Greek 101

Today, we all had to meet at the Athens Centre (where we will be taking our classes) for an orientation/meet and greet at 10 a.m. The place is so charming and exactly what you think a little Greek villa would be like. It has an inner courtyard that is so cute, and a rooftop terrace as well that gives a fantastic view of the city and the Parthenon.

During the orientation, the Athens Centre director, John Zervos gave us a "brief" introduction to the history of Greece. Well, let me just say that "brief" is not exactly the right word, though that was what it was described as on the itinerary. The man talked for a full hour and fifteen minutes. He's a very cute old Greek man who clearly is too intelligent for his own well-being and can't speak as fast as his brain thinks. It was as if he was regurgitating every single piece of knowledge his brain contained in regards to ancient and modern Greece. It was tough to stay awake during the whole time because he was a little hard to follow, but he did have a few interesting things to say.

Mr. Zervos said that when people come to Europe, but more specifically Greece, they catch a "disease." The Greeks call this Philhelenism which means "a love for Greece." I certainly feel that this disease is beginning to catch on, even after only two days.


After orientation, we had an hour-long introduction to modern Greek language course. It was very helpful and I've managed to pick up a few very important words and phrases like "signomi," which means "sorry/excuse me" and "efkalisto" which means "thank you." I've also learned, "thelo kafe horis gala," which means "I would like coffee without milk" (very important). Of course, this is not how you really spell these words because they have a different alphabet system then we do which is made up of sounds rather than letters. My name, for instance, written in Greek is: Mopykav.


Another interesting thing that I've noticed while being here so far is that everything is much later. Here, "morning" is considered to last until 12 o'clock, and then 1-5 p.m. is their noon. 5-8 p.m. is what they consider to be the afternoon, and then from 8 on is the evening. This is why they don't eat dinner until sometimes 9, 10, even 11 o'clock at night. Mum, you could never survive in this environment! Dinner would be way past your bedtime!


Afterwards, my roommate Sami and I decided to explore the city a bit and check out some of the local parks. We found this beautiful, ancient, almost forgotten-looking, park that was nestled with tangerine trees. The cement was cut into patters so that moss and grass overtime had grown through it, and the trees made a sort of cabana above the entire park, which was on several levels because Athens is so hilly. It was so charming, even despite the Greek graffiti all over the benches or the penis some stupid boy probably drew on one of the stone fountains. Yes, despite all of that, it was quite charming. There were also about twenty stray cats in the park, just chilling. I tried to approach them but they wouldn't let me pet them :(


Next, Sami and I decided to go into the Panathinaiko Stadium (it's also called "the old stadium" because it's where the olympics were originally held). The stadium can seat 80,000 spectators on 50 rows of marble steps. We stood at the top of it and then walked down into the center where the track was, and you just feel like an ant. Along the top of the stadium, there is a dirt track that many Greeks run on. It goes along the entire length of the stadium, which is about a half of a mile. So, I joined in with the rest of the locals and ran for an hour around the stadium. Everyone was staring at me though because apparently no one runs with iPods? Or maybe it was just the fact that I was so obviously American.

We had a late dinner at another taverna that was hosted by the Athens Centre (meaning a FREE meal, ding, ding, ding!!) It was a three course meal with complementary drinks. I had a fillet of sole in an orange sauce as my entre. At the end, the waiters gave us these little shot glasses that looked like mini beer mugs, and in it was a clove and cinnamon infused hard alcohol (not sure exactly what kind, but it was DELISH). Apparently you're supposed to "sip" it, but after we all cheered "yamas," Ali, Julie, Jen, Zach and I all just downed it like it was a good ole shot of Jack. I think it was better that way.

Tomorrow we have another walking tour of Athens in the morning, and afterwards some of us plan on going to the local farmers market that is open every Friday from 7:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. It's supposed to be fantastic, and fairly inexpensive as well.

It's 12 a.m. our time here and we only got back from dinner about an hour ago (I told you they eat late). I'm so beat, so I'm going to say "kali nieta," which means goodnight of course :)