Sunday, June 11, 2006

Well, the past two days have been absolutely incredible.  Our group is really good, and we've been having a lot of fun.  We've already done so much that it feels like we have been here for weeks. 

Friday afternoon we took a walking tour of the area and then met up with the boys for dinner and took a walk around Plaka and up to the Acropolis walkway to see it all lit up at night.  No matter how many times I see it, the view never ceases to completely amaze me. 

Saturday was really fun.  We did so much, it was like several days combined into one.  We got up around 10 and went to get fresh bread at one of the bakeries on Metropoleous, which we took back to our apartment and had with butter and honey for breakfast.  We decided to visit the Acropolis before it got too hot outside, so we took the shortcut through Plaka and walked up.  I just love it up there.  The view of the city is incredible and the Acropolis itself is one of the most beautiful and amazing places I have ever been/will ever be.  After spending about an hour wandering around the top, we walked down to the Areopagus, where we sat and ate the lunches we had picked up at the bakery.  That also is one of my favorite spots in Athens; the history in that one site is so rich and so ancient, it really is amazing to think that we sat and ate lunch where Paul adressed the Athenians. 

After lunch we split up; one group headed back to our apartment to wait for a lost luggage delivery and I went with the other group to take a detour through Anafiotika and Monastiraki.  We bought cherries at a street vendor, which are amazing delicious.  Ryan was just in awe of all the shopping and people; he hadn't realized how Sarah and I could have shopped all the time last year until he saw all of the stores.  We got back to the apartment and decided to get ready and head to the beach.  We took the tram to Glyfada, which takes about half an hour, and then spent about an hour and a half at the beach.  It started pouring down rain on the tram ride back so we wrapped up in our beach towels and ran back to our apartment, which thankfully is only about 2 minutes from Syntagma. 

The boys went back to their apartment and we decided to take the metro up to Dukas since we were already wet from the rain.  The neighborhood groceries are nice for small shopping but to get regular supplies and stock up, Dukas is still my preference.  We found the same 2 Euro bag of pasta that Sarah and I lived on last year, and bought cherry juice in bulk.  I've already gotten them addicted.  

We tried to take naps when we got done shopping, but our advisor woke us up to check on how things were going and we had him fix our shower and look into the internet situation.  He said we should be able to work that out on Tuesday, so hopefully wireless access will be forthcoming.  After he left we just got ready and walked over to Plaka to see if the boys wanted to get some dinner, since we were starving and not in the mood to cook.  We ended up getting dinner at one of the gyro restaurants near their apartment, it was nice to sit down and have an actual meal, although I still enjoy eating on the street. 

They were in the mood to do some exploring, so we walked back through Anafiotika to the back entrance of the Acropolis walkway and climbed back up the Areopagus, which is open all the time.  I must say, we missed out last year.  That view is absolutely stunning, we sat for almost two hours just hanging out and talking.  We will definitely be going back up there a lot, it was really cool. 

We left the Areopagus around 2am and walked back to the boys apartment and ended up concocting this weird plot for a short film involving some of the weird stuff left there by other students.  Laura and Ryan were two tourists discussing things they wanted to see in Athens, Amber was the videographer, John was dressed up in this weird german hat and carrying the devil's pitchfork and playing some crazy greek tour person, and I was the tour guide-giving totally random and false information about the sites.  Last night's subject was the acropolis, and we've decided to film a short every night about one of the sites we saw that day.  Laura has a really cool video camera and we're going to turn them into dvds when we get done. 

We finally left their apartment around 3:15 and the boys walked us home-even though it is really safe for the four of us to walk back on our own.  We had planned to get up early this morning and watch the changing of the guard in Syntagma, but we were all too tired and ended up sleeping until around 1pm.  I saw Mike walking down the street while I was eating breakfast-our apartment is ground level-so I leaned out the window and said hi to him, it should be fun to catch up and have someone else around that knows what they're doing.  I've been playing tour guide since we got here, which is actually quite fun, I'd be really good at it; if I do come to grad school here I can do that as a side job. 

We're at an internet cafe right now and are going to go get lunch with the boys when we get done here.  Our plan is to hike Lykavitos tonight, but we are all so exhausted I'm not sure it will happen.  I kind of want to just wander around Monastiraki for awhile, which would be a relaxing way to see the city, and I'd like to meet the Geneseo group since they have arrived.

Its so amazing how everything just comes back to you; I haven't been here in a year and yet it feels like it was just yesterday.  I've just sort of picked up where I left off, just with a different group of people.  I really do love it here.

I've got my photo printer here to make my own postcards so leave a comment with your address if you would like one, they are really cool.

Kali Orestia!

~RLM