I've been back almost 2 weeks now, and I wonder how affected and changed I was by my time in Greece. There have been a couple moments when I looked at pictures or something that I missed it and wished I was back, which brings me to think what I want to do with my life. Obviously I want to be a writer, but where do I want to go?
I cannot say that I am particularly drawn to any specific place in the US. I mean that I do not have a specific place that I want to live. Sure, there are a few places I would choose over others, but not because I feel anything for the city or anything.
That brings me to my next thought. I truly do want to go to Australia or Japan. I have already begun looking at programs that help people to work abroad for various periods of time. While I would choose Australia over Japan, I would still love to go to Japan. I am almost certain I will try to do this unless a few small things that could happen in the next year occur, which include getting a very good job or meeting someone that would make me want to stay. We'll see.
I've caught up on a lot of stuff I missed while I was in Greece, and I've watched a few movies. I find it hilarious sometimes when there is a love plot where the two main protagonists who are strangers end up falling in love by the end of the film, which could take place in a matter of days or weeks. I know it is just a film but I still think its too much. This made me think of how much I knew about my fellow Odyssey students. I can't say I knew them too well, but I do like many of them. Will I keep in touch with them? I don't know. I think I've talked more to students from another program more since I've been back than students in my program. Its kind of weird. Again, I will have to wait and see how much of an affect they have had on me.
One thing I truly know is that I am too much into material things. I think that I could easily move overseas with only taking my laptop and some clothes (maybe my Wii), but would I be able to manage not having all my movies and books and my tv. I don't know. I can easily download most of what I get already, but there is something about having the physical objects themselves. I wouldn't actually get rid of them, but I wouldn't have them with me.
I'm going to try and catch up on some major reading this coming year.
And maybe I'll keep writing here.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Pictures & Androids
Wow.
What can I say. Despite being told by my mom and brother that they couldn't see the pics I had posted I still thought they were up. They were. They were just marked as private. I guess iPhoto isn't infallible. Anyway, its been fixed and many more pics are up to be seen. Check em out.
At, the airport in Athens there were these advertisements about an android that were pretty cool.
"I can walk forever without resting,
you can enjoy the journey."
"I have perfect eyesight,
you can see something new."
It was hilarious. So I checked out the website and its all in Spanish or Greek, even though the commercial is in English, weird. Check that out, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtGoLhZ5Ve0
What can I say. Despite being told by my mom and brother that they couldn't see the pics I had posted I still thought they were up. They were. They were just marked as private. I guess iPhoto isn't infallible. Anyway, its been fixed and many more pics are up to be seen. Check em out.
At, the airport in Athens there were these advertisements about an android that were pretty cool.
"I can walk forever without resting,
you can enjoy the journey."
"I have perfect eyesight,
you can see something new."
It was hilarious. So I checked out the website and its all in Spanish or Greek, even though the commercial is in English, weird. Check that out, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtGoLhZ5Ve0
Friday, July 13, 2007
Santorini
I’m sitting on the airplane writing this thing up in Word because obviously they don’t have a connection on planes. I can’t believe how fast five weeks can go by. It seems like only a few days ago I was on a plane flying to Athens, and now I’m almost home. So many wonderful experiences, so many more things I could have done, but you know you can’t overextend yourself or else you can’t enjoy it. I have to say I’m glad that I will be back. There won’t really be any readjustment for me, maybe just gorging on some American food I missed. But anyway, Santorini.
Wednesday night / Thursday morning – We took a ferry as I said for 16 hours. Don’t ever take GA Ferries. Our ferry back was only eight hours. It was Blue Star. Those are the only two companies I believe. So we are on the boat sleeping in airplane like seats. We did lay down somewhat. There was a bunch of extra seats and the seats only had armrests at every two intervals so two of us could take up a whole row of six seats. It was nice. I slept as best I could till about eleven so I thought the ride wasn’t that long, but then the ride was late, we had to wait at the port for our ride to the hotel. You can’t walk because the road literally tacks back and forth up the side of the Caldera cliff. The Caldera is the big whole in the center of Santorini that was taken out by the volcano.
So we get to our hotel around 4:30 to 5, take showers, and proceeded to walk around and eat and do touristy things. Dinner was great. It just had a souvlaki plate, but it was so good. After walking through the shops and stuff, the girls went back to the hotel while I ran around looking for more stuff to buy and pictures to take. I found a good spot where the sun was going to set, took a few pictures. (I’ll try to comment on my photos for better associations of them.) I went back to get the girls before the sun set so they could come watch it, but they didn’t want to. And it was just as well anyway because there were a million clouds coming in. I saw some cool places. An interesting church and some random stuff then went back to join the girls.
Friday morning – We got up around ten ish to catch the bus to Kamari, where one of the black beaches is. Black sand is very hot. We only stayed for a couple hours, and there was no sand in the water, just a big rockbed. After me and Rachel were sufficiently burnt, we went to the end of the beach so I could go cliff jumping. It was outstanding. I was a little afraid at first because no one else was jumping even though that is where I was told to go. I eventually did it and I loved every second of it. It was also great because there were other people there and they started jumping with me. So you can say I’m a trend setter.
Back to the hotel, shower, go to Oia (pronounced ee ah, maybe ee uh, or maybe a mixture). Anyway, I loved the town. Its pretty small, but still has wonderful view. You can easily see both sides of the water at many places. This is the postcard town where many people see photographs and where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel (A couple of the girls in our group are extras in the sequel, I am how can I say it… jealous). Dinner on a rooftop. Though Phyllinga was not feeling the food, I thought mine was great. The sun was slowly setting for the two hours we were there, but we had to catch the bus right when it was to go under. So I was a little disappointed. On the bus ride back I kept looking out the windows to see the sky. Gorgeous. You had the red to orange to yellow combo going out from where it set, then a small hint of light green was the boundary to the great blue, but that’s not all. Looking out to the other sides the sky was becoming a dark purple in some spots and a pink in others. I wished I was on the highest point so I could’ve taken a panoramic shot.
Saturday morning – I got up early by myself to go to the red beach. Yes it was a nice red. I was gone for a couple hours, and I loved the alone time. Came back, chilled in Fira, then boat ride back to Athens. We got back just after midnight. The metro stops at midnight and restarts at 6. (they should seriously leave it on all the time. It would help out so many more people, especially going to the airport.) So we took a taxi back, and I met my new roommate Alex, who is actually a really cool guy. I didn’t find out until my last night there that we actually have a lot in common.
Anyway, more later. And pics in the next few days. I need to chill for a little bit.
Funny anecdote. At the Acropolis there are obviously areas you can’t go in. We saw these two foreign girls taking pictures and one of them hopped up onto one of the not allowed areas, and the other took a picture of her. So the guide got pissed, blew her whistle and ran over telling them to delete the photo. They didn’t speak English as a first language so they were saying, “The camera is naked, there’s nothing on it, its naked.” I will never forget that. (I doubt they actually deleted the photo, too.)
Wednesday night / Thursday morning – We took a ferry as I said for 16 hours. Don’t ever take GA Ferries. Our ferry back was only eight hours. It was Blue Star. Those are the only two companies I believe. So we are on the boat sleeping in airplane like seats. We did lay down somewhat. There was a bunch of extra seats and the seats only had armrests at every two intervals so two of us could take up a whole row of six seats. It was nice. I slept as best I could till about eleven so I thought the ride wasn’t that long, but then the ride was late, we had to wait at the port for our ride to the hotel. You can’t walk because the road literally tacks back and forth up the side of the Caldera cliff. The Caldera is the big whole in the center of Santorini that was taken out by the volcano.
So we get to our hotel around 4:30 to 5, take showers, and proceeded to walk around and eat and do touristy things. Dinner was great. It just had a souvlaki plate, but it was so good. After walking through the shops and stuff, the girls went back to the hotel while I ran around looking for more stuff to buy and pictures to take. I found a good spot where the sun was going to set, took a few pictures. (I’ll try to comment on my photos for better associations of them.) I went back to get the girls before the sun set so they could come watch it, but they didn’t want to. And it was just as well anyway because there were a million clouds coming in. I saw some cool places. An interesting church and some random stuff then went back to join the girls.
Friday morning – We got up around ten ish to catch the bus to Kamari, where one of the black beaches is. Black sand is very hot. We only stayed for a couple hours, and there was no sand in the water, just a big rockbed. After me and Rachel were sufficiently burnt, we went to the end of the beach so I could go cliff jumping. It was outstanding. I was a little afraid at first because no one else was jumping even though that is where I was told to go. I eventually did it and I loved every second of it. It was also great because there were other people there and they started jumping with me. So you can say I’m a trend setter.
Back to the hotel, shower, go to Oia (pronounced ee ah, maybe ee uh, or maybe a mixture). Anyway, I loved the town. Its pretty small, but still has wonderful view. You can easily see both sides of the water at many places. This is the postcard town where many people see photographs and where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel (A couple of the girls in our group are extras in the sequel, I am how can I say it… jealous). Dinner on a rooftop. Though Phyllinga was not feeling the food, I thought mine was great. The sun was slowly setting for the two hours we were there, but we had to catch the bus right when it was to go under. So I was a little disappointed. On the bus ride back I kept looking out the windows to see the sky. Gorgeous. You had the red to orange to yellow combo going out from where it set, then a small hint of light green was the boundary to the great blue, but that’s not all. Looking out to the other sides the sky was becoming a dark purple in some spots and a pink in others. I wished I was on the highest point so I could’ve taken a panoramic shot.
Saturday morning – I got up early by myself to go to the red beach. Yes it was a nice red. I was gone for a couple hours, and I loved the alone time. Came back, chilled in Fira, then boat ride back to Athens. We got back just after midnight. The metro stops at midnight and restarts at 6. (they should seriously leave it on all the time. It would help out so many more people, especially going to the airport.) So we took a taxi back, and I met my new roommate Alex, who is actually a really cool guy. I didn’t find out until my last night there that we actually have a lot in common.
Anyway, more later. And pics in the next few days. I need to chill for a little bit.
Funny anecdote. At the Acropolis there are obviously areas you can’t go in. We saw these two foreign girls taking pictures and one of them hopped up onto one of the not allowed areas, and the other took a picture of her. So the guide got pissed, blew her whistle and ran over telling them to delete the photo. They didn’t speak English as a first language so they were saying, “The camera is naked, there’s nothing on it, its naked.” I will never forget that. (I doubt they actually deleted the photo, too.)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Greece Days: 26-?
Wow.
It has been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Reasons include me going to Santorini and the massive amount of work that always seems to pile up at the end of a term.
Tuesday – Did absolutely nothing because I knew I didn’t have class Wednesday, and we were leaving for Santorini Wednesday night.
Wednesday – Went to the Acropolis, finally. It was pretty cool. They have more than just the Parthenon. One thing to note is that they have been doing restoration on it since before I was born, so don’t be surprised by the scaffolding and stuff in the pictures I will put up later. That night We took the metro to Pirraeus, the port, and got on our ferry. It was a 16 hour ferry ride. (It was supposed to be 15 not that it really mattered that much) Not cool. I was able to get about 11 hours of sleep, but by the end I could feel my stomach being mad at me.
Thursday – We arrived in Fira, Santorini and proceeded to explore the town. It was only 3 of us so not too hectic. By the time sunset rolled around the two girls went back to the hotel and I ran around the town a little.
Friday – Kamari. It has one of the black beaches, but more importantly it has cliff jumping. On facebook my profile pic is me jumping. Money. Headed back to our hotel to shower to go to Oia that evening. Oia is the postcard town that everyone thinks Greece looks like, but is just in the Cycladic Islands. The Sunset was amazing.
Saturday – I went to the red beach by myself in the morning. The girls were not feeling it. It was great to go by myself and have some alone time. We took our ferry back but this one was only 8 hours long and only 3 euro more. Bleh.
Sunday – I can’t really recall doing much, though I probably tried to work on one of my papers, but didn’t succeed well. I did get a reflection done though that was due the next day.
Monday – Class in the morning. Reading and writing for the rest of the day for a six pager due on Tuesday. Up till 3.
Tuesday – Meeting with Dina for program evaluations, class that was actually pretty fun. We had a couple guest lecturers. Probably went to Plaka for some souvenir shopping then wrting my ten page paper till 4:30 in the morning. I had already done about four pages before that day, but it was an arduous journey.
Wednesday – Last American Realism class. It was only half as long, but we watched half a movie and left. I should have just handed in the paper and left directly. Was really lazy the rest of the day. I tried to sleep but it was too hot. Watched Zorba the Greek for our other class.
Thursday – My last full day here in Athens. Started the day off strong. Went to the Temple of Zeus at about 11 in the morning and then on to the Theater of Dionysus afterward. Ran into people on my way back to the apartment and went and got my housing deposit. Then a little nothing till class at 2. Another guest lecturer, which was great. Last minute shopping for people. We are going to have a big group dinner tonight, a drink afterward, then we do what we want. I will have to pack somewhere in there.
More indepth Santorini trip later.
It has been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Reasons include me going to Santorini and the massive amount of work that always seems to pile up at the end of a term.
Tuesday – Did absolutely nothing because I knew I didn’t have class Wednesday, and we were leaving for Santorini Wednesday night.
Wednesday – Went to the Acropolis, finally. It was pretty cool. They have more than just the Parthenon. One thing to note is that they have been doing restoration on it since before I was born, so don’t be surprised by the scaffolding and stuff in the pictures I will put up later. That night We took the metro to Pirraeus, the port, and got on our ferry. It was a 16 hour ferry ride. (It was supposed to be 15 not that it really mattered that much) Not cool. I was able to get about 11 hours of sleep, but by the end I could feel my stomach being mad at me.
Thursday – We arrived in Fira, Santorini and proceeded to explore the town. It was only 3 of us so not too hectic. By the time sunset rolled around the two girls went back to the hotel and I ran around the town a little.
Friday – Kamari. It has one of the black beaches, but more importantly it has cliff jumping. On facebook my profile pic is me jumping. Money. Headed back to our hotel to shower to go to Oia that evening. Oia is the postcard town that everyone thinks Greece looks like, but is just in the Cycladic Islands. The Sunset was amazing.
Saturday – I went to the red beach by myself in the morning. The girls were not feeling it. It was great to go by myself and have some alone time. We took our ferry back but this one was only 8 hours long and only 3 euro more. Bleh.
Sunday – I can’t really recall doing much, though I probably tried to work on one of my papers, but didn’t succeed well. I did get a reflection done though that was due the next day.
Monday – Class in the morning. Reading and writing for the rest of the day for a six pager due on Tuesday. Up till 3.
Tuesday – Meeting with Dina for program evaluations, class that was actually pretty fun. We had a couple guest lecturers. Probably went to Plaka for some souvenir shopping then wrting my ten page paper till 4:30 in the morning. I had already done about four pages before that day, but it was an arduous journey.
Wednesday – Last American Realism class. It was only half as long, but we watched half a movie and left. I should have just handed in the paper and left directly. Was really lazy the rest of the day. I tried to sleep but it was too hot. Watched Zorba the Greek for our other class.
Thursday – My last full day here in Athens. Started the day off strong. Went to the Temple of Zeus at about 11 in the morning and then on to the Theater of Dionysus afterward. Ran into people on my way back to the apartment and went and got my housing deposit. Then a little nothing till class at 2. Another guest lecturer, which was great. Last minute shopping for people. We are going to have a big group dinner tonight, a drink afterward, then we do what we want. I will have to pack somewhere in there.
More indepth Santorini trip later.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Athens: Days 22-25
I wish I had started a personal journal at the beginning of this trip so that I could write down all my thoughts I don't care to share with anyone (probably mostly complaining to myself because I feel the need to let it out and I don't want to complain to others). I'm too lazy now, but I think I will try to write a journal like that after the program is complete.
I miss the CUNYs already. I chilled with them the entire night on Friday into Saturday. We went to the Areopugus and sat down with this cool group of Greek kids maybe a little older than me. They had a few guitars and were singing, and Alexis played some and was really excited to meet them. We ate the homemade crepes with some ice cream, delicious. We shortly left and went back to await the time of leaving for the bus. We got to the bus around 5ish and while I was loading their bags the bus started to leave with me on it. I was like whoa, stop. Ah good times.
Saturday was a super lazy day, but not so much a lazy night. The Odyssey girls that had not gone away cooked dinner, so I ate with them. I stayed there all night. Marc came back from the island because he had to catch his plane the next morning, so it sort of became a going away celebration for him. Fun ensued (girls fighting each other with beach mats, etc.). We actually stayed at their apartment in one of the empty rooms because we were too tired to make it back. He was supposed to be at the car to go to the airport at 6. There were at least 3 alarms and he did not get up until 6:15. Apparantly I woke up around the same time and said something, but I rolled over. I remember none of this. Needless to say, I missed saying goodbye to Marc, who I miss. The apartment is a little bigger without him, but hey, I took his room. Ha.
Sunday I really needed to work on my draft for my paper. I can't concentrate for anything. Me and a few girls went to the big flea market that happens every Sunday. It was okay. Got some shotglasses for friends. And I once again procrastinated like crazy on my paper. I stayed up til after 4 in the morning working on it.
Next day. My teacher proceeds to destroy my paper. It wasn't anything like it was bad because I did it so fast. It was more like she wanted it presented in a way in which I was never taught. That pissed me off to no end. I'm going to spend the next 2 days working on it most likely because on Wednesday night me and Rachel are going to Santorini. I cannot wait. I booked the hotel and got the ferry tickets and got a list of things we should do and it is going to be great. I might have some time to think about my paper too, but I am not bringing the lappy this time. I want to enjoy this break. Today we went to the Olympic Stadium and saw some international track and field events. Money. We hen proceeded to come back to Plaka and eat dinner stretching it into a 3 hour affair. It was wonderful. I will soon pass out. Good night.
PS Mom, what did you mean "was it a girl?" Did you mean was it a girl that made me want to move to Australia? maybe all the beautiful Australian girls, yeah. And the fact that I've wanted to go there for years.
I miss the CUNYs already. I chilled with them the entire night on Friday into Saturday. We went to the Areopugus and sat down with this cool group of Greek kids maybe a little older than me. They had a few guitars and were singing, and Alexis played some and was really excited to meet them. We ate the homemade crepes with some ice cream, delicious. We shortly left and went back to await the time of leaving for the bus. We got to the bus around 5ish and while I was loading their bags the bus started to leave with me on it. I was like whoa, stop. Ah good times.
Saturday was a super lazy day, but not so much a lazy night. The Odyssey girls that had not gone away cooked dinner, so I ate with them. I stayed there all night. Marc came back from the island because he had to catch his plane the next morning, so it sort of became a going away celebration for him. Fun ensued (girls fighting each other with beach mats, etc.). We actually stayed at their apartment in one of the empty rooms because we were too tired to make it back. He was supposed to be at the car to go to the airport at 6. There were at least 3 alarms and he did not get up until 6:15. Apparantly I woke up around the same time and said something, but I rolled over. I remember none of this. Needless to say, I missed saying goodbye to Marc, who I miss. The apartment is a little bigger without him, but hey, I took his room. Ha.
Sunday I really needed to work on my draft for my paper. I can't concentrate for anything. Me and a few girls went to the big flea market that happens every Sunday. It was okay. Got some shotglasses for friends. And I once again procrastinated like crazy on my paper. I stayed up til after 4 in the morning working on it.
Next day. My teacher proceeds to destroy my paper. It wasn't anything like it was bad because I did it so fast. It was more like she wanted it presented in a way in which I was never taught. That pissed me off to no end. I'm going to spend the next 2 days working on it most likely because on Wednesday night me and Rachel are going to Santorini. I cannot wait. I booked the hotel and got the ferry tickets and got a list of things we should do and it is going to be great. I might have some time to think about my paper too, but I am not bringing the lappy this time. I want to enjoy this break. Today we went to the Olympic Stadium and saw some international track and field events. Money. We hen proceeded to come back to Plaka and eat dinner stretching it into a 3 hour affair. It was wonderful. I will soon pass out. Good night.
PS Mom, what did you mean "was it a girl?" Did you mean was it a girl that made me want to move to Australia? maybe all the beautiful Australian girls, yeah. And the fact that I've wanted to go there for years.
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