Sisterhood of the Traveling Jones Girls

Yasas! 

 

So it has been about two months since I last updated you guys on my travels.  Sorry about that!  Per usual I packed a lot into my time and the spare time I’ve had has been spent attempting to figure out my summer plans.  That involved creating a portfolio, lots of emailing, cover letter writing, and resume formatting.  With a HUGE amount of help from my family (especially the one and only Aimee Jones), I finally have most everything squared away!  And now that I have most of my summer figured out, I will attempt to fill you in on my time abroad.

 

Just in case you were curious here are my summer plans more or less:  I fly home May 27^th to Seattle to see Rory, my dog.  And I guess during that time I will get my life organized to head to the East Coast.  After spending a few days seeing my best friends from Williams, we are heading up to Williams for graduation to convince the older soccer girls not to graduate.  Then I am going to spend June and July interning for an architecture firm named JC Calderon Architect in New York City.  I almost have my housing squared away in the city, but don’t want to jinx anything quite yet.  I’m excited to see the working side of the architecture profession to see if it is really the path I want to follow.  That leaves August for our annual houseboating trip to Lake Shasta and lots of time to train for soccer, see friends, visit relatives, and most importantly spend time at my house with my family!  I was torn between being on the east and west coasts but luckily this summer I get a little of both. 

 

And now for my life abroad…  I’m trying to fit so much into my time abroad that my past two months have been pretty crazy to say the least.  I think the best way to really get a feel for what I’ve been up to is through pictures.  I therefore am starting to post links to my Picassa albums as I explain what I’ve been up to so you can do just that.  For now, I am just going to stick to when Katie and Kelly (two of my sisters) came to visit.  And hopefully by the time I come home I’ll be all caught up with life.    

 

KATE AND KELLY TRIP!!!

 

In March Kelly and Katie came to visit me in Greece!  First Kelly came and we had two days together before Katie moved in with me.  I only say that because I got to have her around for a whole two and a half weeks.  Kelly could only stay for a week though because she had to get back to teach.  My friends were all flabbergasted that I was excited to have my family around for that long.  They obviously don’t know our family.  I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my March.  Here is the link to the pictures from our adventures:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/christinejones16/SisterTrip309?feat=directlink

 

HYDRA ISLAND with KELLY

 

The day after Kelly arrived in Athens we headed to an island called Hydra.  It is about an hour ferry from Athens and is beautiful.  The island has been preserved to make it look very similar to when it was at its height 150 years ago.  Except for a garbage truck, cars are not allowed on the island either, making it feel like you have gone back in time.  It is beautiful and the quiet was such a nice change of pace from Athens.  The weather was a little cold, but Kelly and I still had such a fun time just exploring the island, sitting at cafes in the port, and catching up.  We made friends with a dog that reminded both of us of Rory so she tagged along with us for most of the trip.  We named her Skoodle.  The only negative aspect of the trip was the ferry.  We took high speed ferries named the “flying dolphin” and “flying cat” and both made us feel about as sick as if we actually were flying to the moon.  We rationed my two tablets of motion sickness medicine and luckily made it back to Athens eventually. 

 

ATHENS

 

That night Katie arrived!  We went to what has become my restaurant in Athens for dinner.  It is in this cute blue house next to the old Olympic Stadium.  They didn’t have an English menu so the waiter just read us every dish and we picked a few.  Okay we picked a lot.  Everyone that worked there was so nice and the food was just amazing.  The lamb, salads, vine leaves, warm feta, everything.  And they kept giving us free drinks and sweets.  All in all a great start to our trip together.   The next day I had class so we spent the morning climbing Lykavitos Hill so they could see all of Athens.  Then I went to class and let Katie and Kelly explore.  I actually ran into them while walking to my teacher’s studio for my drawing class.  I asked where they were going and they said back to the apartment.  Lucky I found them because they were going in the exact wrong direction.  And they almost got locked in the National Gardens.  We met up after my drawing class and went to dinner in Plaka. 

 

ISTANBUL, TURKEY with KATE AND KELLY

 

The next morning we headed off to Istanbul, Turkey for about five days.  It was one of the more interesting trips I have ever been on.  It was an odd juxtaposition of feeling entirely out of our elements while experiencing a beautiful city.  For those of you who know Nana, just imagine she was given free reign to design the little touches of a city.  All of the ceramics and tiles reminded us of her.  It’s a good thing my mom wasn’t on the trip otherwise she probably would have tried to fly back with an entire new dish set…  The weather was for the most part pretty overcast and rainy, but we made the most out of it.  We stayed in a hostel and it was quite an experience.  The bathroom was so small it was possible to sit on the toilet, shower, and brush your teeth by only pivoting a foot.  It luckily had a rooftop restaurant/lounge that made normal food so we would take breaks from exploring the city up there.  (Turkish food is gross.  They would have been wise to pick up a few cooking tips during one of their many invasions of Greece).  We always sat at the table closest to the space heater and played lots of cards.  It was fun to just relax. 

 

We actually fit quite a bit into our time even though it seemed like half our time was spent warming up from the cold either in the hostel or at a coffee shop across the way.   The coffee shop was great because really nice Turkish guys worked there and ended up teaching us a few crucial words and helped us plan our time.  We first went to the Blue Mosque on the first day and while the guidebook said it would take a half day, we managed to do the whole thing in about a half an hour.  I love traveling with my sisters because we all have around the same attention span for seeing the sights.  And that is a short one.  We therefore kept avoiding the Hagia Sofia because it didn’t look that great on the outside but boy were we wrong.  I finally went on the last morning and it was amazing on the inside.  No words or pictures can do it justice.  We stayed for a whole two hours.  We went to a restaurant that was supposed to be great and tried authentic Turkish food on the first day.  Yuck.  I appreciate Greek food even more now.  We also tried all of the street food.  I decided I wanted to try the roasted corn and Turkish apples.  Double yuck.  But the apple was pealed with the same peeler Aunt Meredith has which was pretty cool.  Our only saving grace was this little hole in the wall restaurant Katie’s Turkish friend from USC suggested and the juice.  I had the most amazing freshly squeezed orange pomegranate juice from a juice bar ever.   

 

That night we went to a show called the Whirling Dervishes.  I am trying to block it out of my memory and for some reason always refer to it as the Flying Dervishes.  We sat in a circle while Turks in strange pointy hats play instruments while more Turks in more pointy hats spin in a circle.  For over an hour.  It was cold and quite painful to sit through.  But it gave us a good laugh after so all is good. 

 

The next morning Kate and I went for a run along the water.  It was freezing but beautiful.  I don’t know why but I love running in the different cites that I visit.   I think maybe because it makes me feel more at home in them but who knows.  We then navigated our way to the Grand Bazaar.  Walking through the first time was quite possibly the most overwhelming experience of our lives.  Men were yelling pick up lines about Charlie’s Angels and Angelina Jolie.  There were so many spices, souvenirs, dishes, and scarves I had no idea what to do with myself.  We finally made it through, laughed at our petrified facial expressions, and went back through more relaxed.  We just tuned out everything but us and ended up getting some great gifts. 

 

Our next big activity was a boat ride to see more of Istanbul.  It was overcast and the water was choppy, but we managed to make it an adventure verses a disaster.  We stopped and got sprite that tasted like bubble gum and sat in chairs for dwarfs.  We thought we were going to Asia but apparently we only got to look at Asia.   So now Kelly has seen both Africa and Asia and has yet to set foot on either.  Sorry buddy. 

 

Our other big adventure was a trip to see belly dancing.  It was suggested by the hostel and turned out to be one of the most touristy experiences of my life.  Our bus driver was one of the dancers, at one point Katie was on stage dressed in Turkish clothes and pretending to be a servant, and each table had a flag from your home country.  The belly dancing and traditional dancing was cool, but it was supposed to be a dance party after the performance but no one was dancing.  They pulled Kelly and I on to the dance floor and I figured what the heck.  So obviously Katie joined.  So the three of us danced.  Then a slow song came on and no one joined in so the three of us slow danced.  Again, strangest night ever but we embraced it.  Luckily a few women felt bad and joined us eventually. 

 

We also went to a club called Quba one night and we were basically the only people there.  Our Turkish friends took us and again it was another strange event.  The next day we went shopping around the area with the club and explored the city.  The commercial aspect of the city is broken up into themes and we ended up in the lamp section for almost an hour.  Kelly was looking for a Turkish lamp so we found it ironic we were surrounded by lamps.  We also saw a beautiful church, got some Starbucks, and just soaked up as much of Istanbul as possible.

 

During the course of this trip Katie, Kelly, and I acquired new nicknames.  Katie became Maps because she navigated the city, Kelly became Clock because she always had the time, and I became Moneybags because I carried the bag and had the money.  Istanbul was a trip we won’t soon forget! 

 

ATHENS

Back in Athens I took the sisters to see the Acropolis.  We took a lot of pictures, most attempting to look like Greek gods.  We went to the famous Poet Sandlemaker and had sandles made.  We then had to say goodbye to Kelly.  Boo.  Katie and I spent the next while working, mostly in Starbucks.  She read for law school and I worked on my portfolio.  And we added some shopping in there as a reward.  I went to a few classes, introduced Kate to my friends and our family dinners.  We went to an Irish Pub on St. Patty’s Day and ended up on the stage because I said I was Irish.  The band was from Germany, otherwise they would have realized my accent was not Irish and there was no way I was from Dublin.  One girl on stage was from Dublin and when she asked what part, all I could think to say was “the doggy end.”  She apparently was not from the doggy end so it worked out well.  The next day we headed off on our next adventure to…

 

THE ALPS with KATE (St. Anton, Innsbruck, and Zurich)

 

We decided to fly into Zurich (not Munich just to clarify.  I struggled the entire trip keeping those two cities straight and also knowing whether we were in Switzerland or Austria…)  We then took a train to go snowboarding in St. Anton for two days and then spent two in Innsbruck, and then ended up back in Zurich for a day.  We planned it all the week before and it could not have been any more perfect.  (Besides almost getting off at the wrong station.  That was my fault, not Maps juuuuust to clarify).  

ST. ANTON, AUSTRIA

The first day the snow was not the best, but we still managed to have fun.  At one point Maps did lead us into a parking lot at which point we had to hike through a village to find the chair lift.  I also learned that Austrian is not a language.  It was funny snowboarding because we were wearing so many bright colors that we looked like Easter eggs.  That night we just relaxed because we were pooped and pretty sore.  We went to dinner at the hotel next door to our hotel.  I have never clashed so much with a waitress in my life.  This Austrian woman and I just did not click.  Upon entering she said "just a moment" and I said "two."  I asked for the salad bar and she said it was for their hotel guest only.  The entire dinner was like that.  It was painfully hilarious.  The next day the snow was so much better and it made such a difference.  We snowboarded all day and even made our way over to the board park.  I cleared a hamster, Katie faced her fear of T bars, I learned how to ride a T-bar (it took a few times…mildly embaressing to learn in a park with really good riders but whatever), and Katie went off a HUGE jump and landed.  She is so cool. 

 

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA

That evening we took a train to Innsbruck.  The ride was beautiful.  We got a great deal on a room at the Hilton so we enjoyed a night of room service and relaxing.  The next day we explored the city.  It is so cute and I could live there.  I love Austria.  We just got coffee, shopped, looked at buildings, and found a sushi place for dinner.  Both of us had been craving it so it perfect.  The next day we went to the Swarofski Crystal Museum that is about an hour outside the city.  It is by far the coolest museum I have ever been to.  It houses the world’s largest crystal, works by Goudi, Dali, and Andy Warhol.  Everything is crystal.  We had no idea what we were in for and when we got there were a bit disappointed because the whole thing is underground.  We were pleasantly surprised to find room after room of objects made out of crystals.  Then Katie and I played with my self timer trying to catch us jumping (not easy) and we may have missed our shuttle by one minute so we took public transportation back.  Ooopppssss.  We really missed Clock at that point.  But we saw this mansion that we decided belonged to Mr. Swarofski.  

 

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

The next morning we took the train to Zurich and stored our luggage in the station while we spent the day exploring the city.  I am obsessed with Zurich.  If I had to chose somewhere to live in Europe, Zurich might be it.  It is on a lake, surrounded by the Alps, and has beautiful architecture.  I fell in love.  We had amazing fondue for lunch, climbed to the top of one of the bell towers, bought some candy for the first time in a decade, and just relaxed by the lake.  It was a sunny Sunday so everyone was out and there were musicians playing in a square. It was just one of those great days.  I then flew home to spend two days taking midterms, working on my portfolio, and drawing.  Meanwhile, Katie flew straight to…

 

SANTORINI

 

Katie spent two days there by herself, then I joined her for two, then she had to finally end her trip so I had two days by myself before heading home.  It was both of our first solo vacations ever and were both quite interesting experiences.  Katie befriended an old Asian lady and I just read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, wrote in my journal and tanned.  I had definitely had enough alone time by the time I left.  So the fun part with Katie.  On the first day I finished my portfolio!  The waiter at lunch must have known because he gave us a ton of free wine.  We just wandered around Fira for the day and eventually made it to Oia but not in time for the sunset.  We instead explored at night.  While it wasn’t great for picture taking, it was still breathtaking.  We then went out to Murphy’s Pub and hung out at the bar for the night.  It was a really fun atmosphere and we met a really cute couple on their honeymoon from the US.  We ran into them again at a crepe place that we ended up frequenting quite often.  The next day we went to breakfast in Fira and then headed for the black sand beaches. It ended up being warmer than we expected so we purchased these skirt wraps and sarongs for about 15 euro total from the one store open during off-season.  We changed on the beach and looked quite ridiculous.  We made friendship bracelets from string I got in Istanbul.  We then went to Oia for sunset and it was beautiful.  One of the prettiest places I have ever seen.  We walked around the town, played on a playground, and found the most amazing jewelry store I have ever been in.  It is at the top of the island and is white with teal shutters and overlooks the sea.  I would be the happiest person ever if I owned that place.  I then had to say goodbye to Katie that night as she left to fly home for Law Prom.  

That concludes my sister vacation.  Not many people would want to spend so much of their time abroad with their siblings, but I woudn't have it any other way!!!  

Athens in Pictures

Pictures from February...

These are some of the strawberries from the fresh air market.  They are amazing.  The big one is on Tuesdays, but there is one closer to my apartment on Fridays that I am going to check out today.  They sell all kinds of fresh foods for really cheap which is great.  And Kelly, I'll let you know if I become allergic to strawberries...

This is a street that is also a track.  I don't now why but I thought it was really cool and I like to think maybe it used to be a track and the city chose to preserve it when they started building. 

 
These are my clothes drying.  It takes FOREVER!
Me at the top of Mt. Likavitos.  It is the highest point in Athens so a group of us decided to climb it one Saturday.  We pretty much just looked at the hill and followed streets until it got us there.  Eventually it did, and on the way we met a nice man named Thore who was from the Netherlands.  He was trying to find his way up as well and ended up tagging along with us around the city for the day.  It was a little weird but I think it's more common in Europe?  I don't know.  He wasn't a creeper or anything, more like a lonely middle age business man.  Anyways, this is after we finally found our way to the top.  

It started to rain on us when we got to the top, but when it stopped and the sun came out there was a rainbow that went over the city.  It made it completely worth the rain. 

This gives you an idea of how high Mt. Likavitos actually is in comparison to the rest of Athens.  In the background you can see the Acropolis and the Mediterranean.  

We went to a bookstore and I found Twilight in Greek!  

Really cool clouds.  

This is one of the guards that is in front of the President's house.  Their skirts are quite short and they do lots of high leg kicks.  I mean, I'd be embarressed to be one of them.  

These are my friends Jess, Wells, and Amanda.  We all live in the same building.  Wells is from North Carolina and I'm mildly embaressed to say that he has gotten me addicted to a country song called "Chicken Fried."  His roommate, Brian, introduced me to this band called Sigur Ros and if you like Snow Patrol/Coldplay and such I'd highly recommend checking them out.  They are from Iceland so I can't understand them but that makes it great for studying music.  

This is a far away shot of the Temple of Poseidon.  He is the god of the sea so his temple overlooks the Mediterranean.  It is about an hour outside of Athens so a bunch of us went there last weekend.  
This is some of us after we climbed down the side of the cliff.  Don't worry mom, it is just the angle that makes us look like we could fall down a cliff at any moment.  It was steep, but not dangerous.  

This is me in front of the Temple of Poseidon.  I think I'm going to go back before I leave because it is supposed to be the best place to watch the sunset in all of Greece.  

This is my roommate Ashley teaching me how to Greek dance one night in the street.  I actually learned some steps last night and cannot wait to dance!  

  
This is the side of a building in a neighborhood next to mine.  You can't tell that well, but all of the holes are from bullets from the 1940s.  This is the main neighborhood where immigrants came in the 1940s.  It grew from a population of 11 to 40,000 in about three decades.  Crazy, I know.  
This is in the same neighborhood.  This and the next two pictures are the remains of the base where the Nazis controlled Greece.  It was originally a shooting range and is still technically one, though it isn't used anymore.  The Nazis decided to use it as their own shooting range for all of their executions.  The cyprus trees are typically seen next to graves in Greece.  
This is the memorial.  Greek teens are known to be some of the most disrespectful youth today (it would make you appreciate American teens so much more if you saw how horrible teens in Athens are to everything and everyone) and that can be seen on the graffiti on the memorial.  It is therefore only open on May Day each year but kids still manage to sneak in.  

This is the original shooting range building.  It is pretty eery to think about how creepy it must have been back in the day.  

This is Amanda and me at TGI Fridays for her 21st Birthday.  A ton of us went there because we missed American food and she wanted her first drink to be a girly one.  I had been craving a grilled chicken salad and she had been dying for Mexican food.  And soccer was on the TV.  I was in heaven.  

Yasas!  

Life in Athens

Sorry I haven't written much lately.  I've been working on getting an architecture internship for the summer.  It's a little tricky trying to do so from Greece, especially when America isn't building anything because of the economy.  So...I've been here for about three weeks and I feel like I have settled in a bit therefore I'll take this time to let you know about my normal life.  So Athens has it's gems such as the Acropolis and the Olympic Stadium, but the city is not at all the white washed houses with blue shutters that people associate with Greece.  Though I did include the one example of that type of house that I have found here in an earlier post.  The nice part is that there is still tons to do to keep me occupied during the week and once it warms up the islands are so easy to go to on the weekends or even for day trips.  Athens is a city made up of small neighborhoods that each have their own character so I've been exploring them one by one.  It is cool in concept but Athens grew so big so quickly that much of the city is very poorly designed which lends itself to ugly buildings and congestion.  But the fun part is finding the little cool buildings and shops that are scattered around the city.  I think it is all of these little nuances that make Athens good for living but bad for visitors of over a few days because once you've seen the main sights there isn't a ton to do if you don't know the city.  Basically I've spend the past few weeks exploring Athens before I start traveling everywhere else.  So my pictures are being tricky to upload and I'm just going to do them as a separate post so you can hear about my life now and see it really soon.  Sorry, I know pictures are always my favorite part.  

Here is the breakdown of life...

My apartment:

Upon entering the building I press a red button and hear a loud bang that turns on the electricity for five minutes so I can see to make it up to my apartment without falling.  If you forget, as we did at first when it happened to be on from someone before us, you have to feel your way up the spiral staircase.  It's great.  It is sixty steep marble steps up to the top floor on which we are so lucky to live.  Upon entering you need to put on a heavy coat and sweats because our landlord feels heating oil is an expensive luxury we just don't need.  And Athens has been cold.  Like in the 30s and 40s.  It is sunny, but it's sort of like camping inside.  

So besides our bedrooms we have a kitchen, bathroom, and wash room.  Oddly enough they all seem to connect to each other.  

The Washroom aka a washer (no dryer).  The washer is not our friend.  Catie washed new jeans that turned all her clothes blue and the next eight loads after that.  Luckily I wasn't the one to find that out the hard way.  Catie did for two loads and she forgot to tell us so Ashley also learned the hard way.  As did Jessica.  After we finally stopped washing clothes the program director said to just run the washer with nothing in it until it stopped turning things blue.  How, you might ask yourself, would we know the washer wasn't turning things blue anymore and how did we know it took nine washes exactly?  Well...that is where the washroom connects to...

The bathroom.  The dirty water hose dumps into our tub/shower.  We found that out when my roommate was attempting to get clean in the shower and instead had muddy water spill onto her legs.  So once the water in the tub went from blue to clear we knew we were good to go.  So no showering when washing clothes.  In the hall outside the bathroom there is our magical box.  It has two key switches.  The first is the hot water heater.  That must be turned on 40 minutes before showering to heat up the water (any less and you really will be camping with the freezing water).  Imagine our thrill in learning this as we are all trying to shower to get ready to go out the first night.  30 minutes between showering (we didn't know 30 minutes only lasts for a military shower) for the water to heat up makes five girls showering a 3+ hour process...not cool.  And I thought sharing a bathroom with Katie and Kelly was tricky in the mornings.  And how, you might hesitate to ask, does the bathroom connect to...

The kitchen?  The magical box of course.  The second key switch on box in the hallway also turns on our kitchen appliances.  We found this out after pressing every button in the kitchen trying to turn on the stove.  Microwaves are also a luxury we don't have so I feel like I'm back at Uncle Pat and Aunt Meredith's.  We cook a lot but with interesting materials such as a leopard print pan.  

The Dust.  The entire apartment is continually covered in a layer of dust that never goes away.  We sweep our beds before we sleep every night.  

Greeks throw toilet paper in the trash but also have these??? The one amazing aspect that makes everything better is that all windows in bedrooms have black out shades.  Even the poorest apartments do because Greeks are basically nocturnal.  

Classes:  

I am taking five classes.  They are all easy, except maybe drawing because I don't think drawing will ever be easy for me.  

1. Greek Language: I take it with the most amazing man named Taki.  I am in the slowest paced beginning class and it is great because once again I have been reminded that languages are not my thing.  One good thing is Greek has made me realized just how much spanish I actually know.  The bad thing is I hear Greek and respond in Spanish.  Spanish isn't big in Greece but myself and a few others still use what I guess could be called Greekish or Spank?  Haha sorry, that last one is cleaver.  My Spank in action: Taki asked me a question and I said yes in Spanish.  I didn't even notice and he just stared at me.  He asked if I was Spanish and I realized it and proceeded to reply yes in French.  I don't even know French.  And then I forgot how to say it in Greek.  Not my finest moment.  Yes is nay and no is ohi.  So yes sounds like no and no sounds like okay.  It sucks.  Also, reading greek is tough.  A "p" actually sounds like an "r", an "r" sounds like an "n", an "n" sounds like an "i" as do five other letters.  A "w" makes an "o" sound and b,d, and j only exist as combinations of two other consonants.  So John could technically be Tzwv.  It's actually Tzov but still, for someone who didn't learn how to really read until the second grade it's tough.  I've practiced a lot and can mostly read now but I don't know what I'm saying when I do.  Luckily Taki is so patient.  And tonight we learned how to Greek dance with him.  We are going greek dancing this weekend.  It is sooo fun and I'm randomly good at it.  

2. Greek Key: Basically we walk around neighborhoods every two weeks for two hours in small groups and have "cultural awakening" assignments.  Example: we have to record our "like a virgin" experiences where we do something for the first time.  

3: Planning the Myth/Creating the City aka an urban planning/architecutral history class that is so much worse than the Williams art history department it is painful.  Mondays are in class and Wednesdays from 8:30-10:30 we speed walk around Athens learning about buildings.  It sounds interesting but my teacher says "emmmmm" every third word and has the strongest accent and it is way too distracting.  She also tries to fit three hours of material into two so we book it around the city.  And she speaks like everyone knows a million architecture and art history terms.  That should help my grade because I'm the only one that does...  So when she says that the building is neoclassical due to the pediments porticos, and corinthian columns but has a slight renaissance feel due to the geometry of the plan focused around the apse everyone just stares at her but she just keeps going.  

 

4. Modern Greek Society: It is an anthropology class where we learn about greek society by actively engaging in the culture.  The first assignment I rode the subways for two hours observing how Greeks interact on them.   The second one I had to observe people in a cafe for two hours and in a cafeneo for two hours.  That sounds fine but a cafeneo is culturally a place where only men go and play poker, smoke, and have man time.  So to walk in and sit for two hours pretending to be oblivious to the fact that you are a young American girl in an old men's cafe is pretty weird/awkward.  I went with my friend Ali and luckily a soccer game was on so we had something to watch.  Then we write five page papers about our experiences.  

5.  Drawing II:  I am taking an independent study class with an artist.  Her name is Eirene and she is in her late 20s and very artsy and I am not.  She is a little awkward so the first few meetings were filled with so many awkward silences it was painful.  But now it is fine.  I go to her studio that is right next to the acropolis on Monday nights and draw for two hours.  And I draw lots outside of class.  I was drawing this old Ottoman Mosque in a square in Athens and this old man sat next to me for two hours and looked over my shoulder the entire time watching intently.  Neither of us said anything the whole time and then when I was done he asked me if I was an artist and I said no, I'm just studying drawing and he was so cute and explained I was a great artist.   

Taxis

In Greece Taxis are more like carpools.  You may get in one and the driver also picks up other people going in the same general direction and eventually you get dropped off after possibly taking others to different locations.  Luckily being on time isn't really something people do in Greece... 

Nafplio

This past weekend I went to this town on the coast named Nafplio.  It was my first trip outside of Athens.  It was beautiful and I cannot wait to travel more.  I was a little bummed as to how ugly a lot of Athens is so it was really refreshing to get out of the city and get some fresh air. Nafplio reminded me a lot of Italy, especaially the Cinque Terre.  It was the capital of Greece from 1829-1834 when it moved to Athens.  And there is your first little history lesson for the day. So we drove three hours, stopping at the Ismith of Corinth.  It is this huge divide that basically separates the Peloponnese (southern Greece) from the rest of Greece.  Mom, I thought you would like it because of all the rocks.  Here is a picture to give you an idea.  

We arrived in Nafplio and had a few hours to explore so I went on a walk along the coast with some of the kids in my program.  We went to the end of this dock and started talking with the old fisherman and all of the sudden he caught an octopus.  When I was holding the line the octopus started to squirm and dropped off the line and I screamed and came a few inches away from falling into the Mediterranean.  The picture of me with the little bugger is a few seconds before the incident.  

Here are a few more pictures from the walk.  
A view of Nafplio from the dock.  

This was my favorite part of the walk.  

One of the cool parts of Nafplio is this island fort called Bourtzi that used to protect the city.  It has been a jail, palace, and now it serves as a museum/cafe/really nice place to throw a party.  

Then that night my program treated us to a dinner at this Greek restaurant.  It was family style and they kept bringing out all of this delicious food.  It was a little weird because it was about seven courses but we never knew when it was going to end so we just kept eating.  Anyways, the decor was really cool so I obviously took a picture.  

The next day we climbed the 999 steps to the Palamidi fortress.  Supposidly they took out a step because they didn't want to have 1000 for some reason.  Anyways, we climbed it at 9:30am.  I didn't go out the night before because I was really tired and I brought work out clothes to run so I loved the hike but most people were slightly hungover and not wearing good shoes so they were less than thrilled.  Apparently my attire combined with my Jones calves and soccer butt just screamed athlete because a bunch of the adults in the program were asking if I played a sport.  Here are some pictures from the hike.  

Left to right it is Wells from Yale, Catie from DePaul, Demetra from U of Illinos, me and Ashley from U of I as well.  Demetra and Catie are fluent in Greek so it makes life a lot easier considering I am still learning to read Greek but that's another story.  They have family everywhere in Greece and they said that My Big Fat Greek Wedding is an embaressingly accurate portrayl of Greek Americans.  There aren't that many boys on the trip so it's not weird that Wells is the only boy.  He is really nice (he is from the south so he is quite a gentleman) and lives on the ground floor of our building.  

I thought this was a cool picture.

The water is SO PRETTY! 

Below is any artsy picture my other roommate Catie took that I think is pretty cool.  

This is the Greek Flag.
The Mediterranean. 
Nafplio from above.  The island fort is in the right of the picture.

Later that day I went for the longest run along the path on the coast.  It may have been my favorite/prettiest run I have ever gone on.  And I ran into a golden retreiver puppy.  It was basically heaven.  Later that day we had to do this scavenger hunt to learn about the city.  It was impossible so everyone just befrieneded locals and asked them for answers.  We befriened this Italian man that owns the most amazing gelato place.  He taught us about Nafplio while we ate gelato.  We talked about the Sopranos and he told us all about getting between Italy and Greece.  He even drew us a VERY detailed map.  My group is below.  Left to right it's Kevin but we call him Boston because he has the strongest Boston accent I have ever heard, Bradie from Texas, and Pete who plays football for Amherst.  

Then we met back up with the group at this coffee place and got treated to Greek coffee.  We were supposed to try and drink it like Greeks.  That means REALLY slowly.  It isn't filtered so I think it tastes like mud so that wasn't a hard tasks.  Greeks literally spend hours on one espresso.  We sat in this cafe from 4pm until 8pm just talking, relaxing, and watching all these Greek kids play around the square.  It was amazing.  All parents should take a lesson from the Greeks.  They sip coffee for hours while their kids run around and play.  Sheer brilliance if you ask me.  Here are pictures of me, Wells, Catie, Demetra, and Ashley sipping like Greeks.  

Then that night we continued the theme of acting like Greeks so we went to dinner from midnight until 2am.  I had some octopus which I really enjoyed.  Partly because it was tastly, but mainly because I felt like I got a little redemption for that sucker almost making me fall in the sea.  And then we stayed out until 6am!  I know, that is an hour after Mich (my coach) wakes up in the morning!  Needless so say I was exhausted so the next night I went to bed ten hours earlier and slept from 8pm until 10am.  That's 14 hours in case you were counting.  I'm going to the street market tomorrow morning with my roommate Amanda and then have to ride the subway for two hours to observe Greeks for a class.  And I have my Greek class with Taki at night.  So I'd better get to bed.  

I'll update more about classes and life back in Athens soon!  

Yasas!

Yasas!  (that means hello in Greek),

So I got to Greece on Sunday.  They took us to our apartments and I have a room that is nice and big and tons of closet space.  Here is picture to give you an idea.  I'm living with Ashley from U of Illinois, Jessica from Claremont McKenna, Amanda from Villanova, and Catie from DePaul in Chicago.  They are all really nice and luckily we all have singles.  The apartment is big but REALLY old.

This is the olympic stadium.  I went running around the top and they have these trails around it that are really cool and overlook the acropolis and lots of Athens.  My neighborhood is called Pangrati and is behind the stadium to the left of the rings.  It's about a five minute walk to my school and apartment which is great.  

These are a few pretty buildings from my neighborhood.  Actually the only really pretty ones I have seen so far so I took pictures.  Athens is cool but NOT a pretty city.  

This is Dreddy.  He is one of the stray dogs around.  I like him because his butt hair is really unruly just like Rory's.  Another dog, Boomer, follows us everyday.  Hence the name Boomer because he always comes back.  (I thought of that...pretty clever huh?)

This is my first sighting of the Acropolis.  I got REALLY excited when I saw it.  It was mildly embaressing.  

This is my Greek professor Taki.  We have had four hours a day for the past three days and after three hours he says he cannot teach anymore so we cook.  The first day was Greek salad, the next was Tziki (the yogurt dip, it also goes on gyros), and yesterday was Greek coffee that tastes like mud.  


I am leaving in an hour for Nafplio.  It is on the coast and supposed to be a really pretty small town with a castle.  I've pretty much just been exploring and meeting people.  I met my independent study professor for my drawing class and she is really nice.  I also went to the public hospital this morning and it is so gross.  People smoke and it smells like a vet.  The food here is amazing.  The greek yogurt, fruits, and vegetables are ridiculous.  I ate a pound of strawberries yesterday for lunch.  Bye!   

Arriving in Athens January 25th!