My luggage finally arrived at 1:00 Tuesday night, I just happened to look out the window and see them sitting on the front porch.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic.

So, I pull the stupid suitcases into the house and start unzipping the first one-I notice that the zipper isn't working very well and seems to be caught on something...the pretty scarf I bought a friend for her birthday.  Not only is it caught on the scarf, but the entire zipper track is soaked in a quarter inch coat of thick greek honey.  The small jar of honey I had purchased in Maren's great-grandmother's village, Livadia, had been sealed and placed inside a ziploc bag so that in case of an accident, it wouldn't leak.  Unfortunately, during one of the searches of my baggage, someone stupidly ripped a large hole in that ziploc bag and then failed to re-screw the lid of the honey on. They managed to put the honey back in the bag, but it didn't really matter because they had torn a giant hole in the bag to remove the jar...leaving an open jar of honey in a bag with a big tear. 

Seriously.

The honey is also all over the inside of the suitcase, covering my stuff in various degrees of nastiness.  Thankfully I had put all of my clothes in spacebags, so they were protected, but everything else had been dumped out of the ziploc bags I had used to organize.  The bag my jewelry was in had been ripped open and dumped out-so my expensive lava and citrine jewelry set was completely covered in honey.  I had earrings and rings stuck to various other packages and items (like my brand new photo printer) with layers of honey.  The cool Santorini luminary I had bought as a gift was shattered into a million pieces-which would not have happened during normal suitcase wear and tear. 

Not only were all of my souvenirs disgusting, but the large ziploc bag storing my electronic equipment was missing: my camera cord, camera battery charger, extra camera battery, iPod cord, cell phone charger, energizer rechargeable battery charger, rechargeable batteries, and 512 MB jump drive...all gone. 

I now have to file a claim with Travelocity (through whom I purchased travel insurance), Delta (because they lost my luggage), and TSA (because it was during their search that all of the damage occured).  I was told by the Travelocity insurance people that it takes 3 business days for a claim form to be mailed, 4-6 weeks for the claim to be processed, and then hopefully I will be reimbursed (if I'm lucky) for all the damages/loss that occured.

Stupid travel.  I'm never flying Delta again.  If they had managed not to lose my suitcase in the first place, I would have had it at customs, it wouldn't have been searched, and none of this would have happened....and I wouldn't be re-buying $200 of electronic equiptment, all of which was brand new to begin with. 

So, long story short: I now have to figure out how to remove honey from all of my possessions, and then figure out how I'm going to file all these claims and replace all the stuff I'm missing since I can't use my camera, cell phone, or iPod until I do so.

grr.

I spent yesterday on campus with madre, helping her with her class of Israeli students visiting from Mar Elias University.  They were all upset because the conflict going on is hitting close to home, quite literally.  It was a really interesting day, to get to hear a discussion about the situation from people who have lived with it and are actually experiencing it first hand.  One girl made a particularly poignant comment, she said, "They can't call it a war because it will make it worse, that's why they call it a conflict...as long as its just a conflict it won't be as bad."  Listening to all of them talk and seeing what they are going through made me feel like a stupid person because I don't have to deal with things like that, I know how much of a blessing it is to be in my situation, but sometimes being this 'lucky' makes me feel like scum.  It was an interesting day.

I also got to see Amber and Laura; Amber passed by the classroom on her way to the computer lab and then Laura came over and hung out with me for the afternoon.  The Israeli's were painting tiles as their art project for the day, so Laura and I got to work on extra ones and sat around painting and talking, and occassionaly helping the students.  It was really fun, and good to see her. 

Then last night, Sonia came over to look at dresses to borrow for a wedding she is photographing this weekend, and then we went to McAlister's for a late dinner-we were both starving and she had never been there.  After dinner, madre and I watched the new episode of Project Runway (which has been simultaneously picked up by NBC and airs there one day after it airs on Bravo, which is incredibly exciting b/c I can now watch it when I go back to school!).

Today we are going to see Pirates 2!  Finally.  Of course, they were all traitors and went to see it without me (which still makes me mad), and then didn't want to go see it when I got home b/c they had already seen it.  But today is the day, and hopefully we will do a double feature and see The Devil Wears Prada as well-madre doesn't want to, but I don't care.  I'm excited, I've been looking forward to both movies since I left.  I also finally got all of my scrapbooking stuff lined up so I can get started on that, it should be a pretty good day.

~RLM

My luggage is still somewhere in Europe-I'm not even sure where at this point.  When I talked to baggage claim last night, I was told they would be on a flight out today and I would get them around 9pm.  So when they hadn't arrived by 10pm, I called the baggage service and was told that my bags were never even scheduled to leave today.  If there is available space, my bags may be sent out tomorrow on a flight from France.  I'm not sure how or why they got to France, but that is what I was told.  I was already upset with Delta to begin with and now am incredibly irritated; this has been the worst flight experience I have ever endured, and I fly a lot for someone my age.  The flight to Athens was awful, the service and plane were sub-par and then on the way back, all 3 of my flights were delayed causing me to almost miss my connection once, and the second time causing me to arrive in Indy almost an hour late.  And now, I have been told that my baggage arriving tomorrow isn't guaranteed and that it may take until next week for them to get here. 

To make a long story short...I will never fly Delta again and will be filing a complaint.

Now, I'm exhausted and furious, so I'm going to bed.

~RLM

P.S. I'm babysitting Grace and Mackenzie tomorrow, which will be lots of fun!

P.S.S. I finally got to listen to the new Guster cd (which has been sitting in my house since June 20th) and it is fantabulous.

I'm home.

~RLM

P.S. My luggage got lost in Amsterdam.

good-bye Athens.

I'm leaving today.

~RLM

GotD: Hellas - Greece

And all at once the crowd begins to sing:
"Sometimes the hardest thing
and the right thing
are the same..."

Currently Listening Stars Are Blind By Paris Hilton gotta love MAD see related

"What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-bye... I don't care if it's a sad good-bye or a bad good-bye, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it.  If you don't, you feel even worse." ~Catcher in the Rye

Its my last day in Athens.

I'm feeling oddly calm right now, but I know that won't last long.  Once Maren leaves, the sadness will set in.

We got up at 5 this morning to take John, Ryan, Laura, and Amber to the airport.  Maren and I decided to ride the metro with them out to Doukisis Plakentias-the last stop before they switch trains to go out to the air port on the suburban railway.  It was sad, but also odd because it felt like we were the ones leaving instead of them.  Maren and I had to go back across to the other side of the tracks to take the metro back to Athens, so we actually left first and waved goodbye to them from the train as they stood on the platform. 

Athens feels like home to me now; so familiar and comfortable, I really feel like I live here.  I know technically we did 'live' here this summer but now I feel like I have lived here in a deeper sense of the word.  I really have left a piece of my heart here, and it's not the part I thought I had lost last year and came looking to find.  I came back here hoping to get over the whole boy situation, and realized that Athens has hold of a completely different part of me. 

Its hard to believe another 5 weeks of my life are over, it has been so amazing-it is hard to even put into words how much this experience has meant to me.  Even though it really sucks right now, I'm glad I have the opportunity this year to take some time to say goodbye to the city.  Last year I was literally rushed out of here and didn't really get a chance to make peace with everything that had happened, which is why I felt such an urgency to come back this year.  The quote from Catcher in the Rye says it perfectly...I need to say goodbye.

Last night was wonderful.  The four of us took a long walk around Athens-we literally made a giant circle.  We started out on Mitropoleous, walked down to Monastiraki and picked up the beginning of Adrianou and walked down along the walls of the Agora, past the Stoa of Attolus and Hephaestion and then turned at Thissiou to walk back around towards the Acropolis.  We went up to the Areopagus (or Areos Pagos as the Greeks call it) and sat for about an hour, taking in the view and making peace with the city-its important to take moments like that, to just sit in silence and absorb all that is and has been.  After we left the Areopagus, we walked back up the Dionysou Areopagitou-the paved pedestrian walkway leading to and around the Acropolis-and finished our giant circle by walking up Amalias past Hadrian's Arch, Olympian Zeus, and the National Gardens to Syntagma Square.  It was the perfect way to end our stay in Athens, we went up to the Areopagus our first weekend so it seems only fitting that we spent our last night there.

Now its time for me to end my stay in Athens.  My plan so far for today:

*Walk Maren to Syntagma and say goodbye before she meets her relatives.

*Come back to the apartment and get some sleep (we only got about 3 hours last night).

*Go up to Syntagma and work on uploading pictures to Snapfish so I can order my prints.

*Hang out with Mike for a bit since he is stuck here too.

*Bazaar to stock up on Amita, Pita Bakes, and Apple Orbit.  And get a yoghurt and Milko for tomorrow's breakfast.

*Starbucks to read, journal, and reflect...and get a Mango frappuccino and piece of cheesecake.

*Watching Under the Tuscan Sun on my laptop before bed.

I have to be up around 5:30 tomorrow morning to catch a taxi in Syntagma at 6:30 to get to the airport by 7:15 to check in for my 9:00 flight.  Then I have a connection in Amsterdam before flying to Cincinatti and connecting to Indy.  Its going to be a long day.  But then I'll be home, and this will be over.

~RLM

The biggest adventure you can take

is to live the life of your dreams.

(and the cool thing is...I am)

GotD: oneiro - dream

We cleaned the apartment today and started packing, we also had to move our mattresses back into our respective bedrooms because they are leaving early in the morning and don't want to have to do it then.  I think I might cry.

I'm so incredibly depressed to be leaving-its not the city, and its not the prospect of going home, its the people, the atmosphere, the camaraderie we have established.  Its been like nothing I've ever experienced before, deeper than last summer (because last year I really only had that with Sarah and Pete) and different than the connection I have with my friends at school (even though my friends at school are my best friends, the sheer amazing-ness of what the 4 of us have experienced here changes things).  The intensity of our living situation creates such a deep and immediate bond, its been wonderful and I'm incredibly sad to see it end.

I think I'm also sad because I have no idea when I will ever be back here.  I would love to say that Grad school is the perfect opportunity, but unless the degree program gets stronger, I will probably be going elsewhere.  For now I'm going to settle with the hope that in the next two years, things will improve, and then plan on going to the main campus and coming here for a semester or two.

Their flight leaves at 9 tomorrow morning, so I am going to get up and walk them to the metro, I might ride to the end of the line with them until they have to change trains, and then come back here and spend the day by myself.  Hopefully I will sleep most of the day, and then I'm going to go up Metropolis to the Starbucks and sit with my journal and book, and try not to be too depressed.  Hopefully I will get a lot of work done on my Core 200 journal-I'll have plenty of time since I don't like to be walking around by myself and I certainly don't want to be sitting around here.

Today has been dubbed, 'the last day.'  We had a farewell lunch with several of the administrators from the school, they treated us to a delicious traditional meal at a Peristeria around the corner from the campus. 

After lunch, we went to our local sweet shop and stocked up on baklava and kataifi to take home, and then came back to the apartment and started the cleaning/packing process.  I really wish I was going home tomorrow, I don't want to be here alone. 

The boys and Adrienne are coming over to the apartment tonight for dinner, we are cooking everything we have left in the kitchen so it should be interesting.  Then after dinner we are going to get dessert at the rooftop bar in Plaka and then walk up to the Areopagus-a fitting end to our trip since that is how we spent our first weekend. 

Must try not to get too depressed and console myself with the knowledge that I will at least get to see Laura and Amber on Wednesday, it won't be Athens but at least we'll get to hang out. 

Kali spera.

~RLM

GotD: adio - good bye

~sob~

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.  Thinking about things, the past, the future, where I want to be and who I am.  I've also been caught up in memories, reliving last year even more intensely than normal.  Its been one year.

So hard to believe that it has been a year, so hard to believe everything that has happened, everything I've done. 

We had planned to go to the Diana Krall concert at the Acropolis tonight, but it was sold out so we went to dinner at Hard Rock instead, which was really fun in a totally different way. 

I'm so sad all of a sudden, this wave just hit me.  I've grown so attached to these people, so attached to this city, I don't want it to end.  I'm also rather homesick now.  Classes are over and I'm just ready to go home, I hate the waiting.  I also hate knowing that while everyone else leaves on Saturday, I will be here all by myself until Sunday.  I thought that plan was brilliant when I didn't realize how much everyone would mean to me, now it seems stupid and depressing. 

Tomorrow is the girls' last day so we are going to the Agora, taking a walk through Plaka, eating lunch with Bill and Ino, having a traditional dinner out at a taverna, and then taking a midnight walk around the Acropolis to sit on the Areopagus for awhile.  Should be a really good but sad day, I just need to keep my spirits up.  At least I will see Laura sometime next week, its so nice to have another friend in Indy now-we are going to hang out, eat greek food, scrapbook, and watch Troy.  Its going to be awesome.

Thats all for now, I just needed a little ramble.

~RLM

We slept in until Mike and Brian came over at noon to wake us up for our day trip; they had been mis-informed about what time we were leaving so we were still asleep when they came over.  We got Alpin and left here around 1:30; we walked to the train station at Monastiraki, making a pit stop at Starbucks since we were walking right past it.  They were out of chocolate chips to make frappuccinos with so instead they substituted half a chocolate chip cookie; I must say it was quite delicious, I had ordered a chocolate chip cream frap, and since they had to substitute it ended up tasting like liquid cookie.  (Sonia-you should try this out, instead of putting chips in just throw half a cookie in the blender, it was amazing). 

The bus 'station' for Attica buses is about 4 blocks from the National Archeological museum, so we took the train from Monastiraki to Victoria and walked the few streets over to the street where the buses park.  We decided to take the coastal road bus down to Sounio to get a good tour of the Attic coast and then planned to take the inland road bus back because it is shorter and it would be dark outside so the view wouldn't matter.  The bus left at 2:30 and we did indeed get a wonderful view of the coast; the water and rocks here are like nothing you have ever seen, its absolutely breathtaking.  It made me realize how much I'm going to miss being here, the atmosphere and the landscape are so perfectly attuned to my personality-that is, I love the contrast of the city and the sea, the juxtaposition of sprawling development and sprawling untouched nature.  It is amazing.

Sounio really is one of the coolest little places we have been.  I loved it.  There were just 7 of us, our apartment and Mike, Brian, and Alpin; the group was really fun.  The bus dropped us off right at the base of the temple so we walked up and explored it first.  The Temple of Poseidon at Sounio was built in 444 BC and is relatively intact; 15 of the 34 orginal columns remain and its position on the cliffs overlooking Cape Sounion make it an incredibly breathtaking scene, especially at sunset.  We arrived around 4:15 and spent about an hour and a half at the temple site, the view is amazing and the breeze made the intense temperatures much more enjoyable.  We clambered down a little path cut into the hill side to the small village and beach below where we ate dinner at a taverna.   It was probably the most fun Greek meal we have had so far, the service and food were good and the conversation was excellent.  We stayed at the restaurant for easily two hours and then walked across the road to the small beach, where we sat for about 45 minutes.  The water was relatively warm, considering it was 7pm, but we didn't actually go swimming, just waded out about waist deep for awhile.  Laura and I walked down the small rickety dock, the song "Sitting on the dock of the bay" stuck in our heads, and took touristy pictures.  After we dried off, we hiked back up the cliff side path to the Temple to watch the sunset.  It is probably the most famous sunset in Greece, rivaling the views from Oia in Santorini and Lykavitos Hill in Athens.  Out of all the sunsets we have watched on this trip, Sounio was definitely the best-it was the only one unblocked by clouds-and the view was breathtaking.  It was an incredibly enjoyable afternoon and evening, one of the better ones. 

The bus ride back to Athens was a bit eventful; about halfway back to Athens a group of teenage boys migrated to the back of the bus and started talking to Alpin.  They were all 17 and under, so once they found out Laura and I were over 20 they left us alone, but for about half an hour we were treated to the typical Greek guy trying to pick up an American girl act.  It was harmless and would have been funny had we not been exhausted and had they not been so loud.  Their idea of trying to impress the girls was to serenade us with traditional greek love songs, the bus driver even let them get on the intercom system.  Of course, we had no idea what they were saying, so they were offended when we didn't return their attention.  The whole european way of thinking is rather amusing to me sometimes when it comes to situations like that; that would never happen at home and I don't think that idea is exactly understood over here.  They gave up when they realized that A) we were all a lot older than them and B) Alpin, Brian, and Mike were there with us.  At least now I can say that I have been serenaded on a bus full of strangers in a foreign language, always makes for a good story.

When we got back to Athens, some of Alpin's greek friends had invited us out to Karaoke so Laura, Maren, and I changed and headed down to Monastiraki with him and Brian.  We decided to go for a European look, and spent half an hour in the bathroom with two cans of hairspray trying to make my hair look even remotely cool-the faux-hawk we were attempting didn't quite turn out as planned so we gave up and just went with it, and I got to wear the shirt-dress that I bought at the H&M in Budapest, which was very exciting.  We walked through Monastiraki, past the Hephaestion to meet Alpin's friends, whom we had met briefly a few other times.  One of them is named Hector-which is so very exciting-I now have a Greek friend named Hector.   We went to a place called Mike's, which was free b/c we are foreigners.  Laura and I split a can of sprite and tried to figure out what song to sing, while our new friend Sandy tried to cheer up Maren who was in an odd mood.  We eventually decided on One Way or Another, by Blondie since we knew all the words, and we coerced Alpin and Sandy into singing with us.  Public humiliation does wonders for one's mood and self esteem-seriously, everyone should try it some time, its so much fun.  There was another group of Americans there (a couple of Marines stationed in Athens who were very nice), but the majority of the crowd was the group we were with, about 25 people.  They were all really friendly, when Mike's closed, we took taxis back to Syntagma, and were delighted to find that McDonalds is still open at 3:00 in the morning.  Laura and I split a large fry and the group decided to head up to the Acropolis walkway, which is much cooler if you are going to be sitting pointlessly outside.  We situated ourselves in a little secluded square off the main pedestrian walkway and sat around talking for almost two hours; I got to hear my first "Macedonia is Greek" conversation as well as my first Greece-Turkey-Cyprus debate, it was wonderful.  Mind you, we were hanging out with a group of 19 year old, fresh out of high school students and having a lengthy conversation about international politics, foreign languages, and the benefits of our respective educational systems.  At 4am.  By the Acropolis.

This is why I love this country.

Today I had class; the professor handed back our midterm papers and then discussed them for the remainder of class-normally this would bother me, but I got an 'A' and the prof. thought it was excellent. 

Tonight we are going to cook dinner at the apartment and then probably walk back to where we were last night in Monastiraki by the Hephaestion, it is really gorgeous all lit up at night and we haven't really been through there before.  Tomorrow we are going to get up early and head down to the beach, we found a cool one yesterday that is worth checking out and are going to do that instead of going to Spetses.  I feel like I said goodbye to the islands on Saturday, and I can't bear the thought of getting on another boat.

That's all for now.  I've got to go to the ATM and then walk over to Bazaar to get some bread, juice, and yoghurt (the staples of our greek diet) before the other two get out of class so that we can make dinner when they get done, and then I need to at least do a little work on my last Philosophy paper. 

Kali Spera.

~RLM

GotD:  malakas - greek curse word, taught to us by our greek friends, not generally good to use in public if you don't want to get the locals mad at you. Sounds very similar to malaga, which means bad.

We had originally planned to go to Spetses for the day, but due to budgetary reasons we decided on Aegina instead.  The whole day cost less than 20 Euro; both boat tickets cost 11 euro, bus tickets to and from the beach cost 2.20, and we spent 2.75 on a taxi to and from a church that Maren wanted to go see in the middle of the island, and dinner cost 5 euro at a restaurant near the port.  It was a really relaxing day, but so far Aegina is my least favorite place we've been.  It was great to get out of the city and spend the day on the beach, but the island just wasn't as pretty as other places we have been/looked into. 

I'm hoping to get to Spetses one day this week, I may miss class on Wednesday and take another day trip since this is our last week and everyone else gets done with their classes on Tuesday. 

Yesterday was a lazy day, although we got a lot accomplished.  Thursday night, we got bored so we decided to watch all of Grey's Anatomy season 1 on my laptop since I brought my dvds with me and didn't get finished until almost 4 am.  Mike had passed out on the floor of our living room because he thought the show was stupid, so we woke him up and sent him home before going to bed.  We slept until almost 1 in the afternoon yesterday, and then got up to go out to the Olympic Complex at Irini.  Mike hung out with us for most of the afternoon because his whole apartment went camping on Paros this weekend.  We crashed back at the apartment for the evening and ended up having a McDonalds-fest and playing on our computers for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow we are planning a day trip down the coast to Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon and hang out at the beach.  I'm rather excited because we missed the Temple last year and it is one of the highlights of Greece. 

For now, we are going to shower and have the last box of Kraft macaroni for dinner and possibly go see a movie at the rooftop theatre.

Kali Spera.

~RLM

GotD: Ena isitrio gia (Aegina) parakalo. - One ticket to (Egina) please.

*edit* 1:24 am

P.S. The Lake House is officially one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen.  Definitely not worth the 7 euro we just payed to watch it, although the rooftop theatre almost makes up for the lack of plot/interesting dialogue/good acting. 

Just needed a little rant for the evening, now I'm off to bed.

Kali Nichta. ~RLM

Last night was our friend Chris's last night in Athens so we got dressed up and climbed Lykavitos Hill to eat dinner and watch the sunset-it has the best view in Athens.  Laura, Maren, and I wore the dresses we bought in Plaka which was really cool, we were slightly over dressed for the occassion, but it was fun.  Dinner was incredible, as was the view from the restaurant; you can see the entire city, which is a lot larger than most people assume. 

We walked all the way down the hill after dinner b/c we couldn't get taxis at the top, and then rode back to Syntagma before getting changed at the apartment and heading down the street to Christo's to meet some other people and watch the game.  France and Portugal were playing and there was a pretty good crowd assembled.  It felt very European to sit at a sidewalk cafe and watch the game with a group of friends.

Laura and I assembled a care package for Chris to take on the plane so we left Christo's early from watching the game to stop by a kiosk and pick up the rest of our supplies.  Adrienne slept over last night since we didn't get back from dinner and watching the game until late, so the boys walked over this morning and woke us up on the way to the airport.  It was sad to see him leave, it felt like he was part of our group even though he was only here for two weeks. 

Its even sadder to think that we are leaving next week.  We only have 9 days left; its gone by so fast, yet seems like we've known each other forever.  The experience of being involved in an intense living situation like this creates such deep friendships, I love that I have had so many opportunities to get to know people whose memory I will cherish forever.  My circle of friends is so much larger because of these 3 different study abroad experiences, its really incredible to think about. 

We are planning a short island excursion for this weekend, as a last hurrah before we go home.  Some of the Geneseo group are going camping on Paros, but we aren't looking to spend that much money or stay that long so it will probably just be a small group of us taking a long day trip to Spetses, another island in the Argo-Saronic Gulf about an hour from Hydra where we went three weeks ago.  We're also planning a trip down the coast to Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon, one of the more famous temples in Greece.  The rest of the group also has to take the train out to Irini to see the modern Olympic complex for their class, so we are going to do that in the morning and then leave for the island early on Saturday. 

Tonight my plan is to find dinner (probably Subway b/c it is cheap/close/and I'm craving a meatball sub), buy stamps at the post office to mail my many postcards (its going to cost a fortune), and then possibly start outlining my final paper for Philosophy of Religion-my topic is the Problem of Evil.  I'm also going to try and upload some pictures because I got a coupon for Kodakgallery that expires tomorrow, so I may be posting a link to those soon.

Kali Spera!

~RLM

GotD: Hronia Pola! - Many Years (Happy Birthday)
in honor of V-nasty and Retta's birthday today

P.S. I got an A on my Philosophy midterm exam, I was absolutely thrilled.