Balancing Progress and Tradition
The third week of my internship on Crete has been shaped by a mix of focused work and the festive atmosphere of the Greek Easter season. Living in a house with seven other apprentices is still going great, and we have really found our rhythm when it comes to managing our shared space.
The weather was actually pretty bad for most of the week, which meant we spent more time indoors than we expected. However, we made the best of the long holiday weekend and the rainy evenings by hanging out, watching sports, and cooking together.
We started the week by celebrating the end of the Greek Easter festivities. On Monday, we took advantage of the public holiday to go out for a dinner and followed it up with a long beach walk. It was the perfect way to clear our heads before getting back to our project at MD Hellas. Even with the gray skies, the vibe in Heraklion was still very lively and welcoming.
When it comes to my work, my focus on the Edureg project is definitely paying off. I spent most of my time working on the database structure of the management system. On Tuesday, I made some solid progress with SQLite, making sure the backend can handle all the data for teachers and students properly. My understanding of the Django framework is getting deeper every day.
Since the weather was bad, our evenings were mostly about the TV. We caught the Champions League action on Tuesday night and followed the NBA playoffs over the weekend. On Wednesday, we finally got the only sunny day of the week. We immediately headed out to the garden to play football. I also spent some time just watching the local birds, which was a nice, quiet break from staring at my code all day.
Friday evening was a huge highlight because we finally got to have a barbecue in our garden. After enjoying some burgers together, we visited a local Irish Pub to experience a bit of the nightlife here. These moments are becoming a really important part of our community life. It is the best way to relax and exchange stories about our different internship placements and daily work life.
On Saturday and Sunday, we kept the relaxed vibe going with more grilling in the garden and keeping up with the NBA playoffs.
We ended the week on Sunday with a highly anticipated trip to the Palace of Knossos. Exploring this archaeological site was a massive highlight. Seeing the Minoan architecture and the famous frescoes in person was incredible. It gives you a whole different perspective on the history of this island. We even saw a peacock wandering around the ruins, which was a pretty cool sight to end the day.
Looking back, this week was all about finding a balance between coding and exploring. Even with the bad weather, the combination of learning new things at MD Hellas and hanging out with the group made for a really successful third week on the island.
