Between Parkland and Pagkrati

Anonymous Our first full day in Athens has been filled with some unforgettable moments. My day began around 9:15 this morning when I finally awoke from my jet lag induced sleep. After eating breakfast and showering, I was feeling pretty good and was ready to start exploring. I left the apartment around one with several other girls and we began our first official day of touring Athens. Our first stop was the Kallimármaro Stadium, just down the block from our apartments. The stadium is a replica of the original Olympic stadium in ancient days, and the current stadium was constructed for the first modern Olympics. After snapping some photos, we headed toward the Acropolis. Today we followed roughly the same route from our tour last night, but we added in a few extra photo opportunities. Next we stopped at an outdoor cafe for a mid-afternoon snack. The weather was perfect for sitting outside, warm and sunny! After we left the cafe we began meandering our way back to Pagkrati, the neighborhood where we will be staying for the next two weeks. Our entire class met up at the College Year in Athens facility and we watched a film called Agora. After the movie came the best part of the entire day: we walked to a small taverna near our apartments and had a class dinner. The food was some of the best I've ever tasted in my life: fried zucchini, cheese, vegetables, bread, meatballs, and a selection of pork, beef and chicken. I loved every moment of the dinner, and I think the rest of the class did as well. Next Dr. Finitsis led us on another nighttime stroll through Athens. Tonight we headed up a huge hill through the fanciest, most expensive neighborhood in the city. We passed every designer store you can think of, from Vera Wang to Armani. Then it was time to head back to our apartments in Pagkrati. All in all it was a successful day. I'm loving Athens more and more with every second I spend walking its streets! These two weeks in the city are going to flash by far too quickly!