Yia su! For all of you non-native Greek speakers... that means 'Hello'. As I'm sure all of you have heard I have arrived safely here in Aghia Paraskevi - a beautiful suburb of Athens that I will call home for the next few months. I have taken to journaling of my experiences as to not forget a single detail - while writing down my thoughts I find myself thinking "so-and-so would enjoying hearing about this" so thus my blog was born. Please pity me and my attempt at dry-humor as this is my first blog I have ever done. I hope that all of you will enjoy reading of my experiences. I will even post pictures for all of you non-Facebook users - this one's for you Mom :) Let's get started...
First off I want to apologize in advance for the length of this first entry. I have successfully completed my first week abroad and have seen more than I can even wrap my head around. I, therefore, find it necessary to fill you in on all my experiences thus far at one time... to catch you up I guess I could say.
- Sunday, 5 September 2010 - today is my first official day in Athens. Friday night, after a tearful departure, I headed on my way to London. It was the longest, most uncomfortable. Not only because I was seated next to a man with the hairiest ears I have ever seen, but because our seats were so cramped you could not move. Finally, after 7 hours, a small lay-over, and a quick skip we arrived in beautiful Athens. I was greeted my Jessi's wonderful and tear-filled face (her luggage was lost) in Athens airport and was quickly escorted to our new apartment. We settled in and attempted to catch up on sleep. Sunday morning came and we met our two roommates, Jessica (from Arizona) and Alicia (from Ohio) - they are two of the most wonderful I have ever met. My roommate situation couldn't get any better. How crazy is this?! Jessi and I were talking to Alicia when she first arrived about where she was from and such...come to find out she is best friends with a kid I am on RA staff with at NCC! Talk about a small world.
Sunday was the day when almost everyone else arrived. We have almost the entire US represented here...from TX, FL, IL, IA, OH, OR, NY, MA, AZ, CT...this group is so fun and we all bonded incredibly. This group is going to make this experience amazing. The first day/night we went and had coffee and drinks at a lounge by the square. The coffee shops here are very unique, rarely do you find tables and chairs but rather small side tables accompanied by couches and overstuffed chairs! It's really neat. The first day was a success to say the least.
- Monday, 6 September 2010 - let's just start off by saying that I AM STARVING! I do not like the local food. I'm trying everything.. I really am.. but my taste buds are fighting back. I think pasta and fresh fruit are in my future for the next few months..oh and maybe delicious Gelatto (aka heaven in a cone). Today was really excited because we went and explored downtown Athens. We all took public transit for the first time..bus and metra - it's super easy to use, but not necessarily my favorite. I have learned 2 things about the Greek culture - 1. personal hygiene is not necessarily at the top of everyone's priority list and 2. personal space is non-existent here -- ripe bodies + crammed metra train = a far from pleasant experience.
Marios is one of the guys in our group of 14 - he is from Connecticut, but he is Greek and fluent in the language..so on our adventure downtown he was nominated as our tour guide. We went to Syntagma square where we saw congress and walked down the infamous Ermou street.
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| Congress |
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| Looking down Ermou Street |
As we continued to walk downtown I think we were all simple overwhelmed by the reality that we were truly alone and in Greece. The best part of the ENTIRE day was when we turned a random corned and looked up... there it sat in all it's glory - the Acropolis. A site only seen in movies and history books was there in front of my face. I was truly in Athens, Greece - words don't even express that moment in my life. A little fun fact - the Acropolis is not the building you see, but rather the mountain and all the contents on top - the building in the pictures is the Parthenon.
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| There she is :) amazing! |
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| breathtaking view of the Acropolis from a Cafe we stopped at. |
Overall, Monday was a whirl-wind of experiences. I'm excited to see what the next handful of weeks will hold :)
- Tuesday, 7 September 2010 - today we started orientation at Deree. You would have thought we were a circus side-show act. They all stared at us like we were aliens! The day was extremely long and unnecessary... we were all starving (it seems like the Greeks do not ever eat or drink, just smoke), hot and jet lagged. It was not the best of days.
- Wednesday, 8 September 2010 - today was our second day of orientation. We got a guided tour of Aghia Paraveski, met the mayor, & got mobbed by papazzi. We had camera crews, reporters, etc. following us around all day. It was the weirdest experience - they asked us all sorts of questions like why we chose to study in Greece, what we knew about the recession, and had we heard about the riots?
Thursday, 9 September 2010 - today was my last first day of school. My classes seem like they are going to be really neat. I'm so excited! My classes include: Archaeology of Daily Life, Greek Folklore, Greek I, Marketing Research, and Power Pilates :) I'll have to let you know how these go once we actually get started.
Friday, 10 September 2010 - decided to spend the night at home. It was very low-key, but so much fun. Our RA Gerry came to our room and taught us all how to Salsa Dance.. which is what we are doing on Saturday! :)
Saturday, 11 September 2010 - something I have learned about the Greek culture is that they are extremely social. The night-life here is completely different than what we are used to back at home. They start getting ready at 10:00pm or later and then don't go out until 11:30 ... they will then stay out till all hours of the morning... I'm talking like 6:30 (at the earliest) till 9:00am is very common! I will not be staying out that late I can tell you that. We went Salsa Dancing last night at a Cuban club called Enzzo de Cuba it was two stories, palm trees all around, and completely outdoors. It was amazing. I did a few spins on the dance floor - it was a lot of fun!!!
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| Enzzo de Cuba - Latin Dance Club |
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Family Picture - Jessica, Me, Jessi, Alicia, & Janine
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That's all folks - there you have it my past week in a nutshell. The Greecian adventure has begun... more to come... keep checking back the post will keep coming.
Sending lots of love home to you
-Taylar
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