Afternoons

Strawberries – 5/29/07, Athens, 6:04 p.m.

Sorry I didn’t update yesterday. It was a long day. We got up and we were supposed to go to the highest point in the city to get a really amazing look at the city from above. However, it was pouring. So we had to nix that. Instead, we (read: my professor) decided that we would walk around the city and have a bit of an orientation session. Dear Lord, was that a bad idea! First of all, we were in a group of 17 and that’s always cumbersome. Second, it was raining – hard – and the majority of us didn’t have umbrellas. Third, my professor isn’t really the best to walk around a city with because she gets really excited about buildings (modern and ancient) and ruins and things and so we had to stop all the time. We stopped a lot of traffic. Not fun. We ate at a lovely restaurant for lunch yesterday. I had lamb and potatoes. It was delicious. Although, the portion was HUGE! I couldn’t believe how big it was. I couldn’t finish it all, nor could many of my classmates. We came back to the hotel after a while and collapsed. Brianne and I took naps. It was lovely.

At about 9, we (me, Brianne, Megan, Melissa, Kelly) went wandering to the Placa in search of a good restaurant. See, here, everything shuts down at about 5:30/6 and then reopens at about 8:30/9. Dinner is very late. The last couple of days we’ve had an early breakfast, lunch at noonish, and then a snack at 4/5, and then dinner at 9. So the 5 of us found a really great restaurant down the street in the Placa and sat down. We all had a Mythos, which is a Greek beer, and very much enjoyed ourselves. It was only about 50 Euro for the 5 of us to eat, which is good. Here, they charge for bread and water, which is strange; but at the same time, you tip only 1 or 2 Euro, so I guess it evens out in the end.

Today, we got up early (we met our professor at 8 am) and went to the National Archaeological Museum. It’s only about a 25 minute walk and almost a straight shot, so there’s no real way to get lost, which is nice. We were there for a long time, though. My professor has a habit of getting really excited about museums, which is nice, but tedious for us, especially because she doesn’t really speak loudly enough for all of us to hear her. Anyway, we saw a lot of really cool things, many of which I got photos of. I’ll be sure to put them somewhere, whether here or facebook or snapfish, not sure yet. After we finished at the museum, the day was ours. A group of 6 of us wandered down Stadiou street and Ryan and I bought phones. Then we stopped at the Pita Pan pita place, which was good, but not as good as Quick Pita, and more expensive. Then we bought some strawberries from a lovely street vendor. They were SO good! I paid 2,5 Euro for 1 kilo, which was nice. They were absolutely delicious and a great way to cap off our lunch.

We came back to the hotel and took a quick nap before Brianne, Whitney, and I walked down to the Placa again to do some shopping. I bought a lovely sun hat, but am still in the market for a nice sarong. We’re just hanging out here, reading, snacking, until dinner. Then we’ll probably wander down to the Quick Pita. We did a lot of walking today!

I miss you all and I hope you’re all doing well!

Xoxo, Ally

ATHENS!!

Athens, Finally! – 5/27/07, Athens, 10:39 p.m.,

So we’re finally here! And I’m exhausted! Ryan and I arrived at the airport where we were met by our professor. We thought that we were the last to arrive (we were supposed to be) but there were two other girls whose flights were delayed so we ended up being at the airport for a while. It was not fun. Anyway, we got on the metro (which was SUPER nice!) and rode until Syntagma Square (the square across the street from our hotel) and walked over. I took all my stuff up 6 flights of stairs (!!!) and then proceeded to shower. I wanted to sleep really badly but thought that I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight if I did. So, Brianne (my roommate) and I watched the West Wing on her laptop until it was time for dinner. At dinnertime, our professor met us and we took a brief tour of the city. We’re right in the middle of everything! It’s so nice! Then we went to this great little place where there was a guy singing and we had GREAT food! There was SO much of it! We then took a walk through the back of the city and got to see the Acropolis at night. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I can’t believe I’m actually here!

Well, I’ve got to get going because I am exhausted and we’ve got an early day tomorrow. Mom/Mandy/Dad, I’ll get a cell phone tomorrow and try to call. Love to all!

Yesterday...

Airport Musings – 5/26/06; Dulles Airport, 4:45 p.m.

So, Pat dropped me off at the airport and I waited in what I thought would be a really, really long line at security – turns out that there are about 25 metal detectors and so the wait was only about 15 minutes. I finished my book Son of a Witch (the sequel to Wicked) which kind of sucks because now I have to lug the thing around Europe with me. Oh well. Maybe I’ll read it again.

I just watched our flight attendants walk onto the plane. They’re all wearing bright red uniforms. Even the woman with the skirt on has opaque red stockings on. Well done, Austrian Airlines, well done. After getting through security, I got on a tram and then walked down a really, really long terminal where I’m sitting right now. We’re right next to the “designated smoking area” which is basically a glass box where they make all the smokers sit. I suppose if you need a cigarette bad enough, you’ll do almost anything.

It’s about 4:45 and we are supposed to board our plane in about 20 minutes for a 6:00 pm take off. There are some interesting characters on our plane. Lots of kids. A surprising number of kids, actually. I hope I’m not too near the bad ones – two little boys who are sitting right across from me and are awfully active. It reminds me of a story that Nola used to tell me that when they would fly home from Singapore, she and her sister would do forward rolls up and down the aisles on the flight from Singapore to JFK and then fall asleep on the short flight from JFK to Indy. I hope these parents, as the O’Donnell’s did, learn to tranquilize their kids. We’ll see.

Side note – even the male flight attendant is wearing a full red suit with a blue scarf tied around his neck. This could get fun.

There are also some very large women sitting down the way. I don’t think I can handle 8 hours sitting between them. That would be awful. I think I might’ve picked a window seat, though. the nice thing is that we are leaving late enough at night so maybe I’ll be able to sleep on the plane.

Right now, I’m listening to a CD that Josie made me. It makes me miss her and Colgate, but it also makes me smile. Actually, I suppose I look a little bit like an idiot sitting here with a huge grin on my face. I almost broke out into song a minute ago… thank God I have at least a little bit of self control.

I miss you all already. We’re getting ready to board, so I’d best turn off my computer and listen to the announcement. Maybe from now on I should tell the people that I’m deaf so I can get first seating. ;-)

Have fun at the race tomorrow and I’m going to try to call when I arrive, so you know I’m safe!

Lots of love! Xoxo

Layover – 5/27/07, Vienna Airport, 8:55 a.m.

So, the eight hour flight is over – thank God. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I did end up with a window seat, which was nice, except for the one time I had to go to the bathroom and the two women sitting next to me were sleeping. Awkward. OH! There was also some sort of medical emergency on the plane. The flight attendant came on over the P.A. and asked if anyone was a doctor/nurse/had any medical training. The flight attendants were walking by me talking about it, but they were all speaking German. So much for eavesdropping. I still don’t know what exactly happened, but there was this girl in the bathroom and someone came up to the flight attendant and told her that the girl in the bathroom needed help. Then the announcement. This doctor got up and went over to the bathroom and helped her do something. I couldn’t really see. Then they brought her out of the bathroom and laid her on the floor in front of the emergency exit. It wasn’t that big a deal because she was able to make it all the way to Vienna in one piece. Although, she did not look good.

I watched Cars and The Prestige on the plane. Quality films. By the way, next time I fly Austrian Airlines, remind me to fly first/business class. WOW! Each seat was temperature controlled and almost laid out flat. It was high, high quality.

So I’m sitting in the Vienna airport waiting for my 10:35 flight to Athens. Ryan is supposed to be meeting me here. (Through a really, really random coincidence, he is flying in from London to Vienna and we’re on the same flight to Athens. Weird.) He should be here soon.

This was weird, though. I arrived in gate A-something. To get to the C concourse (where my flight to Athens is leaving from – both are Austrian Airlines, though), I had to basically leave the airport and come back. I didn’t have to go through a metal detector or anything, but I had to show my passport and get a visa stamp. And then, now, to board my flight to Athens, I have to show my passport again and get another visa exit stamp. I will have been in Austria for about 2 hours. Nice. The Austrian countryside (that which I saw from the plane, anyway) is gorgeous. It’s very flat, until you reach the mountains outside of Vienna. Then it’s all rolling hills/mountains and just gorgeous landscape. (I must admit that all I could think of was The Sound Of Music when the von Trapps flee the Nazis through the Austrian countryside.) Oh, and the other thing – I am currently sitting in front of a Starbucks. Yeah, you read it right. A STARBUCKS in the Vienna airport. Seriously. That’s intense. There are a TON of really expensive stores in this airport. I’m talking Versache, Dolce & Gabbana, Coach, Hugo Boss, etc… However, it is very weird to see a Starbucks sign written in German.

When I got here first, I went to find the bathroom 0 conveniently described and marked as WC (water closet) and they are literally closets. Unlike our bathrooms that are more stalls, these are closets. The doors have no opening at either the top or the bottom and you lock the door as if it were a closet. I just thought it was funny.

Well, I am going to go browse some of the random little stores in this area. Will have another update once I arrive in Athens at the Pan Hotel! We should leave here at about 10:35 and arrive in Athens about 2:00 p.m.

Until later! Love!

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i'll be using this to update on all my abroad adventures - as requested by my mom! yay!