I Finally Got a Blog!!

Hello!

I've already been in Greece for about three weeks now, so I thought it was due time I fulfilled my promise to get a blog!

So far the city of Athens has held many surprises and adventures. The cultural differences here are much more drastic than I had anticipated, but I am loving it. One of the first things I noticed upon my arrival was that people are much more pushy and less polite than the states. In the city, you shouldn't expect anyone to make eye contact with you or say a friendly greeting. If someone bumps into you the street, you might hear them grunt a casual "signomi" (excuse me), but most likely they'll only scowl at you. According to my Greek professors it's not that Greeks necessarily mean to be more rude than Americans, it's just that they don't feel the need to act friendly when they're not in a friendly mood.

The other most dramatic difference that I noticed almost immediately was the intense traffic here. A bus picked us up from the airport and drove us straight to our neighborhood, where we were shoved off with our luggage right in the middle of oncoming traffic. We had to navigate our way carefully across the street, dodging motorcycles and tiny cars that seemed oblivious to our peril. Athenians are quite possibly the rudest drivers I have ever encountered; even the streets of Chicago don't really come close. They consisntely don't obey traffic signs, and pedistrians definitely don't have the right of way. While walking to class I've discovered the trick of following an Athenian and crossing the street when they do. They seem to have the routine down. I've had a few close calls with a couple of motocycles and scooters, which are particularly bad. It's not uncommon to see a motorcyclist driving up and down the sidewalks, barely swerving to hit pedestrians. It's also not uncommon to see cars double and triple parked along the busy streets. The reason for all this congestion and chaos is that Athens evolved into a metropolis at an extremely rapid rate, with a growth of population that went from a few thousand to a few million within a short amount of time. Because of this, the streets do not adequetely accomodate the mass amount of cars and people that Athens now holds.

My apartment is quite different than what I expected, but not at all bad! It will be perfect when it gets warmer outside, because I have a little porch that connects to my room. I don't exactly have a great view (I'm only one floor up) but it's fun to watch the people walk by nevertheless. I live on a street called Pyrrou, which connects to the busy street of Imitou. It's about a 10-15 minute walk away from the Arcadia Center, so the trek to school isn't too bad. Imitou has lots of little cafes and tavernas. Again, in the summertime it will be even more fun because in many of these places the majority of the seating is outside. There are also cafes that have a room with glass walls outside of the main buildling, so you can sit there and still have the illusion that it's a warm summer night.

The apartment itself is rather small, but I like it. Apparently we got lucky because our apartment is one of the only ones with a common living room area, so it's a great place to hang out. There are four bedrooms, so three of us got singles and the boys share a double. I really like my roommates so far and we're getting along really well. There's Alayna from New Jersey (she has a really strong accent), Kristin from Minnesota, Matt from L.A., and Tony from Colorado. We span the U.S.! We make dinner together a lot at night because it would be way too expensive to go out. We've cooked some basic meals like pasta and potatoes, but we've also gotten a little bit more fancy with things like guacamole and breakfast burritos. We don't have a t.v. or internet access, so things to do are definitely limited. We mostly do our homework at night, listen to music and talk, or play cards. Tony also has the 6th season of "Scrubs" on his computer, so we've gotten into the habit of watching an episode a night. I don't miss t.v. at all, but I do sometimes wish I could watch some Greek shows to see what they're like!

Right now we are in the middle of a snow storm! It's actually snowing really hard here. Apparently Greece only gets snow like every five years, so this is a big deal. Yesterday all classes were canceled, becasue there was no way for the professors to get here. There are only six snow plows for the entire city, so cars coudln't get out and public transportation came to a complete standstill. Yesterday it was really eerie walking down the streets; there were no cars and people were walking down the middle of the road! It was really funny watching the Greeks reaction to this; snowball fights were everywhere! Unfortunately, however, Greek people don't seem to know proper snowball ediquette - I got hit in the face by random strangers three times! It's also funny watching them timidly come out of their houses and watch in awe as the snow continues to pile on the street. I've seen a few people hosing down their sidewalks with water to get rid of the snow!! Those Greeks...

My apartment right now is freezing. The heat is turned on at the landlord's discretion so needless to say it's constantly cold. Especially at night. I slept with three thick blankets last night (one being a comforter) and my hands were still cold. It also doesn't help that my bed is right by the door to the balcony...it's a bit drafty. I think I finally figured out how to secure a warm shower by just leaving the water heater on for at least an hour. You're not supposed to leave it on for too long because it could short circuit, but personally, I'd rather have a hot shower.

Well, that's all for now, but I'll put another post up soon. I'm gonna go and get lunch and stop spending time in the computer room!