I am writing this first entry from the desk of my new apartment in downtown Athens, directly adjacent to the Olympic stadium with the Parthenon seemingly just across the street. I hear the honking of car horns and the buzzing of scooters in the midday air. It is 5PM. Back home at PLU and in my hometown of Blanchard, Washington it is about 7AM. I can feel the weight of travel on my shoulders as the bitter coffee served on my connection flight to Athens wears off. The trip was easy, apart from the loss of my luggage. The mild irony of my situation hit me while I was standing at the baggage loss counter at the airport; I had originally attempted to convince my parents that I wanted to foolishly travel with only a carry-on. I am incredibly excited to be back in Athens after almost four years. I originally travelled here in high school, making it one of the first countries I visited outside of the United States. It is here that I discovered my passion for photography and my present aspiration is to capture some of the places I visited before and analyze how my eye has changed over time. Currently all I have are two shirts, two pairs of boxers, a pair of jeans, a tattered spy novel, my cameras and this netbook. I plan to put all to good use.
I feel like the culture here thrives on energy. The people walk with intention and hold conversations passionately. Walking through the Plaka was wonderful, especially because we were able to see people leaving church and with their families. Tourists seem relatively scarce and in a way it feels a great deal like home because the identity of outsider is not directly applied to you because of the other people visiting Athens that are not a part of your group. I feel that what I will come to experience here will continually become more and more intimate and I am able to navigate more seamlessly through the twisting streets and ancient ruins.
comments:
There are currently no comments.
Post a Comment