Halfway up Mount Parnitha, the tallest mountain in Attica!Hi everyone!
So it's been awhile. I guess we've been up to things, but not much of interest until the past few days, mostly just the same old stuff. Greece is great but, honestly, the actual city of Athens can get pretty smelly, ugly, mean, and boring after the first week or so there, especially on your own. But anyway, I'm settling in here a bit more. I faced the same problems I had in England as I did here, I'd just forgotten: the first month or so is all exciting and new and you're adjusting to the new country, but around the second month you're over it and all you want to do is go home. Luckily, the third month is when you start to settle in and actually enjoy yourself, and I've finally stepped over my pit of homesickness and have arrived at that point. That and I've been out and about and actually interacting with more people my age, and that's helped immensely; before I was getting so horribly lonely, especially when Tony left on his trips. Anyway, one of the people I met up with here in Athens is Tina Li. That name probably rings a bell with my parents, but for everyone else, she was basically my best friend in middle school. We were seriously inseparable and could fill a book with inside jokes, you get the picture. Anyway, thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we discovered that we would both be in Athens at the same time, and finally arranged to meet last Wednesday.
Tina and Katt do Athens!
We've known each other for 7 years, and if someone walked up to us in Rice Village two years ago when we last met and told us the next time we'd see each other would be in Athens, I don't think we'd believe them. But here we are! Trust me, it's in Greece. See the obvious Greek trees and hobos? Definitely Greece. Anyway, she invited Tony and I to come to a going away dinner with her and her friends the next evening, so we definitely went. It was a bit of an adventure (it was all the way over in Glyfada, on Athens's coast) but it was a great dinner and all of Tina's friends were really sweet and fun. We had Indian food; it was good, but I'm partial to England's Indian food personally. Especially that chicken korma my parents and I had Covent Garden... mmmmmmm.... Oh, but yea anyway. It was there that we discovered curry can cure intestinal cancer. True story.
A hiking group ready to set out! We had a name and everything!
Our next most exciting day was today, when we participated in a mountain hike just outside of the city with people from the Athens Center, a little center that teaches Greek courses and where Tony's been taking his classes with UChicago for the past several weeks. We climbed Mount Parnitha: the highest mountain on the Attic peninsula (1,413 meters, a good place for beginners to start). It was a pretty intense climb in some places, and our trail guides seemed to enjoy picking out the most precarious trails for us to brave. But it was sooo much fun and I met a lot of people, including two girls from Tony's group, a few from another college group, the fun trail guides (one was a real troublemaker; you had to keep your eye on him), and some Brits! Oh, how I miss the Brits. One lived in London for most of his life but moved to Australia and has been there for the past 30 years. I mentioned that not only had I lived in London, but my sister lived in Australia, so between the two of us we know where he's coming from.
Finally at the top! With a great view of Athens in the background. May they bow down to our mightiness! Or... give us free souvlaki? Score.
But the best part of the hike was what was waiting for us at the top. Apparently the local village (I use the term 'local' very loosely) decided to have a party at the top of the mountain, so they brought a bus load of people, music, dancing, and free souvlaki. It was pretty exciting, and I even dabbled in some Greek Line Dancing. Rather poorly, to tell the truth, but at least I tried, and the locals were nice about letting me give it a go. Here's a video of the grand event; I'm wearing a green shirt with jean capris, and I'm second from the end of the line. The guy at the end is our trail guide (the troublemaker!) and the girl next to me is Kristen, a student from UChicago.
So it's been awhile. I guess we've been up to things, but not much of interest until the past few days, mostly just the same old stuff. Greece is great but, honestly, the actual city of Athens can get pretty smelly, ugly, mean, and boring after the first week or so there, especially on your own. But anyway, I'm settling in here a bit more. I faced the same problems I had in England as I did here, I'd just forgotten: the first month or so is all exciting and new and you're adjusting to the new country, but around the second month you're over it and all you want to do is go home. Luckily, the third month is when you start to settle in and actually enjoy yourself, and I've finally stepped over my pit of homesickness and have arrived at that point. That and I've been out and about and actually interacting with more people my age, and that's helped immensely; before I was getting so horribly lonely, especially when Tony left on his trips. Anyway, one of the people I met up with here in Athens is Tina Li. That name probably rings a bell with my parents, but for everyone else, she was basically my best friend in middle school. We were seriously inseparable and could fill a book with inside jokes, you get the picture. Anyway, thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we discovered that we would both be in Athens at the same time, and finally arranged to meet last Wednesday.
Tina and Katt do Athens!
A hiking group ready to set out! We had a name and everything!Our next most exciting day was today, when we participated in a mountain hike just outside of the city with people from the Athens Center, a little center that teaches Greek courses and where Tony's been taking his classes with UChicago for the past several weeks. We climbed Mount Parnitha: the highest mountain on the Attic peninsula (1,413 meters, a good place for beginners to start). It was a pretty intense climb in some places, and our trail guides seemed to enjoy picking out the most precarious trails for us to brave. But it was sooo much fun and I met a lot of people, including two girls from Tony's group, a few from another college group, the fun trail guides (one was a real troublemaker; you had to keep your eye on him), and some Brits! Oh, how I miss the Brits. One lived in London for most of his life but moved to Australia and has been there for the past 30 years. I mentioned that not only had I lived in London, but my sister lived in Australia, so between the two of us we know where he's coming from.
Finally at the top! With a great view of Athens in the background. May they bow down to our mightiness! Or... give us free souvlaki? Score.But the best part of the hike was what was waiting for us at the top. Apparently the local village (I use the term 'local' very loosely) decided to have a party at the top of the mountain, so they brought a bus load of people, music, dancing, and free souvlaki. It was pretty exciting, and I even dabbled in some Greek Line Dancing. Rather poorly, to tell the truth, but at least I tried, and the locals were nice about letting me give it a go. Here's a video of the grand event; I'm wearing a green shirt with jean capris, and I'm second from the end of the line. The guy at the end is our trail guide (the troublemaker!) and the girl next to me is Kristen, a student from UChicago.
And here's how it's really done, by some skilled line dancers:
I think that's all to report; I'll hopefully have more to say soon! It was great to catch up with Tina, meet some new people, and go on a hike. I think the past few days have been the best I've had in Athens, and today was definitely a winner.
Our successful group at the top! (BTW, you can click on any of these pictures to see a larger copy)
Our successful group at the top! (BTW, you can click on any of these pictures to see a larger copy)
Wow, sounds like quite an adventure! That really buff guy was the expert I think.
ReplyDeleteOh, and btw we have to same blog design, but different colors. =)
That's obviously because we're awesome. XD
ReplyDelete