Yesterday morning began with a short bus ride to the Acropolis, where during our five hour stay we visited the Theatre of Dionysus, the temple of Athena Nike, the Erecthia and of course the Parthenon. I have mixed feelings about this trip. On one hand, I totally appreciate the historical, architectural and cultural value of the Parthenon, which is arguably one of the most recognized and important symbols in Western culture. It’s hard to look at the ruins and not be amazed at exactly how much this land has seen in its thousands of year of use. However, it’s also hard to feel any sort of connection with the place, spiritual or otherwise, when there are hundreds of tourists snapping pictures and dogs peeing on the ruins. I was impressed by the Parthenon but not awed by it, and I feel bad that I didn’t feel more as I stood in its shadow.
After a five hour tour of the site and a two hour visit to the new Acropolis Museum, we returned to the hotel. I got directions to a Laundromat from our tour manager Sonia and set off, since it was supposed to be a five minute walk from the hotel. This brief excursion into the neighborhood around our hotel provided a saddening juxtaposition to the ancient Athens I had spent all day learning about. Less than two minutes into my walk I witnessed two men shooting was I’m assuming was heroin into their arms. As an admittedly naïve twenty one year old, I stood in shock as they stabbed their forearms, grimaced and threw the syringes in the street. I was disgusted, saddened and scared, and I quickly moved on from that area. I’m not sure why this upset me so much. We had been told that drugs were a huge problem with young Athenians, and I know that scenes like that occur every day all over the world, but seeing it happen fifteen feet away from me shook me in a way that my roommate noticed when I returned. (To top it all off, the Laundromat closed when I got there.)
Although we had class at 9 this morning, last night around half of the group decided to check out Athenian night life (far away from our sketchy neighborhood.) One of the most vivid memories I have of this trip far is of the 6’ 3” tall German born Felix attempting to dance with Greek locals, and being repeatedly denied. I chose to return on the Metro before it stopped running for the night, but a few of the students stumbled into the hotel at 8:15 this morning and had a rough time during our two classes today.
Our first significant period of free time occurred this afternoon, so most of the kids went to the Agora and an Athenian flea market to search for bargains (don’t worry everybody, I’m buying souvenirs for you!) I’m loving the group dynamic so far, although I didn’t anticipate being one of the oldest students on the trip. Most of our time in Greece is scheduled, so we’ll have lots of opportunities to get to know each other before we’re spread out in apartments around Rome.
To my annoyance, one of the two bras I brought on this trip broke this afternoon, so I’ve been repeatedly poked with safety pins as I continue my search for a sewing kit. As inconvenient as pins may be, I just don’t think I’m up to undergarment shopping in Greek. =)
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