First thing-very important. In our shower, we have an emergency cord to pull like old people places have in case you fall and need assistance. Considering the bathtub is so narrow and I’m impressed I didn’t fall, it makes sense. I. Did. Not. Pull. The. Cord!! I have never not pulled something like that. I’m so impressed with myself. I mean, we still have three hours here but I plan on completely avoiding the bathroom, specifically the shower. We have to meet out travel agent soon who is this crazy old school and formal. And I’m not wearing pants to this meeting. I figure I should have his expectations low to avoid responsibility for anything. Maybe I should just go ahead and pull that cord to get out of any extra work to do with common sense.
Greece and I have more in common than I expected. So much energy. Crowded with buildings on top of each other, clustered like my thoughts. When looking at the city from afar and high up, it’s clear to see that there was no organizing or planning. They just started and decided as they went along. Spontaneous, some might say. Most importantly, pictures cannot capture how amazing and truly beautiful it is. Plus an Irish Pub.
It hasn’t hit me yet that I’m in Athens. I’m living out the days and fantasies that crowded my thoughts for nearly a year now. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect experience, and it’s only been a day. Seeing everything and being a part of it all is impossible to explain. There are so many things that I would love to tell everyone about, but there’s nothing else like them. Sitting on my balcony with great company gazing at the Acropolis lit up at night could be one of my favorite things. Every once in a while, probably every 20 minutes, someone in the group will stop us all and simply say, “Guys, we’re in Greece.” Okay, so that’s just me and one other person, but her name is Zakea so I think that counts for more than more people.
Everything with the flight went so easy. Oh, except that I had 2.5 pounds too many in my luggage. That was to be expected because that thing is huge. I took some stuff out and put it in my travel buddy’s carry on so that worked out nicely. Walking with them wasn’t too terrible either. Not my preference but I’m in Greece so I’m not complaining. I didn’t experience any jetlag. I wasn’t tired except for on that 9 hour-long frickin plane. I was about 10 minutes from going insane. My left eye started twitching at about hour eight. That’s not nearly as bad as hours three through seven when “Stacy’s Mom” was stuck in my head. I’m going to assume (Mom-I know, it makes an ass out of you and me. Clever.) that it is now stuck in your head and you’re probably swearing at me for it. Trust me, I know. It sucks. What’s worse than that being stuck in your head? A nine hour flight sitting in the middle seat unable to sleep sitting upright in the dark while everyone else sleeps, having to pee for the majority of the time, barely blinking due to insanity because of having that song stuck in your head. I believe that when something sucks and has happened to me, if I have control over it I should pass it forward so I’m not the only one who suffers and so that people can relate with what I went through without it being nearly as bad as mine in order to get more pity from them. The Anti-Karma.
We had breakfast in the hotel today and everything is so simple here. Yogurt and honey have never been more delicious, yet the sores in my mouth are going to start burning holes through my tongue after a few days of that menu. Luckily we get kicked out of this hotel tomorrow. Also, we found out the Acropolis was free today so we took a walk up there and marveled over how they built it because of the amazing architecture, but mostly because it’s so frickin high up and exhausting to get up there. We would have complained more and earlier if we could catch our breath. We wandered around there for some time and I can honestly say that this is something that should be on everyone’s “Bucket List.” I would love to tell you what it’s like, but there is literally not a single thing in the world that comes to mind that could correctly explain them. I took so many pictures to try and capture an image that gives it its proper credit, but it was impossible. There was this giant rock called something Greek that I should probably know near the exit. We sat up there and enjoyed overlooking the other side of Greece. Once again, this is something that the pictures look like a perfect screensaver but still is a crappy knock off version of what it’s really like. Classes start tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll have more scholarly things to say when that happens (don’t count on it,) but for now the most I can tell is what we have done on our own without saying too much. My name’s attached to this and I’d hate for someone, say a future employer or boss, to google me and find out what hooligans we are.
I will say that I have never loved being this age so much until now. I have always been excited about where I am in life age wise, but now I am overly excited about where I am in life in every aspect. The logic that these people I’m with come up with is almost too much to handle. Since I have had my mother’s responsible logic hammered into my head my whole life, I’m still able to see how she does while still making my stupid decisions. Well, her response would be much different and she’d be appalled compared to others. For instance, we have 10 weeks here. We spend a good portion of the time in Athens. We had traveled all day and missed an entire night’s rest. We got there and our body was telling us it was 4am. Anyone else besides our generation right now would say that we should take it easy, get some food, and then go to sleep to get a good night’s rest to recover. But no, we say, “Guys, how many times can you say it’s your first night in Athens. We have to live it up.” without any counterargument. The expression, “It’s fine, guys. It’s a good idea,” will never be worn out.
Now, considering how many different places we’re traveling, I believe this is a valid reason to live it up. Replace “Athens” with the numerous other places we’re going. That covers our justification for a bunch of nights. The rest we’ll improvise. The back up is always “Screw it, we’re in Greece.” I can already tell. Also, the awe we feel towards Athens won’t fade for a few days, so it will be the same thing over and over again each time we move. I am so appreciative for all of this. I’m incredibly lucky and I know it yadda yadda yadda. (it’s all true but mostly it’ll make my parents happier about paying for this if I say it openly especially after me describing the shenanigans to them)
I haven’t gone for a run yet. I did walk a block to the atm alone only to remember that I don’t know my pin code. Cool. I actually haven’t run yet at all, sorry Mom. I swear I’m not fat yet. I may, however, be getting a tattoo by the end of all this. Plus we’ll probably dive off cliffs into water. Preemptive apologies.
Hmm anything else funny? We were on the balcony waiting for our professor to get here just chit chatting from probably 2 until 3. It was very quiet in retrospect, but we were loud and obnoxious and lots of swear words were being tossed around. Later, at our meeting with our professor, we started to laugh somewhat loudly in the lobby of this hotel and our professors told us to quiet down because there are official quiet hours in Athens from 1 until 4 and if anyone is loud at all in the city, the police are usually called. They take this very seriously. Good thing we absolutely destroyed those quiet hours.
My roommate talks in her sleep.
I’m allergic to the blanket on my bed because every time it touched me I would start heaving and coughing and have difficulty breathing. I discovered this through many trial and errors moving the blanket for a moment, and then returning it to only immediately start coughing. This entertained me for some time.
They have good oranges because there are a bunch of orange trees that I’m not allowed to touch, I guess. The only problem with them is that they don’t really separate into the slices very easily. I don’t know why. Also, they completely dilute the orange juice so it just is like orange-ish water. It’s strange. Reminds me of Fruit2o that my mom used to buy. Well, that’s what I think of to manage to drink it. Sadly there is no cranberry juice here. Maggie, go ahead make the joke from The Departed. Or you could just say, “She asked me how to orange.” Either one of those is fine.
Kristine went on this trip about two years ago and is an LFC graduate and basically is a liaison between us students and the faculty. First thing, I hope Corie is reading this and appreciated the use of the word “liaison.” It worked into this blog better than flux, but I’ll try my best. Second thing, I want her job. I’m already competing for it with another one of the students who is clearly smarter than me, a history major, and completely qualified but it’s fine because I have the convincing personality. Not worried. Third, she loves similar movies as me and gets my quotes. Salvation.
Our room right now has three twin-sized beds, two of which are put together but sheeted separately. I plan on rolling over to annoy my roommate Keegan later tonight.
The roles have been set very securely. Basically, the boys are in charge and the girls have zero responsibility. This is a dream. I am not liable for anything I do anymore. We refer to them as archons. I would explain this nickname, but I love that I just made a nerdy joke referring to Ancient Greece. I’m usually not smart enough to make such dorky jokes that would go over common people’s heads or not be categorized as common knowledge. Most people make smart people jokes and I don’t get them and hate it because the explanation is far too lengthy and pointless because it has no importance to my world and I forget it before I even listen to it. If you’re smart and don’t understand what I mean 1) Why are you reading this blog? Not the behavior of a smart person. 2) It’s a very similar experience to when you don’t understand my pop culture references. Anti-Karma.
I don’t think I’ve made very many pop culture references in this blog now that I mention it. Well, obviously yadda yadda yadda was one. Well, obvious to some. Fine, obvious to a very select few. I decided the title to my blogs would all be pop culture references that relate to what I’m thinking. We can make a game of it. Like “Guess that reference” or figure out why I chose that one. That wouldn’t work because I’m not one hundred percent sure of why I say or in the case type and title most of the things I do.
I’m off to the kiosk to love life some more all over Athens. YOLO. We’re young. Aaaaaand I feel better about my decisions that easily.
Peace. Love. *NSYNC.
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