I titled this blog post Team Greece 2012 because that is how I see the group of people that comprise our class here in Greece: a team. I say this not only because I think it sounds cool, or that being a huge sports fan and having played athletics most of my life I want to use words I'm familiar with, it's because a team is exactly what we've become. Whatever members we are comprised of for the day, we move as one unit towards a common goal and whatever odds are stacked against us, we overcome.
Take yesterday for example. Yesterday was our scheduled free day. It also happened to be the day that practically all of Athens shut down due to 10,000 workers marching the streets for a demonstration against cuts in workers pay. Therefore, many of the plans our classmates had, like our original one to go on a ferry to an island, all had to be canceled. Just getting out of the city would be a feat in itself. This is what the WSJ had to say in their article about yesterday.
The strike led to the partial suspension of all bus, urban rail and trolley-bus services in the greater Athens area and no ferries left from the main ports. The strike also affected banks, public enterprises and agencies, as well as hospitals. Lawyers also joined in, extending their current walkout, which started on Jan. 11, while journalists called a 48-hour press blackout (Granitsas & Stamouli, 2012).
Impossible is nothing for Team Greece 2012. Upon arriving to the bus stop of the special bus that would take us an hour and a half outside the city to the beach where we could also visit the temple of Poseidon, we immediately had an Athens Police BUS, pull up right in the location that OUR bus was supposed to pick us up. They then proceeded to put out large orange cones behind the bus, to prohibit traffic from parking there too. At a loss, I tried to ask the police officer if we should stay here at this bus stop or move onward. He said stay.
After our 10:30 bus was 15 minutes late, we began to worry. Somehow, in the middle of our worrying, a police officer came up and began speaking to our group, specifically Jessica Dexter. Jessica is very pretty, and blonde, which makes her a rarity in this part of the world, which consequently means that men in this area are quite taken with her. After flashing a couple smiles, the officer asked how late our bus was. Five minutes later, he returned with his personal cell phone, and informed us that our 10:30 bus would be here at 11.
Recap. Almost no buses were operating IN Athens, yet our group, thanks mostly to Jessica's luscious locks, was able to get the Athens police force, whose focus was on the 10,000 person demonstration, to PERSONALLY call the bus station and get an ETA for our group so that we could get OUT of the city. Oh yeah, we're THAT good.
Our night concluded with another episode, as we found our returning home bus driver taking an alternative route. After seeing a few landmarks we knew, then watching the landmarks fade, I made the executive decision that we needed to get off the bus before we went too much farther into the jungle of Athens. Some were a bit worried, because the stop we got off at was the exact stop that our professor had previously warned us was a very bad part of town to be at at night time. We huddled tight as a group, assigned everyone a number, and navigated our way via maps and helpful Athenians, until 20 minutes later, we arrived victoriously, all intact at our dinner destination, The Hard Rock Cafe.
Today, I can't tell you how happy I am just to be a member of such a fine group of people. It truly has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.
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