S

Here’s what has been going on:

As I wrote at the end of my last post, my friend Christen was in Athens for a few days last week.  It was great to see her, and Thursday night, along with the others girls she was traveling with, we went to an excellent taverna near my apartment called Ep’ Avli.  Yummy food and good company made for a great evening. J

The final paper for the first third (the equivalent of one quarter) of my Greek civilization class was due on Sunday, so I spent some of Friday and most of Saturday working on that.  I got it done on Saturday, so I was able to go to the beach on Sunday!  Also, on Saturday night we had a potluck dinner in my friend’s apartment.  I made a no-bake chocolate mousse cake from a kit I bought at the grocery store.  It was pretty easy to make, and I made sure to pick one that also had English directions (there were only two like that so I didn’t have much to choose from).  Saturday night, I went to see Titanomaxia (Clash of the Titans) at a movie theatre, which is inside a mall, not far from my apartment.  We were able to get the student price (yay!) with our UChicago IDs, which was 7.50 Euros.  They have popcorn and drinks, and the one surprising thing was that there are assigned seats- I did not expect that.  The theatre was small, and the movie was in English with Greek subtitles.  The movie itself was kind of ridiculous, but it was cool to have gone to a lot of the places mentioned in the movie.

On Sunday, a few of us went to a beach near the Edem tram station.  It was a nice day, although a little windy and a tiny bit overcast.  We played some volleyball and relaxed.  The water was very clear, but also very cold, so I didn’t swim.  The beach is pretty rocky and dirty.  There are pieces of garbage everywhere in the sand.  Overall, it was fun.  We heard about some nicer beaches that are accessible by bus, so maybe I’ll try those next time. 

Monday was the beginning of the 2^nd part of the Greek civilization class with a new professor, and yesterday we went to the Acropolis to see all the buildings built on top.  It only took us three weeks to make it to the most famous landmark in Athens!  There is a lot of history at the Acropolis, and a great effort to document and reconstruct this history in the best way possible.  The buildings on the Acropolis, especially the Parthenon, are constantly undergoing restoration, and yesterday was no exception.  The Temple of Athena Nike as well as the Parthenon are currently being worked on.

Today, we went to Marathon and Ramnous on a full day trip, but I’ll write more about that tomorrow.