Last updated: 01/03/2016
What’s your name? Alexandra Fefopoulou
Age? I was born in 1982
Where are you from? I was born and raised in Athens but I have spent all the summers of my childhood at my mother’s hometown in Peloponnese, Vitina.
Occupation? I write, I do translations, I teach Spanish, I teach English…
Any studies? I have a degree from the department of Philosophy and Social Studies of the University of Crete, I have an M.A. in Social and Historical Anthropology from the University of the Aegean, and I recently abandoned the plan of completing a PhD in Modern Greek History and Anthropology at the University of Johannesburg.
What’s your vehicle? I recently fell in love with the classic Vespas and now I have a PK125 (year 1988)
What are the things you like? I find it extremely interesting to meet different people (no matter if I like them or not), new places and take thousands of pictures. I also like spending time with the people I love and spoiling my dog while being the silliest dog-parent of all times! And guess what else: I love to travel and write…
And what makes you feel sad? The fact that we, people find it difficult to accept others the way they are and that we have lost the meaning of what really matters. I don’t want to sound like an old-school hippie, but think about it a bit. There is no actual need in storing endless amounts of money/stuff, interfering with the lives of others and not giving a f*ck about the society/environment you live in. We can’t live as if we were eternal…
Tell us a bit more about you… I don’t know what would be interesting for you to know about me. I can tell you the short version of the story of how I started traveling with Stergios. The last few years of my life were a bit disappointing. I can’t say that my life wasn’t good. I had my family and friends, and the best dog in the world, Marcos. However, I had started feeling like a prisoner in the socio-economic situation in Greece. There was no hope for a decently paid job, or to be more accurate: there was no hope at all for a job in my field. That’s a main reason why I chose to do the PhD at the University of Johannesburg. My subject was the Greek diaspora in the D.R. of Congo and I started working on this for 2 main reasons: 1) my childhood dream of traveling to Africa and 2) the fact that I had started to identify myself with the Greeks who felt trapped in their country and left in search of something different. The moment I finally left Greece to go to Africa, I knew that I couldn’t be the same person anymore. I adjusted to the huge differences between the world I used to live in and the new reality and I was happy to see and learn more and more. By pure coincidence, I met Stergios while we were both in the D.R.C. and we met again after 3 months in Johannesburg – always by coincidence. I wouldn’t miss the opportunity again. I jumped on the his Vespa and here I am, part of the team!
And…are you planning to go back to Greece sometime? Greece is part of who I am and the place where my family (human and non-human) and many of my friends live. But I don’t think I can make plans of permanently settle in one place. I love spending time with everyone I love but it’s not enough to make me stay still in one place – at least for as long as traveling is the best choice I’ve ever made!
