The Low Countries

in Bruges!!!

You Can See My Heart Beating: Last Day in Greece

the insanity of my last full day in Greece. I am approaching the 24 hour mark. I woke up early to stroll through Plaka. I bought myself some presents and some for my loves. I brought my camera and took pictures of all the things i love. The 209, the 4. the road the goes in the middle of the national gardens. the winding streets of Plaka and the cute tourist shops with "Cats of Greece" purses, calenders, shot glasses, hats, shirts, mugs. I swear they sell everything cat related in those shops except real cats. I found myself speaking as much Greek as I could, just to take it all in as much as possible. I spoke more then I normally would in Plaka (its ultra touristy and everyone speaks english there) so of course found myself in the middle of conversations pretending I was a native speaker until some weird question arose like what size? and I was left with just...uh..signoome?
It felt so nice. I found myself telling all the sales people that I was leaving tomorrow. It was all I could think about. How short my time is. How this is my last chance. My last trip to Plaka. It is crazy how well I know the streets of Athens. This big city. This ancient city. It really isnt that big at all. It is filled with small streets and narrow sidewalks. Even Ermou. I know every store, every piece of graffiti on the walls. I can tell you where all the Emma graffiti is around the city. Thissio, Monastraki, Psiri. What was once a maze, is now a clear map in my head. I walk those streets with confidence.

I noticed something after about 2 months of being here that I have never written about. But its something I think about often. Everywhere I've ever lived. The streets I've walked, the roads I've crossed. My eyes have always had a fixation on my feet. I have known amazing people who walk differently. They walk with a bounce in their step. With their chins up. They look straight. And for some reason, I, have always looked down. I never was confident enough. I never wanted to stare at the world. I wanted to look down at the pavement and make sure I didnt trip or fall. I dont know. I just always noticed that some people looked up, but I looked down. I once wrote in a poem,
"gray fleece and eyes set ahead,
yet their glance hits the pavement more
for these skies don't hold the answer."
But Greece has changed me.

For what seems like the first time. I walk with my head up. I forget my feet. I trust my legs to steady any possible fall. And my eyes watch everything. And I smile.

Loss and Gain

I havent written for a while. Winter has come to Athena, and with it, cold and sad realizations about the changing tides. We never expect everything to be the same when we return home, but I guess we never expect things to be so different. I always think about death and how odd it seems. Personal to so many and distant to so many others. When it touches, it stings cold. There is that feeling in the pit of your stomach that there is an ultimate unbalance in the world that can never be fixed.

I have had a few strange weeks here. Preparing for finals, death and sadness, the realization that I am leaving in two days not coming back for a very long time. I feel like part of this coldness has increased this drive in me to return to the places and the people that make me feel ultimate warmth.

I realized I haven't been living in the moment, but anticipating it. It feels weird knowing in a few days I wont be in Diatoma on this couch where I have been so often. And I wont be sitting in my kitchen or on my balcony. Even though I haven't left, part of me already feels foreign, like I am not suppose to be here. Just a visitor stopping by. I guess maybe I am anxious to start moving again. I get antsy to move, to live, to run around as much as possible. Maybe my legs are getting restless and I am ready to go. I am ready to gain.

Milano Cookies (were about the only thing we didn't eat in Milan)

Pizza Pizza Pizza.
I think the three of us really needed a great vacation. Not that there is really much to stress us out about in Athens. In fact there really is nothing stressful here, but you know. We came abroad to travel. To enjoy the European life. and that means that some weekends you have to leave your lovely little apartment in Pangrati and go some place new.

In my case I had been to Milan 6 years ago, but remembered little besides the big boulevards lined with amazing stores and cafes, and the Last Supper. As we drove in I remembered it better but I must admit this time was a whole new experience. It rained as we got into the city and the entire first day. This did not slow us down though. Jaynas shoes got water clogged/ destroyed and her poor feet barely made it through.

We got lost for about an hour trying to find our hotel in the rain Thursday night. Our street was basically impossible to find, the hotel directions were not actually directions and we did not have a map. Eventually we made it though, and realized had we come out another exit of the subway we would have seen the sign for our street immediately. One of the hilarities of Milan.

We stayed in a cool area, a little outside the center of the city but surrounded by restaurants, gelato places, and tons of shopping. Our hotel though, was a little sketchy. Every night we would wake up to crazy yelling/ promiscuous behavior/ possible domestic violence. We did not spend tons of time in the hostel though.

We spent most of our time working our legs or our stomachs. I counted 16 pizzas consumed by the 3 of us in a 3 1/2 day period. I wish I were kidding (actually I dont because they were all amazing). I cannot even explain the amazing pizzas we had. Glorious toppings such as: Prosciutto on a lot of them, buffalo mozzarella, carpaccio, spicy salami, ricotta cheese, shrimp, clams, oysters, calamari and many others. Also i had some amazing gnocchi which is my favorite!

We amazingly went into many stores but did not buy anything. Milan makes me want to have unlimited funds so I can pop into ever designer store (or even just Zara) and buy whatever beautiful things I love. There is so much beauty in Milan it is crazy!

We had a very cultural weekend I would say. Each day we managed to investigate some really cool exhibits and museums. We saw three amazing Da Vinci's, including the incredible Last Supper. My favorite part though was when we saw an exhibit exclusively in Milan of photographs taken by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry. I noticed signs with his most famous photo around Milan and insisted we find the exhibition. The show featured his most famous photographs and many others from his travels in the Sudo-Est (Italian for Middle East). I cant even begin to explain how amazing they were. It was one of those things where somehow you are just emotionally impacted by something. I left feeling emotionally drained and fulfilled at the same time. It was incredible.

Italy was all riled up for CHRISTMAS!!!! (as Jayna would exclaim) The city was having and LED festival this weekend so the whole city was geared up with lights decorating just about everything. The lights and the fact that it was the first time the three of us had been cold since..um..April really got us in the Christmas mood. We kept quoting Elf, "SANTA!!! I KNOW HIM!"

Another great adventure happened after we ended up getting to the Last Supper a couple of hours too early (Ill save that story for another time but lets just say Jayna and I lack the common sense needed to understand time zones) and in a fit of hunger (I know youre thinking damn youre actually still hungry? but yes we were still hungry) we made our way to a small grocery and got ourselves prosciutto, a straight out of the oven baguette and some ridiculously cheap sun dried tomatoes. and we sat on weird balls in the street and ate our meals. We got some weird looks but we enjoyed it beyond belief.

We returned home Monday to a very messy Athens. The weekend had brought many intense riots. A year ago a 16 year old was shot by Greek police and it spurred two weeks of intense riots that resulted in the kids studying abroad being sent home early. On Sunday, the anniversary, anarchists, youths and radicals of all kinds took to the streets to march against the police. Of course the march escalated quickly as rioters came prepared with Molotov cocktails, firebombs, flares and fireworks and many other make shift weapons. It doesnt help that the garbage workers of Athens are currently on strike so every sidewalk in Athens is lined with TRASH. (it smells really bad seriously). This whole week riots will continue. I was at Syntagma today (the main square and where the riots have been taking place) and you can still smell teargas in the air and due to the lack of people to clean, it looks like the riot just occurred.

I am being a good girl and not going looking for the craziness. Two Arcadians actually got caught in McDonalds during the start of the riot and they said it was terrifying. Especially because a lot of the sentiments are VERY anti-American.

Okay I have to go to class. I am finishing work for the week (I know it is Tuesday) and planning to relax during my last week of classes. Melissas birthday is on Saturday!!! Should be a great week

An Italian Renaissance

I took a class last quarter at OSU about the Italian Renaissance. I think I must have written the word at least 200 times a week. and yet as I sit on my balcony this morning I still didnt think I know how to spell it. Spelling = not my best quality.

I just finished packing for Milan. I like calling in Milano cause it reminds me of Milano cookies and how Jane would bring them in her lunch everyday in high school and if we got lucky she wouldnt want them.

I think everyone back home will be excited to know that I am finally wearing semiwinter clothing. I am in Uggs and a sweater. Im preparing my feet for these new thing called closed toed shoes. They havent been inside a shoe since May so I feel like it may take them some time to adjust.

I feel like a new me, but at the same time, an old me. I feel like I am having my own little Renaissance. It is spectacular. I will update on Monday when I return from the land of Gnocchi, pizza and vino.

Parents Come to Greece!

I am taking a break from finishing up my 5 page paper to do some blogging. Its been a while kids. Ive been a busy girl not on the computer much the past week or so. My parents came last week and it was great.

They arrived last Saturday (or two Saturdays ago) and I had told them I was going to meet them at Syntagma at 11 (thats where the metro from the airport takes you) but I knew that even waking up at 7 am wouldnt stop me from going to the airport to get them. I was too excited and anxious. This is Greece, my country and I wanted to show it to them. and I guess that meant even from the airport to Syntagma. It was so nice, I can even explain. To feel so at home with two people who know me best. To show them these things that I love and these places that excite me. To show them what I have learned. I hadn't planned on skipping out completely on school, but the lack of real class/assignments influenced me to play hooky all week. It was nice to sleep in a comfy hotel bed, watch some tv and talk for days on end to my parents.

We went to Delphi on Sunday and rented a car to drive there. It was hilarious and hectic seeing as Athenian driving is ridiculous (I would say almost on Israels level of insanity, but then mixed with New York traffic). And the only car we could get was a stick shift. But no stalls occurred and we made it to Delphi safely. I couldnt believe how beautiful the area was. Delphi is situated in the ski mountains of Greece. The whole time I kept thinking oh Ben would love it here!! I felt kinda bad him and I hadnt gone when he visited but maybe one day. During the week we explored to our leisure. Athens is such a leisurely city I feel like it would be hard to be a tourist here. Athenians dont have the run run run see as much as possible feel in them. They see the Agora for a half an hour, then sit for coffee for two. I had to teach my parents the Greek way of life that means you sit and relax and talk your time. It is hard to adjust to, I know that well. But it certainly has brought my stress levels down overall.

Life is so calm here and relaxing. and things dont work (ever I may add), but you dont stress. It will be okay. I keep telling myself that.

I cannot believe tomorrow is December. December is going to be the most amazing month in history of my life I think. I can feel it. On Thursday Melissa, Jayna and I jetset for Milan. I was there 6 years ago so dont remember it well but it should be great. The three of us are all really really excited for Italian food. I warned them I may get gnocchi for ever meal. We are trying to figure out taking a day trip to Lack Como too. It is suppose to be absolutely amazing.

Then I get to spend my last few weeks in Athens. We are making a bucketlist of things to do before we leave. So much has to be done!

Finally on the 17th I am flying to Paris and meeting up with my Dad to do the Taylor-Mother-Son/ Father-Daughter journey through Belgium and the Netherlands. Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam are on our itinerary. I then fly home Christmas eve where my mom and may will pick me up from the airport. I am so excited for this month. It is amazing.

Also did you realize the decade is coming to a close? I just realize that. I have lived through my second decade (I dont remember that much of the first) but isnt that cool? I think so anyway.

Food for Thought: Okay remember the movie Godzilla with Matthew Broderick made in like 1998? It makes no sense. Why could Godzilla swim all the way from the French Polynesian islands in the South Pacific all the way to New York City. Honestly it just doesnt make sense. Did he go around the tip of South America? or through the Panama Canal? LA is on the West Coast! that would have made so much more sense. Then again there is nothing like movies that destroy NYC.

A Day of Protest in Greece

I had some time before class so I thought I would update on the happenings of the past few days. Its been a nice week. We had visitors from some universities in the US visit so we had to be on good behavior and open to talk a lot about our experience. I can spin things well. Leave the negative out, really emphasize the good. But when I do it I am always thinking that what I am saying is true, but it doesn't feel like the truth. Anyway we got free lunch both days. We ravaged it like a pack of wolves. I kinda think study abroad is sorta like being homeless except you have a nice place to sleep. Its just hard to put that next meal on your table.

Yesterday, the 17th is the day that Greece commemorates..well a lot of things to be honest. In 1973, Greece was under a military dictatorship. Clearly things weren't good (they never are in dictatorships) so the students of the Athens Polytechnic University staged a huge sit in. This sit in was similar to the ones of Berkeley in the 60's but I think even large. For 3 days they took shifts, sitting, eating, sleeping, refusing to leave the building. But of course dealing with a junta it ended with tanks, guns, and teargas. I think about 30 students were killed and the country was devastated. A few months later the junta fell and Greece went back to a democracy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens_Polytechnic_uprising)

But now 36 years later November 17th is the day that Greece commemorates those who were kinda martyred for their beliefs. Any of course 36 years later that message is..kinda pretty much lost. Okay I wouldnt say completely lost, there are plenty of people who marched yesterday with Greek flags and some with candles, families of those who died. But of thousands of marchers, I'd say the day takes on a whole new meaning. This day has become a day to protest (something the Greeks are already pretty damn good at) for students and adults like. The passionate individuals, usually of the far left parties take to the street outside the Polytechnion and march together armed with banners, chants, and flags. But when you look at the flag you see a ripped piece of fabric attached carelessly to a long big wooden plank. The flag is not the point, the weapon it can become is. The Greeks chant and drum and shout against Imperialism, America, and the Anarchists of course chant against government! They march about 2 miles to the American Embassy where people say it gets a little crazy.

We went with some of the administrators to watch and were advised not to bring cameras (Ben, my brother learned at the the hard way during his recording of a riot in Pangrati) or dress in ultra-American clothing. They knew we would go by ourselves and figured they should be there just in case and to help translate and explain the different groups.

I was like a kid on Christmas morning. The chance of seeing a huge full blown riot! Teargas! Molotov cocktails!! How fun!! We stood waiting for a few hours until the show came down the boulevard we were stationed at. Lots of Greeks came out to watch also. Show support and just watch the happening I guess. There were lots of radicals and lots of college kids, arms linked, faces flushed with shouting. It was beautiful really. The anarchists (the actually scary ones) were dressed completely in black with fabric over their mouths in case of teargas. As they marched the biggest men stood on the outside walking sideways to protect those within and to show the riot police (um who lined the sidewalk behind me) that they must pass through them to get to the crowd. Many many communists came out to march, they represent about 10% of the Greek population. I thought that was really cool of course too.

Anyway the march at our end, ended up being pretty peaceful. There were moments when it was a little scary, but nothing more then heart racing fear without any real escalations. It was very cool though. Great experience. Great day.

After Jayna Melissa and I saw Paranormal Activity. We all love scary movies but cant find lots of people in the US to see them with us so it was perfect. We screamed like little girls (me especially) but we loved it.

Have to go to class. Have a 5 page paper to write before the rents come at the end of this week. Very excited to ditch out on life next week!

Glorious Week

Monday I barely got any sleep. Up at 7 to go to the immigration office and get my extended visa approved. Greece I tell ya. The girls and I enjoyed ourselves while observing the wonders of a government office in Greece. It looked kinda like a dirty, florescent version of basically no government office in the United States.
After our visas were approved (yes can stay for longer then 90 days now!!) Jayna and I trekked it to the Acropolis Metro for our Greek Key walk. Our Greek key class is a really cool class that isnt really a class? its more of a freshmen (or freshmen in greece) seminar. Anyway we hate on it all the time because it is very horribly organized. Only meets once every three weeks or so, random assignments due without explanation, and no comment if you never show up or turn anything in. But they are really cool walks around different neighborhoods and areas of Athens. Anyway it was only 4 of us and Maria and we climbed the Philoppapos Hill and sat up there and talked about maps and memories and other things. It was awesome. Then I got pooped on by a bird.

After I showered and napped before class. In Aegean we were suppose to do stuff, but 3 of the 6 students didnt show up and Demetra started talking to us and we kinda forgot to start class. It was the best class I've had since coming to Athens. We talked about history and anthropology and the humanities and what archaeology tells us. We talked about how being from America changes how we look at the generalizations that archaeology makes. It is a concept I have such a hard time understanding. How can one clue mean everyone was the same? I come from a culture of billions of thoughts, expressions, religions and attitudes, it is hard to imagine a society where everybody is practically the same. It gives me the motivation to look deeper into the society at hand. We talked about the importance of a well rounded education and how even if we never do anything again with archaeology or history, it had aided in our global education. "Even coming here to Greece," she said. We then got lost in the tangent of living abroad. Demetra lived in Edinburgh for 6 years while getting her Masters and PHD so she understands the difficulties and adventures of living in a place so unlike your home. We talked about that tiny stress sometimes on your shoulders where you dont get "it", the code or way of life because you are essentially not quite a tourist, but not a native. We talked about the idea of home and how nothing gives you a feeling quite like it. The way it envelops you and makes you feel whole. But how as young adults, we search for other things besides this feeling. Adventure, knowledge, wisdom, ourselves. We live and all the things we learn about a place teach us more and more about ourselves. We talked about everything is seems. Everything relevant, everything that matters.

After class I had to study for 2 midterms and finally passed out late, but I was so satisfied. Complete and happy. I thought this morning about how Demetra said its not liking something, or disliking something, its understanding it, understanding ourselves, others, cultures, societies and places. Its not about loving a place, its about loving what it teaches you, how you leave it, and what you see when you return home. Its about loving the change that surrounds you. I love the change. I love everything.

I left my heart in ΝΑΥΠΛΙΟ

sometimes you dont realize the best days are going to be the best days. you just dive into them, or if you're me, you wake up with every intention of continuing sleep, until you muster the courage to drag yourself out of bed after just two ours of tummy-aching sleep, and into the cold rainy darkness outside. but umbrella in hand I brave it, with a confidence in my step and an excitement in the pit of me. my lungs are invigorated the second the cold gets in. and I'm in it. the moment. one hundred percent completely.

I came here for days like today. hopping from place to place with a smile on my face. and a fall on my bum and fall around me. rain and cold becomes sun on the Aegean. and I'm independent, and I walk slow, and I smile because I am happy. and I am away from everyone and everything in the world that I love, but I fall in love with each step and somehow its mine and its theirs all together.

It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you

I cant stop listening to Africa by Toto today. It was stuck in my head when I woke up. It reminds me Scrubs when JD sings it in the bath. I think that is Jane's favorite episode? or my own. I cant remember.

I realize I've taken a hiatus from this but Im back again I think. My room feels like a cave. In Athens they have these weird shutters on the windows that you can lower to shut out the light or the cold so the window in my room and the balcony doors have the light blocked out so even though its only about 3 in the afternoon I feel like it could be 3 am.

I am staring at the huge pile of laundry on my floor. I should really do it soon. But the concept doesnt really make sense cause to dry things in Greece (as with many southern Mediterranean countries)you just hang the outside. But its so cold!! I dont know why but I dont feel like when I wash my clothes they actually get clean. I feel like my Dad is the only one who can actually CLEAN my clothes. I feel like I just get them wet and then let them dry but the stains, dirt, sweat is still buried in there! Even at school where I have a dryer I cant wait to have my Dad do it for me I feel like my clothes are actually clean! I suck at being an adult.

Our flight to Paris was canceled this weekend.(Annoying) So after a while of searching we found that we could go to Milan that weekend for even less money. So we booked it. I was in Milan in the start of August 2003 with my family, only for a day before our flight left for the US but I remember loving it. I had the best pizza of my life there. Fresh mozzarella, basil, sliced tomatoes! I also remember seeing the Last Supper by Da Vinci with my family and having my Dad explain all of Dan Browns theories from the Da Vinci code (which he had just read at the time). I also remember this AMAZING boutique I found during that afternoon with these amazing cool clothes. I think it was comparable in style to Urban Outfitters but at the time I was like OMG THIS IS THE COOLEST PLACE EVER!!! I also found out there is a football (soccer) match there that weekend. AC Milan I am told is one of the best teams in Europe (Beckham played there during a break from the Galaxy last year, god I know my celeb gossip). But the tickets are from 50 Euros and up so we might just have to find a nice pub with crazy fans and go a little nuts. I really have missed the rowdiness of OSU football games. My last mirror lake jump will be next year. That is crazy. Anyway Im excited! even though we arent going until December.

I couldnt get dressed this morning because all I wanted to wear were my brown Uggs and i dont have them with me. I did something stupid by not bringing any boots. I didnt realize it was gonna be like 45 degrees starting November 1st!! Every website said it doesnt get cold until December! What happened to global warming man! Also every woman here wears boots and skinny jeans or leggings so i wouldnt even look weird with them! booo.

Going back to class after a week off is really hard. I honestly dont think I paid attention for more then 15 minutes in class last night or in Athens on site today. Byzantine I forced myself to take a lot of notes but I cant say I was really into it. Now I have Greek lang next and I havent had real class for about 2 weeks so im kinda dreading it. I do like languages, but the fact that I kinda suck at them makes me never wanna go to class.

The cold makes me want to stay in and cuddle under my covers. But I am only here for a few more months and I cannot waste that time, just gotta bundle up and get out.

The Actual Start of Fall in Greece

I realized that the title of my blog is ultra ironic because there is no Autumn in Athens. Although I have a park across from my house the leaves are not changing. And living in a city, I am forgetting what it looked like, that favorite season of mine. I was telling Melissa when we were in Mieza, at the ruins of the School of Aristotle, that the way I view fall is so different from its original purpose. Fall symbolizes the death coming to nature. The changing color mean the leaves are dying and the cold brings the end of the summer’s sun to the plants craving some photosynthesis. But the world has changed this, and the way I see it. I look at fall as the rebirth. I see the green lush striped away to see the colors changing underneath. And the false hope that the sun brings disappears and we all must prepare for winter. When the trees go naked, but we cannot. We wake up colder and must prepare ourselves for the day. Fall isn’t easy and neither is happiness. Loving and being need work. And I wake up fall mornings with energy, because I have to have it. To pry myself out of my warm covers and into the freezing shower and onto the sidewalk and into the fresh air. But once out there, I realize how great it is. The cold on my lungs and I feel like a fish finally back in water after a brush with death. We went up north this past week and there is fall there. Autumn in full bloom. A chill in the air. And I loved it. Loved every second of autumn around me. Anyway. This southern city does not experience fall like the north or at home. And I miss it.
We watched Gran Torino on the way home and I loved it. And I watched Away We Go on the ride there. I loved it too.
Our apartment is Freezinggggg. I wonder how it will actually be in December. I think I’m royally screwed.
I started to forget things this weekend. That I am a student, that I am old, that I am so far away from home. I felt like a child exploring the creek behind my house. Even though I was an almost 21 year old exploring Thessaloniki. There was one point when I was staring out my window and I felt that feeling people describe of the ocean or space, when you have been moving in different directions so much you lose track of which way is up and which way is down. Except for me I wasn’t sure where home was, or where I was?

a few weeks of not writing

there is been a break in writing. and now at this great moment, so prime and available (sarcasm) im deciding to write. i actually have to finish this big paper im working on.
three weekends.
santorini with melissa, met up with j, had an incredible time.
corfu the insanity that was pink palace and the longest busride of my life and being a homeless person sleeping at a makeshift bus station/tiny cafe while it stormed outside and i nursed my hangover.
chios with ben, renting a car and seeing the most insane waves of the aegean. two football games, mountains.
now back in Athena, working on this paper so i can leave for Thessaloniki tomorrow morning with Arcadia for the week without any stress on my shoulders.

im really happy

there is this thing inside of me. a freakout, an excitement. i havent felt it in a long time. im just so excited. i feel european maybe. or high or just so excited.
and i keep talking to people at school and its making me realize how much i love osu. i forget sometimes, you know? i remember those days of rain waiting for the bus on 15th getting soaked and annoyed. and those nights when its so dark early and i have tons of homework and then molly wakes me at 945 vacuuming. but i keep thinking about my big lovely house and phils cooking even and lior and zaas and everyone and cuddling in bed and napping on the couch in the tvroom. and taking the remote to chapter and explaining its use because people dont get it. and im typing all these things that used to annoying me slightly and now im just laughing because i really love them.
and im so excited for santorini this weekend. im reading the giver. i never read that, did you know? which is weird cause i think its very up my alley. im typing really fast.
im just excited about life and my travels and my moleskin and the hilarity that is melissa jayna and i.
i made potatos last night and now my hands smell like garlic (jayna i used your garlic btw) and i have a zit that is crazy annoying.

rebel with a cause

hi. this is the last thing in the world i should be doing. but im irritated so i dont care. i just took the most amazing nap but had to wake up and run to school carrying like 20 pounds of my laptop because we dont have internet in the apartment but i had to email something in that was on my computer, by 5 because they are crazy and i was followed half the way by some creepy dude and im so tired and thirsty and i still have to finish my greek hw. ive had tons of homework this week. and tons getting assigned for the future. a little overwhelmed. not really cause the work is hard, but because it is so time consuming and i dont even have internet at my apartment and i need that to do so much of the hw. why do they give me homework where the internet is so essential but they couldnt even provide internet?
annoyed. have to go to class.

also. this is kinda goofy. isnt it ironic that the greeks started the Olympic games, along with several other games in classical times because they thought sport was so important. but now, nobody in this country seems to work out. i love it. if someone is running down the street. they are def an american.

edit./ apologize for my outburst earlier. hectic life here. great night. sat in melissas bed until i couldnt feel my behind and planned out our excursions for the next few months. santorini this weekend, corfu next, possible somewhere the next weekend? Thessaloniki for a week with Arcadia, the rents and traveling with them. Paris first weekend in December!! jet/boatsetting!

more funny things: Greek McDonalds is probably the most hilarious thing. We have one about 200 ft from our apartment so its great for thursdays when we cant bare the idea of another turkey sang, or late nights when we are hungry for something other then yogurt.
A. Every time melissa and i go in there (often surprisingly) we make a SCENE.
B. Even though the names of the foods are in English (i.e. Mcnuggets, Big Mac) nobody who works there can understand us.
C. Melissa said "tessera me koka kola light" (number 4 with a diet coke) but the guy thought she ordered 4 diet cokes, apparently calling something but its number is not popular here.
D. They give you these hilarious mini-tridents (like the one Poseidon used!). we didnt know what they are for, but Maurice, our friend who works at MickyDs, told us they are for showing our french fries who is boss.
E. Although in the US we know it as FAST food..it takes longer in Greece to get your food then to have an intellectual debate on the meaning behind Plato's Third Man Argument. (I dont know what that is i just googled Plato but the point is, we make friends at Mcdonalds because it takes about 10 minutes to get your food)
E.a. Actually one time we tried to make conversation about the upcoming election, but they werent having any of it. Apparently they think we are Communists.
F. All workers at Mcdonalds wear these Mcdonald jeans. they are dark wash denim with the golden arches stitched into the back pockets. wtf. (we know this because in our ten minutes of waiting time we cant help but watch Maurice fill drinks and make coffees)
G. We love mcdonalds

i did not take this photo but it was there when i googled mcdonald jeans!

quiet weekend..but not?

my weekend is been kinda bipolar so far. thursday the girls and i decided to explore psiri, the neighborhood we usually go to, but we ended up not bringing the name or address of the place we were attempting to find, and then we just got lost. we ended up somewhere unknown, a Bermuda triangle of athens. filled with great bars/clubs! we were a litle intimidated by the bouncers at the doors, were they checking to see if we were hot enough? some clubs here do that. the dj was great, played great american songs and amazing greek ones. melissa is trying to get into greek pop. they have some great songs! i cant tell them apart. they all sound technoy/the same.
our cab ride home was ridiculous. we were ultra hyper, not even drunk, just happy and hilarious. talked to our driver. kept yelling lokamathas! (greek for donuts) ended up at this italian place near our apartment that we didnt know existed (damn we never go right) we got crazy desserts that even i couldnt finish. it was a success!! great night.

my roommates left friday morning to go to Delphi for a class trip and i slept late. well i attempted to. i was woken up at 1130 thinking aliens were invading or the water heater had exploded. the loudest scariest noise ever. the people upstairs are doing something crazy like putting in hardwood floors. or just using a time machine. cause it was the craziest noise ever. blood curdling. i couldnt go back to bed. it was a chilly cloudy day so i wondered around pagrati. found an awesome coffee place!!
i came home and chilled, made a great salad, caught up on my news, talked to the rents, watched some how i met your mother. went to bed early. it was very relaxing. i needed a rest.
im about go to kolonaki to meet a family friend who lives in athens. her and i have never met so on the phone before we hung up she was like wait, how will i know who you are? we have never met? i laughed and tried to describe myself. that was kinda awkward. im so much more awkward then people think.
it thundered this morning. i loved it. sleeping through thunderstorms is the best.

"I'm in love with anything that lives!"

it always seems the longer you stay in one place, the less attractions you have to write about. the more time classes seem to take up, the less time you have to write about less stuff. but its not really true. i have just as much time, and just as much to write about. but im living instead of writing!

classes take up a good amount of time, but not too much. im not letting homework or reading get me down. im enjoying my lectures a lot, and the cool things we do in class. museum & ancient site during the day, greek verbs at night, cooking and exploring at night. im experiencing that small classroom feel for the first time. i mean i guess i had goldish's class last fall (only 7 people in a history class at osu! incredible) but this is so amazing. im getting to know my professors. they are so interesting. guiding some time of the year, teaching, phds but prefer to be called by their first names. its a very cool experience. and the people at the center (doesnt that sound cultish? everytime i say it THE CENTER! i feel like a Scientologist or something, but its called the Arcadia Center for Hellenic, Balkan and Mediterranean studies so we call it the center) are so awesome.

Im so lucky I ended up with Melissa and Jayna. It is unique to find people who dont judge my oddities, who enhance my desire to explore, to open a bottle of wine in the early evening JUST because we CAN. wanting to go to paris and milan, but also knowing a crazy weekend in corfu is completely necessary to fulfill our abroad experience. we have a lot of fun and its awesome. sometimes i dont even need to say what im thinking cause they are thinking it too. i look at other people in my program. and i think id be so unhappy without them. im extremely thankful and lucky.

yesterday was yom kippour and I didnt fast cause im in a country of millions of greek orthodox people and i didnt have any motivation too. and then for dinner melissa made pork and it was an awesome great dinner! and i kept joking saying im such a bad jew! not fasting and eating pork for dinner! too bad at 3am i woke up feeling awful and spent an hour on the bathroom floor (ill spare you the details but it wasnt pretty) divine intervention? yes 100% sure. thats the last yom kippour i decide to ignore. god smiting me? not cool. had to miss 2 classes! im still not feeling great but i was able to eat!

ive been reading the new dan brown book. not having a tv really helps knock things off my book list. anyway its amazing as expected. i cant stop reading it!!! so good!!

tonight we went to the center (im not in a cult i swear!!!!) and watched in america for jayna and melissas greece literature class. i went along because i was bored, needed to get my face outta the dan brown, and had wanted to see that movie ever since it came out and won an oscar a few years back. it was honestly amazing. i love it. i love movies.

i have to go to sleep now. i am going to a museum tomorrow and have to be up lightweight early.

updates from the aegean front

i use that title a lot ive realized. it makes me feel cool. like im in the military, or in the middle of something bigger then myself. really im just sitting in my hallway outside of melissa's room trying for the life of me to get internet. Thomson, the trusty unsecured wireless we steal 24/7 had decided to get us back for last weeks "shrieking at 3am cause we were locked out" thing (just a theory that sounds better then we are getting sucky service from the network we steal internet from) and has made the internet pretty much impossible to get anywhere other then melissas room. she is sleeping hence why i am on the cold floor instead of her on her ultracomfy bed. anyway that is part of my update. a lot of emails and ims ect are not getting answered due to my stupid internet connection. keep sending them though. maybe Thomson will love us one day again and i will get internet back (fingers cross it will be SOON!)

this week has been going very well. lots of sleeping and lounging after our long weekend. i forgot to mention that the girls and i accomplished one of our goals. to "be greek" we couldnt flake and go to sleep early (must admit thats usually me who wants to call it a night first, I take after my mother and after a few drinks the men of my dreams seem to be the only men i care to see. but instead we held fast and while on hydra attempted to do it the Mediterranean way. we stayed at the beach until about 530 and spent an hour walking back, followed by an hour of coffee and snacking (snacking meaning toast which is actually grilled cheese with some kind of coldcuts inside, i dont know if they actually know our concept of toast?) we realize this "snack and coffee time" around 630-730 was key to the greek diet, because it allowed them to not die of starvation before they went out to eat at 1030. YES 1030 PM. We then spent 2 1/2 hours eating, which wasnt hard because we talk for 2 of them, eat slowly and in all honesty even speed eating wouldnt get you outta there in under an hour because the service is so bad. okay sorry. SLOW AND GREEK. okay not slow. just different. anyway we ended up bar hopping around town for 3 hours (easy) and ended up visiting our waiter friends for some wine, loukamades, and wedding cake (all for free!). when strolling home around 415, we still were hungry (amazing i know, we did walk about 3 miles that day though) and we pretty annoyed when the bar that stayed open "all night & all day" was closed (false advertising). but in amazement i saw a door open along a small alley and noticed it was leading to a bakery we had wandered into during the day. it cant be? open? 415 am? I ran to it so fast melissa and jayna didnt really understand what i was seeing. the baker had just opened his door to start making fresh things for the coming day (hes starting his day as we are ending it, irony) so we got fresh apple pie and ham and cheese pie. oh so good. we walked home slowly climbing the steps to our humble villa (okay guest house but villa sounds so much nicer, and in reality it was really nice! look at the pictures!) and we're asleep by 5 am. mission accomplished.

that was a long story. i know i write a lot. loyal readers you are commended. skimmers, oh i know who you are.

classes this week have been great. genuinely interesting. and my clicklit book is really keeping me entertained. i dont have a tv you know? i think i said that before. anyway so chicklit is my new survival guide. i took out plato from the library (when in rome right?) but its somewhere under my bed. as im halfway through my 500 book about 4 british women who all love the same dashing charming bloke. its too easy.

no homework tonight. im a lucky girl. we meant to go out, but melissa passed out before we could make plans (long weekend as i explained above) and now ive just had a great evening relaxing, reading, and lounging in my awesome euro sweatpants (better then legging i swear). love and miss to all

Malaka! Pentenostimo! Starcadia mu! (Hydra)

Let me try to explain this weekend. It was incredible. That’s not really good enough.
We went out Thursday night and therefore only got 2 hours asleep before we had to be up at 5 to leave for Pireaus, the port. I call it PER-A-US because that’s how they pronounce the Greek name in the movie Troy with Orlando Bloom and Brad Pitt. And I really like the name, I think its pretty. The Greeks though, of course they pronounce it completely differently. Who knew all of our lives all the names we thought we learned in Greek were really the Latinized names that aren’t the same. I guess that is pretty general with other languages, but it makes me feel a lot less knowledgeable of Greek then I thought I was. Even Athens is really Athena!
Jan, our program director, told us we would be having moments where we didn’t understand the Greeks and got pissed at “them Greeks” and didn’t understand why everything wasn’t done like its done in the States. Its true. You have tons of those moments. The waiters at our restaurant literally stood around for 45 minutes ignoring us after we had finished our meal even though we wanted coffee and had even waved at them. No they just kept checking their phones, talking to each other, smoking of course. And we were getting so antsy and annoyed. Not that we cant handle chilling for a while after dinner. We had chilled. We know the Greeks by now, we understand it takes them 2 ½ hours to drink a coffee that I “chug” in about 2 minutes. But for the love of Zeus! 45 minutes of being ignored at a tiny restaurant! We laughed about it after we got our ‘tude outta the way. It’s the Greeks and its Island time! (island time doesn’t exist. No watches, no cell phones, no clocks, its island time).
Anyway, we only got like 2 hours of sleep. We had a tiny ittybitty massacre on the metro, then hopped on our ferry for Hydra (pronounced HE-Dra) When we got there, we thought we were in a Disney movie (backwards G backwards G) Honestly, the port looked like something outta Epcot or Beauty and the Beast (I really couldn’t be sure from which film actually and I haven’t seen Beauty and the Beast in years but it seems the most likely to look kinda like Hydra) Meliss called Kostas, the man from whom we were renting the guest house, and he said he would come pick us up in his Hummer with his dog. (There are no cars on the island, Kostas is such a kidder). We found Kostas and Nenu his adorable puppy and we made our way up to the house. It was an amazing quant guest house built next to his house that overlooked Hydra. His family had been renting it out for years. (God I can tell already im giving too much info, I always do that, when people want stories they want the jist, but I am awful at the jist. Instead I give tons and tons of details. I don’t know, I remember everything, I tend to tell everything, you can skim I give permission)
Our whole weekend was amazingly relaxing and so much fun. We laughed so much I cannot explain. I feel like I might not have laughed like that in a very long time. It felt good, from the belly, had to keel over actually, couldn’t hold myself up I was laughing so hard. We explored beaches, and walked long paths, took hundreds of pictures, drank lots of wine (jet fuel as its known to some people) and fun drinks like tequila sunrises and jayna had a jack daniels on the rocks (shes so badass that blonde). We made friends! We got free cake, loukamathas, fruit, coffee, saved money! Jayna bought art, I bought a new brit chicklit book to keep myself occupied, Melissa some souvenirs of the amazing Hydra. We really fell in love id say. It is a jewel in the Med. Go on your honeymoon, I swear. Anyway, we are back in Pagrati now, and I was awoken this morning by Ulga, the Greekwoman (duh) who comes to make sure we aren’t living in a dumpster and properly clean our sink and toilets ect.
Im not really looking forward to classes this week. I hope im less tired. Last week fatigue kept plaguing me and I think I fell asleep standing up while on the Agora. Its annoying. Im so interested in this stuff, but cannot seem to wake up!! Even after shotgunning (only a joke expression not really) my diplo espresso, I seem to just want to lean my head against some ancient pillar and call it a day. Anyway, goal for this week: no wanting to sleep in class. I came here to learn! Do it em.

weekend

good week but sooooo excited for the weekend. going to hydra with melissa and jayna. email me at emmie111@msn.com!

coolfungreatsweetthingsofthisweek!

Melissa Jayna and I are officially on a first name basis with Kostas the coffee shop owner near the school. He makes jokes with us and is very friendly and helpful with our Greek. I honestly feel like I know more Greek in these few weeks then I learned in French all of high school. poli kala!

I had a very productive day of doing lots of homework, and reading! Doing work for 5 classes at once is challenging for sure. But I feel good and accomplished!

I made a real dinner last night! (Not my usual gourmet sandwiches or eggs, which I must admit are pretty damn good. Ive been making omelets and toasting my bread in a pan cause we dont have a toaster. Even my sandwiches of fresh turkey, tomatos, mayo, cheese ect are coming out really really well!) Anyway yeah I made a real dinner! I marinated chicken breasts in balsamic and then cooked them on the stove! It was kinda scary and required two phonecalls to the parents for help, but it worked! and I added some green pepper to the mix. It fed all four of us and we delicious! I can cook, who knew?

Out of stress and our ability to sleepin this morning (wednesday is literally the only day to sleep in including the weekends) we went out last night! It was a great night. Melissa and I freely made some great mixed drinks to go with dinner, and then around 11 we made our way to Psiri which is a cool hip neighborhood of Athens with lots of bars. We found a cozy spot with cold beers and lots of hookah. A little while later some other Arcadians stumbled upon us and joined our little party. We had a great night of Mythnos (Greek Beer) and Apple hookah. But we finished it off right with Mcdonalds. It was perfect.

Our arrival home wasnt that graceful (we did get a 3 euro cab ride though which is equal to our bus fair so yeah it was beastly) Our other roommate Melissa (the other Melissa) had gone to bed long before we got home at 3am and had deadbolted the door not realizing we'd be unable to get into our apartment. SO we found ourselves locked out our apartment. um its 3 am wtf are we suppose to do, the entire building was silent and believe me Greeks take their quiet hours very seriously. she had a cell phone but lost it and sleeps with headphones in so of course didnt hear our yelling, banging, buzzing and doorbell ringing. it took 25 minutes to wake her up and get her to unlock the door. Once inside my Mcdonalds was cold and my milkshake warm, but I am very happy we didnt have to sleep in the hallway.

I didnt have class today until 630. and I got to Skype with Lior and Trace Yay!! Now I am about to go to sleep because I have to be up megaearly for class so far across Athens. And my parents are visiting me in November!!!! (So excited!!!!!! I miss my parents far to much to be turning 21 soon)

Goodnight!

Tuesdays are always lame

ive been feeling this pull towards the US lately. At nights when we all retreat to our bedrooms to skype with friends and family. i sit in bed, without a fucking light because my ceiling is like 20 feet tall and i dont understand how i am suppose to change the lightbulb that went out the second day I was here. Anyway, I email, and im and post and attempt to skype and text and am pretty much getting shit in response. its really pissing me off to be quite honest. I should be writing longer emails in responses to those who do email me. Its just lonely here sometimes and its extremely annoying.

We started classes yesterday. I had a mixup in my schedule but sorted it out and am now in 3 really cool (sounding) classes. in reality they all seem kinda the same and confusing? All involved archaeology and history which clearly i am pumped about, but i just havent been interested or in the mood lately. i need to get amped up! I am taking 5 classes for the first time (I usually take 3 at osu). It is proving to be a little overwhelming to be honest. Especially because they are all kinda intense. Im not very worried though, we heard from past students its kinda a breeze. Fingers are tensely crossed. I am taking Prehistory of the Aegean, which is a history class, but archaeology too, Byzantine history (which is history and archaeology) and Athens on site which is mostly archaeology through the history of athens. Then im taking a Greek culture class, and Greek language. Each class is 2 hours, in these hot stuffy rooms.

Melissa Jayna and I already planned a trip for this weekend. We are going to the amazing island of Hydra! its suppose to be absolutely incredible. Look it up. We called about 40 places and found no openings but finally found a guest house being rented for the weekend. 100 euro for a night between three people! not bad! its suppose to be peaceful, great restaurants, great bars. maybe we will meet some greeks. Im getting antsy of just knowing people in my program. Its clearly hard to meet people here, you know with the fact that we speak different languages.

kythnos! kythnos!

you know that feeling you get after a long day in the sun? when your skin is all salty and your hair somehow dries perfectly and your whole body just aches with heat and redness. i love it. we had a perfect weekend on the small quiet island of kythnos. I think we arrived on a small quiet island at least, and left it a huge mess of greatness.

We had to leave so early friday morning that i can barely remember it. we got little sleep, but made up for it during the bus ride to the port (1 1/2 hours) and from the port to kythnos (3 hours). we immediately made our way to the beach, and thus the bar next to it. we sat and relaxed and swam and it was much needed because the hike to the beach was very long and through extreme terrain. melissa and i were walking at the tail of the group cursing whoevers bloody idea it was to walk through pricker bushes and rocks on the side of the hill instead of on the stupid road. we vowed that in order for the trip to be worth it the beach must be the best freaking beach wed ever seen. Poseidon himself better vacation on this beach. and ambrosia better drift in the waves. Then when those jokes got old she and I started trying to turn our knowledge of Greek Mythology into dirty pickup lines. It made the hike go by faster.

Coming back from the beach was a great adventure. Jayna Melis and I trekked up the extremely steep road to get to the main road to get back to the town and lets just say it was not fun (especially after a few drinks in me). But when we got to the top, inspired by my accomplishment i started singing we are the champions. it was pretty damn epic. After walking a little we were greeting by a car honking filled with our friends who we had left at the beach. they were being driven back to down by the bartenders wife, about 9 of them that is jampacked into the tiniest car ever. laughing our butts off we didnt quite realize what she was doing as she stopped the car and opened the trunk. but in a split second i understood and just shoved myself into the trunk, legs hanging out. jayna melissa and i sat holding on to dear life as our feet and shoes hung out of the back of the car with the trunk wide open. greeks, they are so hospitable.

we spent the rest of the weekend, resting, drinking (there really wasnt much to do on the island), hiking up a mountain and to the beach, laughing hysterically, trying to speak greek and most of the time doing it fairly well!, swimming, and of course, as greeks, eating and drinking coffee. I wish i could explain how important sitting for hours at a time eating and drinking coffee is. its basically the most important thing to do everyday and all throughout life.

we made it back safely today. and are all very exhausted. ive been trying to upload pictures for hours. i hate facebook. please email me! i love you

me: yeah i think id be good at being in the CIA
melis: yeah i think it might have to do with the fact that you did theatre as a child

like a rolling stone

yesterday started slow but sped up throughout the day. jayna melissa and i were all extremely tired from our early wake up, that later through the day we tended to get a bit delirious. i napped for 3 hours and we all know how i get after a nap. we had greek class from 430-730 with our hilarious teacher Apolstolos (not actually hilarious, just hilarious to us). The deliera had just laughing and exchanging weird faces. Also, the entire class was dedicated to learning the names of food and i hadnt eaten since 1030am so lets just say i was so hungryyyy.

we ended up staying in last night. too tired to do just about anything but sit in our kitchen and laugh about class and everything else. our living room is cute. we put a comforter on the floor to make it cosy and we turned our spare bed into a couch. its about the only room we cant get wireless in though. also i learned about cracked.com last night. its insanely hilarious.

my dreams have been insane. of highschool, and athro, and prom? and papers i have to write, dresses and Amsterdam. of friends and boys and greeks all combined. and my car!! my beautiful car. i keep dreaming about driving it, and having it die. I think when i get really tired my rem cycle lasts a lot longer then it is suppose to.

a little off topic

ive had a few fun days so far. its a little weird, settling in, finding free time, not really knowing what to do with yourself, with who, where to go in this big city you havent explored fully. its a lot like those first weeks at college, where you just sit around on your computer a lot. not that i sit around on my computer a lot, just that, free time seems so...free.

i had a really enjoyable night yesterday though. a lot of the restaurants near the school know that we are in the neighborhood and have specials for us. last night melissa, jayna and I each got a salad, starter, main dish and dessert for 10 euros per person. incredible. it seems sometimes that everything is either very overpriced, or ridiculously cheap, there is no middle ground it seems. we also got a craft and a half of wine (dad is it craft? but the t is silent?) for 7 euros. great deal!

we had to get up really early this morning for our final trip to the hospital to get our tb tests checked. it was a long adventure way too early. im now sitting in my bed enjoying the afternoon breeze. its been quite chilly here lately. i find it very strange. im glad i brought my white sweater, and bought a cool pair of ultrasoft greek looking sweatpants. they are pretty sweet man. and its okay that i cant pull them off, because i wear them in bed ha.

I am still pretty into the office. im getting reobsessed. its funny how you watch something so much, and get so into it. and then you just forget about it. but then you watch a few and its like oh omg i forgot how emotionally attached i am to this. television is so interesting. i just cried during a pam/jim scene. i think i can honestly say, hands down, it is the most amazing and honest relationship on television. the courtship at least. i hate movies and shows where its so unclear really why they love each other. you just know they do. through dialog ect. but the acting and the writing doesnt really show it. the emotions arent conveyed. like on greys, when derek was all pissed off, didnt wanna see meredith ect, i dont care honestly. yeah she is a cool character and i like her, but i cant see sometimes how in love they are. its kinda like real life, when you know two people in a relationship, and you just know they love each other because thats the way it is, but you dont see that, the intimate side i guess. or maybe they just keep it so private and hidden, how they adore each other. but in the first 3 seasons, its so on the surface, and you see it so well. and you kinda get that some people notice and some people dont, but the camera, the writing and the show, can so subtlety saw a glimpse of the key reactions and emotions that are the completely essential essence of courtship. it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

its all happening

ive had two great days so far. heres whats been up
i moved in!! i got to my apartment after dragging all my bags two blocks from the place i thought was my apartment. good thing though because the real apartment is sweet! its on this great street, very centrally located between school, athens and the street in pagrati with all of the shops and bars and restaurants. i guess you could call pagrati a neighborhood of athens, its about 15 minute walk from the city center, but its really its own paradise. weve got normal things i discovered while lost yesterday!! like a sephora, mcdonalds on our corner!! fridays (the restaurant! hahaa) united colors of Benetton. its great! our walk to the school is only about 4 minutes, up a little hill and through a square. they have these adorable sqaures all over, roundabouts with cafes inside and all around it. we've been doing a lot of boring orientation stuff, safety info, school info, reapplying for our extended stay visa (ours only lasts 90 days) and learning the neighborhood. we've gone to the grocery, the open air market which is sweet and very very inexpensive! we tried a sushi restaurant last night and even made it to a few bars!
i keep saying we ive noticed! most of the time its been my roommates and me. jayne and melissa and melissa are my roommates and they are awesome! (damn i also just noticed the excessive use of exclamation marks)

anyway we had a great day yesterday and a better night, we shared wine, sushi, more wine, a game of kings with my greek mythology cards, and then with help from the gods found the bar a few blocks away that everyone was at. thank goodness for my impeccable sense of direction, it could have taken us hours instead of 4 minutes.

our apartment is great minus the rat. we all have our own bedrooms, an adorable marble kitchen with everything but a microwave, an extra bedroom that was actually the living room before, that we reverted back into the living room after our 5th roommate failed to come. we have an amazing balcony, and lots of windows, and a view of the acropolis. its just perfect and cosy.

face to face with the enemy

so tonight i was doing my makeup in my APARTMENT!!! bathroom, and its one of them thats really small and the doors fold into the room so its hard to get out. and i am doing my makeup and i keep hearing something so i look down and there is a HUGE FUCKING RAT THE SIZE OF MONTANA on the floor!!!!!!!! so i scream like i just got a limb chopped off and realize i cant fucking get out of the bathroom without stepping near or on it. but i just fucking like push the door open and run as fast as i could across the apartment. my roommates thought i died or something. anyway. we named him plato. i want to kill him.

i needed the bearjew with me

i had a terrifying experience last night. i decided i wanted to see a movie since i still felt like shit. so i asked at my hotel where the nearest movie theatre was, and they gave me directions by bus. once out and about i realized i had no idea where i was going so i got in a cab. the driver was confused when i told him the name of the theatre but when i showed him the name written he seemed to understand. (cab drivers speak basically no english at all. in fact yesterday i was kicked out of a cab very rudely when the driver realized i didnt speak greek. i was very upset) anyway so the hotel told me the theatre was only like 3 bus stops away...35 minutes later the driver and i are still driving. im completely having the worlds biggest panic attack. nobody speaks english. i cant communicate, i may be getting kidnapped, and losing euro after euro every second. i try to tell the driver to just turn around, take me back to my hotel but he doesnt listen, no close, no close he says. at this point im crying as we drive through the really bad neighborhood of athens filled with drug dealers and prositutes. im actually crying, shaking, thinking im bout to get murdered. after 45 minutes he stops and points through the trees across a park at what looks kinda like a movie theatre. i RUN inside and call my dad crying. i realized then that inglourious bastards was starting in 5 minuntes! ooo!! tell my dad my horror story quickly, wipe my tears, buy a ticket and enjoy! it was very good but i didnt realize that its basically not in english and clearly in greece subtitles are in GREEK. so i basically tried (with some success!) to listen closely to the french and just make up in my head what they were saying in german. all in all i loved it! and im alive. thankgod

contiki cruise insanity

i just got home this morning from 7 days of amazingness. im really looking back on them with so much excitement and happiness its great. we started our journey on the cristal sailing to Istanbul, Turkey!! Honestly I wasnt expecting much. I guess I imagined an overcrowded dirty city but I was so mistaken. It was shockingly beautiful. And so inviting. I learned so much about Islam while in Turkey, through the mosques and the fact that is is Ramadan right now. I guess being a Jew I dont make an attempt to learn about Muslims but it was really crazy and eye-opening.
Then we went to Mykonos!!! Honestly. Our day in Mykonos was my favorite. Such incredible tiny streets and darling shops, with the ocean all around. Crepes, Coronas, and plenty of Tequila shots. It was just the paradise I've always imagined. So free!
Patmos and Kusadisi the next day...(Well Kusadisi at least..sorry not everyone can make it out of the boat at 7am!!) Kusadisi was incredible. It is a small port on the coast of Turkey. The Turks are so nice and friendly! (WHOAA a little too friendly sometimes) Chloe, some others and myself toured Ephesus, an amazing ancient city only 18% excavated. We werent sure we made the right choice because it was very hot and old shit looks very similar after a while, especially if you're hungover, but we were pleasantly proven wrong. it was spectacular. I really love old shit. hahah
Next day on to Rhodes. I did this day by myself, woke up kinda sorta early (11am?) and ventured with my DK eyewitness book into Rhodes. I had the most relaxing, fun day, wondering the streets of the Old city by myself, stopping in shops and getting snacks. I sat at the sea for a long time. Writing and thinking. It was perfect.
Crete and Santorini finished out our trip. I talked to Sally about how amazing I think Oia is. It is a place with just about no historic value, nothing really to offer, except its beauty. And people flock there in the thousands, to just witness something so beautiful.
There is so much. so much more. I rode a donkey. After being the one all gunghoe about the experience and Nick being scared, I ended up being kicked off (verbally not literally) halfway down the mountain while he acted like a cowboy. The sunset was perfect. Our drunken dinners, with hundreds of different plates with weird (veggie jello?) and amazing (flaming baked alaska), and Miss Mojito. Yes I would say we had an incredible time. Back in Athens, and feeling quite sick. Might be have been the alcohol, or the food, or the rocking of the boat, but Im just not quite together this afternoon. Internet, you have been truly missed.

um they played kid cudi in athens...

hey!! today was absolutely awesome. i forgot about my loneliness and lived!!! i woke up this morning and left athens gate for the awful dorian inn hotel. its so bad youd died. there are drug dealers and prostitutes lining the streets (liora its okay im fine hahahahaha). i slept for a while and then went to the athens archeological museum. it was fucking sweet. (sorry for the fword parents ill try to sensor myself) but seriously. i forgot how much fun i can have on my own. i went there and for 3 hours just walked around happy and smiling and laughing. its amazing the company that you can keep with yourself. i just laughed and giggled and joked. all to myself. it was very nice. to feel at home in my own brain, even if the space was foreign.
i came home and hung out with my roommate for a little and then met up with my contiki group. apparently we are retarded (jenny i am sorry) for not knowing contiki. EVERYONE IN EVERY OTHER COUNTRY KNOWS CONTIKI. we met up and went to plaka for a GREAT dinner. it was more food then i could have ever imagined. (fried zucchini was the BEST) and everything was just great. i made friends and had conversations. i realized today that i hadnt had a conversation with a real person, face to face in three days. it was insane. anyway dinner was spectacular. my roommate was meeting up wtih a few girls from her last tour and they completely included me even though i was way younger (they are 29) and they didnt know me. it was so nice. irene put her arm around me and said, "Emma, don't worry, ill look out for you." I cant explain what the felt like. I got to know a bunch of Canadians well too. They are 21 and extremely cool. 2 girls and 1 guy.
I went out with the older girls tonight to a club in Athens. They were the nicest ever. kept buying me drinks, telling me, "Emma you're a student!! you cant pay for your own drinks!!". It felt really nice.
It was good to forget about the loneliness tonight. I am leaving at 1pm tomorrow for the cruise. i dont know if i can update then. please email. I am getting anxious and resentful. I dont mean to, Im sorry. I love you.
Em

"at least i wouldnt leave you a highschool hockey game"

i know this is suppose to be about my journey and whatnot but lets be honest. i cant really stick to the day to day stuff very well. im bored and cannot sleep for the life of me. i just watched half a season of the office. the second season when jim is absolutely in love with pam. it might be the most adorable thing ive ever seen in my entire life. it breaks my heart

whats with today, today?

so ive been gone for three days and ive yet to receive any comments or emails. i hope this isnt what the rest of the trip is going to look like kids..
Last night I watched Once and spent about 5 hours laying in the dark trying to sleep. It was lonely and scary kinda. Nobody in the world here but myself. Since my hours awake made the morning came quickly and I had nobody to tell me to stop pressing snooze on my alarm, I ended up turning it off and sleeping in pretty late. Ive got four months though, I think I can handle sleeping in one or two days. When I finally got outside it was blistering hot. But when I crossed to the shady side of the street it wasnt that bad. I spent the whole early afternoon running from one side of the street to the other, hoping to get out of the sun. I still managed to get a watch tan line though.
Later in the day I took this cool city sightseeing tour that goes around on a red double-decker bus. My family took the tour by the same company in York so I knew it would be helpful. The pass you get is good for the whole day and you are able to get on and off sporadically. Its kinda like the local transportation for tourists. I took it for a while until I got to the old Olympian stadium used in the first modern Olympics in 1896. I knew my housing and Arcadia's school was somewhere south of there so I decided to explore a little.
Once on the south side of the stadium things really quieted up a bit. I can imagine that being nice (considering this morning around 7 I was woken up by a bunch of workers down the street from my window.) There are a lot of hills in that neighborhood (imagine san fran but a little less intense) so im sure my dad will think its a great way to get lots of exercise!!(and i thought the walk to central classrooms was bad..) We got our housing in an email today. I have 4 roommates and 2 half facebook, the other two..well i dont know about them. fingers crossed they are cool and everything. from talking to june, jane and leora i really feel like who you live with makes a BIG difference on your experience.
Im gonna go upstairs to eat. I walked home this evening from a part of town kinda far from where Im staying and I have to admit my anxiety caught up with me and I got a little freaked out. I did make it all the way home (on foot) fine. There were a few instances though when I almost hopped in a cab. Greek men find it cool to come up to you on the street, tell you that youre pretty and then follow you for 20 minutes asking for your number until you give them a fake one to ward them off. (thankgod for fake numbers)
im a little lonely tonight. miss and love

Arrival in Athens

I clearly probs wont be writing this much once things really start up, but that isn’t a god reason not to write..right now. When I left Cleveland I was exhausted and not really ready to start thinking about what I was getting myself into. I got to my gate and instantly fell asleep, woke up when it was my turn to board the plane, and once in my seat passed out immediately. I really don’t have many unique skills but I do have a few ones that I find pretty valuable; one being my ability to work TVs, and my relevant one, my ability to sleep on planes. Honestly I can sit down and just PASS OUT. So anyway that was nice.
I got to Newark and had FOREVERRR to wait for my flight to Athens. I was dragging my backpack, that I swear is heavier then my suitcases (okay exaggeration but shit man, its heavy) and my purse, that was so filled that I could barely pull the handles closed. My Newark adventures were kinda fun. I bought a nail polish and painted my nails. They actually don’t look that bad! And I wondered around to about every electronic store in the terminal (there were about 5) comparing headphones and then finding the best priced ones.
I attempted to buy a book, but due to the fact that I felt like Atlas (you know..that Greek guy who had to carry the world on his shoulders? I’m trying to channel my Greek knowledge ha) I didn’t buy one. Good thing, because the minute I got on the plane I realized…nobody was on it? The plane was about 1/4th full. A huge 747! Yet I only saw like 50 people on it? At least in my section. That made it possible for EVERYONE to spread out. A lot of people took the three middle seats, put the armrests up, and lied down to sleep, but I kept my window seat and the one next to me because in my opinion window seats are airplane heaven.
My cab ride into Athens was really fun. I had an Australian cab driver who was interested in talking my ear off about Contiki tours (apparently EVERYONE in Australia does them), the fires, and placed to tell June to go in Sydney. I noticed on the ride in that we were being waved through every intersection, even through red lights. Confused I asked my cab driver what was up and he told me to turn around. Behind my cab was a caravan of 4 Black Audis with tinted windows surrounded by secret service looking guys on motorcycles. He explained to me that right after we got on the highway, the Prime Minister left his home near the airport and since my hotel is across the street from Parliament, he took the same route as me. My driver told me it normally takes about 35 minutes to get into Athens from the airport, but it only took us 15! I felt very VIP, Athens really rolled out the red carpet for me!
After checking into my hotel I channeled my mother and told myself I needed to get out and not go to sleep (I was 4 am my body’s time). Armed with only a small map from the reception desk I started walking.
I was nervous before. How do you pick to stay four months in a city you’ve never been to? What if you don’t like it? What if it isn’t for you? I was right though. It is really amazing here. So old and modern, tropical and yet cultured. I didn’t do anything interesting really. My mind was very fuzzy so I just walked and walked and walked and walked. It was great to feel free. Walk into the stores I wanted to see, walk out when I wanted to leave. I’m very comfortable wandering by myself.
For siesta I am back in my room with the window open reading guide book after guide book to plan my day tomorrow. I’m looking into walking tours and bus tours. I don’t want to do too much these first few days. I am gonna be living here for 4 months..I think I can take it slow.
Tonight who knows! Going out for a late dinner, possibly find a bar to drink some ouzo, ill have fun.
Love and miss to all!

Countdown: 2 Days!

Leaving in 2 days. I am getting pretty scared and anxious. I actually haven't started packing so that might be part of my stress. And clearly I am being ultra-productive by just writing on this blog.
For those who don't know I am going to Athens about 2 weeks early to do some much needed TRAVELING! (I realized I use exclamation points too liberally so I'm gonna try to keep them to a minimum on the blog) I am spending 3 nights in Athens then going on a Contiki tour (it is a tour group for 18-35 year olds) that takes me to Istanbul, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini. (http://contiki.com/tours/141-golden-fleece-incl-7-days-cruising/itinerary) Then coming back to Athens, spending 2 nights chilling by myself and then on the 6th of Sept I am meeting up with the rest of my Arcadia program! At that point I think we will have an orientation and move into our apartments and everything.

It seems really sweet but also scary traveling alone. I think I'll love it though. I think of the days I have spent by myself in London and Tel Aviv (given those are two cities I know pretty well) and I feel fine because those were the best days of traveling. So much freedom! Nobody there to try to share my dinner with me (ew), nobody there to make me a leave a museum early, or stay an extra hour that could be used for something else.

Wish me luck! Next time I update hopefully I will be in Greece! (Damn me and those exclamation points)

Pre Hellas

I haven't left yet the journey has already began. That's kinda a lie, but creating a blog was the easiest thing on my TO-DO list.