volcano woman

I went to see Al Gore give his speech on global warming at Megaro Mousikis tonight.  Unfortunately, I only got to hear the last 15 minutes of his presentation due to my professor's lack of forethought in 'planning' our excursion.  I use the term planning very lightly here because he did not tell us we were going to the presentation until an hour and a half after it had started-and 30 minutes into our class period.  30 minutes we spent sitting in the classroom, wondering where he was.  He showed up just as we were planning to leave, and then drug us two metro stops across Athens to hear a speech we already knew was over.

We did, at least, get to sneak into the auditorium at the very end, so I can at least say that I saw Al Gore in person. I've read a lot about his presentation and would have loved to have seen it, especially since it was free.  Too bad our prof is nuts!  We also had our picture taken with the leader of the PASOK party, which is the major opposition party in Greece.  Lena got so excited that she called her entire family. It was pretty cool.

I just got back from a little outing in Plaka with some of our group, we had originally planned to go to Brettos, but ended up getting crepes at the rooftop cafe.  They dropped me off and headed out to a club.  I probably would have joined them were it not for the fact that I have to get up early tomorrow and meet the Vice Chancellor of the University.  As it is, I'm going to be exhausted.

As an update, the drama has somewhat subsided, although the school may be getting involved-which will probably just make things worse.  College students don't take well to being reprimanded, so we'll see how that goes.

The title of this post refers to the lecture we had last night in my Economic Geography class, where my professor compared women to volcanoes and the two theories of Human Geography.  In the first theory, the environment and humans have only one possible outcome - a volcano/volcano woman can only lead to catastrophe; the second theory says there are many possibilities for the interaction of humans and the environment - likewise a volcano/woman can be handled in many different ways to produce different outcomes, only one of which may be catastrophe.  It was a very strange metaphor, but absolutely hysterical to hear in a classroom setting.

I'm exhausted, and tomorrow is going to be a very long day. After my meeting in the morning, I'm going to put in several hours of internship work, and then hopefully get an adequate siesta.

We're headed to Andros for the weekend, a group of 11, we got ferry tickets and reservations in a beach hotel.  I can't wait; I really need to get out of this city.

~RLM

PS. Thanks for all the support and comments.

little Italy

I was just served a cone of fresh banana gelato by a very attractive twenty-something year old Greek guy, at the organic market approximately 45 seconds from our apartment.

That ice cream cone may have been the best thing that has happened since I got to this country.

We are leaving for Andros early tomorrow morning.  So early that we have to be on the train when it starts running at 6am, to get to the bus when it leaves, to get to the port of Rafina, which is 45 minutes away, for our 8am boat to the island.  We have reservations in a touristy little beach village, which is not my ideal location, but what the group preferred.  It may make things complicated if we actually want to see more of the island, but no one else seems bothered by that.

At this point, I am just so excited to be getting out of this city for a few days that I don't really even care what we do.  I'm going to take a stock pile of good books, a lot of sunscreen, and a fully charged iPod and set of camera batteries and just see where my mood takes me.  If that means I have to spend the whole weekend by myself, so be it.

I'm skipping my class tonight, today was far too stressful - I had to meet with some people at the school, work in the office for a few hours, and figure out our plans for tomorrow - so I am going to make some pasta with Vanessa, pack for the island, and call it an early night!

~RLM
  

Andros

My brain does not want to work.

This weekend was utterly exhausting, which is ironic, because the whole point of this weekend was to relax and rejuvinate.

For now, I'll just post pictures and minor commentary, I'm too tired to write properly.

The port of Rafina

Passing Euboea on our way to Andros

The really weird/gross traditional Andriot Omelette I ordered for lunch.

Girly photo on the beach

Batsi, the little beach village we stayed in

Sitting by the water in Andros Town

Outside the Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art in Andros Town...yes, we really are that cultured, we went to a museum on our island Saturday

My 'cute' feet

The girls having far too much fun on the ferry back to Athens

Hopefully I'll work up the energy for a full post tomorrow; I really did like this island, I just wish we had been able to see more of it.

~RLM

playing intern

So, I was signed up for this Economic Geography class because it is really important information to have, especially for getting into grad school, but it now looks like the course is going to be complete crap.  Our professor is crazy - remember our insane Al Gore adventure - and has yet to talk about anything relevant to economics or geography.  We did, however, learn a lot about the similarities between volcanoes and womens' personalities.

So, I emailed Dr. Novak and worked it out.  I'm going to be withdrawing from the politics class and just working on my internship, basically just working and then translating the amount of work into the equivalent amount of credit hours.  I was only required to do 80 hours over the course of the 8 weeks, and in the last 3, I've already clocked 79 hours.

My official duties as intern include sitting in the office until they give me something to do, showing all the students around Athens whenever they need to go anywhere, answering any number of random questions about Greece, and acting as the official social planner of the Odyssey program.  I get to plan group outings! And be in charge! hahahaha!

This week, I'm either taking them down to Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon, or dragging them to the Cycladic Museum to get some culture.  

In addition to my intern duties, I'm also working on a sort of Athens guide for future use of the students.  I'm going to combine all my personal knowledge about where to go, what to do, and also a section on culture that talks about how to act/interact in Greece.  Culture is such a big part of life here, and so far, this group is still having issues adapting to concepts like leisurely meals, less personal space, and "Greek time," and it is getting more and more difficult to explain that this is just how life operates here.  Yes, it is different from the States, and it is different for a reason.  These people's lives still function normally, they just do it differently.

I'm also compiling a reading list.  I sat down with Henry Miller's Colossus of Maroussi last night to get back into it; I left off half-way through last year and am trying to get caught up before our excursion this weekend.  I think part of the reason my experiences have been so rich is that I bring books with me, I read ahead of time and do my research; I have so many different sources to draw from when I am here that I think it has helped me see Greece in a different light.  I think it is important for people to have background knowledge, to know at least something more about the country they are going to be living in other than the fact that there are pretty beaches and lots of old ruins.

I'm also toying with the idea of making 'real-life' postcards.  So many people come here expecting everything to look like images of Oia and Mykonos, that they are disappointed with the reality of Athens - a big, European capital city.  But modern Athens is beautiful, it's just different from the postcard images.  So I may put together a series, even if it's just for my own personal use.  But I think it could be really cool.

Today I have to go into the office early, I didn't make it in yesterday, so I have some official time to catch up on.  I also have to make a little pit stop at the Greek National Tourism Organization's office to get maps and information for the whole group.  I think I'm also going to suggest maybe a group meeting to discuss excursion planning-because the point of this experience is to learn to do things on your own, and so far, I'm doing all the work.

~RLM 

heat wave

It is officially HOT here in Athens.

It hit 100 today and will probably stay at or above that line for the next week.

I dropped my International Relations class this morning, and my exchange with the registrar went something like this:

Me: I need to withdraw from my class

Her: But aren't you only taking one class

Me: Yes

Her: But you paid for six credits

Me: Actually, I didn't pay for anything

Her: blank stare

Me: My mom works at the main campus, so I get a tuition waiver.

Her: You got a discount?

Me: No, I didn't pay for the tuition.  Just the apartment.

Her: Oh.  So why are you dropping the class?

Me: I can't take it. I'm interning, so I'm just going to do more internship hours instead of taking the class.

Her: Okay, I mean, I guess I'll do it then.

I swear I'm not crazy.

Now that I have my nights free (seriously, 8-10pm class is the worst idea ever), I'm going to be planning excursions for the rest of the Odyssey students.  And now, I'm headed to the new Starbucks in Plaka for a little 'me' time.  I need to get all these voices (aka, the other 11 girls living in my apartment) out of my head.

~RLM 

Update on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 02:50PM by rachellake

Ashley, your advice was priceless.

I think I laughed for about 15 minutes straight.

getting creative

I made this really good dish for dinner tonight, just throwing ingredients together in the hopes that it would turn out well.

Orzo & Chicken

1/4 cup frozen chopped onions
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 - 1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
salt, pepper, dash of fresh cilantro
1 cup of orzo
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

I sauteed the onions, tomatoes, and garlic in olive oil, then added the lemon juice, butter, salt, pepper, and cilantro.  Then I added the orzo and let it simmer uncooked for a minute or so, and then added the chicken broth.  Then I added enough water to continue cooking the pasta, and let it simmer until it was done.  The chicken was pan seared with just salt, olive oil, and a bit of lemon juice until it was done.  Then I poured the cooked orzo into the pan with the chicken to let it cook down. 

It was amazing.

I'm exhuasted tonight; it was too hot to even take a nap during siesta this afternoon, so I'm fading quickly.  I'm supposed to go see a movie at the rooftop theatre tonight, but I don't know if I can last that long.

~RLM