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.