ATHENA: Acropol-THIS!

ATHENS

1. 50 Regular Study Abroad Students
2. 60 irregular NU-in Students
3. 6 hour bus ride
4. Two 30-minute Stops
5. I lied when I said 6 hour bus ride
6. I meant 9
7. Holy crap what were they thinking
8. What do you mean we can’t watch a movie on the bus?
9. Seriously, what were they thinking
10. Acropolis….no no, Acropol-this.

OH HEY ATHENS! So let’s think together. What happens when you have entirely too many American students between the ages of 18 and 23 in a bus for 9 hours to get to the number 1 city in Greece?

Yeah…about that…

SO THERE we were. FRIDAY MORNING….elated about the New CAMERA ACTION!! WHAT WHAT! The bus was leaving at 10am so Kaci and I shout ourselves up at the ass-crack of dawn to set our train tickets for Ireland next weekend…since the night before we were unable to purchase them…not good…we needed to get these puppies secure so we could fly far, far away to the land of the green. SO 7am came way faster than anticipated, but no one gets ahead by……well you know the rest. The train station isn’t too bad of a walk…but in light of our early departure to Athens cabin’ it was clearly the way to go. It took a little bit but we snagged an empty cab right when I was starting to worry that it wasn’t going to happen…because it was Friday morning…BUT no worries, we got one. We jumped on in and headed toward the station. IF ONLY we had gotten to the station a few minuets earlier the night before…we had JUST missed them by a few moments…AYE DE MI! Ok, that’s Spanish but hey, it’s all Greek to me right….oh Spain…how I would have OWNED you…language wise…not you know… “owning” it….right you knew that….hmm

ANYWAY, so we get to the train station t find that 1. We didn’t bring our flight information 2. We needed passports? UGH! So we priced both the bus and the train for the trip to Sofia…you know got the times and the schedules and we reserved bus seats JUST in case….we were pretty set on the bus, but we peaced without tickets which means on MONDAY for sure we have to go get them…ABSOLUTE MUST! Get it? Got it? GOOD!

Despite an unsuccessful morning we were successful when we hopped on the 11 bus and went to the Starbucks at the Arch. OH CHAI TEA you are the same at every Starbucks in every country, BLESS you on consistency. A little American on a Friday morning was JUST what the doctor ordered, and it was JUST what I needed, AND we had so much time before we had to catch the bus for Athena….um PERFECT…in which case what goes great with Chai Tea? NIKKOS! WHAT a fabulous IDEA! Which brought us to K-Yo and I chilling with Nikos which was a brilliant beyond brilliant idea…OH Nikos, how we adore you.

Side note action: I FOUND my new walking partner….she’s FAST and she’s FURIOUS! So the 10 minute walk from Starbucks to Nikos was more or less a 3 minute walk….I can’t help walking fast…I just do it…I have places to be…people to see…you know, THINGS to do!!!!

But really, you just don’t know until you get to Experience Nikko in real-life. I’m going to miss him when December 13th hits…but until then, Nikko and I are best friends. I don’t know if he even knows what that word means…but it’s true, we are….mmhm….so true. In which case Kaci and I had a sit-down, a moment with Nikko and then headed to see the Fruit man to stock up on some healthy snacks for the trip and before I knew it we were all getting our style’s cramped to the EXTREME in the coach: SEAT BUDDY: Insert H-Jay here…I would not have had this ANY other way. Two really is WAY better than one, and besides she’s got some SWEET wheels….haha of rolling luggage, you kill me.

Sequence of events after fruit man:
Get on coach
sit down
bus starts
BOREDOM HITS

In which case it was probably about 5 minutes into the trip and Boredom really hit, WHAT was I going to do during this trip. Sure I brought work to do but then what would I do on the way back? WELL I brought some cinematic adventures for the journey JUST in case and my laptop because I like to watch a film when I’m traveling for long durations of time. It makes the trip go faster, I think we all can agree that a good film never hut anyone. Though my films were not the greatest, but hey they work.

SO Super bad it was on the overhead TV screens on the bus…after a newly instated democracy by Kathryn we were able to fight the authority figures in control of the Athens and Study Abroad operation and tell them to chill out and put the movie on…what part of we are not children don’t they understand? EXACTLY.

After several stops, WAY too many stops and 7-9 hours of traveling, WE MADE IT! OH HEY ATHENA!! AND we were STARVING luckily they served us a really nice dinner at the hotel as part of our trip expenses…the food was interesting but it was on less thing I had to worry about!

The hotel was actually really nice. I was rooming with Flo-Rida which settled some rooming issues and it was nice to get some different people into my life a little brief change never hurt anyone. SO I decided that I was going to head out with hr that night and of course I wasn’t about to not bring my home-girls along. In which case enter H-jay and Alexa here. This was going to be a new and different outing for all of us. SO….pre-gaming on the pronto at the pronto, sweet sauce…Florida got H-jay and I some SICK 3 euro wine from the Kiosk. No really, this wine was sick…but for 1.50 each for a TON of wine? DONE. Obviously I’m a Bargain shopper and a Bargain extra-curricular activity do-er.Yes, this makes perfect sense…very good. So we decided to head toward a large group of sab students in one room. ONE. After they explicitly told us NO large congregations in one room, meaning not to congregate, at all, period, end of story….hmmm….YEP! One room, about 30+ people, and one game…Thumper, now I know about thumper but I have never actually participated in it, but it was fun to see how it worked even though the game was impossible with so many people…in which case it ended spectacularly and off and away to outside. Ok, big groups I don’t do…waiting, standing, waiting…that’s how it went for a good bit of time outside the hotel. YAY for photo Ops…and there were several Photo opportunities may I just say. EVENTUALLY we hopped in a cab and found ourselves in La Placka. Um…awesome….where is everyone else…? SUPER! Lost in Athens 3 hours in…..sweet…..insert walking aimlessly hereà GREAT! While walking aimlessly, someone was smart and asked for directions to wherever we were going to or needed to get to I literally have not a clue what I was doing…and this was simply because I did not care. I didn’t have to worry about a thing this trip it was all taken care of and THAT was nice. FINALLY aimless walking had an AIM. I love goal-orientated tasks or activities. Also while walking I noticed even more study abroad students with us…..it was like they all flocked and got lost at the same time in the same place, this was just perfect….if you’re going to be lost, you might as well be lost with other people…woo, and different people at that. Eventually we found a strip of night-life. Hurray! Despite it was a bit sketchy. There were TONS of people, everywhere…..just sitting at the bars and walking it was crowd after crowd. THIS clearly was a different pace from Thess. Sure, there are lots of people out and about but not everyone is headed in the same direction, it’s more organized? This was a fun atmosphere though, I just love fun atmospheres. Amidst our walking, BOOM….MORE sab students already chilling at a bar outside. Perfect! And so we sat down to join them…but every good sab and struggling college student knows that evening beverages are much better spent somewhere other than a bar…so we sat and Alexa went to the perip. To fix this situation. It worked out perfectly. Kiosk= cheap Bar=no thanks….see how the math works? I thought you would…fantastic! SO with new people, in a new area, and new fun we were buzzing. Enter really adorable shot glasses that I certainly did not use….enter the actions of an individual who felt the need to borrow them and make me the lucky carrier of said prized processions. Awesome….but I got to keep one…so that was ok right? Mehhh….leepoh… (Phonetically spelled for your American pleasure….this word means the casual whatever or so) Anyway, we kept walking around a bit and tiredness set in….I do love a good cab ride you know….before Greece…cabs intimidated me so much, I had no clue how they worked or how to even go about taking one to get somewhere…..I never had to depend on public transportation so much…but I’m a FIRM believer in cabbin’ it as much as possible….4 is a score….but anything else is a downer…and oh hey public bus system. The cab ride back to the hotel was fun because I got to see more of Athena just driving around…even though it was dark out….HOWEVER before our cab ride home….there was a SERIOUS photo shoot, and I DO love a good photo shoot….most of you already know this. Over-all it was not a bumping night, but a good night I thought. Athens-shmashens. I got back to the room and Florida was back as well….insert search for snacks here. KIOSK and GO. Cookies and a good liter of Nero goes a long way AND to top it off American movies, IN ENGLISH on the T.V. YES! AND The Other SISTER was on! OH HEY top ten favorite film list. IT was number one but that’s the best part of having favorite things, they can change whenever you like. THIS however, may or may not have made my night….mostly may. I LOVE hotels….hmm

Side note: Hotels, let’s discuss:
GOD LOVE THEM, and so let’s make a list, shall we? WE SHALL!
1. Hot Water
2. FUN shower bonuses….who doesn’t love miniature shampoo and conditioner…I DO!
3. TV (you NEVER realize how nice it is until its gone)
4. SNACK on slash near pillow area usually a cookie or chocolate….DONE
5. I just really like hotels, they put my living area in Thess to shame, especially the fact that these hotels are NOT the nicest, but we lucked out this trip….even the hostels are nicer than my place at Thess…hmm that should be a red flag shouldn’t it….?



to be continued.....