Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Freaks and Greeks, Pt. 1 "Arrival"


I've been trying to think of a witty title for my posts for ages so that it's easier to distinguish my posts from  Sam's, and "Freaks and Greeks" is the best I can come up with because I absolutely refuse to call it "It's All Greek to Me." There's no malice intended in the name: I just think that it has a nice ring to it.

The past few days have been a hectic and wonderful blur. I always love packing for a new trip - there's something cathartic about choosing only the essential items to take with you, because by the time the suitcase is filled you know that everything that's inside really represents you. In my case, that means too many free Tufts t-shirts that I've accumulated over the years and about 6 unopened cases of special allergenic contact solution for "sensitive eyes." I guess I'll take it. Anyway, the travelling itself was incredibly smooth and as enjoyable as it could be, given the flight times and lay overs. This was only my second intercontinental flight out of Boston (shout out to Tufts in Talloires) but I've already learned a few things about big flights:

1) Take advantage of the free movies (in my case, 21 Jump Street and Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. One was good, and one was terrible. You be the judge)
2) Don't take advantage of the free movies if you haven't slept and your watch reads 2 am Boston time
3) The flight attendants never stop feeding you.

In retrospect, I think I really like those flights, besides the nagging feeling in the back of my head that I'm flying over frigid and unforgiving oceans somewhere near Iceland. I landed in London without any problems and met all 7 Notre Dame students also doing CYA, as well as someone from Pitzer. We all were surpercharged with that unique anxious excitement that comes from new beginnings - like the night before the first day of school growing up. That excitement didn't hold over on the plane into Athens, though, because we all passed out from sheer exhaustion (my watch was reading 5 AM Boston time). It was a good thing that we got that small amount of sleep in, though, because there wasn't much time to waste when we got to Athens itself. 

I was ushered into a taxi and sent with a set of giant and intimidating keys to let myself into my new apartment. The neighborhood is a bit of a convoluted maze of concrete and plants, and I absolutely love it. The lift to get up to my apartment was a little bit on the closet side of things, and it has two sets of doors that need to be closed to ensure you can't just touch the bare wall as you ride up, but other than that it was smooth sailing. I made my way to the Academic Center to pay my apartment deposit and get my Greek cell phone set up before heading out to explore the city with my roommates and new classmates. I'm ashamed to say I already forgot my camera, and was kicking myself as we ate lunch by Hadrian's Arch with the Acropolis on the near horizon. And I mean quite literally kicking myself - the sidewalks are a bit uneven and I have a bad habit of tripping myself. Athens and I are going to be great friends, I can already tell.

Anthony
PS I SWEAR I'll have pictures for the next post. None of that Instagram garbage, though. This city deserves better that that.

No comments:

Post a Comment