Well, Athens is still just as amazing as before! Although, the weather isn't as great anymore - we just had a week of cloudy, 60's, rainy weather :( However today was back to the 70's and sunny!! Perfect as I needed to do laundry, and hanging wet clothes out in the rain defeats the purpose of drying them! A recap of this week. I made baklava with friends maybe 2 weeks ago and it was delicious!! (See picture)! Although it was not as good as the baklava I get from our local bakery, I'm going to keep working on it and by the time I leave in May it will be just as good (I hope)!!
Midterms...that one week dreaded by all college students!! I had 2 official midterms, a paper, a mini-exam, and 2 modern Greek tests. Well, the mini-exam is on Monday and one of my Greek tests was take home and is due on Monday as well! So I'm not quite done yet! I did finish and turn in my paper on women in the Orthodox Church this afternoon, so I'm glad that is finished! Other than that I've been running around trying to study and do well on my archaeology and sculpture exams! I think I did ok on them. The sculpture one was in the art history format of identifying pictures, which I haven't had to do before, so that was a little difficult! But I really enjoyed researching my paper for my Modern Greece Culture class! I had to go to church a few times as part of the research, and that was really interesting! Women have very limited roles in the church here, and even sit on a different side of the church from the men! So it was very interesting to see!
Protests are a daily part of life here, and something that cannot be avoided. Although I do not go near them, I have passed by the protesters on a bus, and have been affected by them! Two of my classes are held on sites around Athens, and we have to take public transportation. Well, when the bus drivers aren't on strike, there is usually a protest going on that blocks half of the city off. Gotta love those anarchists!! So the other day, we were warned that there was going to be a protest at 11 in Omonia Square, which is near both the Polytechnic University (where the anarchists are), and the National Archaeological Museum, where I have class. So on the bus on the way to class, we passed a large group of anarchists with signs marching up the street. By the time we got out of class at 12:10, they had passed through Omonia, but traffic could not go past Omonia. Now usually Omonia is a bustling square with lots of people. We ended up having to walk to the metro station in the square to get back to school, and I have never been so shocked at a public space in my life. It was absolutely dead. It was like something out of a movie. There were papers blowing across the empty square, very few people, and no noise. It was actually quite creepy. But once we were below ground in the metro life was normal again. And then we exited in Syntagma Square, the main square where Parliament is and where all protest end. Syntagma was silent, no cars, and police in full on riot gear where everywhere. They were wearing leg guards, bulletproof jackets, helmets, gas masks, and carrying the huge plastic shields that you always see in movies and pictures. It was crazy!! The protest hadn't reached the square yet, so we walked back to school, and life was normal there too, except for the lack of tourists at the stadium (the school is right next to one of the Olympic stadiums, and CYA even has an Olympic torch from the 2004 games!!). It is really interesting to be walking to class and see police everywhere with pieces of riot gear on them. It really is a daily event here!! This past week there has been something going on everyday! Most recently it has been employees at the Acropolis who have been striking. According to the news here, some of them have not been paid in 22 months, and have decided to try to get their money, and so other civil servants have been striking with them. They even had to tear gas the area on Thursday it was so bad. This of course means that the Acropolis has been closed for about 4 days now, which is really too bad for the tourists who come here and want to see the Parthenon. Luckily, I have been up, and this is the first time in a long time that the Acropolis has not been opened. We will see what happens next!!
Lets see, upcoming events here: on Tuesday morning I get on a bus to Delphi to kick off the CYA field trip to the Peloponnese. We will be going to Delphi to see the oracle, Olympia to see where the Olympics started, Sparta to see warriors, and Corinth, along with a few other places, including Mycenae I believe!! It should be an amazing trip!! 6 days!!! We get back Sunday evening at 7pm, and at 6:30am the next morning I will be on a plane with 2 friends on our way to Ireland for fall break!! There we plans to go to Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, and Dublin!! It should also be an amazing trip, especially since I have always wanted to go to Ireland!!! I'm really excited! Then we get back, and there are just about 7 weeks left until the semester is over and I go to Germany for 3 weeks, then back here for 2, and then school starts again!! Time sure is flying!! I'm all registered for classes next semester, and I'm really looking forward to them!! I'm taking one that involves a volunteer position, which is with my favorite professor (I'm actually taking 2 with her!!)! And of course more Modern Greek!! Well, that's all for now!! Hope your next 2 weeks are just as good as mine - I am definitely looking forward to the cool weather in Ireland! The 50's are predicted!!! γεια σας!! That means goodbye in Greek!!! See, I really am learning things!!! :)
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