It breathes life into everything

So our first day into downtown Athens was of course, fantastic.

These child gypsies are very common on the streets of Athens, but they never get any less touching. I can also spare a Euro for them.

This "cute little temple," according to Dr. Kaplan is the Temple of Athena Nike.

The Parthenon in all it's scaffolding and restoration glory.

I call this one "The Parthenon and A Guy"

This temple has been associated with various cults throughout history. There was said to be the snake of Athena taking up residence in the building at one point, and the olive tree you're looking at is the one created by Athena who then won rule over Athens (sorry Poseidon, your salt spring wasn't good enough). The dog is completely unrelated to both.

Yum yum, lunch.

Finally, a gyro worth fighting for.

We may have gotten a little lost, or maybe not, but Erica and I ended up at Syntagma square. These are just a few of the signs protesters have hung up around the square. There was no action going on at the time, but the evidence was still strong that the people of this country are not pleased with the state of their affairs.

Everything was just as delicious as it looked...

...except this. We still don't know what it is.

The Temple of Apollo in Ancient Corinth.

Temple of Apollo

Dee Dee Day Day Water =)

These were sculpted depictions of the Greeks vs. the Amazons. Absolutely beautiful.

The Lion's Gate at Ancient Mycenae!

This was the beginning of a long and very dark passageway into an ancient spring, and eventually the Underworld too. Maybe, that last bit is just deductive reasoning.

The Treasury of Atreus- Agamemnon's Tomb

The beautiful streets of Nafplion- covered in flowers...

...and snuggled in by the sea.

Makes life seem a whole lot brighter.

The girls.

How much do you want to be this guy?

Cute girls.

Frosty beverages.

Ellie showing off her lollipop in between games of hide-the-bottle cap and her fierce battles with the hand monster from the Great Seat Beyond.

Even the highways are more beautiful here.

Jon Stewart did a story the other day on the Greek debt crisis. Although I can't post the actual video here because it's not on youtube, here's a link.

 http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/wed-june-22-2011-mitchell-zuckoff

He does a good job of explaining things. 

There will be a nationwide strike tomorrow for 48 hours also, and here's more information on that. The are I live in hasn't been affected too much so far, but we'll see how this strike goes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/27/greece-strikes-idUSLDE75Q1HY20110627

Isn't that what you want too?

 Lots of wonderful things happened in this city yesterday.

First, we had our orientation. Man, this campus is beautiful. In 2004 it was the official training facility for the US Olympic team, which is pretty badass. Later, we went swimming in the pool that Michael Phelps himself swam in while training. He did fantastic that year so maybe some of his magic rubbed off in the pool a little and I can soak it up when I swim there.

Afterwards, I walked home and sat out on my beautiful balcony with my roommates and Jack Kerouac for a while. Then we all walked over to the campus and walked up to the top above the pool to take pictures of the sun setting over Athens and the mountains.

After the sun set, we went down to the plateia where there was a night of free live music put on by the community. The plateia was fantastic because people of all ages were hanging out in this same area. In the States, the teens don't want to hang out with the adults and the adults don't want to be around the teens, but here they were all hanging out in the same area.

Greek strays have the good life.

Before heading home, Erica and I walked back towards to campus to go to this fabulous crepes restaurant that everyone has been raving about. It was closed, of course. But we went to the restaurant next door which ended up being ten times cooler anyways and some lovely chocolate and caramel (chocolate and strawberry for her) crepes and an apple mojito.

When I got back to my room I checked the news and the all important vote of confidence was going on. So I kept up with the stories throughout the night. Eventually, the vote passed in favor of the PM. Here's more if anyone cares to follow it.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/06/21/greece.debt.crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The town is yours to take

The thing about Athens, as I've noticed so far, is that you'll never truly get used to it. I like to think of myself as a very observant person, but I've walked down the same sidewalk nearly a dozen times now and each time there's no lack of exciting new things to see- both big and small. New flowers that I'm dying to learn the name of, new birds singing their songs, new bugs to swat away, and especially new people to populate my world. The newness of this place is overwhelming, but in a good way. Like spending months in a dark room and then walking outside and being completely overwhelmed by the brightness of the mid-afternoon sun. I could even make a really nerdy reference and say that it must be how little Lucy felt the first time she slipped through that wardrobe into Narnia- she could tell that it wasn't the same world she was from, but she had no idea what kind of wonders and magic she would find yet. Wonderlust definitely comes in handy in a place like this...

In the beautiful morning light

So I arrived in the lovely Athens yesterday morning. I was welcomed warmly by Petros my cab driver and my fantastic roommates Kathryn, Valerie, Erin and Julie and then took a nap. I didn't get to sleep much on the plane so I had to catch up on some lost sleep. In the evening everyone went across the street to the Kaplan's apartment for dinner, which was delicious, and then we came home and I pretty much passed right out.

This morning started not so bright but very early as we got up to hike Mt. Hymettos at dawn. It was really more of taking a walk uphill on a dirt road than a hike, but nonetheless it was a wonderful time.

Good Morning, Athens

I've never seen dogs care so much about anything as these did about their sheep.

The FL Kids minus Erin

Every Monday there is a fresh market literally right outside our dorm. You are looking at the faces of three very happy girls excited about their spoils.

We are stocked and ready to go. Bring on Athens.