NAFPLION

So on Friday morning we left for Napflion and we got there around 3pm. This city is BEAUTIFUL. Well we stayed in the tourist area so it was even more cool haha. It's right a long the coast and there's a bunch of docks and piers for sailboats. Hotels, cafes, bars, restaurants line the coast of the sea. All the apts and stores are villa like and was realllyy clean haha. Friday night we went to dinner as a group at some taverna where we discovered the most delicious food EVER! (other than gyros :)): CHEESE FLUTES. it's basically like an egg roll/mozerella cheese stick. The outside is this crispy fried shell like an egg roll and inside is this magnificently delicious oozy warm cheeeese. But it's family style so everyone just got a little bit of everything. By the time I realized how good it was, it was over :(
Then Saturday morning we climbed the 999 steps to a FORTRESS. The climb was pretty nasty cuz it was steep but getting to the top was totally worth it. Entering the fortress was like a maze. There were several different paths that you could take that would lead you to different areas and views of the city and sea. The water in the sea was so clean and blue and the horizon was just to the left of it. You could see all the other mountaintops and the hustle and bustle of the city. By the time I got back down those 999 steps my legs were shaking uncontrollably. Cool huh. Then after a long recooperative nap, we went on walking around the city and Sintagma square where we had basically the best GELATO EVER. yuuummm. I like fooood :) Then we had Greek coffee and sat at a cafe for 3 hours just talking, assimilating with the Greeks :) Because they can sit over a cup of coffee for hours. In the US cafes and restaurants get irritated when you stay long after you've finished what you ordered but in Greece it's totally fine! It's weird if you don't stay for long. It was awesome. It felt like I was in a dream. There were no other worries we just sat and had a good time. Normally I can't just sit for hours talking because I have to get up and do other stuff but there was nothing else we had to do. We ate, drank, laughed and talked. Then like 8 of us headed to this seafood restaurant and I had me some friiieedd squid. That was really delicious.
Then we all went back to the hotel and got ready to go out. There are a bunch of clubs to hang out at that are super nice to American tourists haha. We had the dj play American music and he played Just Dance like a gazillion times because we pointed it out. It was such a fun weekend. I feel like I've been here for sooo long but it's only been a week since I've left home. But classes start on Monday so I guess it'll start feeling like less of a vacation? :) I love it here. I'm homesick too though :( It feels like it's been so long but it hasn't and i know 4 months is going to fly by but I still miss all my friends from home, CMC, my parents EVERYYONNEE. I miss my shower and bathroom and comfy bed and FOOD IN THE REFRIGERATOR that magically appears without me having to step foot in a market.

Nafplion

gyros gyros gyros

KALIMERA! TI KANIS? (GOOD MORNING! HOW ARE YOUU?)

So I've discovered a new favorite food. It's call pita chicken GYROS!!!!! It's so delicious. the slow roasted chicken, french fries, tomatoes and this amazing sauce wrapped in a warm toasty pita. We learned how to order it in Greek last night so during our break I went to go get one. NOM NOMMMMSSS It's only 2 euros :)
I've also been trying to befriend people in the different shops that I frequent. So the gyro place is one of them haha (definitely) and this cafe that's right next door. The lady working these is so cool and chill! She calls me sweetie and darling haha. She's my new coffee mama. She takes care of my..coffee needs haha. I've yet to ask them their names but I'll get there: POS SE LENE; (What's your name?) In Greek, they use a semicolon as their question mark. We also found this really cool pool place called Union. There's like 6 pool tables, big screen, bar, and CHIPS (those are really good chips). So we went last night and we played some pool and basically the Americans have taken over that pool hall haha. A bunch of people from our program hang out there all the time and there's this other program from Penn State and we met a few of them there last night too. I met the owners of the pool hall, don't quite remember how to pronounce their names...but I was practicing my Greek with one of them :) He told me to call him Tom haha. He's this old man and when you call him Hey Alligator! He'll respond, SEE YOU LATER! it's so funny. Oh and they're showing the superbowl on Sunday night for us haha, not that I really watch football but hey. FREE YUMMY POTATO CHIPS!
We were also introduced to the public transportation yesterday. We took the trolly to like central Athens. Then took the metro to Syntagma square. We went to this like classical studies research library and ya. Public transportation seems pretty convenient and easy. One ticket is 1 euro and you get it stamped when you enter the bus. It's then valid for 1.5 hours and you can ride wherever you want on a bus, trolly, or metro. The metro station is suuppperr clean though and very nice. When we got on the doors were closing and this man tried to get in and but he couldn't and his briefcase got caught in the door, so he went to get it out and his fingers got stuck. All of us were like..AHH!! but no one else reacted haha. They just laughed at us for gasping. Then we walked back and my legs are soo tired from all the walking we've been doing these past 4 days. All this uphill and downhill are killing me! I better have really toned legs and butt when I get back!
Well that's all for now. We're leaving on a trip to Nafplion (this beautiful city by the coast of Greece that once was the capital) in a few hours so it should be really pretty. PICTURE TAKING TIME!!! and hopefully postcard purchasing time too.. But until then...ADIO!!

ps. All you kids back in the state or wherever you have mass amounts of hot water. APPRECIATE IT! Because if we want to shower we have to turn the water heater on for atleast 30 minutes before we can shower or else there isn't hot water. The longer we leave it on the longer of a shower we can take. It sucks having the hot water run out on you. 30 minutes is probably like a 10 minute shower maybe. Oh and be happpy about your shower heads that are fixed high up on a wall. Ours are hand held and the handle is like way low so you can't just stand there and do your business. You have to turn off the water. shampoo and do all that then rinse. I miss just standing in the water. Cuz if you do that, you may run out of hot water :( And you can't just leave the water heater on while you shower cuz you might get electrocuted. Yep. haha oh and you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet either.

Yia Sas! (That's hello in greek ;))

Yia Sas!! We started learning Greek last night and are having 4 hour classes everyday for 3 days during orientation. We learned the Greek alphabet and DANG is that stuff confusing. It's hard to not associate them with Latin letters because some are similar but have completely different pronounciations. Like it's written v but that's actually the lowercase for the letter N. ya complicated i know hahaha. but it's been fun.
We went to the open air market today and it was super crowded but an adventure! There were lots of fresh fruits and veggies so I bought tomatoes, cucmbers, eggs, carrots, peppers, oranges and there were like clothes tents too. They sold a bunch of stuff and it was super crowded. It was kinda fun trying to communicate with the people too cuz a lot of them don't know English so there's a lot of gesturing and pointing going on haha. I got back to my apt all excited to cook when I realized we didn't have salt in the apt :( but that's okay it was still cool. Didn't burn the place down at least haha. Let's see ooh we also when to a grocery store yesterday where I bought yogurt and honey (cuz that's how they eat it here? cuz the yogurt is really plain) and got some olive oil and juice. I just feel hungry all the TIMMEE!! :( but food around here isn't as expensive as I thought it would be.
Sooooo here are pictures of the apt and just the area around my APT!

New Album 1/27/09 3:45 PM

I'M FINALLY HERE

So after 24 hours of traveling, and almost missing my connecting flight in London, I'm finally in ATHENS! Our flight to Heathrow was late by half an hour and there was a huge amount of people, so security took forever. 2 of the other girls and I were still stuck in line with our gate about to close in 10 minutes. So we get out of the line and basically book it across the terminals and running to our gate getting there like right as they're about to close. Heathrow was absolutely beautiful, or at least what I saw of it was.
I love the city already. It's a huge city with thousands of buildings crammed next to eachother with itty bitty super narrow roads that are never straight, but I have a really good feeling about this place :) I don't have internet in my apt and can't steal it from any neighbors so that's a bummer but there's an internet cafe downstairs so maybe we can make friends and they'll give us their password? haha
Our apt is so cute! we have 2 singles and a bigger room that fits 3 girl. One bed is kind of divided off and all the rooms have huge doors that open up onto a balcony!! Our kitchen is adorably cute as is the rest of our apt :) But a rommie and I just spent about 10 minutes trying to get into our apartment, but we failed at opening our own door :(
Alright time to catch some ZZZs.

10 days

Okay soo the feelings of nervousness and anxiety have kind of kicked back in. We got our housing assignments today and I'm living in an apartment with 4 other girls called Embedokleous 9-13. It's super close to school so that's good :) I can't wait to see our apartment and decorate it. I hope it's decently sized. 5 girls. that's kinda alot.

Map of apartments
That's where all the apartments are in relation to the school and to the olympic stadium! :) I'm anxious to meet my roommates too, but from what I've gathered from facebook (because it's such a reliable source) they all seem like really nice people! :)

12 Days

Glad to report that I've gotten past the stage of "Oh dear god I'm going to be in a far off land for 4 months. WHAT WAS I THINKING STUDYING ABROAD?! I'm going to cry now". I think I've more or less re-entered the "Yay! I'm going to Greece and I'm SUUUPPPER EXCITED" stage. I've been making lists of things I need to bring and haphazardly tossing things into a suitcase, but that's pretty much it. 

I still can't believe I'm leaving in 2 Saturdays. I'll be off on a jet plane to New York, mm then a stop in London, THEN GREECE!! Where Athens will be my home for 16 whole weeks :) I plan to blog daily while I'm there or every-other day and post lots of pictures and perhaps videos? 

It's weird to think that life will go on at CMC and at home while I'm gone. Things will be so different when I'm back. Bah those are all silly worries for another day. Right now I'm just hoping that I won't become a complete basket case at the airport when I say bye to my parents and everyone else.