Back in 2012 I read and loved Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters. I was so excited to see that Meredith Zeitlin wrote a companion novel! Sophomore Year is Greek to Me focuses on a new character but it was just as fun as the first book! You can check out my review tomorrow. Today I have a guest post from Meredith Zeitlin! Much of Sophomore Year is Greek to Me takes place in Greece. This is a country I would love to visit so I wanted to hear all about Meredith’s trip there! Check out what she had to say…
Guest Post:
“Three weeks traveling in a country clear across the world that I’ve never been to, don’t speak a word of
the language, or know a single person? Where do I sign up!?”
…that’s pretty much exactly how I decided to do the research for Sophomore Year is Greek to Me.
I was originally supposed to go with a friend who actually is Greek, and speaks Greek, and has family
there that I was going to meet and interview and stay with. But she bailed when it came time to make concrete plans, leaving me with two choices: don’t go, and think of something else to write about… or follow in the footsteps of my main character Zona and just jump in feet-first. See what happens. Improvise.
Which would you choose?
I’d traveled by myself before, which I actually think is a really exciting and important thing to do, but never to a place where English isn’t the main language and I didn’t know a single person. And yet, I found myself boarding a plane with one small suitcase crammed full of the essentials (platform sandals, built-in-bra tank tops, sunglasses, Nutra Grain Bars, laptop) and flying off to the unknown. It was scary and thrilling. My friends thought I was nuts. I was pretty sure they were right.
View from my balcony in Heraklion.
The heart of the book takes place in Crete, where Zona’s long-lost family lives, so I started the trip there. Why Crete? I felt like most of the well-known destinations that I’d heard about (Santorini, Mykonos) were beachy vacation spots for tourists. I wanted something different. I picked the town of Heraklion at random – it sounded nice and was easy to get to, and I found a lovely English-speaking couple who had a guest house on their property that seemed just perfect for me. I hoped the owners would be willing to tell me about their daily life and give me some suggestions for places to check out. Little did I know that the Pascals would basically adopt me for an entire week. On top of that, the husband would turn out to be Thio Theseus. (And I don’t mean he inspired the character; he IS the character. I literally wrote down everything he said and did and put it in the book. He was amazing and hilarious – it’s like the hand of fate knew I needed an incredibly funny character to break the tension when Zona visits, and helped me choose that exact place to stay.)
Heraklion was terrific because it was so different from NYC, where I live. Suddenly I was surrounded by
Heraklion cemetery.
lush, beautiful fields and rows of olive trees and ancient cottages and hills and gardens with fruits I’d only ever seen in the supermarket growing right there next to the front door! It was so… GREEK. My hosts took me everywhere – to see the crumbling, mostly empty village where their ancestors had lived and where they kept the family cottage exactly as it had been a century ago. They even had a massive grape arbor on the roof! We went to the family cemetery, where I discovered that in Greece the graves often have color pictures of the dead right there on the headstones! Sometimes there are actually mini- mausoleums that you can walk into; it’s a child’s duty to bring olive oil and other gifts to the dead, and sweep and keep the place tidy. I ate the freshest food at tiny restaurants with only two tables, or straight from the massive outdoor produce market. We went to a Happening in the square (where my host really did call the mayor in a fury), and I rode an ancient, brakeless bike to the beach and almost didn’t make it back alive. I cooked a fish almost all by myself. I took a day trip alone to a former leper colony called Spinalonga, which was absolutely fascinating and had a hidden art exhibit inside some of the old homes which I stumbled upon totally by accident. I didn’t even get leprosy!
My research was going so perfectly and I was having such a wonderful time emailing pictures home to NYC and sharing tidbits about my glorious adventure. It was obvious I had made the right choice to go forward with the trip.
Mixourma
And then… I spent half a day riding four totally unreliable buses and forfeiting most of my sanity to travel to the tiny town of Mixourma. This is in the book, too – it’s where Zona’s great-grandmother lives. It’s a real place, and about ten people live there, and it was GREAT for researching the book… but it was a nightmare to actually stay in. I know – no one made me rent a one-room hut with no windows and an outdoor bathroom, surrounded by killer geese, a pack of vindictive roosters, and crumbling empty buildings. And in my defense, I had no idea the town would be essentially deserted. I thought it would be rustic, but filled with charming local people who would invite me over for wine and baklava in the evenings. I’m a pretty social person, and not having a single soul to talk to for five whole days was HARD. I also had lavender hair at the time, which did not help me fit in with the two people I met in the single store there. I think they were scared of me, actually.
There was exactly one spot where I could get wi-fi sporadically, and I’d huddle there next to a broken truck
My only friend.
posting to Facebook about how lonely I was and praying that someone was awake and would respond (time difference, don’t forget). There were no street lights, and nowhere to go anyway, so I’d end up in bed at 8 pm reading. I read two 500 page books in five days by the light of an emergency lantern. I hitchhiked to a neighboring town and discovered it was equally empty. I talked to myself. I talked to a goat that lived outside the hut down the road. He was pretty nice, but his English wasn’t great. I took a picture of a terrifying bug (which I normally would have squashed immediately, while screaming) and labeled it “my only friend” in an Instagram post. I realized I would never make it on a deserted island.
HORRIBLE GEESE!!
I also, in real life, was chased by the horrible, tooth-having, hissing geese. Unfortunately, I had no Yia- Yia to rescue me. The geese are still in possession of my shower supplies, by the way – those jerks formed ranks in front of the outdoor shower when I was packing to go back to Heraklion and I ran out of time before my bus came. I hope they’ve made good use of them.
With the third leg of my trip ahead of me, my enthusiasm for travel had waned a bit. On the bright side, I would be back around people. On the other hand, what if the Heraklion week was a fluke and I floundered completely in Athens???
I knew I wanted Zona to go to school in Athens, and I’d connected over email with the principal of
Entrance to the flea market…
an American-style school there who was incredibly helpful. I found the fabulous Christiana, who ended up being the basis for the character of Zona’s cool older cousin, Yiota. She had originally offered to rent me her apartment and stay elsewhere, but we hit it off so well that she ended up just staying and being my BFF for the week. I also met up with an adorable Greek YA blogger – named Yiota, of course! – who I’d chatted with after the publication of my first book. Who could ask for better guides to the city?? We had a blast. I was in the land of the living again! Christiana and I went clubbing (I taught her a thing or two about skipping the line and getting free drinks, NYC style) and ate gelato on the marina and cooked in her tiny kitchen. And of course, I forced myself to go out and explore on my own, just like Zona would have to. All the things Zona explores when she arrives in Athens were things I did, too – learning the subway, going to the flea market at Monastiraki, being totally overwhelmed in the grocery store, and of course checking out the school and seeing how students from all different countries interacted with each other.
Ultimately, the trip was a success, and when I got home and started writing, I had so many experiences to draw from that I couldn’t even use it all! Plus I’ve stayed in touch with almost everyone I met on my journey, including some of the students. I think the most valuable takeaway is that it’s always best to push yourself. Get out of your comfort zone. Being uncomfortable isn’t the end of the world – missing out is a lot worse. These are the lessons I wanted Zona to learn: sometimes an experience can be frustrating or scary, but in the end you’ll have conquered the hard parts and gotten so many rewards.
And… you may even get a book out of it.
About the Book:
A laugh-out-loud high school adventure set in Greece, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot
High school sophomore Zona Lowell has lived in New York City her whole life, and plans to follow in the footsteps of her renowned-journalist father. But when he announces they’re moving to Athens for six months so he can work on an important new story, she’s devastated— he must have an ulterior motive. See, when Zona’s mother married an American, her huge Greek family cut off contact. But Zona never knew her mom, and now she’s supposed to uproot her entire life and meet possibly hostile relatives on their turf? Thanks… but no thanks.
In the vein of Anna and the French Kiss, Zona navigates a series of hilarious escapades, eye-opening revelations, and unexpected reunions in a foreign country—all while documenting the trip through one-of-a-kind commentary.
About the Author:
Photo by Bjorn Bolinder
Meredith Zeitlin has written two books for young people (so far) and lots of articles for Ladygunn Magazine. She is also a voiceover artist who can be heard on commercials, cartoons, and TV shows (if you want to know more about that, go here: www.mzspeaks.com).
She lives with two adorable feline roommates in Brooklyn, NY, and loves talking about herself in the third person. All of which, you have to admit, is pretty rad.
Thanks so much to Meredith for sharing about her experiences in Greece! Check out Sophomore Year is Greek to Me to learn more!!
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