The City

A few days ago the program sent us on a scavenger hunt around the city. We went to several different neighborhoods and saw some cool stuff.

We started out by going through the National Gardens, which are pretty pretty, and I imagine will be spectacular when Spring rolls around. We also went to Syntagma Square, where the big riots and protests happen.

Monasteraki, the neighborhood right behind it, was my favorite. There is an enormous flea market where you can buy pretty much anything. I hear on Sundays it's packed, so I'm going to take the balloons out there next time it's warm.

Plaka, the old neighborhood just below the plateau of the Acropolis, was really interesting. The streets wind in all sorts of unexpected ways, and there are lots of places you feel haven't been walked in months. It is one of the older parts of the city so there is very little order or structure to it and the buildings are interesting to look at.

I finally got a camera! I'm linking everyone to this via facebook though, so I'm going to spare myself the trouble of putting them up here, just check them out on there.

Scott and I went and got gyros for the first time, and now I'm addicted. They're about 2 euros (less than $3) and are about as big as a $3 burger, so it's a lot of food. It's much tastier than McDonalds though, especially when we live in a city not dominated by chains. I'm glad they're healthier than burgers, otherwise I'd be really fat when I got back.

Speaking of not being fat, I forgot Greece is full of mountains and there are hills EVERYWHERE in Athens. I have to go up 40 or 50 steps just to get from school to my apartment, and that's only a 3 minute walk. I'm going to be crashing beer cans between my thighs by the time I get back.

Tonight I am having friends over for some wine and then we are going out to the PIRATE BAR across the street from my apartment. It's a pirate themed bar, which is pretty badass in my opinion.

Oh, I started school. I forgot that this was called study abroad. I did some Greek homework and readings for my religion classes... Not too bad so far. Greek is hard but it'll be nice to be able to use Greek when ordering food and such.

Making friends is an interesting experience.

I haven't really been on my own for a couple years. Coming into college was an interesting experience in terms of meeting people, but we all lived together so it was inevitable that we would get to know each other. In Greece, we all live in different apartment buildings so we are slowly getting to know each other, and today I made some good new friends and finally got to the point where I felt like I knew some people.

I plan on getting a camera tomorrow or Saturday so that will be good.

Bars are fun.

THE END

Chasing the Sunrise

I don’t like planes.

Scott and I got on our plane in Chicago at 12:30 PM CT, and after some transfers and layovers arrived in Athens at 5 AM CT, which was 1 PM local time. One cool part about it though was when we left North America, seeing the last bits of the lights then seeing them again when we reached Ireland. I had never even seen Europe before. Also, London is seriously impressive at night; we circled it a few times before landing a few minutes before dawn.

We have an apartment with three other guys, two doubles and a single. I’m in a double with another Daniel from Scotland, whose accent is just as amazing as you would hope.

I got to buy my first beer. That was a lot of fun. At the grocery store here you can get them in 4 packs, but also in singles: you don’t save much money by buying the packs, so variety is nice. They’re also bigger. Half-liters, so about 17 oz.

It’s currently 6 AM Athens time. I powered though, staying up for 30 straight hours so I could get on a semiregular sleep schedule, and I woke up feeling rested at 5:30 AM so I suppose I succeeded.

In three hours I have to go hear about our Greek phones for the third time and about safety and all of that. Hopefully it will be more interesting than it seems, because I’m ready to just walk out and do things.

There will be pictures in time, I forgot my camera cord/charger and will grab a new one soon enough.