I shall hide behind that garbage car.

I should probably blog.

I wrote that first sentence about 2 days ago. Now I’ll try and follow through with it. Class has been so wonderful. John is simply wonderful and hilarious. He told us a story about how he lit his church on fire the day of his wedding just minutes before his bride was coming upstairs. He told us that once he was telling a class about how the remains of someone in one of the church they were studying at were fake and probably the only English speaking priest came up and started yelling at him and would not reason with John so the priest ultimately yelled, “You’re excommunicated!” which is not how that works but absolutely hilarious. He also told us about the time when one of the students tripped in a museum and landed on an ancient rug and nearly ruined it. After seeing this rug and hearing this story, Nicolette had the greatest pop culture reference of all times. “That rug really tied the room together.” So very perfect. John has me figured out already though. He asked if I had any other volume or preferably a mute button. We told him no and that I am physically unable to whisper and he thinks it’s hysterical. Mocks me regularly now. We’re buddies, it’s fine. Lil’ John and I. he prefers that nickname over the other one I was using which was the abbreviation of “Byzantine John…”

We went to Kalambaka for the next part of the class. The travel day we had was absolutely gorgeous weather, of course. We stopped in this small town for lunch that reminded me of Colorado. Well, what I imagine Colorado would be like. The furthest west I’ve been is Iowa. Rough. We went to this place and literally just got meat. Pieces of paper with meat and they handed us toothpicks. It was incredible. Then, we got to the very nice hotel and most of us went out to the pool. I got thrown around and pushed in a little. Played some ping pong, which I miss so dearly. I skyped with my family that night which was so nice, especially since I haven’t talked to some of them since I’ve left. One of them being my brother, weird. In Kalambaka, we went and visited a bunch of monasteries. I still struggle to spell that word. I can tell you all about the architecture and icons, but I can barely spell that word. Most of the paintings in the narthex depict the saints being tortured so it’s a really terrible thing. Some of them are just getting beat with a stick, others are boiled alive or cut at the limbs or attacked by lions. I am one of the three Irish-Catholics on this trip and I always have to remind them that the emphasis is on the Irish part more so than the Catholic but this was proven when I could only recall about two of the stories depicted on the walls of the monasteries. The other two could tell you the story behind every wall painting plus which saints the icons were. CCD has done me no good. I didn’t even get to pick a confirmation name because my church, St. Mary’s, said I was named after 2 saints and needed to pick one of those to do my project on. I chose Rose because I was trying to make a point by not picking the name of the church. Showed them. At these monasteries, besides the fear of me bursting into flames instantly, my wardrobe was of a main concern. My professor told me I might be thrown into the fountain. Girls had to wear long skirts but since I own none and thought it would be fun, I took advantage of the monasteries offering tablecloths with strings on them as skirts. For months, I have been told about how horrible they are and how I don’t want to wear them. They were awesome. So many patterns, absolutely ridiculous. I got yelled at by a nun and was tempted to tell her that I was her for Halloween as a child. True story. Since I’ve visited all these churches, I have realized that everything about my life is probably wrong. Since my immediate reaction to new facts or certain monuments in the church are always sacrilegious, I have a lot to reconsider.

The way Christ is depicted is either through a fish or a peacock. The fish is because each letter of the word “fish” in Greek represents something about Jesus. The peacock is simply because it’s beautiful. Peacocks are my favorite animal so I get to see all these mosaics with peacocks made of gold or just various statues or chairs that are peacocks. It’s awesome.

I have to start getting people souvenirs. I need to start throwing away some clothes to make room for the things I’ll bring back for people. Shouldn’t be too hard because a lot of stuff I don’t wear or don’t need or some even have stains or holes but I’m stubborn when it comes to clothes. I told my classmates that the last week we’re here they need to start doing things to ruin the clothes I’m wearing. Pour things, I’ve been burned by some cigarettes, sleevemonster, just do what you gotta do.

My mom is easily one of the funniest people in the world. And I’m not just saying this to get on her good side. We finally got back to Athens and I show up to class yesterday with a large pile of mail waiting for me. My professor told me I couldn’t read it until after class (in a snappy way, might I add) but it was well worth the wait. First was a card from Aunt Peg that just said “srsly” on the front and “wtf” inside. Why the face? Then I had about 5 letters from my mom that were literally just post-its with random things on it basically because we’re competitive as a family and I want the most letters. One of them was a random “get well soon” card she found. I was laughing hysterically for at least 30 minutes and then at various points the rest of the day. My classmates told me that they now understand why I am the way I am and that they want to meet her. They also commented on how they never get mail and I’m delusional. All I know is that I saw someone get a letter once when I didn’t and it made me jealous.

Last night was karaoke, of course. Only one more left. So sad. The bartender Bab was asked if he thought it would be a good karaoke night and he said, “Should be, the Lake Forest girls are here.” It was phenomenal. He revealed the super Disney playlist of options for karaoke. Don’t mind if I do. Whole New World. Under the Sea. Check and check. Moniter was borderline unnecessary. Plus I did Bruce “Born To Run” and proudly did not look at the screen once. I really got into that one. Nailed it. Met some people from Wisconsin who had been to the Brookfield Zoo. Such a small world. I have also noticed that nothing brings a room of strangers together quicker and better than someone picking a perfect song at karaoke. Beautiful thing. One of the bartenders told us she would sing with us if we did Total Eclipse of the Heart. Had I known this was an option, it would have been done many times before. I clearly had to do the Old School version though. “I f*cking need you more than evaaa!” That made me about 3 new friends in the room due to them understanding my pop-culture reference via karaoke. Good basis for friendship I think. A girl I met did “Blame it on the Boogie” and I asked her where her bedazzled star sweater vest was. I don’t know if that one was over her head.

I am overwhelmed by the fact that I only have exactly 2 weeks left here. It went by so fast. We revisited a museum that we went to on the 2nd day we were here and I’m pretty convinced that that actually happened 4 days ago. Insane!

I went and got some mousaka to go from a restaurant the other night around 10pm and the place gave it to me for super cheap and even gave me bread so it was glorious. Then, instead of just eating in my room I decided to go sit on that large Areopagus Rock right at the base of the Acropolis. It was so beautiful and nice to just sit there and eat some delicious Greek food, listen to good music and sit outside on a nice night and stare at the Acropolis. I had such a great time. On my walk back, I stopped to get some pomegranate juice and discovered that this café makes these kebabs that are alternating strawberries and bananas all dipped in chocolate. I was going to try and eat healthier but that changed some things. Then after, I went to a friend’s room where I found out that class changed from 8:30am to 12:30pm. This place can’t be real. It was a good night. I need to do dorky things on my own like eat on a rock at night more often here. I have a couple weeks to do that. Literally, a couple. Ughh. Then I will have to face all the “American Problems” as I lovingly call them and have been pushing out of my mind. Not now though. Not yet. You can’t make me!

Tonight was a blast because we were invited to Professor John’s house for a party with his friends as well as his students from his other abroad program so I met a lot of kids from the Midwest, especially those from Chicago. It was a grand ole time.

Showers:
Thessaloniki-bathroom was just a wetroom. I had to hold the shower head because there was no base on the wall for it and it was just an elevated corner with no curtain. I got to sit on the toilet and shave though, good times.
Kalambaka-very small 2ft x 2ft tub thing with a seat and this shower curtain that was on rods, hard to describe but it was pretty pathetic. Also nowhere to put the shower head so I just had to hold it. I tried to sit on the seat once and thought it was at least 6 inches higher than reality. Fell and had a minor heart attack because I thought it was a much closer seat than it actually was.
Now I’m back in Athens where it’s just a corner of the bathroom as always. Squeegee time is back and it’s directly facing a shelf that holds the extra toilet paper. This would have been good to notice before we needed another roll of toilet paper and they were completely drenched. Smart girls here. Also, we have been lazy about squeegeeing so we have each fallen because of wet feet or wet shoes. I have multiple times, one of them led to me hitting a shelf in the room and breaking it. When Caroline fell she kicked me and I spilled. Kristine’s fall just ended with her in the splits a little.

Today, Professor Fisher described a door that had a bunch of complicated locks by saying, “It’s like a chastity belt.” This cracked me up so I texted it to my friend who said, “I’ve experienced it, not a bad comparison.” This whole situation was almost too much to handle. Fisher then gave Caroline and I money for a cab because we stayed after class to wash dishes. Fisher then attempted to teach us how to give directions to the cabdriver in Greek while I just pretended to repeat the words back to him but I actually was not paying attention to it at all. As we walked away we shared a conversation that went a little like this:
Me: Wow, that was nice of him to pay for a cab.
Caroline: Yeah, great.
Me: Want to take the Metra and get yogurt with it instead?
Caroline: Yep.
Same page, people.

Now I must go to bed where I am finally uncomfortably hot. Sounds terrible, I know, but I look forward to it since I have complained about the cold weather so often. This makes it impossible to sleep in the morning. Also, the beds are covered in plastic wrap which is fine, no bed bugs I guess, but my sheets came off a bit and I somehow can’t fit them back on so it makes it a sticky sweaty surface for my arms and somehow sometimes my face.

What am I going to do back in the States without this blog? I need to broadcast my thoughts in this format. I’m addicted!! You’ve created a monster.

I need to take a minute to think of a new title because my mom hated the last one. This is weird though because when we watched that movie she cracked up endlessly about that quote. I’m calling you out, mom. It’s funny. We did talk about Yemen a little today, which makes me tempted to quote Friends, but I think I’ll come up with something else.