Greetings from Athens

I’m officially in Athens safe and sound, I’ve had so much fun exploring Athens since I got here Saturday morning that I haven’t really had a moment to stop. The flights were very smooth; I met a very nice couple and their daughter on my flight from Kansas City to Newark. They said they were going to Copenhagen that afternoon. The flight from Newark to Greece was the BEST though!! For some reason, I’m not quite sure why yet, I was upgraded from Economy to First Class, I was so happy that I felt like I just won the lottery! I slept most of the flight since I was tired from my 8 hour layover in Newark but the first thing I saw when I woke up was mountains, it was so beautiful. Realistically, I may have been a little over excited about getting to Greece but I still thought that seeing mountains through the clouds was really cool. When we finally started the descent to land in Athens I finally got a better view of the landscape; it was mostly mountains or rocks and just a few trees and houses around the airport.

The real feeling of happiness and excitement that I was in Athens didn’t really kick in until we left the airport and started driving to Athens. Seeing the way the houses were tall, stacked up on top of each other reminded me of really old towns that you read about. Simply realizing that I was in a country that I’ve read about and studied for so many months made everything that I’ve heard so much more real to me. Not only do I get to learn about how people lived, how the country changed, and about their culture, I also get to experience life in Greece myself. That is so awesome!! In addition to being in Greece, I also get to stay in a hotel where I can see the Parthenon from my room—every time I look out the window I see the Parthenon, something I’ve only seen in slide for the last two months, and I think to myself “Wow, I’m in Athens”.

Between the ancient sites, street shops, and Greek food I will never want to leave at the end of May. I spent Saturday with the rest of the group walking around the streets of Athens, just taking in everything. We walked down streets that would easily be considered back alleys back in the United States and ultimately walked around the entire Parthenon (we didn’t go to the Parthenon though, there are so many winding streets that you can walk completely around it). Each street we walked on was lined with one vendor or the other trying to sell you sunglasses, bags, or restaurants trying to get your attention. There were also these really weird vendors who sell these toys; they’re basically squishy balls in that look like tomatoes and the vendors sit on the ground and throw the squishy tomatoes on a board so they flatten and then somehow the tomato forms a ball again and the vendor picks it up and throws it again. I really don’t know what the appeal is behind the squishy tomatoes but I’m secretly afraid that I’m going to end up owning a squishy tomato by the time I fly home. (Thankfully though, all I have spent money on so far is food and a new pair of bright yellow Ray-Bans.) Today we explored the Acropolis and Parthenon. (I want to warn everyone else that for future reference, the rocks that you have to walk on to get to the Parthenon are very slippery, FLIP FLOPS AND SANDALS ARE NOT ADVISED.) It didn’t take very long to get up to the Parthenon but that’s mostly because the majority of the path is inclined (which makes the slippery rocks even more scary). When we reached the top the view was awesome, we could see different parts of the city in every direction and it was actually pretty cool to see how far Athens extended. The mountains in the distance were also pretty awesome, you could see them on all sides and they were in that phase where they are hazy and you can just barely see them. Every part of the experience; the view, the history, the weather, it all made me feel like I was on top of the world.

So far, gyros are my favorite food (not including breakfast, I like the Greek yogurt and honey for breakfast more than anything else). There’s this awesome little courtyard near the end of the Plaka with this stand for gyros. All that I’ve managed to get from them so far are pork gyros but I still think they’re delicious even though I don’t like pork at all. I’m also in love with the fact that  I can get water for 50 euro cents, I’m ignoring the fact that I have to take the currency conversion into account. I’m just so happy that I’ve already found so much wonderful food and it’s only my second day.

Athens=Awesome, I never want to leave! The only bad experience that I’ve had was tonight when I was walking through the Plaka. I have been warned so many times about pickpockets that I am near paranoid now, every time I see someone I don’t know get too close to me or feel someone brush against me I clutch my purse. Tonight when I was walking through the Plaka with James, Zakea, Eddie, Keegan, and Nicolette I saw this older man walk right by me and then he immediately turned around and started walking right behind. The guy eventually got really close and I grabbed onto the nearest person (I think it was James) until I saw the guy walk into a restaurant a few blocks later. And good news, NOTHING WAS STOLEN! I just might survive this country without being pickpocketed.

---James says “Hi” to everyone in ResLife. He finally got here yesterday morning, safe and sound! He wants everyone to know that he is upset that he missed our adventure to the Parthenon yesterday morning.---