March 28th - Wednesday
Today we had the morning free so Lydia, Stavros and I went shopping! First we went and had lunch at a small taverna off of Odos Imitou that was run by a man from Chicago who is now a Greek citizen. He asked us about the Super Bowl and the World Series and told us stories. It was really entertaining! After that we strolled along the block the taverna was on and I bought a bunch of great stuff! I got a cool blue velvet blazer, a few shirts and really nice sweatshirt. It is still cold here, and I didn't really pack well for the weather, so I had to buy some warmer stuff! After shopping we came home to read and nap before class.
Class today lasted until 6pm. We discussed Athens and Sparta, in relation to one another. Specifically there similarities and differences with regards to Individualism, Wealth, Women & Family, Ethos... Overall it was really interesting. After class I went to the grocery store to buy snacks and lunch for our trip to Marathon tomorrow. Then Lydia, Stavros and I cooked dinner in our apartment and hung out until now. Now, I am going to go to bed, because I have to get up so damn early tomorrow.
But first, here is our schedule for tomorrow:
Day Trip to Ramnous and Marathon
8am: Buses Leave
9:30am: Ramnous Archaeological Site
11:30am: Lecture at the Tomb of the Athenians
Noon: Lecture at the Marathon Museum
12:30pm: Lecture behind the Museum
1:30pm: Head to Schoinia for Picnic Lunch, free time and sun-bathing (although it is susposed to be overcast and gloomy so we'll see how that works out!)
4:30pm: Departure for Athens
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
And to continue...
Sunday March 25th
March 25th is Greek Independence Day! (From what, you ask? From the Ottoman Turks in 1821! Which, in case you are wondering, is why the Greeks hate the Turks. They are the "asshole frat boys") So today Lydia and I went to the military parade downtown in Syntagma Square. All of the elite military units were there as well as the tanks, the surface to air missiles and tons of other cool stuff. Basically, the whole Greek Army, Navy and Airforce turned out for this parade. Out side of the Parliament building the Prime Minister and the rest of the important officials sat and watched the parade as well.
After the parade Lydia and I went and explored Athens. We went up to Omonia Square and over to a very untouristy area called Psiri. We explored, but since everything was closed for the holiday we could only look. After that, siesta, as always, and then on to dinner at the Program Director of the Athens Center's house. It was a beautiful traditional Greek house with an amazing central courtyard. She cooked us lots of little finger foods, but afterwards we were still very hungry, so we set out in search of more food. Lydia, Stavros and I ended up finding a great Souvlaki place that is open until 1am on yet another random street a little ways away from our apartments.
Monday March 26th
Our first day of class. We started out the day at 10am for a walk to the highest point in Athens - Mount Linkavantos. Not exactly a difficult climb, but my lazy ass was hurting after all of the walking up and down around Athens for the last three days, so this climb just about killed me. By the time I leave Athens, I will be in the best shape of my life! But the climb was worth every difficult step, because the view was amazing. We could see all of Attica, down to the sea, and up to the mountains. We could even see some of the closer islands off of Athens. If it had been a clear day we could have seen all the way to the Pyrannes (sp?).
After that Lydia, Stavros and I walked to Omonia Square to find lunch. We ended up at this amazing restaurant with great Moussaka and gyros. While we were there it started POURING and so we stayed a while longer to wait out the rain. Then we took the subway back to the Athens center for our afternoon classes. After our afternoon classes we went to the grocery store, then went home and read, and then bed time.
Tuesday March 27th
Our second day of classes began with a walking tour of Ancient Athens, where we saw the Temple of Zeus - the largest of its kind in existence, the Theatre of Dionysis, the Sanctuary of Pan, the road to Pynx (where orators would address the Athenian Senate) with an amazing view of the Acropolis, and finally the Athenian Agora. It was a pretty amazing walk, with some of the most amazing things I have seen in my entire life.
After that I split off from the group, tried (unsuccessfully) to find a hotel for my parents, and then went to the market after my own little tour of the city. I bought some food, came home and ate it, then went off to class again.
After class Lydia and I came home to take a short nap, which then turned into us passing out for around 5 hours. We woke up at 12:30am and decided to go to find food. We were unsuccessful, so we came home and made lots of pasta with Stavros and just hung out until around 4am.
Wednesday March 28th
This morning is free and I am planning on going out shopping for some cute Athenian clothes and probably another gyro before class at 4:30. I'll let you know what happens!
March 25th is Greek Independence Day! (From what, you ask? From the Ottoman Turks in 1821! Which, in case you are wondering, is why the Greeks hate the Turks. They are the "asshole frat boys") So today Lydia and I went to the military parade downtown in Syntagma Square. All of the elite military units were there as well as the tanks, the surface to air missiles and tons of other cool stuff. Basically, the whole Greek Army, Navy and Airforce turned out for this parade. Out side of the Parliament building the Prime Minister and the rest of the important officials sat and watched the parade as well.
After the parade Lydia and I went and explored Athens. We went up to Omonia Square and over to a very untouristy area called Psiri. We explored, but since everything was closed for the holiday we could only look. After that, siesta, as always, and then on to dinner at the Program Director of the Athens Center's house. It was a beautiful traditional Greek house with an amazing central courtyard. She cooked us lots of little finger foods, but afterwards we were still very hungry, so we set out in search of more food. Lydia, Stavros and I ended up finding a great Souvlaki place that is open until 1am on yet another random street a little ways away from our apartments.
Monday March 26th
Our first day of class. We started out the day at 10am for a walk to the highest point in Athens - Mount Linkavantos. Not exactly a difficult climb, but my lazy ass was hurting after all of the walking up and down around Athens for the last three days, so this climb just about killed me. By the time I leave Athens, I will be in the best shape of my life! But the climb was worth every difficult step, because the view was amazing. We could see all of Attica, down to the sea, and up to the mountains. We could even see some of the closer islands off of Athens. If it had been a clear day we could have seen all the way to the Pyrannes (sp?).
After that Lydia, Stavros and I walked to Omonia Square to find lunch. We ended up at this amazing restaurant with great Moussaka and gyros. While we were there it started POURING and so we stayed a while longer to wait out the rain. Then we took the subway back to the Athens center for our afternoon classes. After our afternoon classes we went to the grocery store, then went home and read, and then bed time.
Tuesday March 27th
Our second day of classes began with a walking tour of Ancient Athens, where we saw the Temple of Zeus - the largest of its kind in existence, the Theatre of Dionysis, the Sanctuary of Pan, the road to Pynx (where orators would address the Athenian Senate) with an amazing view of the Acropolis, and finally the Athenian Agora. It was a pretty amazing walk, with some of the most amazing things I have seen in my entire life.
After that I split off from the group, tried (unsuccessfully) to find a hotel for my parents, and then went to the market after my own little tour of the city. I bought some food, came home and ate it, then went off to class again.
After class Lydia and I came home to take a short nap, which then turned into us passing out for around 5 hours. We woke up at 12:30am and decided to go to find food. We were unsuccessful, so we came home and made lots of pasta with Stavros and just hung out until around 4am.
Wednesday March 28th
This morning is free and I am planning on going out shopping for some cute Athenian clothes and probably another gyro before class at 4:30. I'll let you know what happens!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
To begin...
Well, I am here in Greece and it is lovely. We are living in studio-like apartments in a middle-class neighborhood only 15 minutes from Syntagma Square, which is the heart of Athens. Despite being slightly thrown off by a few odd things in the first few days, I have settled in completely and now no longer want to come home. haha. Greece is beautiful and the people are wonderful, but the food is even better, so basically, everything is wonderful.
As to what I have actually been doing...here is a play by play:
Thursday March 22nd
Arrived at the airport an hour late after a direct flight from JFK to Athens. I had a car waiting so I hopped in and sped off to my new home at 33 Stilponous in Pangrati, Athens (a neighborhood like Lincoln Park or Hyde Park). Spent the whole day sleeping -- really bad idea -- and then we went out to dinner as a group at a nearby Taverna. I waited for my roommate Lydia to arrive from Zurich, her flight was delayed and then we stayed up late hanging out Unpacked and started figuring out how to operate the things in my room... An uneventful, but still stressful day.
Friday March 23rd
Started the day with a walking tour of our neighborhood, Pangrati. It is a beautiful place with tons of cute shops and GREAT food. We live off of an awesome square with great Souvlaki and an awesome bar. We also live behind the stadium that was built for the precursor of the Olympic Games, the Panathenic Games. It is known as Kalimaro Stadium and it is made entirely of marble. It was used for the archery portions of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
After that I went to the Agora, which is basically a farmer's market, that happens every Friday here in Pangrati. All of the farmers from surrounding Attica come in to sell amazing fruits, vegetables, fresh honey, olives and home made wine. I bought an obscene amount of AMAZING fruit for less than 15 euros. Then we went and had Souvlaki for lunch. I got my vodafone turned on after that and found the Greek version of Costco. Finally, I went home and took a siesta until it was time for our program dinner at another taverna. Dinner was ok, not great, but it was really interesting to talk to our Greek program staff in Greek!
After dinner we went out to a restaurant/bar with a belly dancer. We weren't sitting at our table for 5 minutes before she came over and pulled me out of my chair and made me dance with her. I was totally sober and therefore completely embarrassed but still enjoyed myself quite a bit.
Saturday March 24th
On Saturday we had our tour of Athens. We walked through the National Gardens, then on to Sytangma Square (Constitution Square), which is where the Parliament building is, and on to Monasteraki, the Athenian flea market. The city is an incredible mix of new and old, east and west and really doesn't decide to be any of the above.
We then went to get more food...gyros...mmmm in Monasteraki and I bought a skirt and shirt. We then went home for a siesta (gotta love these Mediterranean cultures) . After that Stavros, Lydia and I went out to dinner at a small taverna on an out of the way street that was quite good.
I'll finish up on Sunday, Monday and Today after class!
As to what I have actually been doing...here is a play by play:
Thursday March 22nd
Arrived at the airport an hour late after a direct flight from JFK to Athens. I had a car waiting so I hopped in and sped off to my new home at 33 Stilponous in Pangrati, Athens (a neighborhood like Lincoln Park or Hyde Park). Spent the whole day sleeping -- really bad idea -- and then we went out to dinner as a group at a nearby Taverna. I waited for my roommate Lydia to arrive from Zurich, her flight was delayed and then we stayed up late hanging out Unpacked and started figuring out how to operate the things in my room... An uneventful, but still stressful day.
Friday March 23rd
Started the day with a walking tour of our neighborhood, Pangrati. It is a beautiful place with tons of cute shops and GREAT food. We live off of an awesome square with great Souvlaki and an awesome bar. We also live behind the stadium that was built for the precursor of the Olympic Games, the Panathenic Games. It is known as Kalimaro Stadium and it is made entirely of marble. It was used for the archery portions of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
After that I went to the Agora, which is basically a farmer's market, that happens every Friday here in Pangrati. All of the farmers from surrounding Attica come in to sell amazing fruits, vegetables, fresh honey, olives and home made wine. I bought an obscene amount of AMAZING fruit for less than 15 euros. Then we went and had Souvlaki for lunch. I got my vodafone turned on after that and found the Greek version of Costco. Finally, I went home and took a siesta until it was time for our program dinner at another taverna. Dinner was ok, not great, but it was really interesting to talk to our Greek program staff in Greek!
After dinner we went out to a restaurant/bar with a belly dancer. We weren't sitting at our table for 5 minutes before she came over and pulled me out of my chair and made me dance with her. I was totally sober and therefore completely embarrassed but still enjoyed myself quite a bit.
Saturday March 24th
On Saturday we had our tour of Athens. We walked through the National Gardens, then on to Sytangma Square (Constitution Square), which is where the Parliament building is, and on to Monasteraki, the Athenian flea market. The city is an incredible mix of new and old, east and west and really doesn't decide to be any of the above.
We then went to get more food...gyros...mmmm in Monasteraki and I bought a skirt and shirt. We then went home for a siesta (gotta love these Mediterranean cultures) . After that Stavros, Lydia and I went out to dinner at a small taverna on an out of the way street that was quite good.
I'll finish up on Sunday, Monday and Today after class!
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