LOL

People here say the most amusing things. It’s not just the Greeks, it’s the random people that I encounter too.

Instance 1:  Walking through the Plaka in quest for souvenirs for my family. I walked into a t-shirt shop just to look around and the shop owner (who is very eccentric and will shout anything at you to get you to go into the store) walks up to me and asks what I was looking for. I told him I was looking for shirts. He asked if it was for myself. I told him it was for family. He told me that he could tell now since my face was very distressed. (Uhhh, Thanks?) Then he asked who it was for, friends, family, my lucky boyfriend? Of course the assumption that I would have a lucky boyfriend made me laugh out loud, just like it has the dozen other times that has been suggested while I’ve been here and just like the other times I enter some sort of rapid fire question session about why I laughed. I politely told the owner that I was sorry for laughing but there was no “lucky boyfriend”. WOAH. The owner was NOT ready for that answer and he then started asking where I was from. I told him I was from Chicago. Then the store owner started shouting “Chicago boys are crazy” and “Chicago boys are blind” and immediately told me to take off my sunglasses so he could look at me. I was pretty amused by the conversation thus far so I went along with it. He immediately said “I know it, you’re a Libra-a Gemini-a Sagittarius”. For him “knowing” what I was he was pretty far off so I told him I was a Cancer but apparently he begged to differ because he replied “A Cancer, well I was close!” Then the store owner explained that “Chicago boys are blind and crazy because Cancers are good girls, good for families”. I was a little shocked that my venture into buying shirts went in that direction so I just kind of stood there dumbfounded until he went to get his assistant.

Instance 2: The assistant of the store owner from instance 1 came to help me pick out shirts for my laundry list of people. Now it was a warm day, warmest it had been in Athens in over two weeks. I was wearing a thinner long sleeve shirt with shorts and sandals, and I was actually sweating a bit so I think it’s safe to say I was a little over dressed. The owner’s assistant take one look at me and says “Look at you, aren’t you cold?” I told her I wasn’t. She then said “Really? Where are you from, Canada?” Canada was a bit of a stretch because anyone would have been dressed the exact same way, even if they were from Florida. Anyway, I told her I was from Chicago and she said “Chicago, I was close enough”. Where are these people getting their geography? That’s like saying that Italy and Greece are the exact same place.

Instance 3: I was watching a baseball game at the Sports Bar beneath Backpackers, completely alone except for one other guy. We both were completely silent for about 20 minutes and our chairs weren’t even facing one another. Suddenly the guy turns to me, sticks out his hand for me to shake and says to me “I’m Danny. Don’t worry I’m a stage 5 clinger” and then turns back to his beer and we sit in silence for another 10 minutes. Wedding Crashers? Really? That is my kind of stranger. Original movie, original quote, completely out of context. I don’t think I’ll ever meet another with an introduction that can top that one.

Instance 4: Hotel in Heraklion in the quest for internet. Sadly this hotel did not have free internet so we had to go to the reception desk and pay for a password card. I walked up to the front desk and asked for a card. The lady said they were out, I raised my eyebrow in confusion. It’s a piece of paper with a password, get a post-it and write it down and your problem is solved. After I raised my eyebrow at her she said “Okay Okay I give you card” and got one out from a desk. Then I asked her how much it cost and she told me “It’s Free, 5 euro please.” Was it free or was it 5 euro? Pick one! I was so confused and faced the fact that I could live without internet for two days so I just turned around and walked away.

Instance 5: I love the randoms I meet. I was watching a baseball game at Backpackers last night with the random guy that was living in the room with Zak, Kegs, James, Eddie and myself. His name was Justin, he was studying abroad in Barcelona but he was from Wisconsin. Justin’s friends that he met at Karaoke on Thursday came into the bar and say down with us. These kids were studying in Germany. We talked for a couple hours until they told me that the German studying friends had to catch a plane at 4 in the morning (so in 6 hours). They asked me which they should take to the airport: metra or bus. I immediately told them bus because no one wants to be on the metra with that one creepy person at midnight. The German studying friends said that was a good point but they didn’t want to walk all the way to Syntagma to catch the bus. I started explaining to them the shortcuts there that would cut off about 10 minutes when they asked if I knew Athens pretty well and if I would just walk them to Syntagma at midnight. I had walked to Syntagma half a dozen times, the route wasn’t confusing, and I have walked alone in Athens at night many times so I said okay. These kids weren’t drunk, they were American, and they all were well-versed with popular references but for some reason their way of thanking me was exclaiming for about 30 minutes that I was their “Guardian Angle”. Yes, that is what they said---I was their Guardian ANGLE. I’m not sure what that meant. I don’t think anyone knew what they meant because Backpackers George who works in reception of the hostel and Bartender Bob were just as thoroughly confused as I was. So, if the term “Guardian Angle” is very popular and I’m just lost—please let me know.

Instance 6: I was standing outside of a bar in Mykonos with Caroline on Easter evening. Apparently the Greeks, who supposedly cherish Easter very close to their hearts, feel the need to have the biggest, wildest party throughout the country on the night of Easter. Anyway, Caroline and myself were waiting for Molly, Nicolette, and Kristine to come outside so we could go to a club called “Space Dance Experience”. The bar that we were waiting outside of was in a pretty isolated area and it was a little creepy. We got tired of standing so we sat down on the curb outside the bar while we waited for the other three. Every now and then random Greeks and tourists would pass us but they wouldn’t say anything until this one guy walked up to us. The creep was probably about 50 and just looked gross but he was intent on talking to us. He started by stopping and staring straight Caroline and I and saying “Hey Baby” for a minute. Then he decided to ask us questions to which we both said “Ohi” (Greek for “No”) in unison each time. Creep-o finally walked away and I started talking with Caroline again until the guy out of nowhere says to us “Sex with me is very good. You missing out.” Seriously? Seriously? We both got up immediately and ran into the bar and hid behind Kristine until we all left.

Instance 7: Delphi. Delphi is such a small town that there is really nothing to do. I went out to get a gyro one afternoon when we had just finished hiking the massive mountain in Delphi. I typically do things alone, especially eating so I’m pretty good when it comes to blocking out awkward moments or even people who look a little iffy. I was sitting in this café, eating my gyro when a waiter came up to talk to me. Originally I thought he came to ask if I wanted anything else, WRONG. The same waiter had seen me eating at the same café a day earlier with James. Clearly, if you see a boy and girl together in the country they MUST BE dating—the fact that James and I did fight like an old married couple might have helped that assumption though. Anyway, the waiter came up to me and said “Where is boyfriend today?” I didn’t really get the reference at first so I automatically turned around for any other person he could be talking to. Once the waiter caught that I was completely confused he said “You come with boyfriend to eat yesterday, no?” After about a minute of jogging my memory and realized he was assuming that I was dating James I immediately started shouting “No No No”. Looking back on the situation, I should have lied and went along with it because no one was there to stop me. After assuring the waiter that James was not my boyfriend, he then asked “Oh, so your boyfriend elsewhere. Home?” and then I had to proclaim my single status for the two hundredth time since I’ve been here. That was my second bad move because apparently a girl being single means that she wants to be NOT single and you have to change that that exact moment or the universe will most definitely implode. After telling the waiter I was single he then said I was lying because “No girl like you should be single” and then somewhere along the way the conversation escalated to him insisting that I “come back to Delphi and stay with him forever because you can be very happy with him” and then I was also promised that he would “give you the world”. I have a few issues with these statements: A—You’re a waiter, you can’t afford to give any girl the world. B—You’ve talked to me for 15 minutes and you want me to come back here for you? C—You’ve talked to me for 15 minutes. D—That sounds a little desperate. I will admit that the sound of never having to work, living in Greece forever, and having a not so unattractive guy to look at for “forever” sounded pretty nice….at first. Then I finally came back to reality and realized that I would get bored and leave 2-3.5 weeks later.

Instance 8: References to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Let’s revisit the German studying students from instance 5. Aside from their failed attempt to praise me for my guidance to the Syntagma bus stop, they also said two other ridiculous things—both of which were related to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Let’s discuss what the lone female said to me. Somewhere along the night the girl stopped me and said “Can I ask you something about the men here?” to which I immediately blurted the word “Douchebags”. After she stopped laughing she said to me “I came here expecting to see all of these beautiful men of Greece but I haven’t found one. So here my question, where is Kostas?” Here’s the thing—I am thoroughly convinced that Kostas’ of Greece were either imported or hidden away from tourists. All the men here have unibrows, their faces are so oily they shine, they’re just mean, they wear clothes that no straight man in America wear—they’re just gross. So here’s a warning to anyone coming to Greece for a Kostas: Don’t come. He’s not here. Greece lied. GWA. All you will find is a NO-stas, and they aren’t pretty. Now on to what one of the guys said, the guy who plays rugby at Illinois Wesleyan back home. Clearly this guy either A—was forced to see  the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants because of an evil sadist girlfriend or B—he secretly has a very feminine side. Anyway, I was talking with him about the places he’s been, Santorini in particular since I am currently on the fence about whether to go in May or just return to Athens. I don’t know how but the guy somehow sold me on how awesome Santorini was. He told me there are two parts to Santorini, one that is residential and one that is tourist. When he tried to describe the tourist part of Santorini he told me “It was like walking into the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I swear they have 5 miles that they shot that movie in.” If you’re a guy, especially a sober one, don’t ever reference the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants to that extent. Atleast put up a front like you barely remember anything and it was an absolutely awful experience.  Regardless of his social faux pas, the reference was awesome—nearly as memorable as the Wedding Crashers line from instance 3.

Oh the funny things I hear. I love this place and all of its socially awkward and amusing moments. J

An Attempt at Thoughtful Thoughts

I’m coming to learn many things about life

Patience is a virtue.

Words of kindness are healers.

There are more awful people in the world than we are ever told about.

You should get Peace prizes for rising above when you’re a girl.

Self-control is an art form.

Skepticism doesn’t protect you.

My generation really is the “Me” generation.

Those few friends who make you happy should be held onto tightly.

Karma is often misguided and gets it wrong half the time.

Being alone is liberating.

Conformity is a curse that you shouldn’t have to succumb to.

Independent lives are easier to lead than most understand.

Pride is a handicap.

Glee and my iPod are what helps me keep my sanity throughout life these days. I’ve had my share of moments where I’ve looked up to the sky and asked what I’m supposed to do next. I just stand there in a haze and think to myself: What am I going to do for housing? How am I going to stay calm? What can I do to make this moment less horrible? Am I going to be able to just walk away and not say anything? Being in a foreign country and having to deal with these questions with no one you can turn to is very hard, borderline terrifying. Through all of these questions and times where I just don’t know what to do I have come to learn the power of music. If you find the right song at the right moment, anything can be dealt with. Any emotion can be pushed to the back of your mind and that’s really all that is needed because with a clear mind you can solve any problem, you can conquer the world. In the times that music does not do the trick, I can easily lean on Glee for conformation that I am not the only one with the problems that I have. I am so annoyed with every person that I encounter telling me that Glee is nonsense or worthless, you clearly have NEVER grown up. Did you all come out of the womb at the age of 25, when you’ve essentially passed the age where you deal with any of the issues that Glee addresses? In my opinion, there is no way that you cannot appreciate Glee in the slightest degree if you grew up outside of a bubble. So please, stop telling me that they ruin song. No more ranting about plot lines. I don’t want to hear about acting or theatrical affects and foreshadowing. I don’t care because I’m in it for the conformation that I’m not alone in the world. When I spend nights alone in a hotel room I want to know that Quinn and Rachel feel like crap too. I’d like to know that Santana is sad because Brittany rejected her when I am busy trying to wiggle out of a star struck trance. Seeing Blaine stand by Kurt when Karofsky bullies him makes all the snide comments I hear a-okay with me for the time being.  It’s all about the personal connection.

On a different note, I was inside the Parthenon today. Experience of a lifetime. I can’t even describe it, I don’t know where to start. I was on top of the world.  This was definitely the highpoint of my life, I could literally feel all the stress of the last year and a half lift off my shoulders. All the fights with friends. The homesick calls. Fretting over papers. Numerous moments of letdown. Everything was gone because I had made it to this amazing spot where so much had happened. I was right in the middle of history, like it had been frozen in time. It was what I needed. Wonderful

No one is safe!

I have officially gotten over my rebellion stage when it comes to sunscreen. When I first got to Greece I put on sunscreen like a good pale girl but then I got burn on my neck in our first excursion from Athens. Surprisingly the sunburn only hurt for a day and it wasn't even that bad. That was the start of my rebellion against my protective bubble of SPF 50. 

Our third day on Mykonos, our first official free day where we didn't have to wake up early, I went out by the pool and stayed there all day. Result: front half of my body burnt to a crisp and a little less burnt on my back. My stomach hurt to breathe but I thought my back would be okay to go out by the pool again the next day. WRONG. I put on SPF 50 just to be safe yesterday and then went out to the pool for a few hours. Result: burnt so badly on my back that I was only able to comfortably sleep for 5 hours. So this leads to my next question...who in the world gets burnt wearing SPF 50. Isn't SPF 50 near reflective. I mean how do albino people go out in the sun if you're not even protected with 50?!

So as I've said before, I have gotten over my rebellious urges to defy the sun gods. Now I get to sit inside on a beautifully windy day. Yay Me!

Explorer

This is the life, everyone!

We are all officially on Mykonos, we got here yesterday afternoon. Despite the very rainy and cold weather that we had in Athens our last three days there and yesterday, the weather is actually quite nice. There is the occasional fear that the blustering winds will blow me off the island but the sun is out and it’s actually very warm if you manage to find a good spot with some wind blocks.

Our first day here was supposed to be class on the island of Delos nearby and then we would have five free days to ourselves. Apparently though there are actual regulations as to when a boat can’t take off. I guess the winds are so strong today that the boat today Delos did not leave and we’re trying again tomorrow. So the rest of my day so far has included a lot of adventuring and sitting by the pool in our hotel.

Adventuring was definitely the high point of my morning. I decided to go walking around Mykonos with Ez G, Eddie, and James and we found our way to the coastline of Mykonos. The wind was pretty vicious but that didn’t stop us from climbing on the rocks, shouting “I’m king of the world”, and walking out to the water. After we got done with our coastline exploring we found Keegan, Zak, and Lulu and then we went shop exploring. We found a honey store. We got to sample said honey. Yummmm. I bought a honey called Vanilla Fir Tree Honey.  Somewhere along the way we lost Keegan, Zak, and Lulu again. On our way back to the hotel we found gyros for 2.50 euro, they were great specifically because these were the type of gyros that come with fries in them.  We took the 20 minute climb up to the hotel (which ultimately counteracted the gyros we had just eaten) and took a nap until Kristine brought our Bronze Age course grades to the hotel. I got an A-. WOOHOOO

Thankfully the Taylor Swift invasion in my head has calmed down a little. My life no longer feels like a Nicholas Sparks novel. Still pretty distracted though and there’s still a lot of Taylor Swift going on in my head.

…..What to do, what to do?

Umm, Eww, Gross...

“It was enchanting to meet you…”

It's final, the only explanation for this place is that it is magical and not a real place at all. Like Never Never Land.

I would like to start out by saying that I am, always have been, and always will be a Taylor Swift fan. Love how her songs are about actual emotions that everyone experiences at some point in their life. However, I have never been such a fan that I will listen to her songs continually for days and days on repeat. I am sad to report that I have been in the type of mood where I just want to hear those sappy songs that you will without a doubt cry during. I’ve been in this mood for the past four days, not a sad mood though. A hopeful mood, so hopefully that I’m actually disgusted with myself. Not only am I hopeful but I’m also in that state where I’m completely distracted from daily life. I actually just did a load of laundry in preparation for Mykonos (since we’ll be there for 6 days) and I’ve done laundry at the Backpackers Laundromat multiple times and everything has been very successful. However, this time since I was busy stuck in this trance and listening to “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift I put in a load of laundry in the wash without detergent. It took me 20 minutes of the 30 minute cycle to realize that I had forgotten detergent. I’ve achieved ultimate idiot status. However, the old man who came in after me actually made my epic fail look like a success. He put a load of dirty clothes directly into the drier (before washing) and then proceeded to be confused when his clothes came out dry. Those are the kind of people who make me feel better about my mistakes.

Alright, I’m off to be thoroughly disgusted with my new state of unprecedented optimism. 

“I was enchanted to meet you.” 

"Bold" Girl

First of all--sorry for not posting for such a long time. I have been off having the time of my life, meeting new people.

After this week, I can easily say that I terribly regret not having the courage to break-off from the group for housing earlier. I now have confidence that I won't be lost in confusion in a foreign country by myself. I learned how to make hotel reservations alone, with only minimal guidance from Kristine. I've realized that I actually am a likable person regardless of how I feel about myself at times. I've accepted that I really do enjoy being independent.

I was hanging out with a group of people who were living at Backpackers the past 4 days and we decided to play a game called "one word" where we went around in a circle and everyone had to think of one word to describe each person.  I was called "bold". They told me that they could never imagine living apart from your classmates when they're right down the road and I could easily live in comfort with people I already know. They said that they were stunned that I felt no anxiety or was not weary at all about living with 4-5 people that I've never met in my life. I guess I never really stopped to think about how much courage it takes to be in a foreign country for an extended amount of time and then decide that you don't want to live with people you know. The decision to break-off from everyone was surprisingly simple and took no more than 5 seconds to make. After looking at all the stuff that I'm doing completely independent from the group, I guess "bold" is a good description of what I feel and it actually makes me proud. Therefore, "bold" is the greatest compliment that I have ever gotten in my life.

I'd love to write more but I have a test to study for--it's the first one for our Classical course here. Wish me luck, everyone.

Really, now?

Here I am again in Athens, sitting in my room at Backpackers. Rooming with my second batch of rand-os (Mom, that means random people).

We just got back to Athens this afternoon from Delphi. Oh Delphi, I want to go back. The mountain views were beautiful and the town looked exactly like a Greek town does in every movie, little homes with multiple stories cut into a hill and stacked on top of one another. The locals were even funny, a group of them that we met when we went to a club insisted on calling Kristine “teacher”, so the entire night consisted of 20 year-old men chanting “teacher teacher teacher teacher”. Pretty hilarious. One other thing I’d like to note, Greeks need to start making some rules on dance clubs. First rule needed: No 12 year-olds in clubs, Delphi was the second instance where a middle school field trip took a horde of Greek children to a dance club for a nightly excursion. So this is what I have to say to all Greeks: Stop letting your children go to dance clubs, especially if they’re not in high school. Aren’t you guys worried about your children getting stolen?

I’m getting the judgmental vibe from two of my roommates at Backpackers. Neither of them talks enough for me to know their names so they shall be declared Tarzan and Jane because the only sounds I’ve heard out of them are grunts. They are definitely the silent type, so much to the point that I put away my laundry as silently as possible and avoid eye contact. Eye contact with them is a little scary at this point. Let’s hope the other three roommates are friendlier than Tarzan and Jane. WAIT, they spoke—they have accents but definitely speak English.

A few weeks back I mentioned that Greece feels more like Inception than reality. Every day I struggle with accepting the fact that this place is real—nothing happens here that would happen in the real world. Children are allowed in dance clubs with 30 year-olds. Bus drivers shout at pedestrians obscenities like “Fuck Santa Claus” (yes, it happened—our course instructor who is Greek translated his shouts for us). There are few showers that are designed to the user’s benefit. People drive like they’re in a NasCar race. People climb up three story balconies like it’s an Olympic sport. Dogs are picky. At least once a day someone does something that would be unacceptable in Lake Forest and the rest of the real world and we are all okay with it because we think “Hey, who cares—this place isn’t real so we won’t judge”.

Even though it has its ups and downs, I love this place. 

Hello to everyone! I'm in Delphi.

I spent my first night apart from the group last night, I hate to admit it but I wish I had taken this chance earlier. I met three very nice girls who were traveling, they were all English majors and one was an Education major also. The education major reminded of Emily and one of them looked just like one of my friends from Lake Forest, Liana. I actually had a great talk with them, they told me about the hostel in Paris that they stayed at in Paris last month and how they had to leave their room and go outside for the bathrooms and showers. The education and english major, her name was Andrea, turned out to like Greek mythology too so we ended up talking about our favorite stories. Her favorite was the Odyssey too.

Delphi is the cutest little town, everyone says it's their favorite and I can see why. Everywhere you look you can see mountains overlapping mountains. I'm still torn between Pylos or this being my favorite.

I get to give my second oral presentation of the program next week, I get to talk about Oedipus and Divine Justice.

I'm so tired from all of this traveling. Goodnight everyone.

Jilty?

Olympia!

Well dear followers (or just Mom), a lot has occurred since I last blogged. In fact there is so much to tell, so much excitement, so many new things that I will not tell about them.  I could very well be here for hours if I tried. I don’t want to be here for hour so, I won’t! So sorry.

Anyway, we started our second course in Greece—Classical Greece. I actually prefer this course so far, it’s not that I found the Bronze Age boring at all. Classical Greece is all about mythology and the sites connected to the stories and I love the mythology. Ancient Greeks spent so long trying to find stories to explain every scenario in life, gave every god and goddess a deity, connected every site to a story. Where else could you find a story about sons cast out or even killed by their fathers because someone told them that their sons would one day take power from them? Where else do you have one individual representing drunkenness and belligerence?  In conclusion, I love this class so far, we get to talk about what I know best regarding Greece, and we get to see more cool sites.

As you may have noticed I had an explosion of self-independence the day we left Athens. Due to said independence, I found myself booking hostel reservations for myself for the remainder of the trip. Yes, I said it—I made a long-term decision involving money and I also learned how to make room reservations. I ended up making around three or so weeks of reservations at the Backpackers hostel down the street from where I was staying. For sporadic periods while I am in Greece, I will be living with a variety of people I do not know (because it was cheaper to just ask for a bed) and sometimes I will even be moving everyday (because that was also the cheapest option). The reservation process took an hour and I’m pretty sure the receptionist is my new best-friend, but I am all booked up and I am basically living independently from the group (I won’t even be living in the same building as them for most of the time).

The bus ride to Olympia was nifty. First of all, I want to point out that no one uses nifty anymore and that’s upsetting, it’s a quality word that needs to make its comeback. Anyway, the bus ride was around 6 hours from Athens to Olympia and this was the first time we had to use public transportation for this long of a venture so we were all pretty cramped together. Somehow I ended up sitting next to Kramer, which was a fight over leg room from the start because he’s easily 6-3 the seats were less than gracious on space for legs. Kramer fell asleep right away and since I was in the window seat, I ended up banging my head on the window less than 30 seconds after I fell asleep. So I stayed awake for most of the ride and got to watch Kramer sleep in two main sleeping stances: leaning forward with his head on the seat in front of him or sitting back and leaning to the right so much that he was practically two inches from my face and drooling on my shoulder. Then we got to Olympia. It’s a cute little town, one of my favorites aside from Pylos so far.

I was sitting in the lobby of our hotel after class this afternoon doing homework and attempting to figure out my class schedule. I would love to add my classmate’s name to the following story because it’s fairly funny but since she retold this story in her own blog and named me “classmate” I feel that it is only fair to do the same!  With just one class slot to fill for the second semester, I asked for advice on what I should take. My classmate suggested that I take a Communications class because in her words “They’re all easy, that’s why I’m a Communications Major”. I sadly had to decline her suggestion and then felt compelled to tell the story as to why that would be nearly impossible for me to do. Last year, my Dad came to Lake Forest for a weekend visit. The day he left we decided to eat at a restaurant near campus for lunch and I think we were talking about majors because I hadn’t realized I wanted a History Major yet. Somewhere along the way, I got the urge to joke that I was thinking of becoming a Communications Major as one of my options. If there was any one moment that I ever thought I had killed my Dad, it was that moment right then. After he finally started talking all that he kept on asking (in near tears) was “Why are you doing this?,” “Where did I go wrong?,” and “I raised you right!” I immediately told him that I was joking and Communications was not on my list of options but he refused to accept that. Since that day I have been afraid to sign up for a Communications class because I feel like the day I do will be the day he stops paying for Lake Forest or the day he has a heart attack and dies.

Everyone on this trip has been dubbed a “bro”. Russell feels the need to give every girl on the trip, with the exception of Kristine and Caroline, a male name. He also feels the need to make up songs on the spot about people on the trip. Today he made up a song about Molly’s hair where he referred to it as a “dike braid”, luckily Molly has a good sense of humor and spends 95% of her time laughing so she thought it was great. Anyway, back to the “bro” issue. Zakea has three names even though the whole group has only picked up one of them: Zak, Zakariah, and Zakaka. Keegan is known as Keg Stand and apparently when she is sitting she’s “doing the Keg Sit”. Molly is just called bro (sometimes Kali Molly though), but she kind of does have a manly voice and was mistaken for a man in Heraklion solely because of her voice. Kramer is called Kramhole, I’m pretty sure that’s because of Molly though. I get called Allie G every now and then, not sure why but I think it’s because we call Ezra Ez G. I’m not sure why I added Kramer’s nickname in this because it’s only meant to be about the girls, I guess I just really think the name is funny.

Russell told Keegan that she was being “jilty” tonight at dinner. No one knew what that meant…. Jamie, do you know what “jilty” means and if it isn’t a word then please let me know so I can inform Russell he’s wrong. We don’t understand half the things he says though because he makes up his own meanings.

I found out I’m living in Lois next year….a girls only building. I can already see that I’ll be living with too many hormones next year. 

Kangaroo Shoes

I HAD AN AWESOME BLOG POST THAT I SPENT AN HOUR WRITING UNTIL I PRESSED THE REFRESH BUTTON. I REFUSE TO RETYPE BECAUSE I CAN'T CRY INSIDE AND REMEMBER WHAT I WROTE AT THE SAME TIME.

UPDATE:

As promised last time, I’ve gone out a bit and had some fun. What fun you ask? Shopping.

My first quest was to find the H&M at Syntagma. When I left I was told that H&M was on the side road off of Syntagma but that was not nearly clear enough because Syntagma is a square with four high-traffic roads surrounding it. I really had no clue where I was going besides Syntagma so it was bound to be an adventure. Walking there was fairly simple because we had to walk it a few times in the first few days. So I got to Syntagma safely (like I knew I would) and I took the wrong street to wander down at first (like I knew I would) and I ended up in a block of banks and ATMS. After that failure I decided to look at everyone’s shopping bags, once I found an H&M bags I proceeded to walk in the opposite direction from them until they led me to H&M. (yayyy) When I got there I guess I failed to realize that the building itself and all the others surrounding it were four stories because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I had the monumental feat of exploring four stories of clothing and apparel. Needless to say, I completed my journey and successfully returned to backpackers with a pair of shorts (to replace the pants that decided to rip before we left for Crete) and a couple of shirts. The whole endeavor only took two hours plus the half hour of walking to and from Syntagma, the walks were actually quite pleasant. I was really expecting to be bored of walking before I got back because the last time I walked it was my first day in Athens when I had all my baggage with me. Who knew that a walk of less than a mile without a hiking backpack and duffel bag would be bearable? In celebration of my monumental shopping success I treated myself to gelato. It took a long time to find gelato because I’m having this competition with myself to see how long I can last without returning to the same gelato stand twice. After wandering around a bit I found one. I chose Black Forest (I’ve also made a goal of never getting the same flavor twice unless I have to). While I was sitting down and enjoying my gelato, I met a stray dog. I named him Chester. Chester clearly wanted my gelato, but I denied him it.

Random note. I was watching Law & Order with Zak last night while dinner. I hate Law & Order but this was completely absurd, not only was Zack from Saved By the Bell one of the lawyers but the whole episode revolved around a case where one woman was suing another because she hit her in the face with a hot dog. Now that’s hard crime if I’ve ever seen it. Die Law & Order, Go AWAY.

As part of my writing a paper break I decided play my favorite game in Greece, “Let’s See Which American Site I Can Trick In to Working”. I lost the game as I always do so I settled for looking up teasers. While I was scrolling through a page of Grey’s Anatomy teasers I saw a post about a musical Grey’s episode. WOAH. After seeing something as intriguing as that in a tagline I had no choice but to YouTube the clips from the episode. Before going any further with this, I need to note that any singing I hear I get really sentimental, sometimes it goosebumps and other times its crying that results. Also, watching Grey’s Anatomy is like watching a Lifetime movie for me, I just can’t help but cry. The clips that I saw were like a beautiful union to create Medicinal Glee but I cried for a good, solid 10 minutes. I can’t wait until I can actually watch the episode when I get home.

Each time we stay at Backpackers we have the choice of who we can live with. James has made the sad mistake to live with Keegan, Zak, Nicolette, and myself for four days. Not only did he make a mistake living with us but he also made the mistake of living in the bunk bed room instead of taking the roll away and making Nicolette sleep in the bunk bed room. His punishment for the room choice came last night when his snoring kept me awake for more than an hour until he finally got up and left the room, that’s about the time that Keegan and Zak decided that we should scare him when he came back. We waited about five minutes until he wandered back in and just as he was climbing up the ladder, into his bed on the top bunk all three of us screamed “RAWR” (this is not the same “rawr” that Dave uses, the all-caps is meant to show how much more scary ours was). After getting over the initial shock of us screaming at him, he continued to repeat “I hate you all I hate you all I hate you all” for the next five minutes. Revenge is sweet.

Today was shopping excursion: part II. I visited the Plaka in search of a sweatshirt, mainly because after riding on the Artic Ferry to and from Crete I came to the realization that a sweatshirt is always needed in Greece, regardless of what time of year it is. I somehow managed to find the only shop with an American owner and she showed me the University at Athens sweatshirt that I hadn’t seen anywhere else but I really liked. Unfortunately the only color was dark grey so I decided to try it on before I made a decision. When I go to look in the mirror in the center of the shop, the American owner and her employee/family member/lazy friend behind the counter in unison said “Oh goodness, that color works GREAT with your skin tone-it’s beautiful”. It was GREY, you can’t look good in grey—that’s why people wear it because you don’t look bad, you don’t look good, you’re just there. Neutral Neutral Neutral. In case you can tell this was one of the infamous moments where in my head, all I’m screaming is “Stop Lying To ME!” I ended up buying said sweatshirt, not because of the failed attempt at flattery but because I managed to talk the price down from 30 euro to 20 euro by making up some store that had it for 25 euro. Win for Allie.

Now I’m sitting here, just before midnight, waiting for the Lake Forest College 2011-2012 Course Schedule (which is two weeks late) to be released. You’re killing me BJ White!

Athens Free Day Break

The first class is over and we're all back in Athens for the next few days before our second class.

The ferry ride home from Crete was much less eventful than the ride to Crete. Although it was unbearably cold, it was actually physically uncomfortable to sleep in the seats that we were given (we didn't get cabins again but it was okay since we only paid 25 euro for the equivalent of a first class airplane seat with their own tvs). I think I switched positions every hour until I finally laid face down in the aisle with my raincoat on to trap my breath since that was the only way to keep warm. We got into Athens at 5:45 am and then took the metra to the Plaka and then walked to Athens Backpackers from there. Then we spend a good 5 and a half hours sitting in front of Backpackers until we could check in, it was so worth it though because I feel asleep the minute we got to our room and slept for 3 hours. The wonderful nap was followed by a wonderful shower and laundry. Then I organized all my toiletries and clothes for the first time this trip because I got tired of having wrinkled clothes because I was too lazy to take time.

I ate dinner later. Kristine made it. It was pasta. I was happy.

I'm going to go now and do something fun so that I never have to blog something as boring as this was. I just felt compelled to blog because it had been four days with nothing new to say.