Yassou, Delphi and yassou, Athens!

This morning was another chaotic one as we packed up and left Delphi for Athens. On this particular three-hour bus ride, we put in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. However, I only watched snippets of it, as I was falling in and out of sleep and reading quite often. Once we arrived, though, the situation only seemed to increase on the tension scale. Our bus stopped in the middle of a busy road, stopping traffic as well. As half our group stepped off the bus and began grabbing luggage, the police told the driver that he could not stop there, and all of a sudden, the bus started driving off. We were confused to say the least and drove around again for another 10 minutes, until the bus driver finally stopped, let us out, and helped us unload luggage onto the street. Maddie, Carolyn and I actually walked into oncoming traffic in the process of unloading the bus… yikes! However, the Athens Center Square Hotel was only a short minute away, through the market place. Once we arrived, we realized we only had 1 single and 8 doubles, meaning that an adult would have to room with a student. To solve the problem, I volunteered to room with Carolyn (or as I nick-named her, Care) and we had a blast. It was definitely the nicest place we’ve stayed and the shower pressure was the cherry on top! Athens, however, did not really win me over. After a quick souvlaki for lunch, I walked around with Maddie, Stephanie, Demeris, Ariel, Caroline, Dena, Carolyn and David, and couldn’t see anything but garbage and graffiti. Not the kind of graffiti that makes you marvel at how many various forms of art there are, but the kind that makes things just look more trashy. Fortunately, there were some nice people, who helped the city’s case, and I even found a little bit of myself buried in one of the few pieces of art. Enjoy:

After strolling around town, we met up with the rest of the group at the hotel. Some of us were very tired, others very hyper:

Following our quick recharge, we hit the newly familiar streets again, targeting the Parthenon as our next stop. After the short-but-tiring walk up there, David and Carolyn bought our tickets and a couple frozen lemonades (which we once again were asked to chug before entering, resulting in many a brain freeze). While taking pictures in front of the ruins, a boy named Andrew and his mother offered to take some of our whole group. We noticed he said “y’all” and realized how much we missed that southern hospitality!

(photo courtesy of Callie)

(photo courtesy of Andrew & mother)

On the way down, we did some quick shopping and then headed to dinner at a cute restaurant on the bottom slope of the mountain. As we were waiting for our entrees to come, two men, two women, and a band surprised us by breaking into a traditional song and dance. I could not help but laugh and, before I knew it, I had taken their place up on stage. Maddie and I had spotted a little girl (probably around 7 or so) dancing to the music by the side of her table, her parents occasionally acknowledging it, but talking amongst themselves more. Then, for some reason, I decided to walk over to her, extend my hands, ask her to dance, and spin her around as she took them. She started out slightly confused, but had a huge smile on her face by the end of the song. I was probably beet-red, but her smile was big enough for the both of us. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. I think Callie had fun with her new friend, too!

(photo courtesy of Callie)

Seeing as it is now the end of the day and had already become pitch-black out, we walked to our hotel back under the Greek stars, where Maddie found Athens’ one and only salvation: a combo of Gap and Starbucks.

I am now waiting for Carolyn to enter and bust me for staying up 10 minutes past curfew… haha oops! Yasas y'all!