No, Kostas....

At the very bottom of the long, vertical hill that we live atop, there is a little cafe' that we lovingly refer to as "Minos' Cafe." Seated right in the middle of our beloved Varnava Square is our own little slice of home.

Last week, Whitney and I decided to stray from our normal routine of gyros for every meal, and we sat ourselves down in Mikri Vouli. The menu is intimidating and very Greek...but then again, what can I expect? From the moment we sat down at the beautiful marble tables we were treated as family. The owners, Minos and Kostas, are two of the kindest Greek gentlemen we have met thus far...with one problem: Kostas is a little too fond of the ladies. His affinity for young women combined with our very large communication barrier has made for some interesting situations during our past few visits...

I am going to estimate that Kostas is about 63 years old with the maturity and self restraint of a 13 year old. His business partner, Minos, will sit back with a smirk on his face while Kostas will flirt with every woman who walks through the door. Whenever Kostas gets a little too close, you just say "Noooo Kostas, Nooo Kostas," and he will paste a guilty grin on his face and sit back in his chair and creepily laugh.

After Minos and Kostas tire of listening to our broken Greek, the food begins to pour out of the kitchen. Plates upon plates of Greek Salad, sausages, yogurt, and countless other Greek delights are placed in front of us (free of charge, I might add) and we are ordered to consume all of it. If we don't finish what has been presented to us, our hosts are highly offended and think that we don't like their cooking (this seems to be the case in Greek culture as whole).

Finally, to conclude the meal, Minos will bring us a small pitcher of warm Rakomelo. I'm telling you right now, forget everything you've been told about Ouzo....Raki and Rakomelo are the drinks of choice in mainland Greece. Raki is a pomace brandy produced in Crete and exported all throughout the Balkans, and Rakomelo is a combination of Raki, cinnamon, honey and cloves. It took a little getting used to, but I must say I now prefer these Greek beverages to anything I've tasted in the U.S....and I definitely like them much better than Ouzo.

Minos and Kostas will keep the Rakomelo flowing as long as you are sitting at their tables, and they will not accept polite declination. You must actually get up, and walk out the door before they will stop showering you with free menu items.

We've been to Minos' every night for the past week, and we don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I'm sure Kostas will provide me with many more stories to share with you in the coming weeks.

Until next time, I leave you with the Greek toast (which Minos taught us last night) "Yamas!"

Gaudi, Boy Scouts & Paella

Aaaannnd I'm back! And, luck for you, I'm a little more awake this time, too. So I suppose I'll continue right where I left off: My arrival in the beautiful city of Barcelona.

With a very short weekend and a mile-long list of things to see and do, there was little time for R&R upon my arrival. Yasi and Katie helped me put my god-awful duffel bag away, and back down the rickety Spanish elevator we went.

First on our list of sights: The Sagrada Familia Church, one of Antoni Gaudi's most beautiful pieces of architecture. The sight was magnificent. Over the past few weeks I have become accustomed to Ancient Greek architecture, which is beautiful and incredible in its own way, but Gaudi's work was something so different and modern it took my breath away. After we were all able to take our eyes off of the Sagrada Familia, we were then led to an equally amazing sight: Gaudi Park. In all honesty, I have never seen anything as unique and awesome as Gaudi Park. It is a collection of houses which look like a mixture of something out of Willy Wonka or Alice in Wonderland. When he designed these buildings, Gaudi had in mind a sort of housing development, which he hoped would become the new craze. The trend never caught on, but Gaudi still left us with some fun and incredible pieces of architecture that will forever draw a crowd.

Now, after running around Barcelona all afternoon (by the way...the hills in Spain rival the hills in Athens, and that's sayin' something), we were all ravenous. Yasi and Katie, now being connoisseurs of Spanish food, took me to a restaurant that is reputed as being one of the best places to eat in the city. We had a lavish meal that featured an exquisite paella accented by a delicate Sangria. I know that I may be "cheating" on Greece when I say this, but this was definitely the best meal I've had since arriving in Europe. I'm salivating at the thought of it!

Now, the girls had big, crazy plans for this night...clubbing, staying out all night and all that jazz. Sounds like what you're supposed to do as a 20-something in Spain...right? Yeah! I thought...until I had a sip of wine. I simply could not keep my eyes open. Staying up all night in an airport and navigating your way around an unfamiliar city will take a toll on you. I was toast. So as everyone strapped on their heels and headed out the door, Yasi tucked me into bed and I was off to dreamland for the first night of my crazy Spanish vacation. Smooth move, Hana.

As disappointing as that was, I was the only member of our traveling clan who wasn't hung over the next morning! Points for me, right? I was all smiles as we walked the touristy streets of Las Ramblas, taking pictures with the street performers. I was the most chipper of the bunch when we sunbathed on the beautiful Mediterranean Beach. And when we went out that evening, I swear I was the most well-rested person in Barcelona! ...Okay, maybe not, but you catch my drift.

The evening is all too much to describe but the highlight was discovering my new favorite drink: "The Boy Scout Shot." Espit Chupitos is one of the most famous bars in Barcelona; it specializes in shots and has over 200 to choose from! I was warned by a local not to try the "Kill Bill" (it features Tabasco). Well, minutes later, a kind young Italian man who offered to buy me a shot gave me just that. I don't recommend the "Kill Bill" to anyone. More successful (and tasty) was the "Boy Scout." I'm not quite sure what the alcohol is, but the cool thing about this shot is the way you take it. The bartender will give you a marshmallow on a stick, pour alcohol on the table around the shot glasses, and you roast your marshmallow on this flame. The flames infuse the alcohol with the marshmallow flavor, so when you take the shot it tastes just like marshmallow! You then chase your shot with your roasted treat, and you have now consumed the most delicious drink on the face of the planet. I would go back to Barcelona just to have a "Boy Scout" shot one more time.

After leaving Espit Chupitos, we happened to run into what looked like a gigantic fair of sorts. I saw fair-like paraphernalia and immediately found the cotton candy (which I have been intensely craving for weeks). I was now content and happy to see what all this fuss was about. Apparently MTV was having a huge music festival; we somehow wormed our way through the masses of people to the very front row. We danced along with the Spanish and Danish bands until the wee hours of the morning, and finally took a cab back to the apartments around 5 a.m.

I had to leave the next morning, but my homesickness had been appeased after seeing my friends. Exhausted and in need of a shower, I began the journey back to my new home in Athens. While waiting for my flight to arrive, I had a hearty meal of Patatas Bravas (a Spanish tapas) and Calamari. These two dishes were a delicious send-off from Spain, and a nice way to relax and celebrate the end of an exciting weekend.

Madrid: Words from the Wise

After an amazing, insane and exhausting weekend in Barcelona, I am finally back in my tiny room in Pagrati. My weekend trip, however amazing, got off to a bumpy start the minute that I left my apartment on Thursday evening.

The girls (Whitney, Christina, Sarah, and Betsy) were kind enough to walk me to the Metro station after we had a lovely Sushi dinner downtown (yes...I know, the thought of Grecian sushi made me want to barf at first too, but it was surprisingly decent). So, with my excessively overpacked and uncomfortable duffle bag in tow, my little clan waved me goodbye as I descended down the escalator, and I was on my own.

Now, my flight didn't leave until 6 a.m. the next morning, but I figured since the Metro closed at midnight, I would spend the night in the airport so as not to run the risk of missing the final train and, in turn, missing my flight. Genius...right? Apparently not.

So it turns out that the airport train is completely different from the general train...and I had missed this airport train by a whopping 4 minutes. I stared down the Grecian Metro employee with tears in my eyes, believing that somehow tears would change my unfortunate and pathetic situation. It didn't...however apparently I looked forlorn enough to deserve help from this otherwise grumpy man. He kindly pointed me in the direction of the airport bus which (thank Zeus) was still running for the night.

I believe this is where I left you in my last post...sipping Frappes in my lengthy overnight stay in the Athens Airport. Not fun, but hey, I made it through the night, got on my flight without much ado, and was well on my way to my first layover: Madrid.

Now, in case you ever have a burning desire to go to Madrid, take my advice: DO NOT BRING A HEAVY CARRY ON. It is quite possibly the longest airport in the entire world, and if you have a heavy or awkward carry on, you're toast. Sprinting down the Spanish hallways with my ridiculous, who-knows-how-many pound duffle bag was hellish to say the least. But never mind Madrid, my friends, we are talking about Barcelona here.

So I finally arrive in Barcelona, and I am eager to finally see Yasi and Katie. The challenge of getting to their location is still ahead of me, however. I won't go into detail, but having never taken a day of Spanish in my life made the situation a little bit difficult. Let's just say that a missed train, a broken pay phone, and a heated argument with a cab driver were involved.

Against all odds I finally made it to the apartment where my lovely friends were staying for the weekend, and we had a happy reunion. I must say, I have been getting really homesick lately, so seeing a couple of familiar face was priceless. I realize that this post is getting a little lengthy, and I must say I'm pretty tired from my travels, so I will continue the epic tale of Barcelona tomorrow. Stay tuned my friends.

Yasas

I am officially the worst blogger ever.. I promise to try and update this on a more regular basis, but between my constant state of "lost-ness" in the city of Athens, and my heavy recuperating time spent napping and facebooking, it is a tad bit difficult to find the time/drive to blog. At the moment, I am sitting in a cafe' in the Athens International Airport sipping on a Nescafe Frappe (most amaaazzingg drink ever!) waiting to board my plane to Barcelona, Spain. There I will meet up with my sorority sisters Yasi and Katie, and will get to spend the weekend with them. It should be an amazing experience!

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since my last update more than 2 weeks ago. I think (and hope) that I have gotten over the initial culture-shock that had a firm grip on me the first week and a half that I was here. Even better, I'm FINALLY starting to know my way around our small little neighborhood within the giant city of Athens. Hopefully as time goes on, my navigational skills will improve and maybe I can find my way into/out of Syntagma Square without getting lost....

Our first week of classes definitely provided me with a firm reality check....I actually have to go to school while I'm here...This isn't a vacation. So as the teachers passed out our Syllabi, I had a minor freak out when I saw the surprisingly steep workload we were expected to complete by December. Luckily, scattered in between the tests and term papers were multiple excursions, field trips, and day trips to amazing historical sites that I have only dreamed of visiting in the past. We jumped right into it in week one, and on that first Wednesday our class had the amazing opportunity to visit the Acropolis (Akropolis). In person, the area is much larger than I had anticipated, and it was incredible. Since that first trip, I have probably been to the Acropolis about 4 times up close, and have simply walked around it many many MANY times. In a crazy way, it has kind of just become a normal backdrop for the city in which we now live.

Something that has been rather hard for my to get used to since my arrival in Athens is the abundance of stray animals. Anywhere you go, you will have at least 3 stray dogs in your immediate vision, and it is not uncommon for one to latch onto you and follow you for miles on end (It's almost like the dogs can tell we are American...they almost never follow Greeks). The strangest part about this is that almost all of these stray dogs have collars. Apparently, when the Olympics were held in Athens a few years ago, officials would drive around Athens and euthenize stray dogs, but not dogs with collars. In order to save the dogs, the citizens would just strap collars around the necks of stray dogs, thus saving their lives.

I feel like so much has happened since I've arrived in Athens, however it is so hard to put pen to paper and describe this experience. As time goes on, I promise to blog more faithfully so I can be more accurate in my descriptions. Well, I'm off to Barcelona, I'll update you on the crazy experience on Monday. Until then, I'll miss my Frappes....

Yasas!

-Hana

No, I don't speak Greek.

After more than 24 hours of traveling, I am finally here in Athens! The plane ride was pretty standard...the usual annoying guy behind you and the weird old lady beside you, but other than that and the 5 hour delay in Atlanta, it was not too awful. As we landed in the Athens Airport I got a little case of cold feet when I realized this was to be my home for the next 3 months. The difference between the Atlanta airport and the Athens airport was severe...mostly because in Athens things were written in Greek! The airport gave us the luxury of an English translation underneath every sign, but once we left the "airport bubble", it was straight up Greek. I've also found that since I could pass for Greek, natives will just come up to me and start speaking Greek...And I definitely don't speak Greek yet.

I met up with Sara at the airport and the two of us took a cab to our hotel, The Art Gallery. Arriving in Athens by air, I didn't see a huge, dense city...more like shrubs scattered across brown grass. However, the farther the cab driver drove us, the bigger and more intense the city got. Driving on the highway into the city we had an amazing view of the Acropolis, and we drove RIGHT by the Parthenon. It was crazy! You read about these things all the time, and when you see them in person it's so unreal.

When we got to the hotel there were two cats (stray, domestic...who knows?) sitting in the lobby and a super friendly Greek receptionist. She showed us our room and we got settled in after we figured out the bathroom and electricity situation (which was weird considering you're not allowed to flush toilet paper down the toilet, but we figured it out).

After unwinding for a couple hours we decided to venture out into Athens to get some food, considering the only food we'd had in the past 24 hours was disgusting air plane grub. We ended up deciding the safest route would be to just walk up the road that our hotel was on, that way we wouldn't get lost on the way back. Just a few short blocks later we arrived at The Acropolis Restaurant/Cafe and were instantly greeted by a man sitting on the staircase who proceeded to describe and push every menu item upon us, first in Greek, then in English. He then led us up the stairs to a quaint little rooftop seating area which had a beautiful view of the little street below, as well as the Acropolis and another gorgeous monument of which I do not know the name. After our AWESOME dinner, we wandered up the street and got a close-up view of the monuments, and decided that we would come back in the daylight to get some better pictures and a better view.

Anyway...our first night is winding down (even though for the Greeks, dinner starts at 10, so since it's midnight, Athens should be just starting to wake up...), and tomorrow we move into our apartments. It promises to be another exciting, exhausting, and interesting day.