Helloooo!
Lots has been happening in Greece the last few weeks and I thought I should give an update. If any of you have been watching the news you know that Greece is in lots of debt. We're not talking like a few mil, it's crazy amounts of cash. The national deficit is the highest of any country in the EU and the people who run the EU (whoever they might be) are not so happy about it. Basically Greece has been put on a budget cause it's too big of a spenda. This budget got announced last week and there has been lots of resistance by the Greek people. Taxes are being rasied from an already crazy 19% to 21% and government worker's salaries are being cut by up to 8%. A huge amount of people here work for the government so that is a lot of people with a lot less money than they are used to. As a result of the budget, there have been three general strikes in the last 2.5 weeks. When Greece does strikes, I think they use the motto go big or go home. There aren't just a few people taking off work and picketing, there are hundreds of thousands. Public transportation has been shut down for each of these strikes which makes it extremely difficult to get anywhere. Busses, trolleys and the metro shut down, as well as ferries and the airport. When the air traffic controllers strike everyone goes nuts because no one can get in or out of the country if you don't have a car. Last friday I went to a "peaceful protest" in Syntagma square with my roommate Nikki. It was insane. The sheer amount of people was just crazy. The communist party was taking up blocks and blocks in front of Parliament. There were tens of thousands of people, but they weren't really doing anything. One man was talking at a podium and people would clap randomly after he spoke but for the most part everyone was just kind of hanging out. There were tons of flags and people, but it really was a peaceful protest while we were there.

Nikki and I went early, which we did on purpose because we knew things might get out of hand when the march of the labor union got to Syntagma. We were right, and I'm glad we got out of there. The anarchists, who are usually kids about my age or so, wore masks and attacked the man speaking and threw rocks at the riot police. They also chased the ceremonial guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which isn't very nice but kind of makes me giggle. If you've ever seen a picture of these guards you know why I'm laughing. They wear these frilly dress things and tights and tassled shoes with pom poms, they are men. I am imagining these men trying to run in that outfit and it just gets me everytime. Anyway...after the anarchists attacked the police a riot broke out. The police tear gassed the crowd and threw flash bombs, which are basically just these things that make insanely loud noises. It didn't last too long from what I hear and the only people that were directly involved were the anarchists and the riot police. No one was hurt too badly but it is still kind of a scary/bizzarre thing to be happening down the road from me. Apparently this isn't anything new for the Greeks, there were bad riots a few years ago when the police shot a teenage boy. The riots that are happening now are toned way down from what they were a few years ago. As far as my safety and being safe while traveling to Greece, I feel fine. I live in kind of an old person neighborhood and though I'm close to Syntagma I feel safe. The strikes and protests are always called ahead of time so you know where and when they are happening so you can totally avoid the conflicts. The touristy and residential areas don't see any action at all, just the government buildings. Basically I feel safe, but the strikes are a total pain because it's so hard to get places or do anything (because it's all closed) and if Greece doesn't start making up its deficit things here could get pretty interesting within the next year or so.

In better news, midterms are over and I am headed to Crete this coming week! Aidan is spending his spring break (and 21st birthday) here and I am sooo excited to go to Crete and do touristy things. Crete is the biggest island of Greece and the farthest south, hopefully it will be hot, I know he will want to swim in the Aegean and I think I'm gonna have to muster up some courage to get in, so it better be warm out haha. It's the island where the myth about the Minotaur came from. To sum up the myth, basically a lady (don't remember her name) decided she was attracted to a bull, and one thing led to another and she gave birth to a Minotaur (half man half bull). Her husband, was pretty pissed, naturally, and put the minotaur in a cave that had a labyrinth so it couldn't get out. Every seven years children from Athens had to be fed to the Minotaur and he lived in his cave happily eating children until he was slayed by Theseus. When we are on Crete, I think we're gonna have to search for the cave, there is also a cave there that people say Zeus was born in. Pretty cool stuff. In any case, I am excited to pick Aidan up this afternoon and head to Crete tomorrow!

I am also making spring break plans and though I haven't booked any flights yet I am pretty sure I am going to see Mairead in Ireland! I went to Ireland in high school and loved it and have wanted to back since and I am sooooo excited to see Mairead and Ireland again. My family has booked flights to come here in April which I am also beyond excited about. I have so many things to look forward to and I can't believe I'm halfway done!

The Peloponnese!

Sorry for the lack of update but it has been a busy week in the life of Cassandra. Midterms are starting and the work load is starting to pile up. Last week however, was free of tests and a totally blast. The school took us on a trip around the Peloponnese Tuesday through Saturday and we saw an insane amount. We started off at the Corinth Canal which separates the Peloponnese from the rest of mainland Greece. Because of this canal the Peloponnese is technically an island but before the canal it was a peninsula so that is still how everyone thinks of it. It is massive and has tons of coastline and mountains in the middle. After we stopped at the canal we drove past Ancient Corinth (I wished we stopped, only an hour from Athens though) which looked amazing. It is perched on top of a hill and totally majestic. We drove on to go see the ancient site of Mycenae. We have talked about it quite a bit in my archaeology class so it was awesome to see it in real life. It is nestled in between two mountains and there is a lot left. There is a huge incredibly preserved tholos tomb (shaped like a beehive) that they found lots of artifacts in. We walked around the ruins and my professor lectured which was actually really cool- our own personal tour guide. My professor is 67, chain smokes cigars like no other and thinks he is the man-which he is. My friends and I think he might be a wizard, he kind of looks like one. When he told us to get out our flashlights and climb into a dark cave that looked like it led into the depths of hell, we did. And it was awesome. It was a place where water was stored and it went down forever. There was lots of squealing and some running into each other (turns out he was the only one who brought a flashlight) but it was really cool.
Tholos Tomb

After Mycenae we hopped back on the bus and went to the port city of Naplion. This town was one of the best ones I have been to. My friend Nichole and I split a 5 course meal and ate so much that I woke in the middle of the night groaning and thought I might not make it. I did, and the food was awesome, and really cheap for the amount we got. Naplion was run by the Venetians for a while and as a result there are castles! There is one in the water where the executioner lived because he wasn't very well liked, and there is a fortress that looks over the town. It is an amazing town and if any of you ever go to Greece you shouldn't miss it, it's only 2 hours from Athens.

The next day we were supposed to go to a museum and Epidaurus but there was a government strike. Everyone who works for the government (which is a lot of people) didn't go to work so we couldn't go to the sites. However, I am not so sad about it because our alternative was beyond cool. We went to Francthi Cave, which is a cave that there is record of people living in for over 42,000 years. My professor was one of the main excavators of the cave during the 60's and it was realllly cool to get to go there with him. It was huuuuge. The roof caved in thousands of years ago so the part we were in and what they excavated is only about 1/5 of its actual size. We climbed up the part that caved in (following our professor who does some nimble rock scrambling for 67, or any age really) and got to look down on the rest of the cave. It was so cool to be in a spot that people lived in for so long. They have found tools and pottery shards that date as far back as 40,000 BC.

This doesn't do the size any justice, the square rock at the bottom is about half my size

After the cave we went back to Naplion and explored the fortress at the top of the hill. There are 999 steps leading up to it (that my professor used to run up every day, I'm telling you he is the man). Luckily the bus drove us there and we looked around and then walked the 999 down. My legs were shaking at the bottom but it was totally worth it. After we had some lunch we drove to Sparta. The landscape in our 3 hour drive changed dramatically. When we got to Sparta we saw the mountains that surround it and I was totally surprised. I knew Greece has mountains but these were so much bigger than I expected. They were snow capped and Mt Taygetus is over 8,000 vertical feet-much bigger than anything in NY or VT.


We stayed the night in Sparta and the next morning went to the Venetian town of Mystra. It is right outside Sparta and perched on a mountain. This day was by far my favorite and Mystra was incredible. It was a beautiful day and the town was amazing. We hiked to the top of the mountain and worked our way down the mountain and around the town. There were churches with fresco's from the 1400's that were completely intact. We saw tons of buildings that I have no idea what they were but they were beautiful. The town is abandoned now, the 1400's was its prime but so much was left. The only building that still functions is a nunnery. We met one of the nuns and she gave us some Turkish delight that wasn't so delightful but she was really cute. When we got back to Sparta we had some lunch I got a cheeseburger and fries- I was really excited about that find. After that we went to Ancient Sparta. Not much is left there but it was still incredible to be in such a famous place. I had to make a hundred "THIS IS SPARTAAAA" jokes that everyone was sick of but I thought it was hilarious. We saw a theater that had names of Spartan rulers engraved into the stone walls which was really neat. It was beautiful, olive trees everywhere and I'm not joking it smelled like olives. After ancient Sparta we drove through a pass in the mountains to get to the city of Pylos. It was the most beautiful/insane/death defying/invigorating drive or my life. It took us 2.5 hours to go 50 km. The road was switchbacks the whole way and spiraling and I thought many times we were going over the edge in our coach bus. Luckily we didn't and I think I annoyed everyone on the bus with my screams and commentary but it was just that amazing. When we got to Pylos we saw yet another castle (that was closed...no fun) and had some dinner.

Friday we went to Methoni (ANOTHER CASTLE) and walked around. It was on the water and there was an amazing watch tower that used to be a prison. It was totally intact and there were some really cool nooks and crannys. There was a sketchy staircase that just led up, and I felt like I had to investigate. None of my friends would come with me but when I got to the top the view was amazing. The Greeks really know how to take advantage of the landscape. After Methoni we went to the Palace of Nestor. It was a neat place but hardly anything was left. There were only building foundations and a bathtub haha. After that we drove to Olympia and stayed there for the night. The next day we walked to the museum at Olympia and saw all kind of cool stuff. There were statues from thousands of years ago and armor from the Peloponnesian and Persian wars. There is actually a helmet there that belonged to the leader of the Athenian army, it had his name etched into it. After the museum we went to Ancient Olympia. There is a huge amount left there, temples, buildings, and of course the stadium. There is a covered entrance that leads to the stadium where the athletes would get ready for the Olympics. They always were naked and rubbed themselves down with olive oil before they competed. We didn't do any of that in the tunnel but I felt like Rocky and I couldn't get the theme song out of my head. The stadium was so cool, there aren't any seats left but the stadium floor is still there. I did a little running around and tried to get in touch with my inner Olympian. After that we headed back to Athens and I have never been so happy to see my squeaky, hard bed. It was a whirlwind tour but totally amazing and I can't wait for the next school trip to northern Greece!

Mykonos!

So when I left off last week I said that I saw the archbishop of the Orthodox church...little did I know that I actually saw the patriarch! For those of you who don't know who that is (I didn't until last week) he is the equivalent to the Pope in Greece. He is the leader of the Greek Orthodox religion and I saw him from my balcony! I thought that was pretty cool when I found out and it explains all the secret service type men all over the place. I also saw a very sad thing from my balcony the next day and I was reminded of why jay walking is a no no in Greece. An old lady was hit by car outside my apartment and the car just drove away. It was awful but luckily there were people there to help and an ambulance came soon after she was hit. She also had two priests run from the church to help her which was nice. It was pretty scary and I hope she is ok and it certainly reminded me that drivers are not as courteous here as they are in VT.

The rest of the week carried on in a not so smooth fashion but I dealt surprisingly well. Things in Greece never seem to turn out as they should and it has made me much more able to just "roll with it". I am becoming less affected by things that go wrong which I am starting to like because it means much less stress. We lost power once again for no reason but this time we found out how to turn it back on which is always a plus. Last Monday a man was fixing the door outside the cafeteria and the entire thing (glass) shattered as soon as I walked through it. I didn't get cut at all and I felt like an action hero. It was a little scary but I burst out laughing once I saw it. Kind of a strange reaction but oh well. The thing that did annoy me quite a bit was the temporary death of my computer. She is still not breathing but hopefully a package from the US will revive her any day now. Not having my own computer is getting a little annoying both for me and my generous roommates but I am hoping it will be running again in the next few days. Oh and I also stepped in wet cement but more on that later.

On Friday morning my roommates and I woke up at 3 am. Yes 3. We took a bus to Rafina, a port where ferries can take you to the islands. We saw a beautiful sunrise on the ferry and five hours later we were in Mykonos! We checked in to our pension (still not quite sure what that means- in between a hostel and a hotel I guess) and the owner Bobby- a great Greek man with some wild pants- gave us a quick tour. We wandered around the town for a while and saw how it is without tourists which was pretty cool. The population of Mykonos is between 8-10 thousand people but in the summer there are 750 thousand people there! The island is only 6 miles long so you can imagine what that must be like. Seeing the people who actually live there was really neat and there actually were old wrinkly tan men gutting fish on the docks. I didn't think it could be so stereotypically picturesque but it was. The buildings are all whitewashed with blue red or yellow window frames. There are windmills lined up on a hill the Mykonos is famous for. Saturday we took a hike to the beach that is only 1.5 miles away...however there are no road signs in Mykonos so it took us about 3 hours to find it. It was a beautiful day so we didn't mind and on the way we saw lambs, mules and some locals. We finally got to Paradise Beach (real name) and took a nap in the sun. I'm hoping I'm tanner but I'm not quite sure. That night we watched the sunset over the Little Venice section of the town (the picture at the top) which was amazing. Sunday we took a boat to Delos which is a neighboring island that is a major archaeological site. It is sacred land so while you're on it you can't sleep, bleed, go to the bathroom or give birth. Luckily we did none of the above and saw an amazingly old city. There was a theater, city buildings, houses, bakeries temples and in some of the buildings there were perfectly preserved 2000 year old mosaics. I started feeling a little like the ancients and decided to re-enact some scenes from 300 with my roommate Nikki. Lucky for her I have bad aim.

Sunday was the last day of the Greek carnival before the national holiday of Clean Monday (what is so clean about it I do not know- but it was a Monday) and all the locals were dressed up in crazy costumes, drag and had painted faces from time to time. We had a great seafood lunch when we got back from Delos. I had grilled octopus and steamed mussels. It was sooo good. I was feeling a little adventurous with the octopus and I'm glad I was. That night we went to some carnival celebrations and finally took a dip in the Aegean. The water was about as warm as it ever gets in New England but people thought we were nuts for swimming in February. They've obviously never swam in Lake Champlain. Monday we got back on the ferry to Rafina and attempted to sleep despite the rolling feeling and ornery ferry crew (who knew you weren't supposed to lie down on the seats...not me). It was such a great trip and I can't wait to go back to another island- I'm hoping to go to Crete, Santorini and maybe Hydra or Lesbos...it is pretty easy and cheap to go to the islands for a weekend which is great.

Tomorrow I am going to a vineyard to get a tour and do a wine tasting. Greece's only true natural resources are olives and grapes. The olive oil here is beyond good so I am excited to try some really Greek wine. Next week I am headed to the Peloponnese with my school for the week. We are going to Nafplion, Mycenae, Sparta and Olympia. I will be back Saturday and will definitely blog when I get back if not before! I hope everyone is watching the American skiers tear it up at Whistler!! I am bummed because I don't have tv and all the viewing online is blocked by NBC if you aren't in the states so I haven't been able to watch it but my Dad hooked me up with and awesome live timing website (which I am watching right now and Lindsay Vonn and Julia Mancuso are 1 and 2 again so far!!) so I can see the split times right as they are happening. Hope all is well in the U.S.- Yassas for now!

Hikes, temples, and bird poop oh my!

(me on the swing from our second hike)

(My roommates and I on top of Lycavittos Hill)

Sorry for the wait...as I said in the last post the Greek internet is a little sketchy sometimes but as I speak there is a man installing it in the apartment! I am pretty excited about this because right now it seems like whenever I want to talk to someone the internet cuts out...hopfully no more!

So...to pick up from last Thursday, my week of mishaps ended with getting pooped on by a bird and one more power outage. My roommates and I go to the farmer's market up the road every Friday and apparently when I was picking out my strawberries...I got a little present. I didn't notice anything until a man started poking me and poking my friend and pointing wildly at my shirt. We eventually figured out what he meant and all the vendors around started laughing. I think it must be good luck because one of them was yelling and throwing money in the air while he was pointing at me. I am hoping that mean good things are coming my way. As for the power outage...we have no idea what happened but last Sunday night I got up to go to the bathroom and there was no light. I think every one of us got up that night and discovered the same thing. We got it back the next day but having to live in the dark is no fun and I was a little more scared than I would like to admit.

The weather last weekend was beautiful, I had on flip flops and a t shirt which was great. Saturday afternoon my roommates and I hiked up Lycavittos Hill. It is the biggest hill in Athens and there is a small whitewashed church at the top. The hike took about an hour from our apartment and it was gorgeous out. There is a restaurant at the top and you can see all of Athens (which is massive). We each had a glass of wine as the sun set over Athens, it was beautiful and I wish I could end all my days like that.

Sunday we had another hiking adventure...but this one was quite different. Four of my roommates and I signed up to go on a hike in Attica (the region surrounding Athens). What we thought would be an easy hike done in five hours turned into twelve hours climbing up what we have so fondly named "The Marble Wall of Death." It was an experience. We went with an Athenian hiking group and there were about sixty of us. I have never hiked with even close to sixty people and I'm not too eager to do it again. Our fearless leader was both the most high and low maintenance man I have ever met. On the bus ride to the mountain he yelled and yelled about what I'm not so sure but it was certainly entertaining. When we got to the mountain most people had a backpack or at least a water bottle but not Stephanos. He just ran up the mountain with no food no water- just him and his neon fleece wear. I wasn't so nimble and neither was anyone else. I am used to hiking in the ADK's so this was quite different. We hiked up what I am assuming was a marble quarry. There were loose pieces of marble everywhere and sixty people scrambling up the "trail" at the same time is a little scary. Hence the name "Marble Wall of Death". My mom's safety meter would have been going off non-stop. On the way there was another beautiful whitewashed church with a swing in front of it. I took a spin on the swing and my roommates are still making fun of me for the sounds that came out of my mouth. The earth kind of dropped away from the swing and it ended up being a lot higher than I thought...but still sooo fun. At the top we ended up at an old military base (with a road leading to it that we could have taken instead of the sketchy marble but I'm not complaining) where we ate lunch. At this point we thought the hike was nearly over but little did we know our five hour jaunt was extended by about seven hours. Long story short we ended up in the town of Marathon, where the first marathon was run, it is twenty six miles from Athens. I saw the Aegean for the first time which was beautiful. I have to admit by this time I was a little hungry and cranky (which for me go hand in hand) but I raised my spirits with bags and bags of chocolate. I'm not sure what the name of the mountain we hiked actually was but I'll try to find out. It was a day for the record books and I'm glad I did it but I'm sure I'll be venturing out with sixty Greeks up it again anytime soon.

Monday we began classes again. Sometimes when I am in the routine of going to class I forget that I am in another country entirely and it takes a view of the Acropolis to remind me. I have started running at Panathinaiko stadium which is next to school and was used in the Olympics. It is the only entirely marble stadium and there are beautiful views of Athens from every angle. When I run I can see the Olympic rings, the Acropolis and Lycavittos hill. It is gorgeous and it makes running a little more tolerable.

This past weekend I took a trip with the school to see the oldest theater in Greece and the Temple of Poseidon in Sounion. Apart from being a little chilly the trip was amazing. The theater dates back to the 7th century B.C. which is a mystery to acheologists because Greeks did not worship Dionysos (drink and put on plays) that far back. They reasoned that the theater must have been created for democratic purposes rather than dramatic ones which turned all the tables on people's thoughts about Greek theaters. It was beautiful, well preserved and right next to the sea. After that we went to the Temple of Poseidon which was one of the coolest things I have seen so far. It is perched on top of a jagged cliff that falls into the sea. The myth surrounding it says that Aegeas was waiting at the temple for his son Theseus to come back from killing the minotaur on the island of Crete. Theseus was supposed to put up white sails if he succeeded and black if he didn't. Well with all the excitement that surely goes with killing a minotaur he forgot to put up the white sails and when Aegeas saw them he flung himself off the cliff which is how the Aegean sea was named. The temple itself was amazing and hearing the myth told by my teacher at the place where it took place was beyond cool.

Saturday night I went out to a club with my roommates and brought a little bit of America to Greece. Here in Greece, people don't dance. They do the whole traditional dancing thing but at clubs they just stand and talk to each other. My roommates and I were a little confused by this but we just made our own dance floor and got laughed at a little but it was worth it. Maybe by the time we leave there will be Greeks wanting to look as cool as us haha. Yesterday it rained and we had a lazy day trying to catch up on homework and American tv. One really cool thing that happened though was we saw the Archbishop of Greece! He was at the church next door and people were going crazy. He had secret service like men talking into their wrists and and rushing around to do things for him. There were old women swooning and kissing his hands and there were newscasters all over. This guy is a big deal, and it was so cool to see him from our balcony and see how important he is to everyone here.

My classes start again today and then this weekend I am headed to the island of Mykonos! We have a long weekend and my roommates and I have booked a hotel and are taking a ferry there on Friday. I am so excited to go to an island and Mykonos is supposed to be gorgeous. I'll update when I get back on Monday or Tuesday!

The Good, Bad and the Embarrassing

So. I have been here for over a week now and I thought it might be a good idea to make a list of what I like, what I don't like, and what I haven't made my mind up about yet.

The Good

1. "Discovery walks"

The director of student affairs here at CYA told us that we should take some time to walk around and get to know where we live and what is around. Last week I discovered...1.The farmer's market-which is exactly how you would picture it; tons of Greeks yelling at you to buy their vegetables. 2.Parliament and the changing of the guards. The guards wear crazy costumes and do this weird choreographed almost yoga like march when they leave their posts. Apparently they aren't like the British guards who you can hassle and they won't say anything to you. These guys will. I haven't tried it and I don't really plan to but apparently they can be not so nice. 3. A grocery store with more than three aisles! It was a big day. We were living on baklava and bread from the bakery next door but luckily we found the Alpha Beta supermarket and now we are not so hungry anymore. Except everything is in Greek...so I never am totally sure what I'm buying. 4. Shopping. January is sale month in Greece and it is nuts. There aren't sales at any other point in the year besides August, and everything is crazy cheap right now. I bought a bag that zips (for half off!) so no picky pockets can get me. 5. The national cemetary. My roommate Kendra and I went to the cemetary Monday to check it out. People are very into treating their family members well after death here. Everything was made out of marble and most of the graves were eleboarte tombs where the whole family is buried. They were the most ornate gravestones I have ever seen. 6. Ancient stuff! Which leads me to my next favorite thing...

2. Stumbling upon ancient ruins all the time.

No joke. On my one of my "discovery walks" I found the Temple of Zeus. It was just in the middle of the city, sitting in a field. Where else does that happen?! It is huge, when it was complete it was bigger than the Parthenon. A lot of it has fallen down but what is still up is amazing. And huge. I said that already but it really is. I also stumbled upon the Agora which is kind of like an ancient village. There are baths, foundations of old houses and the temple of Hephaestus which is the best preserved temple in Athens. Sunday we went to the Acropolis which was much bigger than I imagined. I knew there were other buildings besides the Parthenon but I didn't know there were so many. It was amazing to be there and to see Athens spread out underneath us. Sundays are free there so I think I'm going to be headed back quite a bit...There are also archeological digs all over the city that we keep finding. There are just a huge amount of things to see.

3. My appartment and roommates.

Roommates can really make or break certain experiences. I live with five other girls who are all great. I think I really lucked out. Everyone is on the same page as far as school and sleeping and having fun and doing touristy things. I think the semester will turn out to be great with them here. Our appartment is pretty good sized and we have three balconies! I can totally get used to having them. It has been a little colder the last few days (by cold I mean 45) so we haven't been on them as much but they are so nice when it is warm. We are within 3 minutes of the school which is great, alot of kids have a 20 mintue walk. We also have a cleaning lady! I walked in yesterday to find my bed made which was a mystery to me...but then I found out there is a lady who cleans once a week. I think I could get used to this.

4. Siesta

Basically between 2 and 6 pm everyone takes a nap. Siesta is supposed to be the calm part of the day. Stores close down and people either sit at cafes for hours drinking frappes (intense greek coffee) or they take a nap. I like the nap part. In fact I might siesta later today.

The Bad

1. The Athens plumbing system...

Toilet paper can't get flushed here. Ever. Yuck. If it is flushed it will back the toilet up and over flow. We haven't gotten there and I hope we never do. So after I throw my toilet paper into the garbage I have to search for the flusher. You would think after a week I could figure out where it is. Nope. It is a chain that has to be pulled and I can never remember.

2. Eurpean electricity.

I learned what to do and what not to do the hard way. I tried to straighten my hair a few days ago and plugged my straightener into my converter. Apparently something was not right because there was a really loud pop and the outlet started smoking. I fried the converter and blew all the power to half the appartment. Oops.

3. Traffic.

If I make it four months without getting hit by a car I will be so happy. People here are nuts. Traffic laws don't apply here apparently and lanes are virtually non existent. If we even get on a moped let alone drive one we get expelled. Athens has the most accidents of any European city and it is not hard to see why. People jaywalk here like crazy too. They walk to the middle of the road and then stand there waiting for the cars to slow down. I'm not quite there yet and I don't think I will ever be.

4. The internet.

I am used to checking my facebook 5489 times a day which cannot happen here. The internet here is slowww when it decides to work. I tried to watch project runway the other night and had to let it load for like half an hour so I could watch 10 minutes.

5. Not knowing Greek.

I only know a few words of Greek and everything here is in Greek. Surprise Suprise- it's Greece. I don't know what I was imagining but it is pretty weird to only be able to communicate with certain people. Luckily it hasn't really been an issue yet and most people speak English but I do feel pretty touristy.

Things I still need to decide on...

1. The stray dogs.

There really are stray dogs and cats everywhere here. They mostly hang around the same spots so I have begun to recognize some of them. They all have collars which is weird, and apparently all have gotten the nescessary shots. But they just run around and bark at cars. There are certain ones I like; we adopted one for the day at the Acropolis. We named him Costas, he was nice but there are some that seem not so nice that are really agressive toward cars for some reason. They will be walking with you and be fine and then run up to a car and start growling. Not so sure if I like them yet or not.

2. The church bells outside my appartment.

In my last post I talked about the beautiful church outside my room. It is still beautiful but there is a bell that goes off at what seems like every 15 minutes between 6-9 am. Too early for that kind of thing. It sounds really nice but I don't love the wake up call.

3. The hours.

While I love the siesta I think people here take some serious naps in order to stay up later. No one eats until 9:30 or 10 pm. We went to dinner at 8 and it was like the early bird special. Even the super old Athenians eat really late. Clubs and bars don't get going until late either. People don't show up until 2 am and don't leave until 6 or so. That is a little late for this girl. I tend to get slightly cranky after 2 or so.

AAaand.....The Embarrassing.

Well I have officially made myself known to the kids in my program and I am hoping it is not as "Gurney Girl" (which is what they are calling me inside my head). Monday everyone in the program had to go to the hopspital to get Tuburculosis tests for our visa extensions. I wasn't too excited about going because I don't love needles, but who does? We had to wait in line in a hot hallway and I started to get a little queasy and a little dizzy...when it was my turn I went into the room where they give us the shot and I lost all my vision and fainted...I was fine a few moments later- just a little freaked out. I told the nurses and my chaperone I was fine but the nurses were yelling at me to get on a gurney. I reaaallly didn't want to and I put up a fight until the my chaperone just told me I had to. So I did. And they wheeled me out into the hallway past allll the students in my program. My face was still white from fainting, but I am sure it was trying to turn bright red. Everyone was asking what was wrong and I was trying to make a face that said "Oh it's no big deal, just felt a little weird, why are they making such a big deal out of this?" I think the expression on my face was actually saying that I was totally mortified. After they wheeled me past everyone they brought me to an office and started stabbing my fingers with a lancet to check my blood sugar. Yeah I am not into blood or needles. Not my thing. My fingers were really cold and they couldn't get any blood out of them so they just kept stabbing me...still no blood. They all were yelling in Greek and I had no clue what was going on and then one whipped out a turnicate. Not fun. They took some blood out of my vein and determined I was fine and could go back to the group. They gave me the T.B. test and a nurse (who had been pinching my cheeks earlier like a grandma) held my hand on the way back and gave me a cup of juice. I had to walk into the room where all the kids were holding her hand looking pretty lame...it was quite a morning.

So! Sorry for the super long post but it has been an eventful week! My week was a little embarrassing and difficult in some ways and even though it is very different than home, I am having a blast. Greece and Athens are incredible and I feel so lucky to be here.

Finally here

I made it! I left the states sunday night and hopped on a plane to Greece. My flight from JFK to London was longer than expected so I ended up missing my flight to Athens. Luckily, there was another flight that went out 4 hours later. It was pretty tough trying not to fall asleep in the airport while I was waiting for the flight but after a lot of hours traveling I finally made it to Athens.
My first hour in Athens was quite an adventure. I had a crazy taxi ride (with my luggage bungee strapped to the trunk) to my apartment, traffic laws don't really seem to apply here. The driver zoomed off after he dropped me off and I stood at my door trying to get in for about 10 minutes. The only freakout moment I've had so far was the initial half hour after leaving the airport. The Greek locks have to be turned 4, yes 4, times to unlock. I didn't know that and stood at the door panicking slightly until I finally got the door unlocked. I think I must have looked a little frazzled because the lady who walked in after me took pity and helped me get my suitcases into the elevator. The elevator proved to be another mystery to me. When I reached what I thought was my floor I waited for the door to open. It didn't. I once again started to sweat a little and looked at the options on the panel of buttons. The only thing that didn't have a floor number was big and red and had Greek writing...I was a little scared to press that one and I'm pretty glad I didn't (I'm still not so sure what it is).I thought I was locked in the elevator for a while but I started kind of banging on the door which I guess is the right thing to do if you're ever stuck on an elevator. The door pushed open. Oops. After I tried getting my key into the lock I heard a dog barking inside and figured that wasn't the right door...yeah it wasn't. I ran back into the elevator before anyone could see me and went to the right floor. All the lights were off in the hallway and I had to feel around for the keyhole and accidentally rang the doorbell. I still hadn't figured out that turn the lock 4 times thing yet so the girls in the apartment heard the doorbell and tried to let me in...except the wily Greek lock system outwitted them too. When you enter your apartment you have to lock the door behind yourself and they had locked themselves in. I was on one side locked out and they were on one side locked in... Luckily I also accidentally hit the light in the process of trying to open the door. I finallllyy got into the apartment and met my roommates. It was quite a process and I've never felt so inept but I am happy to say I survived my first night in Greece.

Things have gone quite a bit smoother since then. I am living with 5 other girls, who are all great. I really lucked out in the roommate department. We have an apartment in the Pagrati neighborhood of Athens. Pagrati is a residential section with tons of little shops, cafes and bakeries. There are orange trees lining the streets, with oranges actually hanging on them! We ate them yesterday...they are not like Florida oranges haha. Reeeaalllly sour. So sour I spit mine out. We are about a 20 minute walk from the Acropolis and school is across from the stadium where the opening ceremony of the Olympics took place. What I have seen of the city is amazing. I have been pretty busy with orientation and I started classes today so I haven't gotten to go to the sites yet but I will this weekend.

My apartment is great, we have 3 balconies, one off my room that gets the sun during the day and faces a beautiful yellowish orange Orthodox church. Yesterday my roommates and I ate baklava on the balcony and people watched. It was beautiful weather and I was just so excited and happy to be where I was.

Last night I had a traditional taverna meal. The Greeks order lots of plates for everyone to share, not everyone gets their own personal plate. I like it alot that way. I tried a bunch of different dishes, none of which I can spell except lamb and chicken. My favorites were an eggplant and garlic dip and a yogurt and cucumber dip called tzatziki.

I also had a survival Greek course where the people not taking modern Greek learned the words and phrases we will need to get by. Luckily most people speak some English or even French because my attempts at Greek were pretty pathetic. It isn't too difficult once you know the alphabet, but the sounds the letters make are so different from what I am used to. At least now I know how to say "thank you" and "my name is" and a few other helpful phrases. Which reminds me that I am back in school and now have homework that I have to do...rude. I am planning on hiking Lycabettus Hill this weekend to see the church on top and the view of Athens. I will update after this weekend!

4 days...

4 days and I will be in Greece! I just got back from visiting some friends at SMC and it was nice to be there one last time before I head out but pretty weird to be there without some of my closest friends. At home I'm spending my time skiing as much as I can before I go and helping my Dad out with the high school ski team. He's the coach for the team I skied for in high school and it's fun to help him, see the kids who were young when I was in school kick butt now and get back in the gates a little. I think tomorrow may be my last ski day of the year and I'm a little bummed about that but I think Greece is a good alternative!



It still hasn't really hit me that I am leaving so soon but maybe it finally will once I'm on the plane. I've had quite an adventure trying to get a visa and it is supposed to be coming tomorrow. It has been a lonnngg process but it's finally all coming together. Long story short I had to get a background check through the FBI that didn't come in time. They usually take about 2 weeks to process but for some reason they are backed up 8-10 weeks. The Greek Consulate let me do a local background check which really saved me. There were some stressed days and a few tears but I am so happy it all worked out. I think being presented with the possibility of not going really reaussured me that this is the right decision.



My flight leaves at 6:20 pm on Sunday and I will be in Athens at 1:20 pm Monday! I fly out of JFK which is about 5 hours from my house so I have a fun filled family car ride to look forward to. My 17 year old twin sisters and I are way too big to fit in the 5 seater car with my parents and my luggage . There is always some bickering about who has to sit in the middle but my sister Sam is the shortest so she usually is the loser in the middle seat dept. It will be nice to have them there to see me off and hopefully they will be there for the twins' spring break. And another good friend is coming to Greece for spring break that I am very excited about. It's pretty weird saying goodbyes to the people I love but I know I will have a ton of fun in Athens and will be so excited to see everyone once I come back.



Soooo I this may be my last post until I get to Athens but I will post as soon as I get settled in!