
(it’s most often men who have that response) can find an
reason to excuse himself and move to someone less
challenging.

Ever so occasionally If find someone who responds
positively to my little joke and I have developed long and
respected friendships with many of those people.

What happens when someone asks you about your work
situation is they are looking for where to place you in
their hierarchical structure. And chances are, if you are
not where you would like to be in the world of “doing”
you will make your employment out to be more than it really
is.

For example you might say ” I work in the movie industry”
when you serve behind the counter at the local video hire
store.

On the other hand you’ll find people who will say ” I’m
just a …..” usually followed by ‘housewife’ or ‘mother’ or
some equally significant role that forms the very backbone
of our social fabric. Have you noticed though, that many
women are now ‘playing the game’ and rather than a
‘housewife and mother’ they have become the ‘manager of
domestic affairs for a small business’.

Then, if you are retired, chances, are you are not just
retired, but a “retired accountant” or “bank manager” or
whatever it was you did before you to the point where you
were told you were too old to work

And that, of course, is a large part of the problem. When
your worth is related to what you do, rather than who you
are, it follows that when you no longer do anything (at
least anything considered productive) it follows you are no
longer worth anything.

For someone who achieves their sense of self worth from
doing, retirement or retrenchment is a devastating blow.
Yet no one, at least to my knowledge, in the wisdom that
comes when dying has ever said “I wish I spent more time at
the office”.

Isn’t it interesting that those who are faced with a
shortening of life, function from a totally different
perspective from the rest of us. For those people, it is
in ‘being’ that they find the meaning to life. It is
relationships they treasure the most.

Perhaps the saddest thing of all is that it often takes
something life a life shortening illness for people to find
true perspective and genuine purpose in life.

Graham Hunt is the founder of Prentis Carpenter Center, an organisation established to resource an environment where those people who chose to do so could discover and work towards their potential. One way in which Graham is doing that is through his website http://www.higher-self-esteem-site.com/ Drop by anytime.

Millions of would-be entrepreneurs want to sell things on ebay. eBay is the #1 home-business opportunity in the world right now, so it’s natural that many are eager to find highly profitable items for re-sale on eBay. However, it’s important to know that there are certain items that can’t be sold. Here are a dozen of them …

Some items are copyright infringement and can actually land a seller in federal prison:

1. Knock offs of music, TV shows or movies. The “bootleg” movies, for example, are often made by guys who sneak a movie camera into a newly-released movie where presumably, they crouch behind a seat and make a crummy copy. There is a large production of these counterfeit items in Asia where US laws have no power.

2. Software and computer games can likewise be copied and their sale is illegal by all US laws.

Naturally, the items above may be sold if you have a copy that you purchased legitimately and no longer want.

3, The so-called “replica” market for handbags, designer sunglasses and clothing is definitely forbidden although these items are often sold in physical stores around the US. Ironically, when attending eBay Live In New Orleans in 2004, we found a store in one of their famous markets selling replica purses that were not allowed on eBay.

4. Lazy and less-than-honest sellers often steal copyrighted material from other sellers. This has happened to me many times and eBay has a program called VERO (Verified Rights Owner) that will remove offending auctions, although there seems to be no penalty attached to the seller, which is unfortunate.

5. Alcoholic beverage sales are not allowed although a beverage “container’, especially those of wine, may be sold for its value.

6. Cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco or coupons for such items are not permitted on eBay.com.

The Ebay rules for collectible tobacco and alcohol containers are the same:

* The value of the item is in the collectible packaging, not in the wine/tobacco itself.

* The listing description should state that the package has not been opened, but that the twine/tobacco within is not for consumption.

* The collectible tobacco packaging must not be available at any retail outlet, and packaging must have a value that substantially exceeds the current retail price of that wine/tobacco product in the package.

* Sellers must take steps to ensure that the buyer of these collectibles is at least 18 years of age

7. Firearms are strictly regulated by US law and may not be sold on eBay.

8. Satellite and cable TV descramblers are forbidden by the Federal Trade Commission.

9. Animals and wildlife products may not be sold, which includes stuffed birds and pelts from endangered species. There are limited sales of ivory, tortoise shell, marine products and other items relating to animals. This area is quite complex and any would-be seller needs to thoroughly understand the various laws before getting involved in these sales.

10. Event tickets have state-by-state laws that make their sale complex. Some states, for instance, forbid anyone to make more than a few dollars in profit (or no profit at all) on the resale of tickets. For instance, Florida law states that tickets can be resold at no more than face value plus $1. In such states, these regulations apply only to buyers and sellers located in the same state as the actual event, meaning if a seller lives in Florida, he can’t profit from ticket sales to Florida events. However, if he lives in any of the other 39 states, this restriction doesn’t apply.

11. Listing a catalog of items that a seller offers for sale is forbidden. The only catalogs legally sold on eBay are collectible kinds, such as an old Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Wards catalog that is memorabilia and doesn’t offer current merchandise for sale.

12. Raffles and prizes are 100% prohibited. According to eBay, such promotions are highly regulated and may be unlawful in many states.

There are other kinds of merchandise that a seller may not sell on eBay, so carefully check eBay rules before listing anything. It’s much better to know the rules in advance of spending money that can’t be recouped.

About the Author

Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby.
http://www.auction-genius-course.com

In this article, the author ventures out to communicate to the readers the major five problems of physics, the solution of any one of which shall largely, to a great extent affect the lives of one and all. Also, the author’s own viewpoint on them is provided. In this article the first three shall be discussed, and the last two shall be dealt with separately as they require a higher degree of knowledge of Physics.
The five major controversies in the field of physics, as the author sees them, are:

Validity of Theory of Relativity

Formation and Evolution of Galaxies

Existence of Life elsewhere

Presence of higher dimensions, which leads to
The Holy Grail of Physics, the Grand Unification of All Forces

Validity of the Theory of Relativity:

The General Theory of Relativity has withstood all the experiments and tests meted out to it so far. However, still, the possibility of it failing at some level, is not out. The General Theory of Relativity yields accurate results even at the galactic level, however, it is to be seen whether it holds true at the threshold of time itself, a black hole. Moreover, there is a hypothesis known as the Dirac’s Large Number Hypothesis that states that the Gravitational Constant may itself vary with time. If that is true, then The Theory of General Relativity can be proved wrong. Though this hypothesis has not been proved as yet, it may be proved some day in the future.
Though general relativity has withstood the tests of time so far and is unrivalled, it is to be remembered that it is the theories without effective rivals that need the most vigilant testing.

Formation of Galaxies:

The exact model of the formation of galaxies has not yet been completely understood, it is still under much speculation. With recent evidence of the presence of supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies, a very likely model is that the formation of galaxies is related to the formation of the black hole at the galactic centre.
A few scientists believe that the formation of a black hole might have triggered the formation of a galaxy.

Existence of life elsewhere:

This question, whether life exists elsewhere or not, is gaining popularity. There are many who are quite optimistic of the idea whereas a few others don’t quite encourage this thought. The author falls into the former category. It shall be too egoistic to imagine we are the sole life-form in this vast universe. However, only time will tell.

The author has an inclination towards Physics,mathematics, game theory and psychology.