7/13- Tuesday Eclipse

Work was fine. I've managed to finish the training design doc and all the processes that there's any info on for the workshops. Hence today (when they're in meetings all day) I have very little to do and am therefore blogging.

My camera battery died in rhodes (so sad! i don't have pictures of Lindos or the sunset so I'll just steal angela/marj's). So yesterday from work I ran to Syntagma where there's a giant multi-story technology store. They only had a tiny wall of camera batteries and no kodak ones. I asked the guy where else I could go and he was like well I think there's a camera store behind us to the left. He didn't know the name/any more precise directions. So I wandered in the heat with my laptop for 20 minutes and finally found it. They had the needed battery but it was made by a company other than Kodak- it's the kodak battery but produced by someone else. Hope it works at least till I get back to Dallas. I charged it after getting home and this morning my camera seems happier.

Got home- we (angela/marj/i) were discussing what to cook when future plans came up. Marj wanted to see Eclipse in an open air movie theater near Pagrati tomorrow (ie today). But tonight I have dinner with one of dad's friends. So instead we decided to go then (yesterday). I love it when we just make impromptu decisions like that. We brought our old (it was kind of bad but whatever) 1.5 L white wine bottle (again 4 euros...so much cheaper than actual food) and went to Grill and Pita and got delicious ginormous gyros (wow- ginormous is recognized as a legit word...as is legit...legit). Anyway there we met 2 girls (we could tell they were american from the english obviously haha). They 're here on the College Year in Athens program. They seemed really nice- one is indian and goes to penn. The other goes to Michigan and knows one of Marj's friends at Yale. It's really sad though because they leave on Saturday! They're going out Thursday and invited us along- we were going to do chinese food, changing of the guard, and late night at the Benaki museum (they have thursday late nights till midnight). But we think we might do that next thursday now instead. It's sad because there are American students living in two of the apartments other Yalies are in but not ours (only greek nona's). It would be nice to live in those apartments...make more friends.

Went to see Eclipse. It was funny because we ran into two people from our group on a date there....haha awksssss on so many levels. It's sad though because our group overall isn't very cohesive- I LOVE my suite though so it works out. The entire experience was wonderful- gyros, wine, taylor lautner's abs, stars overhead. Great. Was a very fun, spontaneous evening.

7/11-7/12 Weekend in Epidaurus and Rhodes

weekend as remembered in an email to the fam

7/12 super tired at work. bahhhhhhhhhh

7/11 (Sunday)

Woke up at 7, showered, grabbed breakfast, and got the bus to lindos. Lindos is on Rhodes and is about 56 km away…Turkey was 10 km from the beach outside our hotel (I wanted to paddle boat there…we had our passports).

The bus ride to Lindos was nice- amazingly all the commuting/bus rides which usually are 30 min-2 hours never seem long. It’s actually really nice to just plug in my ipod, look at the amazing views, maybe nap a little, reflect on the trip so far etc. The views are always awesome on these bus rides bc usually we end up going along the coast at some point.

Got to Lindos- climbed to the Acropolis there. The climb was nice- there were more ramps than stairs so more horizontal distance. Rhodes was generally much more European/Easter (Italian/Byzantine) than Greek. Lindos was more like a traditional Greek island in that it has the white houses etc. Lots of bougainvilleas everywhere. It was surprising there seemed to have been a lot of Swedes/Scandinavians- much more so than in any other place- so many blonds! it's like i was hallucinating draco malfoy's, also like i was hallucinating out of tiredness.

The view from the Acropolis in Lindos was gorgeous. There was a secluded cove and then of course the ocean. The ocean is so pretty! It’s really sad that it never comes out in pictures because part of the beauty of the ocean is that it’s always moving/reflecting light but because it’s so big it the changes seem really small. It’s cool. Anyway also a nice view out onto the town. Rhodes in general (including Lindos) had a lot of medieval ruins. Around the Acropolis was a medieval wall. The Acropolis was a nice walk/view and the medieval walls were cool but the acropolis itself was not well preserved at all (most of it is a reconstruction).

We stayed on the Acropolis for a while, then we went down to get lunch. We were going to beach but we decided to do a long lunch instead, enjoy the view, conversation, food, etc. We went to a roof restaurant on the third floor which had a nice view. They had a great set menu of salad, vegetable platter/lamb chops (marj/I each ordered one and split), and ice cream for 9 euros. It was yummy. We had fun chilling/chatting. Then we went back on the 1o’clock bus to Rhodes town. From there to the airport.

At the airport it sucked bc the 4:4 5 flight only had 3 seat s (there are 5 of us). We knew there was a chance not all of us were going to make it bc we have to fly standby basically since we’re going for free. Marj had to be at port at 8 so she went. And it was Ray’s friend (naz’s) last night in Athens so they went. So angela and I had to stay till the 11 o’clock flight. We went back to our hotel thinking we’d take a nap by the pool. We got there and thought it would be fun to see a movie so we walked 30 minutes to the movie theater but the only movie we wanted to see (sex and the city 2) started at 7:45 meaning we wouldn’t make our flight. Instead we had a really long/yummy Chinese dinner. I got yummy garlic prawns and demanded they add veggies (in particular bamboo/shrooms of course). We were nervous about making our flight bc the bus to the airport only left at 10 and took way longer than expected. Then at the airport we had some problems bc we didn’t get transferred to the flight and ray never gave us our ticket information/he wasn’t picking up his phone. Barely made it on, made it to Athens, took the bus, walked, made it home by 1 am. Really sad I missed the world cup finals though. Also really sad that I got minimal/non-existent sleep. It was a really fun weekend though- so it was definitely worth it.

7/10 (Saturday)

Saturday/Friday are sort of one giant day in my mind. We left at 5:20 am for Rhodes. Got to Rhodes/our hotel at 7. The trip was a little last minute so at 3 am Saturday we booked it right before we left- which obviously is cutting it close. We got there and they were like the availabilities on line weren’t right- she would have to talk to her manager at 9:30 to check. So we went to get breakfast (since I never slept and was super hungry I got a tuna crepe…so more like lunch for me). Angela/Marj/I went to sort things out at the hotel.

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Then angela napped by the pool, marj/I wandered new town and looked at stores. Around 12 we went down to the beach. Swam, joked around. I tried somersaulting in the water and asked marj if it worked. She said it looked more like a sideways hamburger or rotisserie chicken haha. We were also discussing our various tans. Marj described herself as a sugar cookie- gold on the edges and white in the middle (she's impressed she tanned at all). I described myself as "a hash brown, straight up golden." I think it's indicative that when trying to compare ourselves to something both of us pick delicious, fatty foods. Then we went back to grab lunch bc we wanted to go beaching in lindos instead that day. Lunch was delicious. I had smoked salmon on a poppy seed baguette with yogurt-dill spread, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and pickles. Delicious. Food in Rhodes was MUCH cheaper than Athens/elsewhere in Greece.

Then we went to old town which was really cool. It’s an excellently preserved castle from 7 century AD I think. It's really gorgeous and fun to wander around. They had some nice exhibits on the history of Rhodes (ancient greek, medieval, crusaders, byzantine, Italian). I really love seals/crests etc. There were various crests built into the walls and they had a display on the crests that they knew who they belonged to. It's nice getting specific details about the people of a time (Krames probs is the reason I enjoy this so much, he always focused on primary materials and random people for us to learn about a period). Also coins are really cool- Liz is really into them which is nice because she can explain stuff. They survive really well and tell you about current events/what's going on at the time. The colossus of Rhodes is so sad bc it was only up for 66 years and no one is sure of what it looks like- it's one of the ancient wonders of the world.

After old town we wandered around then headed back. Had a really nice 3.5 hour dinner. Our restaurant was basically on the water. We saw the sun set over the coast of turkey from our restaurant- it was amazing, unbelievably gorgeous. We also had a really good conversation. We discussed our favorite Disney princesses, movies, lord of the rings, and harry potter- basically all of my favorite subjects. By this time I was legitimately falling asleep (whenever we sat down/were waiting I actually fell asleep. even on the bus from the airport to the hotel which was 20 minutes i slept...i started regaining consciousness and was like why is my mouth wide open...oh i fell asleep...haha). So though we had wanted to go out in rhodes a) I physically couldn’t b) we had to wake up for the 8 am bus to lindos. So I went to sleep at 11.

Friday blends into Saturday bc I didn’t sleep. Went to work. It’s both good and bad because work has really picked up with the client workshops so I haven’t really had much time for my daily NYT readings. So sad. Went to work, did lots of work. I felt bad because to make it to Epidaurus I had to leave at 4:15. But Maria was super nice about it. She even took my laptop home so I wouldn’t have to carry it to the theater. Rushed to get a cab- almost got run over (the car stopped less than a foot way). It was my green to walk and I was halfway through the road when this car just turned. So terrifying. Anyway 2 cabs were like don’t know where the bus station is/wont’ take you there. Finally a third guy took me there. The bus station is the biggest one in Athens so don’t know why they wouldn’t know. Also it’s annoying bc the address is 100 kiffisou and there are about 4 of those in Athens…so just knowing the address didn’t really help. Anyway got to the station- the last bus left at 5:15. Angela almost didn’t make it- we had to hold the bus for her. Liz/Angela/I went to Epidaurus (2/2.5 hour bus ride). The bus took us right to the theater.


The theater was gorgeous. They don’t have random touristy stuff around it like you would expect- so it’s just open fields, a museum, café, and snack stand. We got there and got hot dogs for dinner which were really good. It was funny they took a baguette- put it on this sharp metal stick basically to create a hole. Squirted mustard/ketchup down the hole and jammed a hot dog in there. Creative and effective. Went to get seats. It’s free seating in the upper tier and tickets for the play there for students were only 10 euros (in the upper tier). We had a really good view though- right in the center. And the acoustics are AMAZING. The theater is giant- according to Wikipedia it seats up to 15,000 people. And it was built in 4^th century bc (expanded a bit in roman times). What’s amazing is that from the upper tier we can hear every word, crystal clear. There aren’t any microphones either. It’s interesting how the acoustics work- when the guys backs turned obviously we couldn’t hear as well. Also the woman spoke in a really low voice and I think that’s bc since the plays were all male in the past the acoustics were designed for male voices. Even low her voice wasn’t as loud (bc it’s both harder to project for her/still wasn’t as low as a guys). I was proud of this theory haha. What’s crazy is despite the seats being a little run down/aged they were still great and they still served the acoustical functions. We sat in front of a group of kids from England who just graduated high school/were going to college. One was going to oxford for classics- she and liz got along. One of the guys was really nice/funny- he’s pre-med/wants to do doctors without borders in Africa next summer. Also a little Indian girl but she was into theater- SHOCK. Anyway, encounters like these are always fun because you just get to chat/meet people/swap stories etc.

The play was cool too- I’m very proud of myself for being able to follow/remember Oedipus fairly well. Even the major dialogues I remembered vaguely. The setting was nice- they had two white piece of wood for people to walk through (also the original arches/entryways on the side), a white raise platform, and several chairs for the chorus. I didn’t’ like some of the decisions (the costumes were definitely not correct) and the chorus sang (scholars don’t agree on whether they did), and they made the chorus a bit too dramatic. They’re supposed to be elderly/respectable statespeople but they had dramatic music and poses/scrambled around the stage and moved the blocks. I didn’t quite like it- thought it took away from the play. But it was really cool still. Also the stars overhead were perfect and gorgeous- recognized the dippers, orion (i've always been good at this because taarini ie snuppy once told me she could always only find orion because of the three stars in his belt...ever since i've had the same problem haha), and various other constellations. We think we've been able to see what we've concluded is Venus most weekends here (we saw it in Mykonos, Rhodes, at the theater etc) At one point we heard a plane which was really sad but otherwise the theater is far enough removed that we didn’t hear cars/anything modern basically.



Got back from the theater at 2 am, packed, and then left at 3 am for the airport. Hence I was falling asleep all Saturday bc I didn’t sleep at all. So far I’ve had five nights of 3 hours of sleep or less. So sad. It’s having to take these /6 am flights that kills me. Oh well definitely fun- because I can sleep in dallas if I want but can’t see Oedipus in Epidaurus there! GO BIG OR GO HOME. A lack of sleep is a sign that I'm truly going big

7/9 Baltazar dinner

I am shamelessly using angela's blog to steal pictures for this post- so thanks angela. lots of credit must go to her. So- Thursday night we had a dinner for all of us, dionysus, 3 yale alums, and one prefrosh (there are actually five who got in and are going...they all turned down other colleges take that harvard). Oddly there's also an American prefrosh working at the Agora with the archaeology group. So we met them at Baltazar- a very nice bar/restaurant. At the table next to us was a major Greek TV anchor and behind us some greek models (these juicy tidbits of course came from dionysus).

I ended up sitting next to/talking to this guy Alex. I want to be Alex when I grow up. He graduated Yale, went to Yale law and Harvard business school, worked at Goldman, came back to Greece to run his family company and founded the Yale in Athens club and the bulldog program. He serves on several boards and wants to go into politics. I had a fantastic time talking to him. It was cool- he also did AIESEC at yale (that was one of his main activities) and was a econ/poli sci major...basically we're besties now. He advised us on secret societies/which ones to go in to. He also advised me on various law firms I should intern in next summer if I'm interested. We also talked about politics and how I may want to do it eventually as my way of giving back (that's when he mentioned he might want to go in politics). Alex also gave us lots of advise- basically to go big or go home and give back. Since he's so cute/actually done all that it was very sincere coming from him. He reminded me of Daddy (paddington- don't get a big head about this part). Kind of chubsy, pulled out the glasses towards the end. Lots of cool stories and advice...very personable. A great presence and very good at making conversation but being genuine. Also he wore a pale orange v-neck sweater and orange and blue checkered shirt- somehow pulling it off. This too reminded me of dad- in particular his light yellow cable sweater and orange/purple striped shirt. It takes special people to pull off that sort of fashion. Hilarious- he asked us various things (what we've learned, what we would have on our tombstone) but most awesomely how we would approach someone at a bar/pick someone up. All the girls were like well they should come to us/we'd go introduce ourselves say...remark on something that's going on around us. I specifically mentioned strategizing since at Yale one of your friends probably knows said person they can scope it out and introduce you (Alex applauded my approach). The hilarious part was Alex thought all the guys approaches were iffy because they either didn't know or their approach wasn't good enough for Alex. Basically Alex is a boss...such a baller that my description of Alex will probs be longer than my description about food.

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD- so important. So, Dionysus ordered us white wine, meatballs and french fries (just plain meatballs no sauce or pasta is very common here), and delicious grilled veggies. We then ordered main course (options were chicken, ravioli with goat cheese, or salmon). Alex, myself, and most of the table got the salmon. It was quite good- in a sweet and sour sauce with wild rice. After they brought out a desert platter- molten chocolate cake, a quince cake (we think), something sort of like milfe (layers of phyllo with custard in between), and coffee ice cream. Also brought out a delicious fresh fruit platter. Overall quite scrumptious and satisfying. Dionysus (of course) wanted us to stay out later for some drinks at the bar but it was 1 and we wanted to go to sleep for work the next day. Tonight (wednesday july 14th) dionysus again invited us for drinks (i have to go see dad's friend). At least Dionysus has been a very involved sponsor.
We dressed up which is nice. Here are the pics stolen from Angela's blog. One goofy one, one prom style haha. In the prom pic from bottom to top are Angela, me, Marj, and Liz.


I'm also super dooper sad (how do you spell dooper? also I have the vocabulary of a 5 year old...i really enjoy saying cool beans and shnikies! again...spelling is debatable). So everyday on my way to work there's this cute smallish dog that I see. He's my friend. He's a little taller than masti (maybe 1.5 ft? I don't i'm terrible at these things). He has dark grey/black hair- medium length and wavy/curly. I'll try to get a picture of him. Anyway- I usually smile, sometimes wave or say hi to him (yes i talk to animals...). He's always there and usually pauses to look at me/comes close. So I like to think we're friends. But today he wasn't walking on his back leg/his paw looked bent! I hope he didn't get hurt...I don't know if I can help him but I want to. Maybe tomorrow I'll go early to work and find him and try to wrap his foot? Can it heal? I really hope so otherwise I'll cry if I don't see my friend anymore. Like actually.

7/1-7/5 Gazi, Nafplion, beach, Chopsticks, and Starbucks

as emailed home the next week

7/1
It was the day Vodafone was founded so to celebrate their ‘birthday’ they had free ben and jerry’s- unlimited scoops. They had cookie dough, chocolate fudge brownie, fairly nuts (nuts and caramel), and strawberry. I had fairly nuts and chocolate chip cookie dough. Then I went to the Accenture main office. I was driven over in a Vodafone car (very nice) but it was 25 euros! Fortunately I got reimbursed. I expected 700 euros for my first month’s salary but got 1,000- not sure if this means I’ll get paid an extra 600 euros for my two months here but that would be awesome! Met with mr. doukas- he was very warm. Gave me a book in greek of greek philosophy, offered me the keys to his second house in Mykonos, wanted me to have dinner/go to an art show with him that night etc.That night we all went out for drinks with Dionysus in Gazi. We went to the Why Sleep bar with the giant Smirnoff North bottle model (marj/liz/i had discovered this a previous weekend and were excited to finally learn what nordic berries looked like- they look like a cross between blue berries and black olives). It was fun. Had a delightful drink called passion mint- strawberries, lime, and mint. Then we went to another club which was a salsa club- Marj, Zheela, and I had fun dancing.

Super productive day at work (followed by today, super unproductive). Drafted several flows that don’t really have processes outlined, so I get to create them which is cool! After I got home Marj and I went grocery shopping/wandered- we found this awesome place that sold giant gyros for 1.80 euros (Grill and Pita). Marj and I wanted to go out with everyone else but it was almost 2 when the metro closes and we wanted to actually do something. This ruined our plan to go to the salsa club bc it was too late. So we went to Gazi. Before going out we had fun watching various youtube vids (midd kid, boys will be girls, california gays, potter puppet pals, and a lot of eurovision 2010). We wandered Gazi- danced in various places. Met some guys from Cyprus at Socialista- chatted with them for a bit. We decided it was getting late then so we left. As we were leaving though we heard YMCA playing in a club- so we just had to go in and dance to it. Then we left. Went to sleep around 5.

This night inspired Marj/I to create a code. Since we watched the potter puppet pals we decided to come up with signals (granted...these aren't subtle but they're hilarious). harry potter for a cute guy, ron weasley for the wingman, hermione for an annoying girl, dumbledore for a creepy older man, severus for a generally creepy person/fail. we're torn between making voldemort an awesome person v a super creepy person. Add characters as necessary. This code has already come in handy.

Woke up at 8 to go to Nafplion. On the bus ride there we saw a giant group of mountain goats on the side of the road and the rocks which was awesome. In Nafplion we wandered. We had an amazing lunch of a whole sea bass with grilled veggies- I had to debone/remove the fish’s head which was quite the adventure. The restaurant was right on the water with a gorgeous view. Also a young boy was playing his violin and played the chicken dance which was hilarious. We got some gelato and wandered- I had lemon, it came with a cute teddy bear cookie. Then we climbed up to a castle (palamidi)- great view…intense hike because it was stairs so all vertical (pictures to come). Came down missed the 5:30 bus so we went on a baklava hunt. Stopped by a café to watch the germany argentina world cup game (4-0) which was embarrassing for argentina. There was a giant thunderstorm (what's up with the weather greece)- thought we would have to get drenched to get to the bus but just got a wee wet. That night we went to the Athens sports bar for the spain Paraguay game. It’s near the acropolis and attached to the youth hostel so we thought we might meet some youngsters. People spoke English but most were non-americans and older. The guy next to us was a Canadian med student traveling Europe. He was really nice/chill. We were exhausted from the day- so after the game/chatting we went home. HILARIOUS- there was a table of Spaniards with a Spanish flag behind them. Apparently they were relatives of Franco/Spanish celebrities (not sure if the two facts are related). So they were being filmed and kept singing etc. So I think I'll be in the background of probs a Spanish TV reality show!

Sunday July 4th
Went to the national archaeological museum with liz. It was really cool- it’s crazy how much ancient stuff that was so cool/imposing we’ve lost. I really enjoyed looking at the signet rings and seals- it's crazy to think that they used them to seal their correspondences thousands of years ago. I also (of course) loved the jewelry selection. It's gorgeous- crazy amounts of gold- weird how everyone somehow agreed that gold was valuable a really long time ago...those things are always trippy to think about. Also crazy is the importance of jewelry. People have always been wearing it (yea human vanity...i like to think of it as humans always having good fashion sense). So even though they were in a completely foreign time there's still so much in common. Many of the pieces would look totally normal worn today (you might get some weird looks for wearing gold olive branch circlets). Pictures of all of this to follow!

Then we went to the beach for the fourth of july celebrations the democrats abroad hosted. It was pretty small- all older people with young kids or no kids. Chatted with the older people. Met a yale alumn who is a news correspondent based here for the past four years. Had burgers and bud…American beer is so much sweeter. We had Guinness at the sports bar which was disgusting. We walked down the beach which was gorgeous and sandy. We also built a sand castle with some of the younger kids- mostly we just wanted to build a sand castle. It was awesome- two walls, a central square piece, three towers, and a walkway. The outer wall, walkway, and top of the central square building were all lined with pebbles (picked with the help of this cute little girl, we tried picking mostly red ones bc that's her favorite color). The fireworks were really good considering the democrats had to raise all the money to fund it with not a big ex-pat community. It was gorgeous seeing them reflected over the water. Another late night though so today at work I’m exhausted!

July 5th

Work was tiring. Mr. Doukas invited me to his house Wednesday to meet his daughters. Tonight Marj/I (angela had a work dinner) went to a Chinese/Thai/Indian restaurant called Chopsticks in Syntagma. We were looking for a different restaurant but stumbled across a china town type area. OMG IT'S 11:11 AS I'M TYPING THIS- just made a wish. I won't say what I wished for...but my theory is that if I consistently wish for something fairly broad this magical 11:11 wish force will eventually hear it and has enough leeway to make the wish come true and surprise me. Since my wishes are pretty broad they usually come true. In the past I've wished for specific things before major events (getting into yale, toc, nats, exams)- pretty decent success rate with the 11:11 wishes haha. Back to the actual post- sorry. We went to this restaurant and split samosas. They were wrapped in phyllo and served with a mint yogurt sauce. Complimentary shrimp chips too with a sweet sauce- yummy. We both had the sizzling thai chicken for dinner which was delicious. We want to take Angela there (I think i'll order the red curry next time and just demand veggies).

After we walked around Syntagma. Lots of cute shops- I'm impressed I haven't really done much shopping here (i really want a jumpsuit/romper...everyone here wears them/we decided they'd be super comfy for travel. i tried one on at rhodes...i looked like a golden snitch...don't think it's my best look). After we stopped in Starbucks. Starbucks is oddly comforting because it's the same everyone- even the decor- yay for US cultural imperialism haha. And there's so much english! the menu, then napkins, bags, etc. Also coffee here is very different- lots of frappes, espressos, greek coffee, and cappuccinos- not so much on the lattes.I got a chai latte and some tazo chai tea bags for home. Also smuggled some sweet and low and straws for home. Overall very nice- Marj and I just wandered/ate from 7 to 10.

I think the first weeks we had such an adjustment shock. The language, fending for ourselves (surprisingly difficult), for the first time absolutely no safety net or supervision. Really we just have each other and within our group mostly our suite (liz is basically adopted into it). So we didn't really explore as much. We would sleep, go to work, cook, chill, and sleep during the week. Now we're exploring/have events a lot more during the week. It means much less sleep but going big.

6/25-6/27- Partying and sleeping

Friday we chilled with people in our group for a bit. They weren’t planning to go out. Liz/Marj/I ended up leaving around 11:30. We wandered around Gazi (young student area). There are tons of bars and clubs. It’s weird- in Athens most of the big clubs relocate to the beaches (Glyfada, Pireaus) during the summer- so that’s kind of a pain.We finally picked a club/bar (socialista). Dancing hadn’t really started (it usually only starts around 3 or 4…the Greeks are crazy partyers I don’t know how they have the energy/don’t get sleepy- we stayed out till 3:30 that night). We ended up talking with these guys and turns out they were highschool classmates with Stefano (a friend of mine in Davenport). One of them is in love with Marj and texted/called her the next weekend.

The next day Angela/Liz went to Olympia. I stayed in Athens. Marj was super super sick Saturday. I stayed in most of Saturday- too lazy to cook much other than pasta. Caught up on some TV shows haha. Saturday night I met up with Cynthia. We watched the US/Ghana game. Then her cousin took us to this really nice bar/lounge/club in Glyfada. It was crazy- he had to make reservations for us. The club was open by the coast and had a huge pool in it. Probably a few hundred people were there- they had confetti, dancers, and fireworks. Also Cynthia overheard someone say she was actually from the Jersey Shore (and she looked it)- so total win. It was this weekend I started really getting into dance/electronic music. We stayed out till 6 am (I had to wait for them to get a ride). Cynthia and I were EXHAUSTED. We were basically falling asleep on each other.

Sunday I decided not to be as lazy as I was on Saturday. I did groceries and then went to the acropolis museum. The acropolis museum is very nicely laid out. It’s cool- it has transparent panels through which you can see an archaeological sight below the museum. They also have a great sort of introductory exhibit which allows you to get a good idea of the times. It’s three floors. They have moved most of the acropolis statutes into the museum- so saw lots of coins and statutes. The top floor has a beautiful view of the acropolis. It also has the frieze (a reconstructed version and the real one) that used to run around the top of the Acropolis. They also have models of the pediments (and the statues left). It’s crazy! It’s kind of sad because much more modern buildings get a lot of credit for being gorgeous/awe inspiring like palace in England, France, Spain, and Italy. But the Acropolis is so much older it’s almost unfair to compare them. The original Acropolis must have been insanely gorgeous and imposing. They had a nice, short film on the building of the Acropolis too. Wandered the nearby area- watched a bit of the Germany/England game. For dinner I made a delicious shrimp fried rice stir fry with mushrooms, eggplant, onions, ginger, chili sauce, and soy sauce.

6/17-6/20- Delphi and Athens

6/17-6/20

Thursday – there’s this bar/restaurant called Yellow Dog one block down (it’s down some stairs from us- we’re in a very hilly area). During the world cup we’d often go watch the games at Yellow dog. They also have delicious homemade pasta. And they have karaoke. So we watched the game, I had pesto pasta, then we sang. We met some nice girls from Georgia state there.

Saturday Liz/Angela/I woke up early to take the bus to Delphi. We wanted to tour with Professor Hale of the archaeology group (nick/lili/ray went with the archaeology group- their car broke down, they also took a detour to a battle site- the one in 300).So we ended up touring by ourselves. We saw the museum. Then we went on the mountain- it was crazy I felt someone hug me from behind and it was Cynthia who coincidentally also was in Delphi climbing the mountain that day. So we climbed the mountain. It’s great touring these places with liz because she’s a classics major and knows a lot about the history. It’s crazy- the oracle sat on a tripod on a rather precarious stone. She inadvertently smoked sulfur and made crucial life decisions. There are many stories- like one emperor (again the one in 300 I think) asked the oracle if he should go to war. She said a great empire will be destroyed if you go to war- and he thought that was the green light but the empire in reference was his. Of course the oracle usually prophesized in vague/confusing ways so that the prophesies could be twisted into being applicable. They also got pretty rich off of tributes. They also have a temple, amphitheater, and stadium there. The climb to the top takes a decent amount of time and it was crazy hot.

After we had lunch at this cute café- pizza and lemon fanta. We then went to the Tholos- which according to greek mythology is the center of the earth. From there zeus sent two eagles to create or scout the rest of the world? unclear...but it was cool! really hot though.

Then we explored the town- which again was cute. Grabbed ice tea/gelato and went back to Athens. In Athens we were exhausted when we arrived (lots of walking/heat) and just got mcdonalds and went to sleep.

Sunday was also super productive. Liz/Angela/Marj/I toured Athens. We went to the Sunday flea market in monistaraki. That was nice- fun going through the flea market. We bought mean girls, prestige, and troy (with a greek dvd case/subtitles!) We went to Keramikos- it is a giant cemetery in Athens. It’s usually not that visited, but it should be it’s great. It’s an ancient cemetery- a lot of people were buried in (didn’t really distinguish by class). There are many gorgeous funeral monuments/pots/offerings that are in the museum there (interestingly they banned monuments/statutes once the democracy started bc they wanted citizens to be equal). We also saw several tortoises crawling around- which was cute. There were gorgeous flowers, trees, pomegranate trees, etc growing in the cemetery. It was just very nice and peaceful. Wandered around the streets of plaka/syntagma. Got souvlaki for lunch- souvlaki/gelato is going to make me really fat. Then we went to the Acropolis. It was stunning- a beautiful day and we went late enough that most of the tourists were gone. We spent a couple hours up there- talking, looking around, taking pictures of course. And blowing bubbles! Then we met up with the rest of the group (just getting back from Delphi). It was two people in our group’s birthdays. Also Emma was leaving (the archaeology people were supposed to work in the harbor, now working in the agora which wasn’t per her line of work and she had a better internship in new York). That was quite sad because Emma is really nice. We had dinner in a nice taverna in Pagratti. Afterwards we went back to an apartment and had baklava to celebrate the birthdays.

6/11-6/13- MKYONOS!

This weekend was one of the few weekends the archaeology people were in town- so we decided to take advantage of it by going to Mykonos! We all took Friday off and went super early in the morning (like 6 am or something).
The archaeology students had left the previous day. We stayed in cabins (little wooden boxes with two beds and that's it) in a hostel site at Paradise beach. It was cool as we left we saw the sunrise in both Athens and Mykonos (and obviously over the sea). The flight was only 30 minutes but we got a delicious caramel pecan cookie, drinks, and crackers- Aegean has great service! Oh- we get free flights on Aegean bc two of the interns work there. We only get 3 flights and one of the interns has to travel with us- so it's hard to coordinate. But it's a great opportunity.

We get to Mykonos. Funny story: we hear this noise and Nick asks if it's Teicher to which I respond no it's a goat. The funny part is Nick was totally right- when Sam woke up Marj/I died laughing because he did (at points) sound like the goat. So we arrived in Mykonos and took a nap. Then we went to the beach. We had gyros on the beach for lunch. Around 4 I think Marj/Liz/Angela/I went into the town. We wandered and took pictures. Then we found this cute cafe/coffee shop and ordered crepes for dinner and watched the World Cup. The first games were that day. At some point later that night we met up with the rest of the group.



We hung out with the rest of the group, but they didn't really want to dance. So Angela/Liz/Marj/Zheela/Emma/Becca and I went dancing.

The next day was pretty similar. Everyone but Liz/Angela/Zheela/Emma/Marj/Becca/I went on ATVs to wander the island. We just chilled on the beach. Again went into town in the afternoon. I had a pretty epic quest for mom's necklace (greek coin to replace the one she lost). I also bought taarini a necklace and myself a ring. For dinner we went to this delicious place in town (zheela/becca/emma/marj/angela/liz/myself). They had homemade pastas (many awesome varieties). I had linguine with fresh mussels- absolutely delicious. They also had great dips for the breads- olive, feta, and plain olive oil. Again we went dancing. This time it ended up being mostly Marj/I wandering around- we also ran into Cynthia (classmate from highschool here on a greek heritage program)! It was quite exciting. Marj and I also saw a few delightful drag queens. We also had various sketchy encounters. We went to one club the most (down under) so much so that the bouncers offered to give us a ride to Club Paradise. I'm sad we didn't go to Club Paradise- it's supposed to be the best club in Greece it's on paradise beach. The club doesn't get going till about 5 am though and we had to leave at 5 for our flight. So, pulled an all nighter.

Sunday we got back super early and all of us pretty much just slept all day.