Home is where the cats are

I was tagged by my blogfriend Sal of Already Pretty to write "Five Reasons I Love My State". Well, that probably meant State as in United of America, but a little customization never hurt anyone. I was quite torn about if I should write about Volos, the town where I've been living and studying those past 7 (ouch, that hurts even in writing) years, or my actual hometown Samos, the town where I grew up in, but don't actually live in at the moment, although I intend to after a few years. Samos island won, so here's my version:

Five Reasons I Love My Island

• It's a greek island. That includes lots of cliché things you may imagine. But most importantly it means I can visit my family and catch up with old friends, while having holidays. And all this usually by the sea.
• The way people talk. Samos people have a very distinct way of pronouncing words. It may sound a bit redneck to big-town people, but it makes me feel home. Even I start talking like this on the second or third day there, even if in real life I sound like an news anchorwoman. And I love it!
  
• Small distances. It's a bliss to know that everything is a 10-15 min. walk away. You even get a tan on the way, and it gets even better at night. Painful high heels, breathalyzer tests and weird cab drivers are not an issue here. The worst thing I ever had to do was walk the 5 minutes from the bar back home barefoot.
  
• Home. More specifically the garden, my cats and the fact that I can hear the waves breaking on the beach when I go to bed at night.
• Saying "good morning". Many people hate small towns because everyone knows everybody else and argue that gossip is inevitable. Well, I never had such a problem. I love knowing everyone and the walk from my house to my mum's work in the morning is filled with familiar smiles and heartfelt good mornings. Makes my day!
  

More about Samos island here.