First Impressions

Today is my fifth day in Athens. Like many of my classmates, my top project has been adjusting to how HOT it is here. I’m from Minnesota, so “heat” to me has always meant three or four days at a time of 80, 90 degree sunshine. Here, however, “heat” is not just an excuse to go to the beach; it’s a way of life. It lasts all day and all night, goes on for most of the year, and it’s intense, especially in the middle of the day. From 2 to 6 p.m., the city of Athens has declared “siesta” hours when excessive noise is not permitted, so that most people can sleep the hottest time of day away. We students are in class most days at that time so it’s not a problem. (Or we’re sitting in our air conditioned apartments. Nice!) The day I arrived, though, I found out how protective Athenians can be about their quiet hours, when one of my neighbors stomped upstairs to shush my roommate and I, who were standing in the hallway chatting.

Mostly, though, our encounters with neighbors have been pleasant. I managed to have a nearly 90% Greek conversation with an elderly woman who was coming inside at the same time as me, and she was very friendly and was apparently used to “American college students” living in her building. I also met Athena, the checkout woman at the small grocery store around the corner from our apartment. She too was friendly (and probably glad to see me, as we introduced ourselves to one another upon my THIRD trip to her store in the same day! Setting up a solid grocery foundation for a 5-person apartment is hard; in one day I went back for olive oil, extra pasta, and other articles.)

The vendors in Athens seem eager to gain American college student customers, or else they’re just very generous with their stock; yesterday two of my classmates received free apples from a vendor at a fruit stand, and this morning when I asked for coffee, the man who made my drink and handed me my change also handed me a free croissant, smiling and saying, “to go with your coffee!” Cold coffee, by the way, is an excellent way to beat the heat around here, so when one orders a hot beverage, it’s not unusual to receive odd glances or a disbelieving confirmation from the person taking your order.)

Coffee is also a necessary part of MY morning at least, because classes start at 8:30 a.m., and since it’s a 20-minute walk to school from our apartments we’ve been at the campus until 5 p.m. or later while orientation is going on. While we’re not being given tours of the library or meeting the president of the college, we’re in one of two 3-hour courses we have Mondays through Thursdays. From 8:30-12:00 is “Art and Archaeology” and from 2:00-5:00 is “Byzantine History.” The Archaeology course is taught by the daughter of a pair of archaeologists, who grew up on-site at many digs, so she adds an interesting perspective to the artifacts she shows us. Our Byzantine History professor, too, is something of an archaeologist; yesterday he brought in a third century Roman coin he found in northern Italy.

Well, right now I have to leave for the second half of Archaeology class; we're going in groups to the Museum of Cycladic Art (Cycladic refers to the Cyclades islands, just southeast of the mainland) which is conveniently located just a few blocks away from our campus. So I'll say "Yeia sou" for now, and thanks to everyone who made this trip possible!