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