Dear all,
Yesterday was a day I would love to share with you all. It was filled with some of the most interesting experiences I have had in Greece so far. With that said, I know more stories are waiting for me to experience here in Athens, and those stories will be shared with you.
Yesterday began with the idea of a trip to Poseidon's temple in Sounion. This was a planned trip that was led by my wonderful student director person *(I don't really know what her official title is, but in essence she just helps out the students in any way possible) whose name is Joanna. Maria was also along for the trip, who is also a staff member of Arcadia. We took a coach to the Lavrion Technological Cultural Park where we got to experience a little taste of Athenian history in terms of its economic structure. This place was home to Athens' biggest supply of Lead, which was able to fund many things for Athens and to essentially create its own economy. This was a short tour becasue we couldn't go into the mines, but we were able to see what the surrounding area of Athens is like.
So then we traveled to the Archaeological museum in some small town near Sounion, or we were in Sounion, but I digress. There we were able to see some of the archaeological discoveries of, what appeared to be, the ancient mining technology of the Greeks since there was the mine in the general vincinity of where we were. This museum, however, was pretty small and only contained some small things that showed a little taste of what ancient Greek life was like. One of the best parts of this museum, however, was this small piece of jewelery that was in the shape of a penis. It was designed for furtility, and I don't blame the ancient Greeks for making bling like that. **Pictures on my facebook**
But then we took the bus on over to the ancient temple of Poseidon. This temple was on the top of this hill that looked out across the Aegean sea. One of the most spectacular views I have seen so far here in Greece. They put it there because from that point, more than, or at least, 75% of what you can see is water. Pretty good spot to put the temple to the god of the sea... Then we went down to a beach that was near by, got some lunch, and hung out in the water that was so nice, I wish I had brought my swimsuit. The bus ride back home was pretty painless, minus the massive amount of traffic that we encountered as we entered Athens.
But then... A free concert was being held at the new Olympic stadium... Featuring Akon?? I decided a free concert was a free concert, even if all the other bands that were playing before Akon were Greek bands playing western rock and rap. There were some good beats being played, but I had no idea what they were singing about... But the real story lies not necessarily at the concert itself, but actually getting to the concert. A friend and I decided that a little pre-gaming was in order before the concert. We then joined a group of ladies and started heading down to a bus stop to take the really long bus ride out there. Along the way, my friend and I were forced to get off the bus because he was in dire need of a restroom and couldn't make it all the way to the concert. So we departed the bus, only a couple of stops away from where the girls told us to go. We searched high and low for some sort of resturaunt or cafe, and finally found a cafe that was more than willing to let us use their bathroom. After which, we found ourselves sort of lost. It wasn't that we were lost, but rather that we decided to not get back on the bus, but to continue on foot, since we could see the arches of one of the football stadiums that is in the Olympic stadium park area. We walked down streets, asking a couple of people which way to the music, and they were kind enough to point us in the right direction. We then met up with the girls, and the concert was underway.
Akon was last, of course, but was certainly not least. What made the experience even crazier was that it started to lightly rain as Akon's set was underway, so everyone was getting wet and hot and crazy, since he claimed that France and Italy had louder crowds. He then changed that statement... But then, the concert had to end. It had stopped raining, but the best part comes last. Apparently the busses in Athens either don't run past 12 or they run really irregularly. In either case, me being really dehydrated and hungry, and being with a group of girls and 1 other guy, we hopped into cabs and took our 10 euro ride home. Not so cheap! But, as I had prayed to Poseidon earlier before, he granted me my prayer, which was one hell of a night!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Kythnos Adventure
Greetings and Kalispera,
This past weekend, the Arcadians and I took a trip to the lovely island of Kythnos. It gets its name from the circular shape that it and the surrounding islands make. Or at least I believe that's where it gets its name...
But anyways, we had to wake up at 5 AM to take a coach (bus) ride to the port of... the port was near the ancient temple of Poseidon. We were able to see it off in the distance when we were coming back, but more on that later. The boat then took us on about a 2 hour ride to the beautiful island of Kythnos, where we departed the boat and proceeded to eat for a short while. Suddenly, the bus arrived and was waiting for us to gather on to visit this small town (don't know its name) up in the hills of Kythnos. It was a lovely town, with a Byzantine church along with a couple other cute ones. The town was one of those picturesque towns that most people imagine Greece looking like, with white-wash walls and blue shutters, and the pavement painted as well. It was beautiful. There was also this cave that sat underneath that town, and was not fully explored, but we were able to go down and take a tour of them for a short while. The best part about that trip was that our tour guide was only 15 or 16, but he had the haircut of one of the main characters in "the Mighty Boosch." He also had a similar face, but he was really nice and knew very little English, but I still giggled at him from afar.
The rest of trip consisted of visiting the beach. The weather, however, didn't make sense for the beach. It was slightly raining and was really windy on Saturday, but it became beautiful on Sunday, the day we were leaving (of course!). So on Saturday, there was this beach bar on the beach we were at, and I started the day with a White Russian and it continued after that into multiple shots and blah blah blah... There was loud music (which was mostly older pop songs), dancing, and girls in bikinis.
But that was not all that happened there. Mostly it was living and taking in the island life. It was slow, calm, and peaceful there. No one was in a hurry because there was no where, really, to go. And alas! We returned on that beautiful Sunday, where on the ferry back (the boat ride again), we cruised past the island that was inhabited by prisoners. That looked like a sick island to go be on, see ruins, and what not... And off in the distance, you could see the pillars that remained of the temple of Poseidon.
This past weekend, the Arcadians and I took a trip to the lovely island of Kythnos. It gets its name from the circular shape that it and the surrounding islands make. Or at least I believe that's where it gets its name...
But anyways, we had to wake up at 5 AM to take a coach (bus) ride to the port of... the port was near the ancient temple of Poseidon. We were able to see it off in the distance when we were coming back, but more on that later. The boat then took us on about a 2 hour ride to the beautiful island of Kythnos, where we departed the boat and proceeded to eat for a short while. Suddenly, the bus arrived and was waiting for us to gather on to visit this small town (don't know its name) up in the hills of Kythnos. It was a lovely town, with a Byzantine church along with a couple other cute ones. The town was one of those picturesque towns that most people imagine Greece looking like, with white-wash walls and blue shutters, and the pavement painted as well. It was beautiful. There was also this cave that sat underneath that town, and was not fully explored, but we were able to go down and take a tour of them for a short while. The best part about that trip was that our tour guide was only 15 or 16, but he had the haircut of one of the main characters in "the Mighty Boosch." He also had a similar face, but he was really nice and knew very little English, but I still giggled at him from afar.
The rest of trip consisted of visiting the beach. The weather, however, didn't make sense for the beach. It was slightly raining and was really windy on Saturday, but it became beautiful on Sunday, the day we were leaving (of course!). So on Saturday, there was this beach bar on the beach we were at, and I started the day with a White Russian and it continued after that into multiple shots and blah blah blah... There was loud music (which was mostly older pop songs), dancing, and girls in bikinis.
But that was not all that happened there. Mostly it was living and taking in the island life. It was slow, calm, and peaceful there. No one was in a hurry because there was no where, really, to go. And alas! We returned on that beautiful Sunday, where on the ferry back (the boat ride again), we cruised past the island that was inhabited by prisoners. That looked like a sick island to go be on, see ruins, and what not... And off in the distance, you could see the pillars that remained of the temple of Poseidon.
Monday, September 7, 2009
I have to throw away what?!
I must say that one thing that is really interesting about Athens, and my apartment, is that I cannot flush toilet paper down the toilet because it would clog it up. Instead, I have to throw it away. Apparently most Greeks are in the same situation, that they throw away their used toilet paper. All you do in terms of disposing it is by throwing it in a dumpster.
Welcome to Greece!
Today I woke up to the sound of squeeking breaks and honking horns. This could mean only one thing, that the long trip to Athens yesterday wasn't a dream at all and is in fact reality. There is an obnoxious yellow sign outside my window/balcony that says "Authentic" in an obscure font. Gelato and clothing shops also line the street below.
My apartment is on the 1st floor (i.e. the second floor because in Greece the first floor is "floor 0") and I am living with three other guys. It turns out two of them both go to DU, while I don't remember where roomie "Nic" was from. "Jeff" and "Alex" are the other two roomies. It seems like we are going to have a blast this semester, especially since the majority of the group has X chromosomes.
I also took my first shower here today, minus most of the essentials, which almost made the shower not even worth it; but I digress. We have to turn on the water heater, which has the capacity for about 20 minutes of hot water. Luckily the temperature here has been more than reasonable... roughly mid 70s to low 80s... so a boiling hot shower does not sound appetizing. It was a little too warm yesterday when we got in, especially since I was wearing pants, but it cooled down thanks to a couple of rain clouds.
But my day/s of traveling were very interesting yesterday/this weekend. When I left Albuquerque at about 12 PM, we flew in a relatively small aircraft to get to Chicago. Interestingly enough, my brother and his girlfriend were on the same flight as me, so I was able to hang out with them. I was lucky enough to have a woman sit next to me who was very kind and seemed generally interested in my story (she also was pretty scared of flying...). When we landed in Chicago, my brother, his girlfriend, and I went to eat some lunch before I would say adiu to them because although they were also heading to London, they were on a flight an hour earlier. Then I proceeded to make my adventure from I think it was terminal 1 to terminal 5, which required me going through security again.
My flight to London was not bad at all. I was on British Airlines, and I must say they are a pretty nice airline. They had touch-screen t.v.'s, so you could watch a variety of different things (like the Simpsons (both movie and an episode), Scrubs, but beautifully enough... GLADIATOR!!! So I fell asleep to the sounds of Russell Crowe killing people. And I slept until I was woken up by the attendants serving the "breakfast." Once I arrived in London, I proceeded to go through another security checkpoint, but once I was through I had about an hour to kill, so I strolled along in Heathrow's BA terminal and admired the different things that they were selling in the various shops. I also saw a sick Maserati there.
Finally I the flight info boards directed me towards my final gate, the one that would be taking me to Athens. As I walked up to the gate, I wondered whether or not this flight was the flight that most of the other Arcadia Athens students were taking... And voila, there were many other students waiting for the plane as well. Being me, however, I looked for a quiet place to sit down and prepare myself for the last leg of the trip; the last part that would be the deciding factor between not being here and writing this to you, and being here and writing this to you.
But as we all know I am here, and the last leg was the easiest of them all. I happened to be sitting next to a fellow student, "Morgan," who was very nice, and we chatted it up pretty much the whole way to Athens.
But then came the passport checking, the customs, the whatever you want to call it... I walked into line, the guy behind the counter took my pasport, scanned it, looked at me, gave my passport back to me, and waved me on. Talk about getting my panties in a bunch for nothing. So now I am here, in Athens, writing this to you. Today has been an interesting and somewhat eventful day. We went to the school to hear about safety information, and in a half-an-hour we will be taking some language classes to get a basic understanding of Greek. Because tell you me, Greek is fucking intense to read (pardon my french) and hear. So there you go, my travels so far have led me from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Athens, Greece. I have gone to a grocery store, officially got lost for 2 minutes, and had a pork gyro (mmmm delicious). Everyone seems friendly here, although there is a serious language barrior at the moment. Thanks for reading this everybody, and hopefully I will continue to write about my adventures.
P.S. We are taking a trip to the island of Kythnos this weekend, so I will probably update you all on that afterwards.
P.S.S. If you have any questions, such as where I am located in Athens, just comment you questions onto the blog and I will be happy to answer them, I just might not answer them in a timely manner!
My apartment is on the 1st floor (i.e. the second floor because in Greece the first floor is "floor 0") and I am living with three other guys. It turns out two of them both go to DU, while I don't remember where roomie "Nic" was from. "Jeff" and "Alex" are the other two roomies. It seems like we are going to have a blast this semester, especially since the majority of the group has X chromosomes.
I also took my first shower here today, minus most of the essentials, which almost made the shower not even worth it; but I digress. We have to turn on the water heater, which has the capacity for about 20 minutes of hot water. Luckily the temperature here has been more than reasonable... roughly mid 70s to low 80s... so a boiling hot shower does not sound appetizing. It was a little too warm yesterday when we got in, especially since I was wearing pants, but it cooled down thanks to a couple of rain clouds.
But my day/s of traveling were very interesting yesterday/this weekend. When I left Albuquerque at about 12 PM, we flew in a relatively small aircraft to get to Chicago. Interestingly enough, my brother and his girlfriend were on the same flight as me, so I was able to hang out with them. I was lucky enough to have a woman sit next to me who was very kind and seemed generally interested in my story (she also was pretty scared of flying...). When we landed in Chicago, my brother, his girlfriend, and I went to eat some lunch before I would say adiu to them because although they were also heading to London, they were on a flight an hour earlier. Then I proceeded to make my adventure from I think it was terminal 1 to terminal 5, which required me going through security again.
My flight to London was not bad at all. I was on British Airlines, and I must say they are a pretty nice airline. They had touch-screen t.v.'s, so you could watch a variety of different things (like the Simpsons (both movie and an episode), Scrubs, but beautifully enough... GLADIATOR!!! So I fell asleep to the sounds of Russell Crowe killing people. And I slept until I was woken up by the attendants serving the "breakfast." Once I arrived in London, I proceeded to go through another security checkpoint, but once I was through I had about an hour to kill, so I strolled along in Heathrow's BA terminal and admired the different things that they were selling in the various shops. I also saw a sick Maserati there.
Finally I the flight info boards directed me towards my final gate, the one that would be taking me to Athens. As I walked up to the gate, I wondered whether or not this flight was the flight that most of the other Arcadia Athens students were taking... And voila, there were many other students waiting for the plane as well. Being me, however, I looked for a quiet place to sit down and prepare myself for the last leg of the trip; the last part that would be the deciding factor between not being here and writing this to you, and being here and writing this to you.
But as we all know I am here, and the last leg was the easiest of them all. I happened to be sitting next to a fellow student, "Morgan," who was very nice, and we chatted it up pretty much the whole way to Athens.
But then came the passport checking, the customs, the whatever you want to call it... I walked into line, the guy behind the counter took my pasport, scanned it, looked at me, gave my passport back to me, and waved me on. Talk about getting my panties in a bunch for nothing. So now I am here, in Athens, writing this to you. Today has been an interesting and somewhat eventful day. We went to the school to hear about safety information, and in a half-an-hour we will be taking some language classes to get a basic understanding of Greek. Because tell you me, Greek is fucking intense to read (pardon my french) and hear. So there you go, my travels so far have led me from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Athens, Greece. I have gone to a grocery store, officially got lost for 2 minutes, and had a pork gyro (mmmm delicious). Everyone seems friendly here, although there is a serious language barrior at the moment. Thanks for reading this everybody, and hopefully I will continue to write about my adventures.
P.S. We are taking a trip to the island of Kythnos this weekend, so I will probably update you all on that afterwards.
P.S.S. If you have any questions, such as where I am located in Athens, just comment you questions onto the blog and I will be happy to answer them, I just might not answer them in a timely manner!
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