It’s been 30 years now, but Eleni Theodorou, 65-years-old, can still hear the war siren which woke her up on July 20, 1974. At first she thought she was having a bad dream, but a few seconds later she felt her husband jumping out of bed and turning the radio on. She screamed as she listened to the news and ran to wake her kids up. An hour later, the Theodorou family got in the car and drove away from their house.

“I was looking back at my neighborhood, my well-locked house, which seemed mad at me for leaving it behind,” said Theodorou. “A scream inside kept saying ‘I’ll be back.’”

It was Easter of 2003 when Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots… Continue reading →

A dead whale was found Friday afternoon floating in Sami Bay of the island of Cephalonia Friday afternoon. The mammal was spotted by a fisherman and scientists and the port authorities of the island were alerted. During a nocturnal operation, the dead whale was carried to the port, where it remains.

The specially trained and equipped team of Archipelago Institute experts, on the island to examine the carcass, took biopsies and collected other evidence that may reveal what killed the whale. But there are no signs of injury on the body of the cetacean, which measures 15.5 meters, so it will be difficult to determine the cause of death.

“It would seem to be a young whale,” said Theodoris… Continue reading →

Women have a new ally in the struggle for beauty. Dectro International has launched a new device that promises to battle the problems of body hair, aging and grog-blossoms.

The machine uses advanced pulsed light technology. Its 1200nm wavelength reaches deeper roots of hair than other machines that have a 900nm capacity. Advanced pulsed light technology is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and used by cosmetic dermatologists in Boston to treat skin imperfections. “Permanent hair reduction, photo-facials for vascular and pigmented lesions, acne and leg veins are available with FDA clearance,” said Dr. Dwight Scarborough, a cosmetic dermatologist in Ohio.

According to the manufacturer of the device, the powerful light permanently reduces body hair, wrinkles, fine lines,… Continue reading →

Seven years ago the Ellinas family learned that their two-year-old dog, Ada, had contracted Kalazar, a parasite carried by a type of sand fly. It commonly affects dogs in the Mediterranean and Greece, where about 500,000 housedogs have been diagnosed with the disease. It is unknown how many stray dogs have it.

The only way a dog can contract the disease is if it is bitten by the sand fly. Kalazar can be fatal, but with proper and immediate treatment a dog can live a long, healthy life.

Veterinarian Andria Stoitsui has had several patients with Kalazar in her 17 years of practice. “The thing with Kalazar is that you could decide to take your dog to the beach or… Continue reading →

Small stores and boutiques fill the streets of Athens from one side of the block to the other. Door-to-door shopping, each store adjacent to the next, creates an old-fashioned shopping experience. Is all that about to change? November 25 marked the grand opening of Athens’ first indoor shopping center, The Mall.

Located on Andrea Papandreou Street in Maroussi, The Mall is one of the biggest shopping centers in southeastern Europe..

“I’ve never seen anything like it. So many stores, I don’t know where to go first,” said George Nicolakis, a Deree student.

The Mall consists of 200 retail stores and entertainment choices for all ages, covering wide areas of interest. Stores such as Sephora, Marks&Spencer, Nautica, Claire’s, Bed&Bath, among others… Continue reading →

Students interested in applying to graduate schools abroad learned what to expect at the annual “Overview of American, British, and Canadian Universities” event hosted by the Deree College Office of Career Services.

Nicholas Tourides of the Fulbright Foundation, Kathy Angelopoulou of the Canadian Embassy and Katerina Fegarou from the British Council provided information and advice. They discussed everything from academics to living expenses while studying abroad.

“Canadian universities have the lowest tuition fees in the English speaking world,” said Angelopoulou. She continued, one of the best things about going to Canada to study is that “you see people literally from all over the world, on campus, in students, and in faculty.”

The Canadian Embassy’s education adviser, Angelopoulou, added that there… Continue reading →

It’s an odd thing, this obsession with eating home-cooked meals once you are away from home. For many students and businessmen, taverna Papayiannis is the best substitute for those days when mom’s cooking is sorely missed.

Papayiannis is not an ordinary taverna. After just your first visit you feel right at home. They’ll call you by your first name, greet you with a smile and nod every time you enter. This is, after all, a family business.

Papayiannis, located in llisia, has been around since 1974. Owner Vassilios Papayiannis left his village in Nafpakto to find a job in Athens. He soon discovered that he could offer a great deal to Athenians who missed food from the village.

“When I… Continue reading →

He sits back and adjusts himself on the bench. Colonel Nick G. Pappas, wearing his Special Forces cap, appears eager to begin. Two hours into the interview with Deree students, Pappas is teary-eyed. “I can’t believe I can remember all of it,” he said.

He came to Deree College to share his World War II stories with student volunteers of the Veterans History Project. These students, in turn, do their part to ensure Pappas’ stories, and those of other veterans, will not be forgotten.

The Veterans History Project is supervised by Ron Curry, a 63-year-old retired lieutenant who lives with his wife in Athens. Curry is president of the U.S. Retiree Association in Greece. Also a World War II veteran,… Continue reading →

Anyone can make them. “You just need flour, salt, sugar, sesame and water,” said Manolis Kolovos, owner of the Ionia bakery. Koulouria, or bread rings, originated with the Greeks of Smyrni, on the coast of what is today modern Turkey.

“When Greeks were deported from Asia Minor they brought the recipe for the koulouri with them to Greece,” said Kolovos, “First to Thessaloniki, and then to Athens.”

The family-run Ionia, located in the Athens suburb of Nea Ionia, has been turning out koulouria since 1942. “We used to open at 3 a.m.,” said Kolovos. “Our first customers would come before 5 a.m., and no one would leave without at least one koulouri.”

The koulouri is the breakfast… Continue reading →

“It’s not like it used to be,” said Panayiotis Koutakos, owner of the Koutakos Brothers Butcher shop. His sales have plummeted as fewer and fewer customers order chicken and other poultry products from his small business in central Athens. “In just a few months our sales have dropped 70 percent,” he said.

In October, authorities in Greece mistakenly confirmed the country’s first case of bird flu on a turkey farm on the Aegean island of Oinouses. In Romania and Turkey, however, cases of bird flu were confirmed by the European Union.

European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said in an interview with CNN, “The presence of bird flu in southeastern Europe does not increase the risk of a pandemic.” Nevertheless, the… Continue reading →