Greece Journal Entries Days 1-3

Saturday: January 28th, 2017

As Everyone knows I spent 2 whole weeks in Athens, Greece! For a study abroad trip with my college, Moore college of art and design. It was a 3 credited course for art history, a whole cultural experience including art. I kept a journal and wrote down entries day by day for this course that will also go towards my credits and I decided to share my personal experience with you guys to hear about my amazing Greece trip. Since it was 2 long weeks, a culture shock with some long entries, i'll split blogs up a few posts at a time. But i'll make sure to have them all up within the week. Now, Lets get right into the entries!

Jackie Kensey's Greek Diaries Part 1

Day 1: January 2nd, 2017.

 After a long previous day of flying, from Philadelphia to Germany, I finally land in Greece. It felt a little over whelming due to all that air travel, I have never been on a plane that long before, I never even have left the country before this! The farthest I have ever went was the west coast. But my first official day in Greece was January 2nd, since they are 7 hours ahead of time, and was still the 1st at home when I had arrived. But on this first official day I had felt like a fish out of water. I could not sleep on the plane at all so I was up for hours straight, way past my bed time. The second I had landed, it felt like a dream. I was in some sort of daze. I was up for 24 hours straight. After we left the airport we had headed to our little apartment. The shuttle dropped us off in the middle of the block half of us went up hill to our apartment the other half went down hill to theirs. Sadly, mine was up hill. The walking was terrible, being so out of shape and not use to walking incline. I originally pictured it different from what I heard. I thought of like a London style apartment with 2 bedrooms of their own apartment space and then a common room, but was not that high class. It was cute and quaint. But immediately I started to notice differences here from at home. It was so 60s feel and quite plain. Right off the bat I went to connect to the wifi since I had no international plan to let everyone know I had made it to my apartment, but right away the wifi sucked. Slow and took so long to connect. The kitchen was completely outdated as well just by the look of it. It had reminded me of my grandmas house as a child being so old fashioned. It was so 60s literally by the fact you had to turn on the heat on a dial pad before entering the shower just to get hot water, and had to heat up for at least 20 minutes. It was winter time so we did not need central air, but there was none anyway. There was fans to plug in though. Also no heat at all. So night time was freezing. We had to plug in portable heaters, that looked like radiators just like my grandma has. Also the no toilet paper in the toilet rule due to the sewage/plumbing system, which is the same thing at my grandmas house. The choice of furniture and linens were interesting, no real theme, nothing matching. But it was also so old fashion with the choice of designs. They had the washing machine in the bathroom, but no dryer since they hang their clothes to dry. My grandma use to do that a kid and still does with certain clothing items. You just realize how old fashion things are that you are comparing it all to what your grandma does and what you don't do. I started to have the feel for appreciation right off the bat about how modern my life is at home since I'm so use to it and not use to it here. But it was kind of relaxing to be out of that element. Because really, how healthy is it for you to have everything at the touch of your finger tip? But being able to have heat circulate your house with out heaters is a great appreciation, not having to create heat by layering up and wearing five blankets just to get some warmth! My biggest complaint though was the shower head. It was not connected to the wall, so you had to hold it. The shower being so short lived on heat, it was quite difficult since holding the shower head made showers longer. Due to the fact you have to hold it and try to wash yourself all at once, tons of multitasking. Also I was not taking a bath in there with the fact that five other girls are using this shower. I was confused with their idea of the shower held not being able to have something to attach it to on the wall though. Also the bathroom was freezing so having to take a hot shower in a cold bathroom was quite a interesting mix. It was also quite an experience being from a modern environment to an old time environment. So beginning this I felt extra out of place, like anyone else would. CULTURE SHOCK. Later that evening to try to keep us up we went on a stroll with Jan, who is an employee with Arcadia in Pangrati (Athens), Greece. Our stroll included a lot more walking up and down hill, which I was not use to. But literally, all I wanted to do was sleep. I was so out of it and exhausted. We ended up getting vegetarian gyros to end this even. It was different than gyros at home. Usually you get fries on the side but instead the french fries were in it! The tyziki sauce was great and I just wanted more. But this particular place was not my favorite, I honestly liked it better at home, surprisingly. I think I just needed to try more in other places in Greece. Just like in Philly you need to try multiple places for cheesesteaks because I hated them because of one place I tried it at as a kid, then I went somewhere else and it was not as bad as I thought. After that we headed to the market in the square to pick up snacks then headed back home, on our owns!

  Check list of the day:

  -Arrive to Athens

  -Move in Pangrati apartment(hated the walking)

  -Gyro welcoming

-Jackie Kensey

Day 2: January 3rd, 2017.

 Waking up still completely jet lagged. I could not sleep at all during the night, tossing and turning. I could hear everything and considerably the worst sleep I've experienced. We had to get up quite early too and I was exhausted. It was such an early day. Of course I still felt so weird like in the daze an out of place. We headed to the Arcadia center and I was happy to see greek yogurt and coffee to get my morning started. The yogurt was good, peach greek yogurt like one I get at home, glad to be something I like. I was pleased but was not a big fan of the coffee they brewed, but of course being coffee obsessed I still drank it. Our first adventure of the day was visiting Acropolis. I honestly am not a big fan of walking and we walked all the way to Acropolis and hiked all the way up. Being out of shape and hiking is quite horrid. But the view was beautiful and looking far out as we continued all the way up was amazing. I had wanted to visit this place since hearing about it in art history in high school and seeing it in person was worth wild. Also found all the tourists, foreigners from all over gathering to visit Acropolis, so it was packed. It was a relaxing atmosphere, overall. After being there put me at ease to start getting use to things. Knocked my anxiety down from a straight 10 to at least a 8.7. We headed to the Acropolis museum next which was down the road. I ordered this feta cheese filled pastry with honey and seasoning, which was to die for. I decided to try greek coffee as well. At home we have filtered coffee but here they say greek coffee is better for you. They leave some extra grinds at the bottom, which was not too bad. It had a similar taste to a coffee we've picked up from the farmers market that was grinded down for us at home known as winter frost. We also learnt how to use their public transportation system. At home it is 2.75 one here on a Septa bus but here only 1,40 and good for 70 minutes to be reused. Instead of having to pay an extra dollar for a transfer at home. Already noticing price differences. Public transportation being cheaper, aka more affordable makes it more convenient. To finish our day we headed to the tourist shopping area known as "Syntagma." It felt like going downtown in America to go shopping. They had the basics like H&M and Sephora, stores we have at home. It gave me that New York, Philly vibe when you are out there shopping in the city. I was not impressed since it was like shopping at home like the sense of it. It was nice to have a place like this but being stores I can visit at home, it was just nothing to be impressed about. I noticed a lot of clothes being casual and more business like attire. They also had a lot of dark colors out for the season. I got two casual black shirts at H&M for 3 euros a piece which is like $3.15 american dollar. And a little bag to hold my euros for a euro. I even tried a latte here, instead of saying cream and sugar in your drink, you just say sweet. Their latte was made a little differently since it had used both foam and steam more like a cappuccino. I had asked for caramel flavoring but instead of just pumping some flavoring in, they had drizzled just caramel syrup over it. Just another difference on how they had made their latte, but still tasted great. Later that night my roommate and I were invited out but I just was not up for it, I was exhausted and also I did not come to Greece to party, I came to have a cultural experience without booze and partying 24/7 like you can do at home. I was still super exhausted from my lack of sleep the past couple days so I was in early, and went to bed after a long day. 

  Check List:

  -Hike to Acropolis

  -Acropolis Museum

  -Learning Public Transportation

  -Tourist Syntagma Shopping

-Jackie Kensey

Day 3: January 4th, 2017.

 I was still super exhausted this morning and out of place, I could not wait for this jet lag feeling to end! First on the agenda was the war museum. I actually had liked the idea of the war museum due to the fact of having a big military family and learning about how the war was for all different countries and settings. I was kind of disappointed because I noticed all the armory and weapons and wanted to go around and look on my own, but we had a tour guide to talk about certain pieces in the exhibit. It actually sort of put me to sleep. He spoke english as well as greek, so we had an english tour. But, his accent was so heavy, when he spoke quite a lot it made it hard to understand and put me to sleep. I wanted to understand him, but it was just not happening for me. If I had my morning coffee at this point and was able to walk around the place on my own, would of been better. Next on the list was visiting Parliament for the changing of the guards. I just wanted to sit down, eat and relax. But the changing of the guards was interesting to see. They had giant puff balls on their shoes that weighed about 3 lbs. Their uniform consisted of skirts and tights as well. It was quite an outfit they have kept their tradition, at home the service men (security) just wear pants. They also do a routine every time they change guards and have to stand still, straight faces and move around. They also kick up their heavy puff balls on their shoes during this ceremony. At home it is more of like security jobs, certain positions like secret service you are just standing there, straight face, but no big dance routine. After this, I had gotten another latte and had started to wake up. I started to feel more normal today, but plans did not go as I imagined. We were originally told that we were having a greek cooking lesson as well as trying greek food all day long. That all day we would be eating. Which did not happen to be the case with those two other events and only having a couple things to try. In the morning before our events we had tried their traditional New years cake, which was very dry and in need of milk. After our events we had walked to a pastry place and had some cheese pastries, but the dough was over cooked and dry. The cheese was great on inside though. After that we went to another place and finally got to sit down. After all that walking, I could not wait to get my butt in a seat! But then I heard we were having donuts and I hate donuts back home. But I was like this is Greece, it could be different, lets give it a try. I actually liked them. They were not like how they are at home, at all. It was a fried dough like how funnel cake is made. It reminded me of funnel cake so much, except in donut shape. And they added honey, which I love so much to it. I enjoyed the honey syrup until it had dripped on my jeans. After we filled our bellies, I hit the ATM to take out some euros, then headed to the flea market. I was actually feeling great, this was my absolute first great day out of my funk. I made a group of friends who I enjoyed being around and made the trip worth wild. We walked around some more, seeing more of Greece, more of what I expected. Saw tons of little self owned shops, cobble stone paths and also the major hang out for everyone. Still a touristy area known for bargaining though and not filled of franchised stores. It is known as Monistiraki. It was way more relaxing. We stopped by a restaurant and the owner there invited us to sit down eat with a free drink, free desert as well as 10% off our bill. We just had to review their spot on trip advisor. Led us to a great meal and evening. With great free wifi that I had truly missed these past couple of days. What I also noticed during this meal was how cats and dogs can walk around restaurants outdoors and not be shooed away, so many strays that live around here. They were very well behaved, not on tables, not bothering anyone, more kept to themselves. For dinner we had Sangrias, which here was not a bunch of fruit, instead made with apple slices. Still pretty good, and a girl asked if we were drinking cranberry juice. Literally my story of the trip, "Is that cranberry juice?" It was hilarious. I was finally in my comfort zone, out of my weird funk. I had their version of eggplant parm. Instead of fried, it was baked and fresh. Made with fresh tomato sauce and feta cheese instead of motz. It was delicious though and filling. We headed around the flea market for some cheap greek shopping and souvenirs. I had found things ranging from hand made greek jewelry, keychains, even some cute shot glasses. On our way back home, we had gotten lost getting to the trolley. But being only the first couple days here we can't expect not to get lost. At least some of us had the international plan to be able to use the gps. After the first day I ended up with the international plan too, actually during the first day. I liked the idea of no phone, but since the wifi was not working at home and incase of an emergency I needed to be able to receive and send. I was happy and feeling relieved to reach my happiness meter on this trip. I was having fun, and already picturing myself coming back one summer in the future. Even this day I noticed all the amazing graffiti and how full my camera roll was getting.

  Check List:

  -War Museum

  -Change of Guards

  -Trying greek pastries

  -Flea Market (Monistiraki)

-Jackie Kensey