A pretty quiet week

This week has been kind of slow and not much has been happening. Ioanna is travelling around Greece with students from Italy so we have not gone to any new museums. We had our final for Mythology so studying for that has taken up a chunk of time. Last weekend I went shopping in Monastiraki with Jill which was fun. I was especially happy that I was able to finish all of my Christmas shopping for my family when I went.
I think the biggest thing that happened this week was when Kaitlyn told us that she was flying home because she needed to be with her family. I miss her a lot because she was my roommate so my room feels really empty and quiet without her here. I have a really big bed now though which is nice. We have had several house meetings since she left to make sure that there is no break down of law and order in the house now that there is no enforcer to make sure that things get done.
Absentee ballots are starting to come in which is a really good thing. Everyone seems really excited when they get theirs in the mail. The people here in Greece really love Barack Obama and have strong words of criticism for President Bush. It is great to talk to the Greeks about American politics because most of them know more about American politics than most Americans do.

REM and the Cyclades Museum

Normally I do not like MTV but this past weekend they out did themselves with a free concert in the old Olympic stadium so they could launch MTV Gr which is the new MTV for Greece. The shows were all really awesome. There were four acts from around the world: the first act was Greek, the second was Australian, the was British, the last was REM, who are Americans. The beset act by far was probably the third one which was the Kaiser Chiefs and they were really intense. I watched the concert from the front row and he was climbing the stage scaffolding right in front of me.
REM was really great too. They did not play for as long as I expected that they would but it was still a good show. The worst part of the show was the vjays from the different European MTV stations be cause they were terrible at doing interviews so they were just kind of there. It was really cool to think that we were on live television in something like five countries all over Europe though.
The week was pretty dead after the excitement of the weekend. The most interesting thing that we did was go to the Cyclades Museum with Ioanna. We went to see an exhibit called “A Day in the Life of Athens” and it had a collection that was different from the other collections that we had seen before. It was really interesting and the movies that the museum had the reenacted scenes from daily life were interesting to because it was like watching history come to life in front of you.

The Plumber and the PM

Our apartment didn’t get functioning internet until late last week. Our text books, while shipped in the last week of August, and made it to Greece in the first week of September, did not arrive in our hands until September the 17th. And this after having paid hundreds of euros to get them out of customs. 

What may come off as a litany of complaints is intended to be anecdotal evidence: it is hard to get things done in Greece. For nearly a half a millennia, the country was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, a government whose concept of civic culture revolved around patronage, nepotism, and bribery. When we think of the aftereffects of imperialism Greece does not quickly come to mind. Africa and India are some of the most obvious cases; in Africa, borders drawn with caprice have produced unsettled tribal rivalries, while the British civil service system in India left institutions and attitudes which bred and maintained the world’s largest democracy. 

The ghost of the Ottomans lingers in Greece, as the ideas of dutiful civil service and bureaucratic oversight have still refused to take hold. The other day I met a Greek named George, who, to my surprise and delight, felt like talking Greek and American politics to a foreign stranger (or strange foreigner?) for twenty minutes on the sidewalk. “You have probably already figured out how it is here,” he said, telling me that to get anything done in Greece, you either have to have personal connections or acute knowledge of tactful bribery. “If your package is stuck in customs, you can probably get it” if you hand the right person a twenty euro note. 

In America, bribery is far less widely accepted, but our corruption is of a different sort. Business interests dominate government, and lobbyists ghostwrite legislation; “rigged elections” (his words--n.b. George is an Obama supporter, who worries that the Republicans will try to rig the upcoming election in desperation, a scenario which he believes would prompt revolution--your author is more optimistic/naïve). “In Greece,” ruminates George, “everyone is corrupt, from the plumber to the prime minister.” 

That explains the leak in the floor. 

Music, Anarchists, and lots of "Cuddle Puddles"..I love Athens!

Time just keeps flying by in Athens! The past week has been fairly productive, yet remained full of adventures. The highlight, as you’ve seen by my classmates’ posts, was certainly last Sunday: REM and Kaiser Chiefs, live, free, in the Olympic Stadium. I don’t think that experience will be forgotten by any of the 50,000 fans present, especially not by our group.

As for the weekend preceding this event, I won’t go into much detail, but we had two birthdays to celebrate in such little time! We made it count, though, and I then needed nearly a week of recuperation.

Classes began Monday and we were a hot mess. I spent my afternoons meandering, working on The 420 Project. This project has turned out to be a fun idea; by having a purpose to walk around, we accomplish a goal, while exploring new areas and finding interesting places. This is how Dom found her beloved vegan store!

I also stumbled across the metro protest on Wednesday. Protestors carried a huge Greek flag, which was followed by a parade of hundreds of supporters, yelling through megaphones. I wish I knew what they were saying; I need to learn more Greek.

One afternoon, Fancy guided a few of us to a square that Ionna had showed her. Apparently, Anarchists congregate in this area. When we arrived, we found the square was currently displaying an artistic installation. Hanging from hemp rope were arrangements of photos of trash and destruction in Athens. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read the captions, but the purpose was clear: to raise awareness of the environmental and social problems present in this city. Hanging from the trees within the square were black trash bags. The photo that moved me the most was a shot of a box of dirty syringes. Another photo depicted the box dumped out on the red carpet. This exhibit gave me a new perspective on Athens.

Next, we noticed a beautiful shop, with dozens of fairies adorning the inside of the window. The bright colors and name, Strawberry, quickly drew us in. Before we got much of a chance to look around, the owner popped out of the back room. She instantly began talking to us as if we were old friends. Intrigued, we stayed and chatted with her. She told us a little of the country’s history, as well as her history, and then she shared some wisdom; “you can tell by someone’s eyes and lips if they have a kind soul.” Her eyes twinkled as she spoke and I felt suddenly connected to her. She said she knew were good people and hoped to see us soon. We left, promising to come back and pondering the humor and wisdom of this woman, Maria.

The following day, a brilliant vision came to Dom and I. To utilize the space in our room and our plethora of tapestries and craft supplies, we built a tent. More like a cave, though, where we now sleep, along with Fancy. It’s beautiful! It not only allows privacy and creates a chill ambience, it allowed us to build a connecting beauty station and changing area. We are quite the architects.

Why Are We All Here?

13/10/08

Why Are We All Here? (Meaning of life stuff)

Possibly a question only answerable with a myth. However, everyone on this trip probably had different reasons for wanting to come to Greece. My personal reasons were to experience the Greek culture and try to learn as much of the language as I can. In trying to learn the language I listened to lessons on CD then during that I made myself learn the Greek alphabet, which is quite different from the English one. I got a Greek dictionary before I left to help me out as well. All these things helped but actually being here where Greek is sometimes the only language people can speak to you makes things different and can be intimidating and made me realize that I wish I knew more. Myself and Misty were big on trying to learn the language so we asked our Greek teacher of Athens though the Ages to help us out with the language. So far we have only had one time where we have met but we plan on keeping it up as soon as she gets back from her trip. She is very helpful and able to teach us things that CDS and dictionaries cannot help us with.
The other thing that I had mentioned was experiencing the culture. This is big for me because my personal area of study is anthropology. This culture has much to offer in many ways. One of the ways is the food. Greece is big on their food from, gyros, spanakopita, saganaki (fried feta), baked feta, cheese pies, to tons of other delicious things, some of which I still have yet to try. Their dairy products here are a lot richer than they are in America. A lot of their culture is around food and people gather around tavernas or other types of restaurants for conversation and good food. Something else that I noticed that has nothing to do with food is the way they make their buildings. In America they are made mainly out of wood but here, as I look around at things being built, they are made of a concrete looking material. Recently, I have been making more Greek friends who help me to experience the culture even more which I am very happy about.

Blabbering

This past week I have finally found myself calming down. I believe my body needed a good healthy rest. I didn’t think that it was possible for everyone to get a cold without it actually being cold outside. It is just becoming sweatshirt weather, although it is still possible to be content outside in a t-shirt or even tank-top if the suns out. But, from what I hear about the colds going around at home – us in Greece were suffering from the same symptoms! Weird!

For the past week we have all been utilizing the toilet paper, and filling up those trash barrels with these darn runny noses. But slowly, I think the general consensus is that we are all recovering. During our collective sickness period we found some ways to entertain ourselves. Moves have been shared, watched, and re-watched. The website surfthechannel.com has also been appreciated to its fullest. Except when we watch too many hours of it and we get kicked off for a while. Or when it stops just before the epic end of a movie, for example, the Prince of Egypt.

On a more personal note: Leanne and I rearranged our rooms, again. We have decided to sacrifice our collective tapestries as well as extra sheets, for a good cause. We made a massive tent! Our supplies included many, many safety pins, close pins, and hemp. Throughout the days we have also edited and fixed certain sections to make the tent the best ever! We even have three mattresses to pad our behinds/for sleeping arrangements. I will rely on Leanne’s blogging skills to post pictures of our wonderful room contraption.

Meandering with a New Greek Friend

Ashley and I decided on Saturday to hop on the metro and then the team bus with the HAU soccer team, and ride with the players to watch their match in the suburbs of Athens.  The game was exciting though it didn’t end in the most desired fashion.  (Also, Ashley and I were subjected to the coolest weather that we have felt yet in Greece).

            Over the course of the ride home, then dinner, and finally the after-party we were able to socialize with some of the players and actually make friends with a couple of them.  Costas and Tony are there names.

            On Sunday morning Tony got a hold of Ron and I and we got together to hang out.  We went out for coffee, which takes about three hours at a Greek coffee shop.  Then we walked around chatting and moving in and out of the market.  Once we got hungry we stopped for souvlaki and a soda.  We continued on our walk talking about Tony’s history class and the different perspectives that he gets learning about things from Greece’s perspective until we stumbled into the student district in the city, Psiri.  Here we went to a little bar and ordered up the best cough remedy I have ever had.  I have been sick and so was Tony so he introduced me to this Greek remedy called rakomena.  This is a heated mixture of Cretan raki and honey.  Raki is like Cretan moonshine, and the warm mixture of it with honey did wonders for my cold.

            From here we continued walking outside listening to the array of Greek musicians inside of restaurants and on the streets until it was late and we were all tired.

            Six hours from the time I walked out the door I began the walk back to my apartment wondering, “what did I do with my day?”  After a few moments of thought I came to the realization that I was simply meandering all day.  I was walking around, like so many Greek students do, aimlessly looking for conversation and a good time.  I realized at this moment that I was one step closer to achieving one of my ultimate goals in Greece, which is to embrace myself in the culture of a Greek student and not simply be an American student who happens to be doing his studies in Greece. 

            On this trip I have come to realize that I am not a tourist, but rather a temporary resident of Athens.  Because of this I feel that meeting other Greeks my age and learning about them and their culture is essential when acquiring a well-rounded set of knowledge and experiences on this semester abroad. 

Grecian Revelations

I can’t lie we are a group of thirteen young adults and don’t like to be cooped up in an apartment all day. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that we like to go out explore, have dinner and go dancing. During these adventures we’ve had the opportunity to meet lots of people around Athens, unfortunately we havent met very many people our age. However this past weekend we had the opportunity to mingle with a few students who attend HAU with us. Saturday morning Shane and I took the metro, met up with the HAU soccer team and rode with them to their sixth game of the season. The team put out a lot of effort and ended the game with a tie but we had a lot of fun cheering and getting to know them. Afterwards we had the opportunity to meet more of the students from HAU at a kick off party that the school had arranged at a night club. I loved meeting new people but there is something that was said to me that is still lingering in my head. While on the bus to the game Shane and I were talking to the student activities coordinator and he asked us what our favorite and least favorite parts of being in Greece were…both of us just looked at him and were quite speechless, that is until i had this thought....

There are many things in Greece that I can honestly say I love, and I am continuing to fall in love with Athens every day…but to point out one particular thing, that seems almost inconceivable. I love that there is always a kiosk with everything I could ever need within walking distance of everywhere I go, being able to pop into a museum whenever I want, and of course there is all the shopping I could ever dream of in monastiraki... of the few things I hate… well I don’t hate. I strongly dislike almost being hit by motorcycles on sidewalks, and I miss real peanut butter, I also agree with Myste’s last post about the whole fitted sheets fiasco…

In all I think that we had such a hard time thinking about our favorite parts of Greece because to me, this trip isn’t about any particular moment, it’s really an experience that will affect the way I look at everything. I am starting to appreciate things a little more each day and I’m also finding things out about myself that I never knew I could handle. There are a lot of things I’ll miss when I come back to the U.S. and I’ll have a lot of individual memories but I don’t think there will be any favorites.

We've been in Athens a little over a month now. Despite the amazing experiences we've been having, with the awesome food, and the touching of celebrities, and volcano climbing, I have begun to feel some of the first pangs of homesickness. I have put together a comparative list of things that I especially miss from the good ol' US of A.

1. Dunkin Donuts. With the appeal of Gloria Jean's long gone for some of us, even a Kono-man double espresso complete with a free pastry cannot always quell the need for a medium iced regular, at a price that never breaks the bank.
2. Fitted Sheets. This has been an issue for me for sometime now. Waking up with my sheets wrapped around my body like a cotton cocoon and the scratchy mattress under me has been infinitely frustrating. Until yesterday I was under the impression that fitted sheets were simply a commodity that was completely unavailable here in Greece. Little did I know we were just being held out on. The boy's apartment is furnished with lovely sheeting of the fitted variety. Big fight.
3. Toilets that flush. Every time. No matter what is thrown in there. Having finally gotten used to reading signs at every public water closet saying Please no paper in toilet, when arriving back to the US, it's going to be lovely to not be concerned if I want to throw an entire newspaper in there if I feel the need to.
4. Not paying for bread and water at a restaurant. Although the bread here in Greece tastes as though the dough was rolled by Zeus himself, it will be a nice change of pace to eat as much bread as my little heart desires without worrying about what the damage to the final bill will be.
5. My dog. Despite the fact that Athens is home to plenty of stray pups, Reagan is one of a kind. Let me know when you find a dog here in Greece that does as beautiful a rendition of the Batman theme song as my Reagan does and I will give you a Euro.

Ok, I guess five little things that I miss about home isn't awful. In fact, if you ship me some Dunkins, fitted sheets, and my dog, I'll somehow manage with the toilets and bread and maybe I won't ever have to go home. They certainly know how to make an espresso here in Athens anyway.

A Home Away From Home

As I sit in my room trying to think about what I should write about for my blog I hear sirens going off outside my window and people laying on their horns every so often. It is then when I realized that these noises are something I have grown so used to in the past couple of weeks that it just boggles my mind. I am from a small town in Connecticut where my back yard consists of cows, alpacas, and chickens. The only sounds that I have grown accustomed to are the ones that come from those animals as well as the calming sound of crickets in the evening.

With this thought, I am surprised that I have gotten so used to everything so quickly, and that's when I realize that this place feels a little bit like a home away from home. The things that used to scare me when I came to this city are now things I barely even notice. The street bike flying past me as I walk on the sidewalk, the cars going through streets that are one way streets only, and the people cursing and screaming at each other in Greek if one driver did something the other driver did not approve of. Even the riots, people shouting on the loud speakers in a language I only know so much of, and the occasional army groups walking just outside our apartment with machine guns dangling from their arms.

I find it incredible that I have lived here for only a few weeks and that inner feeling of being a tourist has been replaced with being a resident here in Athens. I know I am not Greek nor do I speak the language, but being out of my comfort zone I have found ways in order to survive here. How to handle myself as I am finding it difficult to communicate with the girl who makes my coffee--stay calm, don't get flustered or angry, and take it one step at a time. I have grown confident enough to be able to go up to a stranger and ask him or her for help if needed or to walk around this intimidating city by myself. My sense of direction has gotten better, I now know how to make it home on my own if I ever got lost. As for someone like myself who is a picky eater, I have found myself enjoying the new dishes that the Greeks have perfected and forcing myself to experience new and different things.

I have accepted the culture that is different from my own and have found myself growing more fond of it each and every day. When starting on this trip there were so many things I had mentally prepared myself for; jet lag, culture shock, getting used to the new people that are on the trip with me, being open-minded to new things. The one thing I did not prepare myself for was feeling like I was home. That comfort feeling you get when you have been away for a few days and when you walk into the door of your home you feel calm and relaxed. The apartment on Sina Street and the people in it have made me feel that way. I could not have asked for a better situation or for better people to experience this with me.