Update - Athens

Soo. the past few days have been crazy. We get up
early and stay out late so we're all pretty tired! I
have been going nuts without the internet! I've been
having serious withdrawals like a drug addict. So I
left my hotel the other day and found a much simpler
route to the metro. I took the metro took Sydagma
Square and after i got off the train i just kinda sat
on the benches and people watched. There isn't air
conditioning on the train so I was really hot and need
a break from lugging around my 100 lbs. worth of bags!
(literally) So i people watched, Athens is a busy city
than L.A. I think, either that or everyone uses public
transportation, which of course they do because in
Athens you are only allowed to drive your car, if you
have one, on certain days depending on your license
plate numbers, what they start with. It's something
crazy like odd numbers can only drive M, W, F and
even numbers like the other days or something along
those lines. Anywho, after i relaxed for few, saw all
these people, and hogged down some snacks, i continued
to try to find the hotel. It was of course 98 degrees
outside so I was breaking a sweat, disgusting i know.
I was looking around because i couldn't find the
street on the map, some guy tried to sell me a cruise
and he gave me directions...after this i made it to
the hotel, checked into my room, and waited for my
roommate, she wasn't there yet. I kinda took an
accidental nap and then woke up when Sarah, my roomie,
showed up. We only had like 20 mins. till we had to be
at the orientation deal. There we met our tour guide,
costas, and our mentors, one of which i already had
met because she is from our campus. Then, we all
introduced ourselves and such, you know the usual
"let's get to know each other games." They gave us a
lecture like high school students (Johnson and Wales
policy i swear), treated us like we were 15, and then
we all walked to dinner. The food was good, there was
music, and the water doesn't have ice. We made friends
and then went to bed because everyone else just
arrived off planes, so they were tired.
The next day, which was yesterday, we all went to the
Acropolis and saw the Ancient Agora and all the ruins
and such. We got some lecture before we left about
ancient athens from this archeologist and she was
really great. Soo.. the acropolis was breathtaking!
All you can do is just look at it and say, is this
really real? Can you believe that people thousands of
years ago were walking right where i'm walking? It's
so huge too, I can't believe that they built this sort
of stuff. It was really hot and the acropolis is
really high up so the wind was blowing like crazy!! I
was sweating so every-time the wind blew it blew
little rocks and sand on me and when i was showering
later, nothing but dirt was coming off of my legs and
stuff!! I got some great pictures though and it wasn't
as crowded as the tour person said it usually is, of
course it was sunday. After all this excitement I had
my first gyro, they were supposed to be the best in
greece and they definitely were, and again we had
bread, greek salad, and water with no ice....these
three items come with like every meal you eat here!!
Then, we walked back to the hotel and got showers and
then had a greek lesson at 5pm. I learned some more
words and about the alphabet that they use here. It
was interesting. After this we were on our own for
dinner, so myself and a group of girls went out to get
something to eat, we shared salads and appetizers and
again, water with no ice. Then we shopped around and
went to a cool bar to chill for a while because we did
not have to be up early the next day. This day was
very jam packed, walked around lost twice and was very
hot and tiring. There's just too much to say about it.
BTW my roommate broke the shower head but we got it
fixed today, thank goodness.
Today we slept in, had some breakfast, which is pretty
much the same as the other hotel i stayed at. They
have the same thing everyday...lunch meat, weird
items, cereal that tastes like paper, warm milk, and i
swear on my life the "orange juice" is really just
tang, or orange kool aid, and the apple juice tastes
like straight shots of liquor. lol GOOD THING i
brought like 3 boxes of Special K bars!! After
breakfast a group of girls and I went shopping in the
Plaka, where we spend most of our time. It has nice
restaurants and neat little shops and is so pretty
it's like something out of a magazine. I finally made
it to the internet today and we are now getting ready
for dinner as a group at 7.

If I get up early enough, i might post tomorrow
morning before we leave athens, we are going to the
national archeological museum tomorrow and then we are
taking off for delphi and few other cities. I packed a
duffle bag to take in and out because everynight this
week we will be going to different cities and staying
in different hostels everynight! Well I hope
everyone's missing me!! I'm having a much better
time, the first day or so was rough, but now i'm
caught up on my sleep and such and having a great
time!! BTW Chelsea won the Benedum Festival Queens
pageant! (NEWS, but not big news, (like we didn't know
she was going to win!!) PUH-LEASE she's a freakin pro!
:D This means that i get a free shopping spree to
Charleston in Jan.!! :)