Athens and More Broken Buses

The entire study abroad program went to Athens on April 4th and returned on the 6th. We misses classes on Friday, luckily ;) It was an extremely long bus ride. About 8 hours including the time we took to stop and eat. However, I was lucky enough to be able to sleep almost the entire time. When we arrived we settled in and had some time for ourselves. We walked around by the water and made plans for the night. Some of us had dinner at a restaurant called Il Fungo. I had gnocchi and it was absolutely delicious. That night we went to the center of town and were introduced to the area and how to use the tram. A group of us went to an ice bar. Yes, that's right. A bar made entirely out of ice. We basically walked into a huge freezer that you'd find at a butcher shop. It was so awesome though, even the cups were made out of ice. However, you could only stay in there for about 20 minutes because they needed to keep people moving through there and also it was really cold. That concluded our first night in Athens. The second day we went to the olympic stadium which was the first olympic stadium of the modern olympics. After that we went to the long awaited Acropolis. It was an absolutely amazing experience. The temple was much larger than I had anticipated. The city of Athens is named after the Greek goddess Athena. She offered an olive tree to the city of Athens while Poseidon offered water. They were competing to be the protector of the city and the people chose Athena's olive tree. After that we ate with the group and then had some free time to go shopping or do as we please. Sunday, we watched the guard change which was really cool. Their outfits are quite interesting. They wear skirts that have 400 pleats and shoes that have puff balls on the toes. Each shoe weighs 6 pounds and their procession includes them standing on one leg while the other is outstretched. It looks very difficult. Then we had some options for us to choose from. I decided to walk through the royal gardens and then climb the highest hill in Athens. It was amazing but quite a hike. After that we ate lunch together again and then were ready to head back when we found out one of the buses wasn't working. And I was so lucky that it was my bus that wasn't working. So the first bus left and we waited for our mechanic to show up. Some of us went off and saw the Temple of Olympian God Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. We got some coffee and then headed back to the bus. Luckily by that time it was ready to go and started our long trip home. We ended up getting home around 3 a.m. It was a long but very fun trip. Thanks for reading :)

Monasteries, Broken Buses, and Bed Bugs!

Went to visit Meteora Monasteries this weekend. Amazing place. The monasteries are built up on huge cliffs. Seriously one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. On the way there, we stopped in ancient city of Trikala. This is a city mentioned in Homer's epic poems. Quite an um... how should I put this, interesting city. After eating and wandering around we went back to the central square to wait for the bus. While doing so a boy of 8 years old was walking around naked, smoking a cigarette. I could not come to a conclusion whether it was more shocking to see this boy naked or that he was smoking. Well after all the attention we were giving him, his friend got jealous and started to take off his clothes. Then he preceeded to sit on top of a statues head, which ironically, the statue was a naked little boy too. After that we went to stay in our luxurious hotel. First thing I see when we arrive at doorway to heaven, door not shut all the way but still locked...? Then the door opens, one red wall, poorly painted. A gold headboard that covered the light switches and outlets, but not the disgusting growth coming out of the wall. Three single beds. And the balcony door was open. Luckily only had to stay for one night. Morning came, monastery time. Beautiful place that I am so excited to visit again with family. On the edge of departure, our bus breaks down... Bus driver does not know how to fix it. Great. So everyone got anxious and started to explore. Gone for 4 hours. Our chaperone did not even come look for us once. A couple boys almost died but got some great pictures out of it. Finally, a mechanic comes and fixes the bus and we have a wonderful ride to Goody's, basically the McDonalds of Greece. When we finally made it home it was about 10:30 at night. Monday rolls around and the school is right on top of getting our bed bug situation taken care of... however, they are nasty little buggers that don't want to die. We still have some and now my roommate and I are moving rooms, so thank god there won't be any more bites. I'm headed to Athens this weekend. Very excited for an authentic Greek weekend :) Thanks for reading. Stayed tuned. Check out the pictures at the bottom.