My last-minute idea to work in Greece for the summer—

By Katie Nissenfeld

Did I take some sort of crazy pills and not know it?? I found myself working in a kitchen on the Greek island of Corfu. As Thanasis, a 250-pound, chain-smoking cook, was showing me the proper way to put together a Greek salad I was thinking, “How did I get here?” Well, I knew the answer to that question….

To get over a relationship, I decided to travel. I don’t think that there could have been a better cure. But, I had no money saved and knew I would have to work along the way!! My summer job on Corfu was quite an experience. At night, I would go out with the locals, drink ouzo and tequila, dance on tables, and laugh when they would call me Florida (where I am from). When I was working, I enjoyed listening to the 4’11’’ dishwasher, who was lacking many teeth, talk to me in Greek, even though I had no idea what he was saying. I would give him ‘thumbs up’ and we would both laugh. During my off time, I would lay on the beach at the famous Canal d' amour, an area of eroding sandstone cliffs that have formed several tiny sand and shingle coves reached by paths and ladders. It was beautiful, but what I really wanted was hot weather and blue and white houses.

I found a job on Mykonos and made my way there and planned to remain there the rest of the summer. Mykonos was the epitome of Greece: character-filled and blue and white windy roads, which I knew would take time to learn how to navigate. My job as a hotel receptionist was easy, but the hard part was dealing with the boss; He was unorganized, messy, forgetful, and chain-smoked cigarettes to the point that he could not keep the ashes off himself in between coughing.

Over then next few weeks, I did what I had to do at work and at night I went out to all the clubs that truly live up to their expectations of the Mykonos nightlife.  Before work I would check out beaches all over the island, including Paradise beach. I loved buying my bus ticket, “I would like a one way ticket to Paradise, please.” 

Talking to all of the guests about the places they were coming from or going to just made me want to go there too. I stayed at this job for a couple of weeks and then left to go travel for the rest of my trip. I left with a killer tan, lots of new friends, and a great understanding of what it is like to work in Greece for summer. Five months, three jobs (I also worked on Santorini when I passed through), and 12 countries later….I headed back to the states in debt, fulfilled, and ready to move forward with my life.

About this traveler:

Katie Nissenfeld is a graduate of Florida State University and has traveled to Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize, Israel, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, Albania, Greece, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Holland, Czech Republic, Austria, Swiss, Ireland, and Mexico. She’s taken 8 big trips (3+ weeks) in the past 9 years. "My most memorable experience was flying into Costa Rica (my first trip outside the country -1999) and not being able to take my eyes off the lush green mountains, with the feeling that this was going to be the beginning of many trips to come....” Katie doesn’t have ONE ultimate backpacking trip, she has several: fly into Ecuador—making a HUGE loop through South America back up to Ecuador. Also, a New Zealand-Japan-India combo.