She's opening BORF

Last night was so much fun; Sarah and I left the apartment at about 4 yesterday afternoon to go shopping for souvenirs and to get lunch at the gyro man. There is this little hole in the wall gyro shop in Plaka that makes the best gyros ever, so we went and got lunch and then went shopping. We walked all through Plaka and Monastiraki and got lost a couple of times, but it was fun to just wander around and go in whatever shop looked interesting. We stopped at Starbucks for a Mango Citrus Tea Frapucino, and ran into the visiting professor from the US that we got to spend last weekend with on our excursion. We talked to her for awhile and then walked back to Plaka for some more shopping. We ended up getting another gyro for dinner and sat on this random bench on a street corner in front of a tiny church and next to this big white dumpster with the word BORF spray painted on it. For some odd reason, we found BORF to be incredibly hilarious and spent nearly 45 minutes sitting on the bench laughing about it. We walked over to the guys's apartment since they live in Plaka near the best stores and sat around talking to them while they did homework for several hours and then came home and went to bed. I ended up with a really pretty blue tiered skirt, a big striped beach bag, and a few other random items. Today we are going to Doukas on the Metro for groceries and then we're going to cook dinner tonight w/the boys since they have a better kitchen and a better set of pots and pans. Check out my pictures on webshots: http://community.webshots.com/user/hellasgood05_2
~Rachel

BORF is everywhere

Today has been a somewhat lazy day. We stayed up late last night reading and since we didn't have class today, we decided not to set the alarm and to just sleep until we woke up. Turns out we don't wake up until 1 in the afternoon when there is no alarm. I got up and ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then typed up my reaction paper on the Modern Olympic Games that was due this afternoon and have writing in my journal and listening to music since I finished. Yesterday we took the metro to Doukas and picked up groceries for this weekend and then took the train out to the Olympic Sports Complex, which is on the outskirts of the city, about 30 minutes by train from Monastiraki. The complex was amazing, there were hardly any people there so we basically had the whole place to ourselves while we walked around. I took a ton of pictures-they turned out really well-I'll try to have them up on webshots tonight, I'm going to have to start my third account to fit them all in. The train ride back from the stadium was not fun-it was incredibly crowded for rush hour on a train heading into the city. Normally all of the inbound trains are emptier around rush hour because everyone is leaving the city to go out to the suburbs. It was incredibly hot yesterday too, which made walking home not so much fun. Sarah and I ended up shutting ourselves in the room with the air conditioner on and taking naps until the guys showed up for dinner at 9:30. Pete had brought a cake with hime for us to try since he didn't actually know what was in it. We made omelets and blueberry pancakes from muffin batter and then Mike cleaned our kitchen for us. They all had class this morning so everyone else left early to go to bed and Sarah and I sat up until we were too tired to stay awake anymore. Tonight a big group has gone to a play at Epidavros-I was supposed to go, but I really didn't want to get on a bus for 4 hours to see a play in Greek and then have to ride the bus all the way back to Athens tonight, plus it cost 40 euro and there is so much else I can buy with that money that it wasn't worth it. We're going to get gyros for dinner and walk around Monastiraki looking for tennis shoes since I need a new pair. Other than that not much has been going on, we only have a week left which is really sad, I don't want to leave. Mom and Pam will be here on Monday so we'll get to show them around and then we're leaving next Friday for our trip through Italy and France. I'll write more tomorrow. ~Rachel

You got me feelin' Hella good...

It's been a good few days. Yesterday was really fun, we slept in until after noon and then got up and worked on our papers for Dina's class. Most of the group decided to go see a play at Epidavros, but I wasn't feeling up to the multiple hour bus ride so I decided not to go. Sarah and I ended up getting all dressed up-everyone else had to go to the play and we felt like getting pretty-and walked around Plaka with Pete until we decided to get gyros for dinner and watch movies at the guys's apartment until everyone got back from the play. We watched Coming to America with Eddie Murphey, Ensino Man with Brendan Frasier, and The Gingerbread Man-one of the weirdest and most pointless movies I have ever seen. The Greeks only seem to get the worst American movies-tonight they are playing Jaws, some weird movie w/Faye Dunaway, a Stephen Segal movie, and Maverick w/Mel Gibson. We slept in this morning as well and got up around 11:30 and got dressed and slipped out of the apartment early so we wouldn't wake anyone else up and Sarah and I went shopping in Monastiraki. She had a few last souvenirs to pick up and I was browsing for tennis shoes. I found the perfect pair but they only had one pair left in my size and for some odd reason the store wouldn't sell them to me. We walked around for about 2 hours and after the heat became too unbearable decided to go see what the guys were doing because we were too lazy to walk all the way back to our apartment and it was easier just to go there and cool off before walking home. Tonight a bunch of people are going out for Stephanie's birthday and Sarah and I are having another movie marathon and ordering Domino's so I'm going to go and get ready for that. I'll write more later. ~Rachel

I'm sad and shoeless

This is my last night in Athens and I am horribly depressed. Our friends in the other group left this morning and it's all gone downhill from there. The past few days have been so amazing, I really can't stand to leave this place behind. This past weekend was so much fun, we hung out and watched really bad movie marathons the whole time and just enjoyed being in Athens with everyone. Monday night a big group of us went to Big Band Night at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and saw the Glenn Miller and the Duke Ellington Orchestras perform. Mom and Pam came with us but had to leave at intermission because their jet lag kicked in and they were falling asleep sitting up. The music was absolutely incredible, that evening was definately one of the best ever. Tuesday night we cooked chicken parmesan for dinner and everyone came over for our last big get together since most of them hadn't seen our apartment yet. Last night we ended up getting gyros and watching It Takes Two on tv at the boys's apartment before coming back here and looking at everything we had all bought. Laura tried on the corinthian helmet she bought her friend and then wrapped her greek flag around her shoulders and was walking around in her 5 inch stilettos-it was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. We stayed up late laughing and talking and listening to music until we were too tired to make any sense. We got up "early" this morning and went with everyone to meet their bus to the airport-it was so sad to say goodbye to all these people who have become such a big part of our lives. Even though we've only known each other for a month, we got to be so close that we were all like a big family. I'm going to miss walking through the streets of Plaka and Monastiraki, the atmosphere is so different from anything else I have ever experienced, I could spend all day, everyday just wandering through and never see all there is to see. Sarah and I went to the shoe store we like in Monastiraki to try on the shoes we found and then spent about an hour just walking around taking pictures of all the streets, making ourselves thoroughly depressed about the fact that we're leaving. Tomorrow is going to be a really sad day. I have to pick up all the souvenirs that I haven't bought yet and then spend the rest of my time just soaking up the city before our flight to Rome. I've got one last paper to turn in and I still need to pack so it will probably be a long night, I won't have internet access in Rome, but I will update when we get to Paris next week. ~Rachel

Ciao Bella

I am writing this from our hotel in Florence, everything here is going well. We've only gotten lost a few times and managed not to get killed driving through Rome. Tomorrow we are going to Paris where we will be until Sunday except for one day spent in the chateaux country seeing Chenonceau and Chambord. The shopping here was great, we spent yesterday in the market and then went through Cappelle Medici-the famous dome of Florence. I'll write more from Paris-our hotel there has free wireless so I will have more time. So far, the old man who sold me ice cream at the Vatican said I was bellisima, and the young guy who sold Mom leather goods yesterday said I was a hot angel! More later-I may never come back! -Rachel