The Land of the (Edited by request)

I know that i never really even finished up the last blog. Munich will just have to remain a mystery for all. You'll never know about Sandor, my Hungarian best friend. Or the Western Union Hotel Misadventure. Nope, never know.

Anyways, I'm in Greece. Athens, to be more specific. The Pangrati district, to be obnoxiously specific. My school is located right next to the stadium they used in the 1896 Olympic Games (the first modern ones), which was built in the 4th century BC. It's pretty cool. From the fourth floor windows you can see right up to the Acropolis, and the sun sets right behind it. It's a really awesome sight. My apartment is about a thirty second walk from here, in a kind of dirty and cramped section of the Pangrati district. Most of the students live in the Kolonaki district, which is really posh and expensive and nice, but about a 20 minute walk from the school. Add to that the fact that Athens is the embodiment of the word "hilly." So basically, I'm happy with my dirtier, closer home. I live with five other guys, most of whom are from the Northeast. They had us fill out a housing form to make sure the roommate situations worked out, unlike some back at ND (read: anyone stuck living with Saylor).

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I didn't just apparate in Athens (though I really wish I had). I flew out of Chicago after a night at the Butler household. They were nice enough to give me a ride to Chicago after the game Saturday night, then put me up in a spare bedroom until we had to leave for Midway around 6:50 AM. Really nice. I flew over to Newark, which didn't smell nearly as much as I had feared. I checked back in and waited for a few hours before getting onto an Airbus bound for Amsterdam. It had the super awesome movie screens in the headrests, so I ended up not sleeping on a transatlantic flight yet again. On the plus side, I did finally get to see Shrek the Third, and some other decent flicks. The Reaping was another entertaining one. Though watching horror movies on a plane is probably a bad idea. First, I noticed the lady sitting next to me look really really awkward as a sex scene came on in the movie. It was brief, but pretty obvious. That last sentence refers to both the sex scene, and how awkward the lady looked. She then pretended to be asleep for a while. Also, when a scary part happened suddenly, I jumped in my seat a bit and woke up both people sitting next to me. Being startled awake miles above the middle of the ocean isn't fun, apparently.

Anyways, we landed in Amsterdam for a six hour layover. Well, six and a half hours. From 530 AM to 12 the brave Domers sat in the uncomfortable airport seats with their unnecessary armrests and hard backs. We also found a bathroom. It would have been cool had we been able to leave the airport. Or even the terminal. But we couldn't so it was mind-numbingly boring. The four hour flight was... ok I guess. I wasn't awake for more than 10 minutes at a time. I slept through takeoff and all of the snack servings. Well, I did wake up for one, when the stewardess held a roll directly under my nose and gave me some water. Anyways, I woke up for the landing, after which we got off the plane via some steps, just like in the old movies. I guess the airport was full? They lost some of our luggage (well, really just one person's luggage), so after filling out the claim we were all on our way. No customs to enter, by the way. We got in the cabs that the school had waiting for us and, after a forty minute, cramped cab ride, I was home.

The biggest culture shocks for me so far involve two things. One, no hot showers. I had a warmish one today, but the last one was FREEZING cold. We have to turn the water heater on manually, and hadn't quite figured out how long to let it heat up. The water pressure is just a trickle, too. Barely enough to cut through my mane of hair. It just rolls off the top. The second, and probably bigger, shock is that we cannot flush the toilet paper down the toilet. Which is a) gross and b) really off-setting. It goes in a little trash can nearby. It's gross. But apparently the pipes are too small to handle the paper load. Cikos has the same issue in China, so he and I have some commissertaing to do.

The past few days have been orientation mostly, learning about the school and a bit of the language. so far, I know zero Greek. It didn't stick with me quite yet. I did learn about a big cultual tabboo. It's called the five finger curse or something, and is performed by holding your open hand palm out with the fingers spread. Kind of like "talk to the hand." But this will make people fight you. And I've done it three times. In all cases I was trying to say thank you, or excuse me, but to them, it's been me bumping into them then saying "Five curses upon your household!" or "Thanks for the pizza. Five curses upon your household!" I just hope I don't get beat up over it. Maybe my charm and wit will save me. Without Greek though, I may have to express it through dance.