Thursday Night

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September 3, 2008 - Evening

Orientation this morning. Am so excited for all of the opportunities the program provides! They mentioned an archaeology apprenticeship only open to 10 students that gets to work on conservation projects in Athens once a week, which would be incredible! They also spoke about traveling, definitely want to get to Mykonos and Santorini Islands for a weekend. Luckily we don’t have any classes on Friday to allow us to do trips like that. There is also talk of trying to get to Istanbul and/or Cairo during our week long break in October. I may also talk to the student services coordinator, Nina, about volunteering at one of the countless museums in the city, or maybe even babysitting for a Greek child to earn some money and also work on my Greek.

Got to accomplish one of my goals this afternoon. Took a jog/walk around the streets of Athens. It was definitely the perfect way to sightsee in my opinion haha. On my trip also found two gyms. One, catering just to women, was really nice but rather expensive at 60 Euros a month for membership. The other, quite a bit more modest but still having the essentials, is only 160 Euros for four months. Hopefully I will get back tomorrow and try to sign up. As I continued on my jog I finally found the “track” that circles the top of the original Olympic Stadium right beside my school. The only downside to it is that it is in the shape of a horseshoe (like the stadium) which makes for an odd circle. However it is certainly much safer and better for my knee than running in the streets. I was sad to find that biking really isn’t a big thing in Athens. Considering the craziness of traffic here, I don’t think I would try even if it were common.

Tonight we went out as a school to various tavernas in our neighborhoods. The meal was decent and the taverna was gorgeous with plants and trees surrounding everything and spanning overhead.

Classes start tomorrow. My Tuesdays and Thursdays are probably going to be quite long:

Archaeology of Athens 8:40-10:20
History of Byzantium 10:30-12:10
Modern Greek 301 12:20-1:10
My “lunch” period 2:00-2:45…..riiiiight

Mondays and Wednesdays will be a bit better:

Ethnography of Modern Greece 10:30-12:10
Modern Greek 301 12:20-1:10
…and “lunch” again at 2

Guess we’ll see how it all goes tomorrow!

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