January 2nd, 2011
8:10pm
Aghia Paraskevi
Athens, Greece
Woke up super early this morning and packed up all of my belongings (how did it all fit in my duffel to begin with?) and went out in search of breakfast. Apparently Athens sleeps in on Sundays too! How strange! The streets seemed just as deserted today as yesterday, and they even had the excuse of church today. I guess I'll have to change my prophecy to "The City That Sleeps in on Weekends." We wandered to the Athens Flea Market again where there were more people, and even found a no-named shop squeezed into a small space selling adorable clothing: hippy shirts, jackets, balloon pants, bags, you name it. Then the downpour started. I'd never seen it pour so heavily here before, it reminds me of living in Missouri.
We took shelter underneath the awnings at various restaurants, perusing their menus looking for the cheapest gyros we could find, when a nice Greek gentleman (this is how they get you, just by being nice when you're most vulnerable) started talking to us about his restaurant. He had us sold when he mentioned it was homemade, plus the fact that he was funny and didn't hate us because we weren't Greek, so we sat down outside right next to the heater- heaven! I had moussaka, a dish with minced meat, fried eggplant and potato (delicious) and Brendon had fish soup because the owner recommended it to keep him strong since he was feeling sick (see, nice right?). At the end of our meal he even advised us on how to see a coast tour for only one euro which I hope to take him up on.
Back out into the city to brave the rain! Only it seemed to be getting heavier and heavier. All these men kept approaching us trying to sell us umbrellas but we refused (I guess you could say we're cheap haha) even though we were obviously miserable. Except that we weren't, not really. For once it was kind of fun to be the only one out in the rain, having a good time and splashing around. Especially when there were barely any people on the streets and the ones that were there were just watching us with their "Oh, those crazy Americans" expressions on their faces- the first time I didn't care to be a tourist. When it got really bad we stopped under an awning for a while with Brendon taking pictures and me thinking into the storm. I had a great time.
But great times don't last long as we all know, because when we got back to the hostel at around noon, we found out we were supposed to check out at 11am. And so we hurriedly gathered our bags and because of our incompetent planning skills, frantically tried calling a cab with my cell phone on low battery and failed. Instead we walked out into the rain to the metro station in Syntagma Square, made it to Aghia Paraskevi with no trouble (unless you count destroying the personal bubble of the woman in the seat next to us). But then came trouble. We looked like pack mules with our over-packed bags for our 3 month long stay in Athens, and not only that, but we felt like them too because they were super heavy. Standing at the station, not sure where to go, we walked around aimlessly for awhile until a man decided by the way Brendon looked holding a huge map that we needed help. Except that he barely spoke English, but we got the point: hail a cab.
Hailing a cab in Greece turns out to be pretty difficult. I tried and failed a few times, so Brendon took over that job by fake whistling (we should really learn that useful trait) and signaling with his hands. Finally a cab with a woman passenger already present who spoke English let us in. The best part of this was that when we handed them the note with where we wanted to go (in English and Greek) they could barely understand the Greek writing and thought it was hilarious. And I had tried really hard to put my recently attained Greek writing skills to work! They eventually figured it out, and even I thought it was funny. We wandered around the neighborhood next to the American College of Greece for awhile, with Brendon continually saying "taxi, taxi" which means "okay" in Greek, but the guy wouldn't let it slide, he wanted to bring us to our exact location. But I finally called Taso (our program director) and he had someone come out and find us. Thank goodness!
That someone actually ended up being my RA, Gerasimos Papandrikopoulos, or Jerry for short. He checked us in and showed us our cute little apartments. Mine has 5 people living in it, myself and roommate Linh, Meera and Lillie, and a single with our TA Kristy. Huge closets, internet access, stocked fridge- the works. Downsides? Can't flush toilet paper down the toilet, have to keep the balcony doors shut or stray cats come in, and my adapter isn't compatible with my laptop. But these are easily overcome. It's amazing here!!!
After Linh and I put some of our stuff away, Meera, Linh, Brendon, and I all went out to find something to eat. After, of course, wandering around for a while (there has to be a better word for wandering) we found a place called Cafe & Crepes that looked decently cheap, and Linh started sweet-talking the fryer resulting in not only amazing crepes, but also a treat. Some interestingly delicious contraption that a few guys who were studying abroad last semester from Boston had all the time and at least once a day: chocolate sauce with oreo, white sauce (??), and crepe...I think? It was NOSTIMMOS!!! (aka delicious)
And now that brings me to where I am right now. Sitting at our tiny kitchen table with my apartment-mates, borrowing Brendon's converter for power, and winding down getting ready for bed. A great day in my book, even if it was a little stressful. The people seemed nicer, friendlier, and less hateful of tourists. I think it might actually be that I see them as hateful, and not that they actually are. There's a quote from Rob Thomas that I've always thought was interesting "You know they're only what they think of you." Basically if you go into a situation thinking people hate you, then no matter how they actually think about you, you're hated. If you go into something with a positive attitude, thinking you're likable, you're likable. Life is about perception, and limiting yourself just because of how you think someone perceives you is just a waste of your time, and a waste of your life.
Happy as a crepe,
Susie
Picture 1-Meera, Brendon, and I eating a crepe
Picture 2-typical Susie pose
Picture 3-Linh's lovers treat
Picture 4-the group outside our apartment building
Picture 5- Linh and I's room after we unpacked. So many colors! :)
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