The Beginning-May 29th-June 1st

Sorry this is my first post and I've already been here for 3 days, but that means I'm busy exploring in GREECE!

May 29th-

Dom and I headed to the airport to begin our travels. We had a layover in Philadelphia which just happened to be the day of the first Stanley Cup game and of course Dom was wearing his Blackhawks jersey. There were some evil eyes for sure. Our layover was very quick, and before we knew it we were on our 9 hour plane ride to Athens. We tried to sleep but airplane seat make it impossible. Our plane landed in Athens 9am Sunday (their time) and we had no time for rest. Dom's roommate was on our plane as well so we met up together when we landed and met the lady who was going to take us to our apartments. I live in this big apartment with 7 other girls and we all get along great. The most amazing part is the view from my roof. You walk up this spiral staircase and sure enough right in front of me is the Acropolis, it's amazing. After we got settled into our apartments, the whole group went out for lunch and explored the town of Plaka which is like a suburb of Athens. When we got back from walking around, we came back and unpacked our suitcases and rested up before we went out for the night. Later that night we went to this rooftop bar where you can see the Acropolis all lit up. The special of the night was if you order a beer you get a free shot (Dad, the shots were Ouzo haha) After the bar we got gelatto and headed back to our apartments to rest up for our classes the next day!

May 30th-

The day started off with an interesting trip to the grocery store. The store we went to is known as the "Wal-Mart" of Athens. We had to take the Metro there because it was 2 towns over. I went with my roommate and another girl in our group and we totally stuck out like 3 tourists with our maps and backpacks trying to find this grocery store in the middle of Athens. After we got some groceries I had to head to class. I had one at 12 and another at 2. I'm taking an Urban and Community Sociology class and Business and Professional Communications class. It's just me and this girl from Cairo, Egypt in my sociology class and two girls from India and kids from Greece in my Comm. class. I'm the only American....yikes. Both classes seem like they're going to be very fun so I'm looking forward to them. After class I came back to take a little napski because the jet-lag has been brutal. Athens is 8 hours ahead of Chicago so it's been a big change. In between Dom's classes we went to this cute restaurant called Noodle Bar where they make all these different stir-fry's and you can pick what you want in it, kind of like Noodles & Company but of course, so much better AND cheaper which was a plus. Later on in the night Dom, Max (his roommate) and Elizabeth (one of my roommates) went walking throughout Plaka and found this AMAZING roof top restaurant that had one of the best views of the Acropolis I've seen yet. We order a glass of wine, saganaki and this sauce called Thelonski (too hard to spell) but it's the sauce you dip in gyros which is made with cucumbers, dill, little onion and this creamy white sauce. So delicious. It happened a couple times where we would be in conversation and we would stop and catch ourselves looking up at the Acropolis. I can't even describe in words how breathtaking this place is. Roof top restaurants and bars are very popular here. They give you a great view of Athens.

June 1st-

Today Dom and I woke up early to do a few errands. He needed to go grocery shopping and exchange more money and we ended up stopping at Parliament. I'm not quite sure what the Parliament is for but I'm assuming it's involved with the Greek government and what not. They have these guards outside (they remind me of the guards in London) where you can take pictures with them. So of course I wanted a picture with them and people were making funny faces so I thought it would be a funny picture to pose like I was giving him a kiss on the cheek. I was about 2 feet away from him because these guards can be intimidating and not even 5 seconds after I'm posing, the guard slams his gun down (which had a knife at the top of it) and everyone looks at me. I heard some people laughing but my heart literally stopped and Dom and I left VERY fast after that happened. We ate lunch at this cute outdoor restaurant where we ordered this delicious pizza. It had bacon, ham, mushrooms and green peppers. It's not like Chicago pizza that's for sure, but it's pretty high up there. After class I went shopping on what could be called the Michigan Avenue of Athens. Great shops and tons of people. I can't leave shopping empty handed so I bought this adorable sun dress and my roomie walked away with a few more bags than I did. We have many more shopping dates planned. Now here I am updating everyone on my adventures in Greece and waiting for the evenings festivities to begin. I have a feeling that after this month, I'm not going to want to leave. I love the relaxed atmosphere and not worrying about times or anything. This month is going to be more than I could ever imagine. Until next time! Αντίο! (that's goodbye in Greek)