One Week

“To my friends in New York, I say hello

My friends in L. A. they don’t know

Where I’ve been for the past few years or so

Paris to China to Colorado”

--OneRepublic, Good Life

Time moves differently here.  I don’t know why exactly, but it really does.  For example, each day in London felt really long.  We did so much every day and were constantly moving and on our feet.  When you looked at a list, it did not seem like too much to do.  My feet felt everything. 

The crazy things that we saw in London included an attempted robbery, Obama’s motorcade, a biker being hit by a car, and me on a bike.  I had not been on a bike in about six years, but I managed to complete a tour of London.  How successful I was is another story, but I didn’t crash or fall behind, and I managed to ride in the road a little.  Most of the bikes had names attached, but mine was nameless.  So I decided to name him Rupert Grint.  Rupert became friends with Alicia’s St. Thomas (I think.  It was a saint, at least) and Liz’s Jack the Ripper.  During the bike tour of London, we saw the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace.  As we were biking away, Obama’s motorcade passed us on the opposite side of the street.  So while I technically didn’t see Obama, I was the closest to Obama I have ever been.  It was surreal to be in a foreign country and be closer to my president than ever before.  Around that same time, there was a car vs. bike accident right behind our tour group.  Some confusion followed as to whether the biker was in our group.  As far as I know, she was fine.  I haven’t heard anything to the contrary.  Afterwards, I started freaking out about being hit by some of the crazy London drivers.

Alicia and I visited St. Paul’s Cathedral while Liz went to a museum that evening.  We had plans to meet at a specific time, but that time came and went.  Alicia and I decided to use a legit red phone booth to call Liz, which was exciting.  After finding each other (the Tube was detoured), we picnicked along the river and saw London Bridge move to allow a boat to pass.

Our last day in London, we visited Abbey Road and King’s Cross Station.  There was some magic at King’s Cross Station, because I had been looking to get a good picture of the Rupert Grint milk ad I had seen the first day.  I just knew that he would show up at King’s Cross.  Right when we showed up and I had my camera out, this bus drove by with Rupert, so I was able to snap some shots and complete my quest.  We also saw most of Much Ado About Nothing at The Globe, although the rain did dampen the mood a little.  We skipped out early to make it to Westminster Abbey.

We flew out of London super early in the morning, and Alicia finally reunited with her bag in the London airport.  Our flight to Dublin had at least three rows full of drunk guys heading to Ireland for a stag party, which made the flight loud.  Luckily, I slept most of the flight.  Dublin was again a blur of tours, castles, churches, etc.  My second and last day in Dublin, I saw The Book of Kells, which is an illustrated copy of the Gospels.  They had a beautiful library upstairs along with children’s skulls and a skeleton of Cornelius Magrath, an Irish Giant (he had a rare disease).  Seeing Cornelius reaffirmed what I want to do with my life.

I said goodbye to Alicia and Liz at the bus stop to the Dublin airport.  I then flew to Athens and took a cab to my hotel on my own.  I roomed with two guys from my program at the hotel, but I couldn’t remember their last names when I showed up.  Eventually (less than five minutes), I figured out the room and made my way up.  It was an awkward arrival at the hotel, though.  The elevator was crazy!  You could see the wall as the elevator went up and had to manually open the door at the floor. 

I chilled with Michael and Colton for the night.  The next day, we went exploring and found this really sweet hill with an amazing view.  We went through a market and discovered our new home.  Apparently, we were staying in the rough part of town, as all of our cab drivers told us to be careful.  We stuck together (I especially stuck with the guys) and took a taxi at night, and we were fine.  As we returned to our hotel on Sunday night/Monday morning, a few motorcycles drove by and threw bottles at some Middle Eastern guys of the street near us.  It was strange, sad, and upsetting. 

Yesterday, we arrived at CYA and moved into our apartment and new home.  I am living with three other girls who I will be with for the next eight weeks.  We thought we were going to have a fifth roommate, but she hasn’t shown up.  We were in a weird limbo for a day until we decided we could all unpack and assume we were staying in our rooms.  Again, we oriented ourselves to our new neighborhood, which does seem much safer than the area our hotel was in.  I found out that there are two different sections of this class.  I am the only IU student not with the professor from IU, but I am enjoying getting to know some new people.  We went out as a group on Monday night to try to find a party.  We only succeeded in searching for a party but never made it to any destination. 

Today, the professors took us on an excursion to learn more about Athens.  The two destinations for the classes: the hill and the market that we explored on Sunday.  I found it rather entertaining that we were able to acclimate ourselves to the city on our own.  I experienced some of the frustrations of not being able to speak and read Greek today.  One of my roommates and I tried to buy phones.  The shop had a sign that I couldn’t read, and I couldn’t find anyone who could translate for us nearby.  I view it as an adventure, but it would have been nice to know what was going on.

Tonight, we visited a Taverna as a class.  We enjoyed each other’s company and some amazing Greek food and drink.  We then went to one of the apartments and got to know one another a little better.  When my roommates and I returned to our room, we continued hanging out for an hour or so.  We had such a blast getting to know each other.

Just a week ago I was in London writing my last post.  I have done a lot in a week; London feels like it was months ago.  (As you can tell by the long post, a lot has happened.  Next time I won’t wait so long.)  At the same time, I am on Greek time now, experiencing a different culture and way of life.