So since I last wrote on this there have been a few new things. They are few, but indeed new. Classes started up, and so far I really like all of them. My profs are pretty easy going and all that, this being a school expecting its students to travel and everything like that. Well, most of them are anyways. This past weekend was my first weekend to really see the city. First and foremost, it is big. There are only a few buildings over a couple stories tall, so that means it’s really spread out, and has a lot of really narrow streets. Which I like a lot, actually. It makes me feel like I’m seeing something ancient. But on that note, the architecture and history here has some surprising twists in it. For example, there are ruins and buildings from 2400 years ago, then some from the 1850s. Almost nothing exists between those two times. I don’t know why, but it gives the city a really cool dichotomy. On a side note, I decided that dichotomy is one of my favorite words ever.
Anyways, I went out with a big group and trekked over to the Plaka district, which is full of cheap touristy shops and some tavernas (taverns, kinda). We got a bite to eat and just roamed around trying to find either the Gazi or Psiri district, which are both really well known for having good clubs and bars and the like. Lots of nightlife. We ended up lost in a shady part of town near the Hotel Eratos. I think it’s a bordello. There were also a bunch of what I can only assume were strip clubs. I never want to go in there, taking into special account how hairy everyone is here. Ew. We turned around and headed backwards, eventually getting to the far edge of the Psiri district. It was neat, but not the crazy party we were hoping for. Lots of strangely dressed, kind of androgynous Greek teens. My favorite was a girl sitting near us with her boyfriend, serenading him with some Yankee pop song from a few years back. I don’t remember the name of it, just that it has the line “I’m wonderin…. wonderin….” repeated a lot. That and she had a funny accent. We headed home soon after that, which took us past some ruins and the like. About forty minutes later I was in bed and happy for it.
That was Friday. Saturday, most of the ND crew took a tram out to a local beach. Instead of sand, it’s all pebbles. The water is the bluest I have ever seen. Ever. The backdrop of the area was a huge mountain range off in the distance. It was a public beach, inhabited mostly by older men, all of whom love playing that tennis-like game with a tennis ball and wooden paddles. They all also love wearing banana hammocks and bending over to pick stuff up. As I mentioned earlier on, keep in mind that people here have a lot of hair. It was pretty gross, so I just stared out to sea. We managed to meet some Iraqis nearby who were vacationing in the area, so that was pretty cool. Oh, and there was this guy who liked to sit next to girls and do this seductive pose while smoking a cigarette and not saying anything. He was the creepiest man I have ever seen. I took a picture of him, it should be on Facebook. Just look for the one tagged as “weirdo” in the album. After the beach we did some boring stuff like a movie and some dinner, but then we went out to Belair, our CYA bar of choice. It was some guy’s birthday, so everyone was celebrating appropriately. Especially him. Jeeze.
Late night, came home, went to bed. Did homework and watched Lawrence of Arabia on Sunday. The homework is going to be a pretty big bummer while I am here. It really seems to have a lot of reading involved. Like, a lot a lot. But who knows, I’ll figure out some way to manage my time and get it all done and still travel.
Photos of the beach found HERE
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