"for you...special price!"

With so much to do yesterday I didn't really get a chance to sit down and blog about everything, so here's a blog of the past 24+ hours. Yesterday we got up early and started going towards the Archeological Museum. The museum is only 2 train stations away from Plaka, Old Athens (where we are staying). So we got to the train station and got on the train to go there. The train we took is called the Green Line, also known as the Electrico. When it was built they actually had to stop and they could not completely finish it because of financial problems. Another interesting thing that we learned is that while digging for the train stations, they were constantly finding old ruins and ancient artifacts, so they would have to stop digging and bring in archeologists. Apparently, you can take the train and go through every station to see all the artifacts that were found at each different stop.

We got to the museum no problem and began exploring. While there, I saw so many statues and other things that I have learned about in AP Art History and Art Appreciation. I loved reading about all the different time periods and seeing how the styles changed and became more and more advanced. Some of the other people on the trip seemed impressed with the amount of information I actually retained from those classes, hah! I learned it is much much cooler to see these statues in person rather than in a book or on slides. It helped me get perspective on how large these statues are, especially statues of Zeus and other important figures. 

We only made it through about 1/2 the museum in the time we were there, but whats great is that Dina will be taking my group back there in a few weeks with the next group of Greek Journey students so I'll be able to explore the second half when we go that time! 

The museum had the most amazing exhibit on shipwrecks that Dina said is only there for a limited time. The exhibit had all these artifacts that were recovered from the water that were found because artifacts were being moved between countries. Some of the statues were in pretty good condition while others looked pretty rough, with lots of eroding at that type of thing. One interesting fact that was in the exhibit is that historians believe that shipwrecks were very common during that time period. They say that the numbers could have been as high as 1 in 20 or 1 in 30, not good odds! 

After the museum we grabbed a quick lunch, gyros to go yummmm! I'm definitely addicted! Afterwards we hung out, took a siesta, and then got ready for dinner. Dinner was the Journey's students goodbye dinner and we got to go with to celebrate. Here's some pre-departing for dinner pictures (finally some pictures I know!) 

me and my roommate!

all the boys! unfortunately two of these guys are leaving this weekend :( going to miss my new friends!

Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant in Greece. Very interesting choice if you ask me, haha. We got there and it was tapas style but we already had a set menu. Lots of water and sangria, some yummy salad and greens, an appetizer plate with lots of American food (chicken, onion rings, cheese sticks, and a few other things), and the chicken and taco shells. There was lots and lots of food and we ended up there for about 3 hours eating and laughing and enjoying each others company.

me at the table!

After dinner, some of the boys convinced us to go out to their favorite bar in the area. They love it because it is a rooftop bar so there is an amazing view of the Acropolis up on the hill all lit up (will take a picture next time we go there- the most amazing view I've ever seen) so we sat around laughing some more and the boys told me I had to try this Greek special drink that they like. I of course said sure, I'd try it, but only a little bit. They ordered it in Greek so I had no clue what was going on, the only word I heard that I recognized was cinnamon. What a treat! The drink came out in a small glass and was warm. I don't know how to even explain the taste but it was basically like hot cinnamon apple cider and it was delicious! These guys really know whats up, hah! After many more laughs and stories someone looked at the clock only to realize it was already 2AM!

We ended up walking home and I had time to actually Skype with Steve! The distance has been hard because when I'm awake its 1AM-6AM there when he's sleeping and then from 6AM-5PM he's working and by the time he gets home its 1AM here and I need to go to sleep. So it was nice talking to him and were making it work :-) 

This morning I woke up and got ready. Yentl wasn't feeling well so she didn't want to go to the museum. I got downstairs at our 9:30 meeting time and only one other girl was down there. The two of us went to the bakery and she showed me the delicious Greek donuts to order. They are double the size of the ones back home and are 1.30 euro! It was so big that I was only able to eat half so I'll probably eat the other half tomorrow. By the time we got back, we decided to reschedule the trip to the museum for next week when more people will be around because a lot of people are traveling today.

After another great siesta, Yentl got back from her class and we went out to grab lunch. Another gyro anyone?? Hahah, we went to our favorite gyro restaurant and ordered our gyros and waited. After we ate we asked for our check. The man said 5 Euro and walked away to get the receipt. When he got back to the table he looked at me and goes "are you friends with Michaele?" (Michael in Greek) I said yes and he goes... "for you, special price!" Apparently he loves Odyssey students (probably because we go there daily to get our 2 euro Gyros. So we got out of there with a bill of 4 Euro instead of 5, what a nice guy!

Tom stopped by and fixed my air conditioning unit so now I finally have air in my apartment, hooray! He also brought over my rental cell phone which is just in case of an emergency I can get in contact with him or Dina. Tonight My parents get in, hooray! 

Liz 

walking home after a delicious gyro! 

my first purchase! a pretty bracelet! 

At the bar Mike asked me what my favorite parts of this trip are so far. Here's my top 5

1) the people we've met, everyone on the trip and in Greece have been nice and very friendly

2) the food- yummmmm I love my gyros and can't wait for saganaki and pastichio

3) the views- everything is so beautiful

4) shopping- everything is reasonably priced if you're willing to look around

5) the school- only two building away from my apartment, with a coffee shop right next door? love it!

Five things that I've learned while I've been here

1) say as little as possible, Greeks don't use filler words and like to keep conversations short

2) you can't flush the toilet paper here, you throw it in a little garbage can next to it

3) very little/ no air conditioning- this was a fast adjustment for me but Im getting used to it

4) the ground in Athens is varied, its usually very slippery and bumpy so I'm glad I have good walking shoes!

5) try to take in as MUCH as possible! We are exploring and learning every day to try to take in as much as we can while were here, we're looking at taking trips or walking to different places to learn a lot of the history! 

My favorite word is parakalo which is basically please at the end of anything you say. Its also the only word I've started using but the guys are trying to teach me!