Thursday night; or "Lenny" in Greece

So Thursday was the first day of orientation and it was crazy to have scheduled events after 2 days of essentially nothing. It was a lot of people talking at us, some of which we needed and other parts we could have read on our own because we all passed the second grade obviously. It seemed like a long time to sitting and listening. We got a tour of the campus, which was interesting because there is a primary school and a high school on this same campus as the college, but at the same time, it felt a little unnecessarily overwhelming. We only need to know where two buildings are: New Building and the Library. (I'm in the Library at the moment, looking for a place to plug my computer in and failing. Hopefully I'll get this entry done before my computer dies, or I'll find a plug-in.)

But during orientation, they told us that we would be going out, to a bar called No Bar, to hear a band. I was already into the idea of going out to hear a band, and then they continued, saying it was a blues/soul type band and I was of course sold. So we sat through the rest of orientation and eventually got to go home to Panepistimou after a trip to Ikea where I finally got a pillow. Pillows are excellent, but they show off just how terrible the bed is. I mean, when I finally get home I'll hit my bed and think it's the greatest thing ever invented.

We went on a short walking tour of the area we live in, even though we were all exhausted because we didn't get our government regulated siesta time (we were half guilted into it by Nikos, our RA) and when we got back from that tour it was time to get ready to go to No Bar. We took the city bus to get there, and that was an adventure because there were so many of us on this bus. I'm sure all the Greeks on there thought we were obnoxious as hell. Especially when Phil, one of the boys studying here (obviously), started talking to the guy next to him just about general stuff. The guy really probably didn't mind, but it was still pretty funny and probably made us look annoying. Phil asked him what he did for a living and the guy couldn't think of the the English word, so Phil started just like saying random occupations- the guy was a travel agent.

So eventually we get to No Bar, and it's like 10 o'clock and we originally were supposed to leave for the place by 8:30 and I was just hoping we hadn't actually missed the band. We had not. At all. They came on maybe 10 minutes after we got there and I knew that I was just going to sit in front of this stage in this tiny bar and watch the man play the electric guitar. And I did. It was two men, one on the acoustic and one on the electric and a woman singing. This band was seriously awesome. They essentially just kept playing song after song that I knew and loved and so of course I was singing along and what not. I was talking to this girl Alexandra and I said something about how I wished they'd play Little Wing and I said something to the singer about it, because obviously if I'm like 3 feet away from her she saw me jamming out and she told me she didn't know the song. The guitarist heard me and said he knew it though and he'd play it later for me if I'd sing it. Before anyone gets excited, that didn't occur, because we left before open mic started (which was at like 1- we had another day of orientation on Friday so we had to be up early). But so after a while, someone else comes up to them and requests that they do Layla and I'm like "Yeah! Layla..or Lenny by Stevie Ray Vaughan!" and the guitarist hears me say this and he just starts playing it. He got maybe 5 seconds in, but it was recognizably Lenny and I seriously was just so floored by it. I was sitting in a bar in GREECE! Hearing Lenny. In case you don't know, I'm pretty sure that's one of the most beautiful songs ever written and I was in this place I have dreamed about, getting to hear someone play it.

It's not an overly Greek story or adventure, but it was beautiful so I figured I would share that happiness. I will try to update later today about my first day of classes. No I'm off to find a plug in...