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There is a general strike in Athens today with protests in Syndagma Square.  I live about a 15 minute walk from Syndagma but sitting here at the Athens Centre, there is no indication in this neighborhood that anything out of the ordinary is going on.  It's too dangerous to go to Syndagma to see what's going on, so I'm getting all my info from online news sources.  It's been reported that a fire bomb was thrown at a bank in Syndagma, and that three people died and four were trapped because of it.  As I was walking back from the National Archeological Museum yesterday, we came across a protest march and as we walked through Syndagma, there were riot police starting to line up and streets were being roped off.  I was glad to be walking away from the square, not towards it.  The general strike today caused us to alter our class schedule, since we were supposed to go to Eleusis today, but it is closed because of the strike.  The plan is to go tomorrow, so hopefully things die down a little by then.  
It frustrates me that we are so isolated from the current situation here.  We are so focused on our study of the ancient Greek world, that we really can't relate to the modern Greek one.  I have not met a single Greek person my age so far.  How am I supposed to get a real sense of what is going on if I don't even know any "real" Greeks? 
Here's some more info about today's events:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/05/greece.strikes/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703961104575225472577513414.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_LEFTTopStories