Bazoukia, Soccer Game

So there's this very popular dish here called Gigantes and they're basically just really big lima beans. They're really yummy so I decided to COOK THEM! I found a recipe online and went to the supermarket and got all the ingredients. I was determined to cook them right and have them be soft. So I soaked the beans over night and alll day until they expanded and got really big. Then, I cooked them for an hour and made this yummy sauce with tomatoes and onions an garlic and then baked the sauce with the beans for an hour. I took them out and I was so excited/nervous because I had made them for Jess and Lizeth too. And they turned out semi hard :( I was so disappointed and sad that night haha. I so wanted them to be well cooked!! and soft and restaurant-like haha. But MY APRENTS COME IN A WEEKS SO I GET TO BE COOKED FOR AGAIN!! :)

Then on Friday, a group of us went to a bazoukia. A bazoukia is like..a sit down club kind of..Well a mini concert. Basically, there are singers who perform the entire time and the rest of the area is covered in tables where you sit down and watch with a drink. The charge is 25 euro per person, and that gives you a table. The closer the table to the stage, the more money it costs. And, these are like well known performers too. There are also girls who walk around with baskets of flower heads that men usually buy and throw at other girls they think are pretty. A basket of flowers will cost like 200 euros. At the end of the night, the girl will casually look to see who threw the flowers at them, and if she doesn't think he's good looking, she will just leave. Of course, these flowers are thrown on stage to the performers too, but how ridiculous is that?! 200 euros!!

Then on Sunday night, I went to my first football game! :) Olympiakos vs. Panionios. These are all club teams and Olympiakos is supposed to be really good. So we went, despite the FREEEZING COLD and ominous storm clouds. Surprisingly it did NOT rain. It drizzled for a bit and everyone huddled under their umbrellas, but the entire game was sOO COLD! we got there an hour and a half early to get seats, so we sat in the cold for an hour before the game even started. Then the teams finally came out and started warming up and fans just started throwing stuff onto the field! Like toilet papers, water bottles, cups, brochures, ANYTHING THEY COULD FIND basically and NO ONE STOPPED THEM! it was so normal to them! The toilet paper was just rolling around on the field as the wind blew. There were ball boys that would occassionally run onto the field during stops to pick up water bottles and stuff but it's so stupid! Why would you interfere with the game and do that?! it's ridiculous. They started chanting things in Greek, and people were holding flares, and flags. It was pretty cool :) The game finally began, it was kind of slow at first. but it picked up. We didn't stay for the entire game, but by the time we left it was 3-2, Olympiakos. By the end of the game, I couldn't feel my feet or hands. I didn't remember how it felt like to be warm! haha oh and I also bought an olympiakos jersey to wear, like later on my own time :) We weren't allowed to wear any colors that would show we supported any of the teams because the fans are very intense and sometimes there are riots after games.

Well that was my weekend, wasn't very productive. I studied on Friday and Saturday because I have 2 midterms tomorrow. Sunday was basically the soccer game. THEN WE'RE LEAVING FOR BARCELONA TUESDAY NIGHT/WEDNESDAY MORNING AT 3AM AND STAYING THERE UNTIL SUNDAY NIGHT!! I'M SOOOOO EXCITED :)

Thessaloniki

Alright, I think it's about time to update this thing again. Sorry I haven't been consistent, but things have just been so busy lately. We left for Thessaloniki last Wednesday as a program trip. We rode the train for about 6 hours and finally got to our hotel (Egnatia Hotel, which was actually pretty nice. AWESOME BREAKFAST BAR with the best toasted croissants ever). The next morning, we set out for day one of a tiring weekend that involved us covering the entire city of Thessaloniki on FOOT. We left the hotel at 9am and went to..I don't even know how many museums and churches. They all started blending in together. I couldn't tell you what we saw at what exhibit. I think on the first day we covered the Rotunda (church) and then visited a the house of a Turkish man named Kemal. A Jewish museums...All I know is, during our lunch break, we went to this game cafe where everyone was playing a board game of some time, so we sat and played UNO :) Then during our break time we found this cafe called the Playhouse where they had HUNDREDS of games to choose from. You sit down, order a drink, and you they give you a selection of games to play from. We couldn't play alot of the board games because all the instructions were in Greek :( That actually didn't occur to us at all, so we ended up playing a variation of UNO called SOLO. It was pretty found and we found a few pretty cool bars that played live jazz. Then we did some more walking...and ended up walking like literally 3 miles at 8pm at night to go see this church. We walked to cold temperatures and winds. Then, they just left us at the church and told us to find our own way home and said they'd see us tomorrow morning. So we're standing there...thinking Great we have no idea where we are. I don't think we're even in the city of Thessaloniki anymore..so we all just hailed cabs and rode home. The second day was pretty much the same thing, covering more museums and churches. But I was able to get about an hour nap in that second day :) That was super helpful. I actually can't recall what we did that second night to be honest... Everything is all jumbled together. One of the nights, we went to go eat dinner down this little street that was lined with tavernas. When we walked in, all the owners ran towards us and were pulling us into their restaurants and offering us free wine and dessert. We didn't get up going into any of those. We chose this other taverna that was filled with loud Greek people and looked very traditional. But the moment we walked in, everyone stopped talking, and just stared at us as we walking through the crowded restaurant, up the stairs, then everyone upstairs stared at it. It was awful. The table next to us were watching us like we were animals in a zoo as we ordered and ate our food. Greeks have no problem with staring because they were never taught to not stare or point when they were little like the rest of us are. So obviously you know when they're talking about you because they whisper and stare, but they think that you have no clue. anyway, that was an experience.

The last day, we finally took a BUS! to everywhere. It was an ancient day where we went down to Pella (capital of Macedon) where Alexander the Great was born and where the royal family lived. Then we went to Mieza where Alexander and Hephastion were instructed by Aristotle. This is were we started our presentations for my Alexander the Great class. My presentation took place at the next site at the Tombs of Vergina. My group did the skit of the assassination of Philip II at his daughters wedding. It went well! :) Then we went in and visited the Tomb of Philip the II/Philip the III depending on which historian says what. There was a museum within the tomb that exhibited everything that was found. That was probably the best museum ever because everything was so well preserved. Sad part is, we couldn't take pictures because the entire place was dark. There were only lights within each glass exhibit and pictures weren't allowed. Exhibited were also the entrances to the actual tombs. Then as if that weren't a long enough day, we proceeded to make another bajillion mile hike up to the top of old Thessaloniki to a site a overlooked the city. It was beautiful, but it was FREEZING because by the time we got up there, the sun had gone down and it was just blowing winds everywhere. The thing that got me through was the prospective of Mexican food for dinner :) We ended up taking a cab down from that horrendous mountain and ate MEXICAN FOOD!! we finally found a place. It was pretty good for Greece. Could have used a bit more flavor, but eh it was good enough for me! We had some nachos with guacamole, sour cream, black beans and cheese. Then a chicken quesadilla. AH i can't wait to go home and just eat a big fat chipotle burrito. Oh how I miss big American food portions.

We walked so much that weekend that I don't think I will be able to wear shoes for quiittee a while. It was a fun trip but just way too jam packed. They worked us like machines this weekend and that's apparently because this is the first time the program has planned a trip to Thessaloniki and didn't know how much to do. Well looking at the itinerary was OBVIOUS that it was WAY TOO MUCH! it just turned out unproductive because people were exhausted, didn't pay attention and nothing seemed of importance anymore and we didn't actually enjoy much.

Then I had my first midterm today, which I think it's safe to say that I did pretty well! :) Then I have 2 more next week and then it's MARCH BREAK!! BARCELONA HERE WE COME!! This Sunday we're going to a soccer game: Olympiakos vs...Panthiakos? I have no idea. But I'm going to go buy a soccer jersey so I can repp Olympiakos haha and pretend like I know what I'm doing. We may or may not go to Hdyra this weekend (island) and spend the night Saturday night. all i know is, I want a relaxed weekend, definitely a relaxed Friday after last weekend. I'm still not recovered from that exhausting trip.

But I have to say I did like the city very much. It was laid out very well with big streets and open areas like plazas to walk with trees and stuff. It is also by the water so it was beautiful. It is just lined with restaurants and cafes and bars. There was also a big student population so that was fun.

Delphi

So this weekend we set off for Delphi! It was a 3 hour bus ride that passed by pretty quickly. It was 2 naps and a pit stop away :) When we got there it was midday but super foggy, rainy, and windy. Our hotel overlooked the rest of the other mountains and part of the sea but you couldn't see anything because the fog was so thick and low. We napped and explored the city later on that night for a taverna to eat at.

The next morning we walked down and went to the sanctuary where the Temple of Apollo is located. The famous temple that people traveled to consult the oracle for a prophecy. Where Alexander the Great went when they were closed and basically dragged the prophetess out and forced her to give him a prophecy and she finally told him "You're undestructable". We hiked up and around and it was a pretty good morning. It started out raining, but the clouds cleared up pretty soon revealing a clear blue sky. We went up to the stadium where people used to race and also saw an open air theater that people performed in. There was also a museum that exhibited much of what was discovered in the sanctuary. After that, we went to lunch and landed up at this taverna that is apparently one of the best places to eat in Delphi. It had a patio area that overlooked the mountains and sea so we sat there. They had the most delicious food. I had sphagetti bolognese and it was the best I've ever had hands down. It was just so flavorful and the entire restaurant just had a certain appeal and flavor to it. After that we went back to the hotel to catch a nap and then got up and go ready for dinner in a different city right outside of Delphi.

The next morning on our way back, we stopped off at a monastary and overlooked another valley. It was beautiful up there, just sitting on the wall and contemplating life. It's still so surreal sometimes that I'm actually here in Greece visiting all of these monumental sites and ruins. To imagine how people thousands of years ago used to live. To imagine what the sanctuary used to look like, just the grandeur and magnificent archaeological design is mind blowing. People would travel so far to consult the oracle at Delphi and to be able to see the few remnants that are still there is amazing in my mind.

Now I'm back at school and it's going to be a pretty busy couple of days, since we leave for Thessaloniki Wednesday afternoon and will be gone until Sunday evening. Lots of reading and writing to do! Work was going to have to come at some point right? :(

Kites, Bicycles, and ICE ICE ICE

This is by far the best weekend ever. We totally made up for not being able to go to Crete. First off, the weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend. The sun came out everyday and I was even able to wear shorts, t-shirt, and sandals today! Alright let's see, Saturday was a do homework kind of day and then at night we went to this place called the Ice Club where basically it's a normal club, but there's a part of the bar that's closed off and completely made of ice. They gave us thick jackets and gloves and you go in and the bar is ice, as are the chairs, cups, walls, EVERYTHING. It was amazing. We got in and it was -5 degrees celcius and we just danced around in there for half an hour. Then we went into Psiri and celebrated Carinvale with the rest of the Greeks.

On Sunday we managed to all wake up early and go down to the port in Piraeus to catch a ferry to Aegina. We got there around one and me, Jess, and Christine rented bicycles, while the boys rented motorbikes and just cruised the island. Our bikes didn't work with hills very well, so we biked along the coast to the southern tip of Aegina to a town called Perdika where we ate at a little taverna right on the water front. It was gorgeous. The sun was out, we ate outside, had some fried squid. We were definitely living the life. Then we pedaled on back to the port, met up with the other group. But that bike ride was just gorgeous. Open water out infront of us, with other islands in the distance. The sun reflecting off of the water. There were a couple people in the water picking out sea mollusks too. Then we caught the 7:30 ferry home all just completely exhausted. We probably biked about 20 kilometers yesterday, going uphill in areas too. It was the perfect day to go. We want to go again and cover the north part of the coast and maybe rent mopeds so we can make it to the Temple of Apollo :)

Today was Clean Monday and we went up to Filopapo hilltop where everyone was just flying kites. The hilltop overlooked the entire city with the coast on the other side and the Acropolis was right there too. We just hung out there for a few hours. People bought kites and tried to fly them. We got one up then someone else's line cut ours off so it flew away :( One of the guys brought a blanket so we put that on the floor and 4 of us just laid down the blanket and watched the clear blue sky with a few white clouds and kites flying in the air. It was a beautiful day. Since it's Clean Monday, people don't eat meat so we went to a restaurant for dinner and we just all ate seafood. I had some seafood pasta with gigante beans and other people had octopus pasta, shrimp, mussels, etc. It was yummy. I keep thinking that the day can't get any better and yet Greece hasn't failed to surprised me yet but upping itself with breathtaking wonders.