First weekend in Athens!

Here we are! I have made it through my first week and weekend in Athens!

On Friday I went to my second day of classes. My first class was at 10:40, so I got to sleep in a little bit, which was really nice. The class, which is on the history of Byzantium, was really boring, but I think I will learn a lot from it (I just read the book, and it is like a soap opera!). After that class we went and had lunch, and because my next class wasn't for another like 4 hours, we decided to go to the fresh fruit market that is open every Friday, and got some delicious, cheap, fresh, fruit. Also, it was one of our roommate's birthdays so we got some special food for dinner, like fresh bread, and other delicious foods. Then I walked back to the apartment to drop off the food. The market was in the other neighborhood, and so it was kinda a long walk up and down hills and stuff, so by the time I got back to the apartment my calves were killing me, as well as getting blisters from my shoes which were too tight. But I still had another class. On the way to class the Greek guards who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and are placed on a street that I pass to get to class, were switching out. They do this like ridiculous dance thing and their shoes have these silly little poofs on them. They are like the Buckingham Palace Guards in that they don't move and aren't supposed to make facial expressions. Here is a picture. I had to go to Ancient Greek, and it is going to be a lot of work, even though I don't think it will be that hard. If that makes any sense.

After class, we made a delicious dinner with bread, cheese, tomatoes, olives, and yogurt. I then begun my ancient Greek homework, and worked for like 3 hours (keep this in mind as this is a repeating theme this weekend). After I worked for several hours, we began Kathy's birthday celebrations! We were going to go to a club on the beach after meeting up with a couple people. Our neighbors Alice and Ali came over with a cake, and then we headed over to the apartment next door, as the people who live there were the only ones who knew how to get to the club. They were getting ready, and there were already like 5 other people over there, so our number was already approaching 15. We left their place, not to get to the club, but to stop at another person's house in the other neighborhood. There we ran into more people. I was getting annoyed, because we were such a big and loud group of people, which I wouldn't have minded if we were actually not in a tiny apartment with like 25 people at like midnight. We made people leave so we could get going, but then no one knew where we were going, so after like 2 hours of getting ready to go, we would have to walk another mile or so to the tram, take an hours tram ride to the beach and stay up for who knows how long. I decided it wasn't worth it, and got a crape instead. The roommates who did go clubbing were out until 5. I'm kinda glad I didn't go. The picture to the left is all my roommates when we were shopping at Syntagma square from left, Clara, Hannah, Marti, and Kathy.

Saturday, my roommates and I went shopping in a couple different places. The first place we went was in the other neighborhood that people in CYA are staying, and found a fantastic store that is like a Forever 21 that we have in the states. I bought I shirt there, and a little bag. Then we took a taxi to Syntagma square, which means Constitution square. There I got a blue floral dress, a skirt, and plain shirt. I only ended up spending like 45 euro, but I guess that is 45 euros more than I wanted to. Whatever. I am happy with my purchases. When we got back I started to work again. For another good three hours. In the meantime I ate some Domino's pizza. At like 10 o'clock, Kathy, Marti and I headed out to a outdoor cinema, to watch a movie.

It was such a unique, fun experience! The theater was like a theater we would go to in the US, but there was no roof or walls. You could see the stars and hear people on the street. It was really cool. The movie that we saw was the Maltease Falcon. I liked it. It was such a good experience. We got back and I went to sleep.

Today, I spent the entire day in the apartment working on my ancient Greek, while my roommates were having fun at the beach. At least we are going to an island next weekend and I will have some decent beach time then.