City Walk

I'm currently sitting on my balcony writing this, I love it out here! I have only spotted about three neighbors but hope to meet more. I wanted to give you all more information on my roommates. Bette Rubin is my friend from U of I and she switched last semester from an acting major to Classics so she is great to have around! She knows so much about what we see and is always giving good travel tips. Her and I have really gotten close over the last couple of days. We even opened the sliding doors between our rooms so we could have a common area and we could be closer to each other! I'll have to post a picture. The two girls who were here when Bette and I arrived are Marissa and Kelly, both from Pitsburgh and they go to Duquesne. Marissa is Greek (she even goes to a Greek Orthodox church at home!) so she knows a lot about the city too. The other two are Dora Philippou (clearly Greek, her family speaks the language) and Heather. Dora goes to Indiana University and Heather goes to Indiana Purdue majoring in Literature and English. They're all great and we get along very well. I think I'm the only one whose major has absolutely nothing to do with Greece but it's fine, I've embraced it.

This morning (at 8:30 :() we had lecture with our professor, Nicola Waldner. She's really great. She is the daughter of two archeaologists and she British so she's very interesting to listen to! She has been on digs since she was 30 days old! She even told us this story about how when her parents were on a dig in Greece they discovered she was lactose intolerant and the next morning they woke up with to find a goat in their front yard as a gift! Anyways, she has taught for National Geographic and the Discovery channel so she’s pretty great. We do have to write a 7 page paper and do a presentation and have a final but they don’t sound too bad.

She took us on a two hour walk all around the city and it was so gorgeous. I couldn’t believe how much I hadn’t seen! What I love about Athens is it is such a meeting place between ancient, classical history and modernity. There are these fabulous ancient ruins that are centuries old next to busy highways full of BMW mopeds! It’s just so fun. We saw the National Gardens, Parliament building, the first church in Greece, the Agora, the Acropolis, and all these over old things I can’t remember the names of. Bette Rubin and I were just dying because we finally got to see everything we’ve seen in pictures all these years! We also found some great cafes, bars, shops, and observatories we’re definitely checking out some time. We get out of class at 12 then have lunch and then head back to our apartment to talk to our roommates (they’re in a different section of the same class) and siesta! I completely understand how everyone in Europe has a siesta, they walk everywhere and you get tired! Everyone in our class is friendly but not what I expected. There are 22 of us and we’re very different. There are your typical American college students who did not try at all to blend in, socially awkward boys, know-it-alls, and Bette Rubin and I. The girls we really get along with are also with us, they are the ones that go to Michigan. Tonight we have a Tavern dinner where we try all this authentic Greek food and wine! I’m very excited to meet some more people and see some local attractions. That’s all for now, I’ll attach pictures later!