Welcome to Athens

Well, I am finally in Greece! On Friday we flew out of Seatac at 1:25 pm and started our long journey to greece. The first flight was a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam. Luckily, i got a front row seat with lots of leg room. I sat next to a baby named Ayan who climbed on my lap so i could read him his favorite book. (SO CUTE!) Then we landed in Amesterdam and had an amazing time in the gigantic airport, while awaiting our final three hour flight to Greece. I slept the entire flight and when we landed we took our bus to Athens, we were all in awe of the sites around us; all of the olive trees and mountains, which Athens was hiding behind. As we entered Athens i began to admire the small little bakeries and cafes surrounding us. We got our happy potter-esque keys for our apartments and settled in before we started to tour Athens by Night. I went the grocery store to buy breakfasat and then we ate slouvaki, greek's form of fast food, it was delicious! Then Dr. Finitsis took us on a tour of Athens, around the base of the Acropolis, he likes to call this his "Death March".

 The Acropolis At Night

So we followed the signs around the acropolis and took Athens by storm. We saw cafes and bars light up the alleys of the shopping district and toured many different places along the way. We all looked up at the Acropolis with awe, as we walked around it and by half way we were all tired, sore and ready to pass out in our beds for the evening.

The Next Morning I met with a group of people at 10am and we decided to walk down to the Flea Market, which was basically one of the only places open on Sundays! Let me say the walk there in the day was even more beautiful! 

As we entered the Flea Market we were surrounded by hundreds of vendors and little shops attempting to get us to buy their merchandise. I loved every minute of it! There was basically anything you could ever wish for (Alcohol, Watches, Scarves, books etc.) Then my friends and I decided to walk down to a little cafe and order our first meal in Greece without our teacher. We ended up at a cafe in which the waitress spoke very good english and was kind enough to teach us how to order coffee in Greek!

As you can see i tried my first espresso shot and enjoyed a Capri sandwich with Jessica, Maddie, Leah and Markelle. It was fantastic! On our way back we haphazardly decided to walk through that the national gardens and to our surprise we found out that a carnival was going on! So we walked around and appreciated the swing ride that brought us back to our childhood. 

As our morning turned into the afternoon we met up with the rest of our class and watched the movie Agora. Afterwards we went to our welcome dinner at a local taverna where we feasted on yummy greek food and in the end had their local liquor that tastes like cinnamon, all i can say is YUM! Now i lay with a very full stomach and ready for another amazing day tomorrow. We are potentially going to another market which i cannot wait for! 

Despite the busy streets, and the loud cars at night, i believe i have officially fallen in love with Athens! Till next time :)
Kalispera