Procession

Yesterday there was a procession for the Head of the Greek Orthodox church. It was quite a moving ceremony. After walking past the Olympic Stadium (used in the 1989 Games) we arrived on the main street where the procession was occurring. Near the front of the procession a band was playing. The song played set the tone for the 2-3 battalions of solders that followed; the atmosphere was somber but not depressing. After the soldiers passed, 3 more large groups of orthodox priests passed. You would think that they would be the ones that would show the most respect, but surprisingly they were the ones that seemed to be the most distracted today - during the parade we saw one priest answer his cell phone and later we saw many priests at restaurants having a good time. Following the priests, came the coffin containing the fallen minister. It was located on a trailer that was pulled by a military truck that held 15 or so seated soldiers. While passing the crowd began clapping; it was a really moving experience.



After the procession ended a group of us headed to the Plaka, or the Greek tourist area. Under the impression that the Plaka would be an area where we would best fit in, we were suddenly barraged by restaurant owners as we passed their tavernas. The experience made me feel as though I was back in Tijuana. We decided to settle for some tourist-type greek food (psudo-gyros filled with chicken) and quickly headed back to our apartments.

After a brief nap in an-open air room located on the top of the center, a different group of us headed to the top of Laktivos (sp) hill. The hill is the highest point in the center of Athens and at the top there is a beautiful white church. After a grueling 45 minute hike filled with steep inclines and stairs, we reached the top. Planning on staying until sunset, we took pictures and waited in the cold for the sun to fall. Someone on the trip brought wine so shouting, "Yakas" (cheers in Greek), we toasted to the sunset.



We soon left the hilltop and headed back down to our apartments. On our way down we again saw the changing of the guards outside of some government building. It's a beautiful little dance they do, but I'm not going to lie, it's somewhat intimidating. Although the guards wear skirts that make them appear to being wearing costumes, I was blocking their exit path when they were trying to leave. Generally greeks don't make eye contact with you, but the eyes of these soldiers definitely let me know I was in there way. I promptly scurried off of their path and trekked back to my palace of safety.

Later in the night we ate at Murphy's. My friends and I enjoyed this restaurant because it lets you point at the food (located under heat lamps behind a glass case) before you order it. This way there are no surprises. We had an authentic greek dinner (meaning that it lasted for a good 3 hours of delicious food and interesting conversation among friends) and headed back to our apartments.

Tomorrow I have to get my TB test-shot checked and I leave for a school-sponsored group weekend in Filolow. Filolow is a town that is located on the coast, so I plan on eating some delicious seafood.

I still haven't found out why those bells were ringing (they continued to ring today), but I'll let you know asap; I'm thinking they're coming from the church (below).



I am slowly adjusting to the culture. The greeks are very accommodating and they make it far to easy to speak english with them when I'm tring to speak greek! The dollar-euro conversion rate is also really annoying! Never have I been so cost consciouses - I feel like I'm bleeding money!

I hope everything is going well with all of you. More stories to follow!

Huh?!

I woke up at 7:00 am to the sound of church bells. The Greek Orthodox Pope died two days ago and the procession is tomow

It just happened again - 7:45 am.

Huh. I definitely need to find out what this is all about. As I was saying, the procession is tomorrow and I was told everything shuts down.

Today I'm going to get a gym membership, go grocery shopping, and get some electrical outlet adapters.

Stories to follow!

Some things I've learned

All time in Greece is in the 24hr form.
Euros come in 1,2, and 3 dollar coins and prices are deceptively high.
Greeks eat this thick plane yogurt with honey. It's pretty delicious, but I left my yogurt in the fridge so it didn't blend well with the yogurt.

Greeks are amazing people! I've stumbled into so many places not knowing what to say and I have always found some way to communicate. They've even helped me learn some knew words!

In order to extend our visas, it was necessary to have a TB test and check examination. We trekked to the public hospital (leaving at 7:45 am) and upon arriving at 8:30 am, we found that the computers were down and could not be fixed until IT department opened at 9:00 am. The person in charge of our program - Jan - told us =we should walk down to Everest (a chain cafe that is open 24 hours). Wanting to be adventurous (and separate from the other 20 students in our group) 2 of my friends and I searched for a local gem. Earlier in the week Jan emphasized the importance of finding a local restaurant or "taverna" and visiting it often; that way you could become friends with the locals that frequent it and get them to help you with your greek and invite you to their homes for dinner.

Anyways, so my friends and I stumble into this taverna and realizing that none of us speak Greek (communication skills are definitely something I had taken for granted), we mutter "cappuccino." Fortunately enough for use the barista/bartender spoke a little English and understood what we were trying to say. We sat for a good 15 minutes and finished our cappuccinos while conversing with this uber-friendly barista and a man (who seemed like a regular) who spoke very good (but still broken english). We asked them about they 2004 Olympics and how they changed Athens, if there were any big football (soccer) games coming up, and what they did for fun. After a while we had to return to the hospital and thinking that we had found our "spot" we bragged about how we befriended a bunch of locals at a traditional greek taverna.

After 3 hours of waiting and 30 seconds of getting a shot and chest X-Ray at the hospital we all head back to the University. As the group heads back, Jan asks us if we remember the name of the taverna, to which we reply, "no." We recognized that we were close and soon we found the name of our beloved taverna - "Snack Bar Athena." HAHA! Our supposed "local" secrete turned out to be a tourist trap, or at least a local taverna whose main mission was to attract tourist who could not speak greek.

Later I got a new cell phone from vodofone. All calls to me are free, so if you're willing to rack up your phone bill call: 011-30-695-529-4446. I'm also on skype: ghall09.

I got to go to sleep, I'm super tired in the afternoon I'm going downtown! The quest for my "spot" continues!

The Eagle has Landed

All my Athens dreams have finally become a reality. The flights went surprisingly smoothly; On my flight from L.A. to London I managed to remain conscious for only 4 hours out of the 12 hours I spent on the plane. I guess mediocre in-flight movies, lack of rest from the night before, and Tylenol PM took their toll, as I woke up to breakfast and an hour before landing.

Upon landing I was shuffled from arriving international flights to departing international flights. It was crazy seeing the different types of people everywhere - the different languages they each spoke was definitely interesting. I was surprised by how Heathrow differed from the other airports I have been to in the past; everywhere I looked I saw upscale shops with some unique and some familiar (Coach, Armani, Hugo Boss, Burberry, etc.) names. After wandering back and forth in the the lobby/shopping area, I headed to my terminal and had to pass through yet another series of security checkpoints.

I catch my flight to Athens and upon landing I am notices that most of the signs are now in Greek. I follow the heard to pick up my baggage and meet up with a few of my classmates. All of my bags arrive (thank God!) and unfortunately, the bags of one of my classmates never show up. While she is dealing with retrieving her bags, I exchange my U.S. currency for the Euro and purchase a phone card. After my classmate discovers that her bags are on a different flight we decide to call the person in charge of our program. Using the phone card I recently purchased, I fumble around with the phone for a good 5 minutes until one of my classmates (with a little more international travel experience) offers her help and gets it to work.

We make our way outside and caught a taxi. Surprisingly, the driver spoke no english, so I hastily handed him the instructions (in Greek) provided by my program and we drove for a good 30 minutes in silence. Haha! Taking it all in, Athens was a wonderful place, even at night I could tell that it was beautiful and I felt somewhat at home when I saw the bright yellow I-K-E-A letters from the freeway.

I arrived at the University with my three classmates that I met at the airport early and waited 20 minutes until 8:00 pm for everyone else to arrive.

It was great seeing other U.S. students. We all ate and shared stories. When we were finished we received instructions from our program director about the events that would be going on during the rest of the week and we were dismissed.

After we left the center a group of students went off to explore the city and I was left with my bags and a kind-hearted suit mate who helped me take them to our apartment which is a mere 6-7 minutes away!

We fumbled around with the lock for a good 15 minutes and finally made our way into the place. As you can see from the pictures, despite our lack of a heater and a hot water heater that rapidly runs out of water, the place is quite cozy.



After dropping off all of my bag, I tried to catch up with my other classmates but I quickly realized that I had no idea where they went. Since it was getting dark and I was unsure of how safe it was for me to be walking the streets in a town I knew nothing about, I decided to head back and wait for everyone else to come to me.

Well that's all I have to write for now. More to follow after a while. I feel like a child that is learning to walk. I know nothing about how to get around in this town, but each day I'm learning a little more. Hopefully by the next post I'll at least be crawling.

Visa

Things are beginning to become a reality - I finally got my visa the other day! Also, my mom rented a bunch of 1980s movies on Greece from the library. I'm stilling trying to find the courage to watch them :/. Okay, I'm doing it tomorrow.

Predeparture Rigamoral

After weeks of delay (I accidentally left my passport in Claremont), I was finally able to move forward with the visa process. While receiving my passport should have been a relief, additional research on flights, flight insurance, and more forms to be completed only brought further delays.

At the end of the day the necessary visa documents made it to the post office, so I can finally rest easy. Processing should only take the consulate in San Francisco two days. All I can do now is sit back and read more books about Athens. I'm excited!

Below is a test slide show. Images from Greece to follow!