This weekend: ATHENS 2009! I took a trip to Greece for the weekend with two girls from my class, Julia and Monica, and two of Julia's friends from another program, Leanne and Courtney. I didn't know the other two girls before but I was confident that we would all get along and have the best time, and we did! In fact, words can't even describe how amazing it was so I will attempt to start from the beginning:
Friday
Friday began early for me, around 6 a.m. I got up early so I could shower and pack—again, just my brown bag—for a weekend away. Monica told me that she learned to always pack very lightly and not fill her bag up because she always leaves room for the things she buys on the way home. I attempted to save some room in my bag. We all planned to meet at the metro at 8:30 to catch the bus to the airport, but we arrived at slightly different times so Julia, Leanne, and Courtney went ahead on one bus and Monica and I took the next one. The airport, Orly, is only about a half hour away from Paris so the ride was quick and easy and the airport itself is much more enjoyable than Charles de Gaulle and easier to navigate. We all met up and since we had time, we got a little breakfast at a café. We were flying EasyJet, too, and we had all checked in online and already had our boarding passes. Let me tell you, that was the last time any of us will relax when we think we have a lot of time before we board. We went through security and Monica realized she didn't have her boarding pass. We think the man whom we allowed to go ahead of us in line accidentally took the container that already had her boarding pass sheet in it, so it was nowhere to be found. We started to freak out a little because our gate was all the way at the end and we were starting to board soon. While Monica went down to the desk to reprint it, we all talked to the woman at the gate. She and the others there were very rude and didn't care about our problem and really wouldn't help us. One in particular was really mean. Eventually I told the other girls to get on the plane while I waited, and time was passing. The woman kept yelling at me, “If your friend isn't here in 10 minutes/5 minutes/30 seconds/5 seconds, the plane is leaving!” Ugh, what stress! I was the only one waiting by the gate so I reluctantly got on the plane and gave the other girls the “I don't know” look when they saw me. Each subsequent person who got on the plane (the liar, the plane was NOT ready to leave!) was not Monica and I was having a heart attack. I'd been talking with her back and forth and they wouldn't let her go ahead in security. Finally, she got on the plane! She had run all the way from security, in her socks, carrying her boots, after telling the guy forcefully that she needed to get on the plane NOW. I've never been so happy to see someone! She and I sat on the right side of the plane with another woman in the window seat, with the other girls on the other side.
But the fun did not end there, no way: Apparently there was a Spanish tango/salsa/sole sort of dance team on the flight so while we were delayed 30 minutes to have a wheel changed, they put their music on their speakers and danced in the aisles! It was pretty entertaining and very different; except that the flight attendants were getting in on it and taking pictures with their iphones...I don't know, it was all kind of bizarre. The whole time I was thinking, Is this a real flight? Is this happening? Is this professional?! I was a little nervous to get in the air in case the pilot was playing tetris at the command. Oof! So finally we et in the air and this becomes the worst flight of my life. Not because it was turbulent or scary—I was fine in that sense—but there were a bunch of Greek men in the row in front of us, which happened to be the exit row. They were loud the whole flight and many would just stand in the aisle during the whole flight! The (French) flight attendants would apologize for having to pass them in the aisle, as if they were disturbing them, instead of telling them that they had to, oh, I don't know, SIT. When is it ever ok to stand in the aisle during the flight? And there were couples sitting in each other's laps making out everywhere. But the worst part was that the guys in front of us were smoking weed (!!!) I kid you not. It's a hard smell to miss, especially when it's right in front of you, and I could see them through the seats. All the guys knew we were talking about them, but I didn't care, and I gave them dirty looks. The flight attendants knew it too, because one came over to them and said, while smiling, “You don't want the other passengers to see that.” WHAT IS GOING ON? I was like, this is not real. It can't be. The only possible explanation we all arrived at: they had knives. We didn't want to get involved because we had no idea who these guys were or what they could do, but it is outrageous for that activity to be permitted—to smoke anything—on a plane. Needless to say, we were all so happy to land in Athens. Anyway, onto better things...
We took the metro from the airport to our stop, Syntagma. It was a kind of long ride, but the metro is so much cleaner than in Paris, and the view outside was gorgeous. I couldn't get over the beautiful scenes of mountains! The landscape is so picturesque. I'm proud of us for figuring out how to get into the city. When we gout out of the metro station, the first thing I saw was a palm tree. It was warm and mild and it really felt like being on a tropical vacation! It was already 5 pm so we just found the hostel and checked in. Julia, Leanne, and Courtney were in a private room together but Monica and I had gotten a 3-bed dorm, which we found out translates to 2 bunk beds and one bes, equaling 5 people. Two girls had already arrived in our room but were not there when we dropped our things off. It was my first hostel experience and I have to say, it wasn't too bad! Maybe a little cold at night. We reconvened and walked to the downtown center to find a place for dinner. April; the girl who checked us in at the hostel, gave us the name f a restaurant to go to to eat. Athens is incredible because there are ruins literally all over—the city is covered in them, laying or standing wherever they originally were. So in the middle of streets, there were ruins. Our hostel also had the prime location of being 1 or 2 blocks from the Acropolis! Does it get better than that? We found the lively streets with shops and restaurants and got intercepted by two lively hosts at one place. They had us hooked—was it that they were friendly? Exciting? Spoke English? (Everyone spoke English there) Offered to buy our wine? Whatever the case, we sat down. And so a 3 ½ hour dinner commenced. It was so nice to relax and talk and have fun with the girls. We all get along really well! Jimmy, our waiter, was hilarious! We kept asking him about the Greek meals, like souvlaki and mousaka and when we asked about the yogurt and honey dessert, he said, “Yogurt is yogurt and life is life!” It quickly became the phrase of the weekend. Dessert was delicious and we left, full, around 10:30. We walked around the streets a little bit but were so tired we came back to the hostel. We could see the Acropolis from where we lived, but the real trip to the ruins was to happen the next day. After talking a bit in the girls' room, Monica and I headed over to our dorm. It's actually behind a small courtyard and garden area. I felt badly knocking and having one of the girls let us in, but the key has to stay at the front desk when people are in the hostel, so it wasn't our fault. I climbed into bed and tried to ignore the snoring from another girl.
All in all, it was a fantastic day and I was so happy to be in Greece!
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