the good life

Our first night in Athens got off to a smashing start. We got ready and went out to the local convenience store for snacks and water, I bought a Hellas Vogue, and then came back to the apt to drop off our stuff. We walked around for a while trying to find a restaurant Dina recommended to us, and ended up in the second place she suggested, Delphi, a small restaurant around the corner from us. Dinner was fantastic, I got grilled chicken and they served huge hard rolls and a pitcher of water. The french fries were weird and really greasy so I probably won't try those again. We walked down to the post office and used the pay phones to call home, there is an eight hour time difference so 9pm here was one in the afternoon in Indy. We walked back to the apartment and ended up getting our key stuck in the lock b/c the lock is broken. We couldn't get the key out, we couldn't get inside, and the person on the other side of the door trying to come out and walk his dog was stuck too. Finally the building manager came down and they ended up using the security lever to open the double doors and were able to eventually get the key out, the other man's key didn't work either so now they have to replace the lock and the door of our building is open. Luckily we're on the fourth floor and have security locks on our door so were still safe. We got to bed about 10pm and slept like the dead until 1:40am when the garbage collector woke us up. I don't know what they were doing but it was incredibly loud. The incredibly bright sunlight streaming through our wooden shutters woke us up bright and early at 7 this morning and we've been up since then. Sara and I got dressed and walked to the small grocer/deli next door to the UINDY admissions office and got Frosted Flakes, milk, and juice for breakfast and then walked back and ate on our balcony. The balcony was really dirty so we decided to mop the floor, which is what we did for the last half hour; I watered the mostly dead plants-we have exactly two blooms on about 10 big pots. We still have an hour and a half before Dina comes to pick us up for orientation and I have no idea what to do with the time, we're going to spend the rest of the day walking so exploring seems kind of pointless. Laura just came in and loaned me her voltage converter so I will probably end up straightening my hair and then finding something to wear for our walking tour. I'll write more later and try to upload some pictures of our apartment and neighborhood. ~Rachel