First days in Athens

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First full day in Athens! Flew into Athens International Airport yesterday at around 9:30am local time - 2:30am Maine time - after leaving Bangor on Sunday at 11:00am. On the flight had a chance to talk with a couple other students in the program. It seems like I am one of very few who has had any prior exposure to Greek language or culture, and it was interesting hearing about other people’s perceptions of what this semester would bring.

Once we had collected our luggage, representatives from CYA met us, gave us our apartment addresses/keys, room mate list, and got us all into cabs and off into the city. Guess who lucked out and got a single room! ME! I have four other room mates, two of whom were actually on my flight from Philadelphia, so we ended up sharing the cab ride to the apartment. One is named Kylene, is from Pennsylvania and goes to school in Florida, and the other is named Leslie, is from Missouri and goes to Kansas University. My other two room mates didn’t arrive until later that night, Fabi from Massachusetts and Elizabeth from California.

After getting to the apartment around noon - which is rather modest but far better than what I was expecting to be honest - we quickly settled in and were off to the Academic Center for check in. We lucked out and were placed in the Pangrati neighborhood so school is only a 5 minute walk away; others live in Kolonaki, which is a “wealthier” neighborhood but about a 20 minute walk away.

Once we were all set at the academic center, Kylene, Leslie and I returned to the apartment and attempted to start unpacking…within half an hour though we had all passed out on our beds haha. I woke up around 4:30pm and went out to explore the neighborhood a little. Found a bunch of fresh fruit, vegetable, meat and cheese vendors, as well as a couple coffee shops (yay!), a supermarket and a number of zaxaroplasteios - bakery/sweet shops. Was also asked to coffee by a 40 year old Greek writer named Babis - a “Silver Fox” if you will haha - but I declined saying I had just moved here and had a bunch of errands to run. Nevertheless he gave me his phone numbers - home and cell - and asked me to call him when I was more settled. While I would like to have someone to practice my Greek with, I have a feeling Babis was looking for something a little more…intimate haha.

When I got back the other two had woke up and - none of us having eaten a meal since the airplane ride - were ready to eat. We wandered around Pangrati for a while and ended up settling for an Italian pizza place - a very authentic choice for our first night in Greece haha. After eating a very good meal and splitting a decent bottle of wine, Kylene, Leslie and I were ready to call it a night.

When we got back, the other two roommates had arrived, so once again we did introductions. We also figured out how to turn on our hot water heater, which was embarrassingly simple after we found the switch. In Greece, you normally don’t leave heaters/air conditioners/appliances running unless you are about the use them. They are very very very focused on conservation here.

Slept like a baby in my new bed, no big surprise after an incredibly long and eventful day. Awoke this morning just in time to head back to the Academic Center and pick up my text books. Am planning this afternoon to go find some things for the room - a lamp, hangers, shelves and something to decorate the sparse white walls. Also may try to take some pictures of our place/neighborhood and the school to post later - don’t have any internet in our apartment so will have to come back the AC to do that. May try to eat a real Greek meal at a taverna in the Plaka tonight with the room mates.

I feel surprisingly “in my element”, like it’s completely natural for me to be living in Athens. Although I’ve barely been here 24 hours, it already is starting to feel like home. I’ve really enjoyed Kylene and Leslie so far, haven’t really gotten to know Fabi or Liz yet but they both seem down to earth. Spoke with the Directors of Academic Affairs and Student life yesterday, the first of whom has actually worked with Artemis - one of my Greek professors from Michigan - multiple times and already knew who I was, and they both seem more than willing to do whatever they can to accommodate us. Classes start Thursday and we have a couple of meetings/receptions between now and then so I am sure I will be meeting plenty more CYA-ers by the weekend.

Guess that’s all for now. Miss everyone and hope to hear from you soon!

Me agapi (with love),

Teplyn

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