Crete

Last night I went to a Cretan festival with my friends Elyse and Katherine. There was a party going on here in Panepistimiou but I decided that it'd be a better cultural experience to go to an all-Greek festival instead of a party thrown for Americans in an attempt to learn about the culture without actually going out into it. It just seemed like sort of a dumb idea to me to throw a super loud party in this residential area where I'm pretty sure our neighbors hate us already. But that's not the point.

So this Cretan festival. First, it was something we had to dress up for, which was strange, but it didn't matter I guess except I had to change from the going out clothes I had put on. As we're headed over there Elyse, who is a Greek-American, was like "Oh I need to warn you. Cretans, you know people from Crete (and I was like well duh I know what Cretan means, Elyse) love guns. Like there will be guns here, and they'll probably have knives on them as well. Don't be surprised." I of course am just like "uh, okay." I mean, I went to Auburn, my first reaction to gun fire is to want to hit the ground, so I'm glad she warned me.

So we get there and the thing was supposed to start at 9. It is 9:15 and everyone is standing outside grouped around the door and we start to push our way in because we found Elyse's cousin and this crowd is insanely tight in this entryway to this university student union building. Like we got stuck in the crowd of people for about 45 minutes and I am freaking out in it because I get a little claustrophobic in crowds and of course no one is speaking English. I'm pretty sure I rounded a few bases with about 6 different people just because of the lack of personal space this crowd was creating. At one point I was like "screw this, I'm peacing out," and looked behind me and realized that I couldn't even get out of this crowd if I wanted to so I just started pushing my way in because we all got separated.

So finally I got in and paid my 12 euro for a ticket and found Elyse and Katherine and the boy we'd met there (Elyse's cousin and her friend had gone upstairs to try to get us a table) and Elyse can see it in my eyes that I was like dying out there and of course starts trying to calm me down but it sort of laughing at me at the same time. But it's whatever, I was fine when I felt like I could breathe without inhaling smoke and people's perfume/cologne or lack of it. We headed upstairs and my no smoke filled lungs immediately filled with smoke again because they don't really believe in the law that says you can't smoke indoors that Thessaloniki just passed a few months ago. Elyse's cousin, Nasia (if I remember her name correctly) and her friend Yota (yes, Yota) found us a table all the way in the back corner which in reality was like the most inconvenient spot ever but it was fine. So for the first like half an hour, Katherine and I are sitting there wondering what the hell did we come here for because we don't speak Greek at all and Katherine doesn't even drink and I don't like the wine we got with our ticket but we obviously are going to try to make the best of it.

Eventually the band starts singing. Now, I don't really know that I'm that big of a fan of Greek music, just because I'm a terrible person and don't really dig ethnic music that much and it all sort of sounds a little polka-ish to me. I mean, I don't hate it, and sometimes I actually do like it. Last night was one of those times, simply because I was supposed to be taking it in as a cultural experience. So the band sings a few songs and then it is time for the dancers. There was a troupe of costumed dancers that had been sort of just milling around until it was their time to perform so we saw the costumes beforehand but it was still cool to see them all lined up and everything. We left our table and headed toward the dance floor so we could see better.

The dancing is sort of like tap dancing and Irish dancing mixed together and made smaller. Like there is a lot of footwork but it is pretty confined and really intricate actually (not going to lie though, a few minutes in I was thinking "Give me a week and I could do this"). That is, until the men start jumping around doing turns and slapping their feet in some cotton-eye-joe like manner. It was actually really cool to see, especially in the traditional costumes. The men had these blue, slightly military looking jackets on with gold and maroon-red details and gaucho like pants and boots. They had this ivory decorative sort of thing that looked like a giant hairclip (it obviously wasn't) in the front where a hoodie pocket would be. The women had on skirts, mostly the same maroon-red color the men had as details (or they were white with that color on as an apron, the details escape me already unfortunately), but one woman's was this silk light blue and green one that was beautiful. They had on white blouses with some detailing and gold necklaces that looked like they were full of coins and they wore maroon headscarves. I was amazed they weren't all just absolutely pouring sweat dancing in those costumes.

While the dancing was going on the guns started going off. And I don't mean one shot here and there, I mean like it sounded like we were in the middle of 'Nam or some shit. I'm pretty sure one guy had an AK-47. There were shots constantly going off. And everyone was clapping and whistling and getting into it so much. It was pretty awesome. And deafening.

But after the dancing we headed back to our table where one of Nasia's friends and her boyfriend were still and her boyfriend was getting steadily more drunk and decided to talk to us because Katherine and I are American and don't speak Greek so he was talking to us in English a little bit. He passed by me when he was on his way to get another bottle of wine and asks "Do you have a gun?" I just started laughing like "No, I do not have a damn gun. Why would I have a gun." And he goes "You should get one" like it's the most obvious thing in the world. I was just cracking up. But so for the rest of the time he's like "I will learn you Greek tonight. Right now. Bet me" and Katherine and I are cracking up and both telling him "Mathaino sto ACT, sto Anatolia" (I learn at ACT, at Anatolia) and he's just like "No, Anatolia is not real Ellenika. I learn you real Greek." And he eventually tells us that we're crazy. And that was pretty much our interaction with him before we left.

I've come to the conclusion that Greeks are actually generally really helpful to foreigners who seem to be trying to learn their culture. The guys at the table next to us were informed that Katherine and I don't speak Greek early in the night and the one guy leaned over and told Katherine in broken English that one of them men at the table behind us was going to fire his gun soon so we should be prepared. He also picked up some of the blanks that the man had shot off and gave them to Katherine and me. He also poured little shots of Raki (a 180 proof drink common in the Balkans that tastes like ouzo and tequila mixed and it's effing disgusting! Like it's terrible; the one time I tasted it I almost choked because the bar we were at put an ice cube in the cup of it and I didn't notice and swallowed the ice cube and here's a secret: that hurts!!!) for most of our table and cheers'ed with us. Greeks love love love toasting to things. I'm like 90% sure that the man who was going to "learn" Katherine and me Greek had us do a toast to "Chihuahua" at one point. The guy at the other table later then asked Katherine if she could dance like they had (because the dance floor opened up so everyone could go dance) and when she said no proceeded to offer to teach her at a later point because he was too drunk at the moment. When she said she'd be really bad at it he told her that his friend was terrible so she couldn't be worse than him but we never got to find out because we decided to leave pretty soon after that because we were getting tired.

But all in all it was a pretty fun experience, despite the crushing crowd at the beginning and the not good wine. I got bullets and saw a bunch of good looking men and got told I was crazy in Greek. It coulda been a way worse Saturday.

General Life update

Sorry I haven't been updating much this month, I suppose there just isn't that much exciting Greek stuff going on.

We did go to Athens a few weekends ago and yes, I did geek a little about seeing the Acropolis and the Parthenon and all, but the weekend wasn't really that cool. I didn't enjoy the way things were scheduled for us and I just in general wasn't feeling it. I didn't like people enough that weekend. The trip down there was gorgeous though. It made me want to rent a convertible and drive the coastline of Greece and stop in all the little beach villages and towns to watch sunrise and sunset and eat tsasiki and drink kokkino krasi (red wine). At one point we drove through a gorge/canyon type thing and the leaves of the trees were changing and it was spectacular looking. But it was a lot of time on a bus with a number of people being obnoxious. The drive back was pretty terrible because it took like twice as long because we had to drive so slow because the bus had had an accident and we had to get another bus and it was just a big ass hassle. I am really excited to go back with my parents though.

Other than that... I experienced the Greek holiday of Polytechnic day, which is to commemorate a student protest at the Polytechnic institute in Athens (I think...) that protested the junta that was in power a the time. A few students were killed apparently that day in the 70s and apparently since then, Polytechnic day has become vaguely anti-American. There is a parade that starts near the university areas of Greek cities (if they have them) and it ends at the American consulate and there are apparently a few flags burnt and whatnot, so we were sort of told to stay away from downtown unless we needed to be out there. I spent the entire day watching ancient war movies: Troy, 300, and Alexander. I have yet to come to a conclusion on the movie Alexander; I mostly think Collin Farrell is hot but he movie itself is kinda not s great.

Today is Thanksgiving at home and ACT is throwing us a dinner tonight which will be nice I'm sure. Or, I hope. I also tried to give blood today for the first time (because I can't give blood for a year after I get home because I've been here I guess) and almost passed out. It was a great way to start my day! Obviously I'm fine and my blood pressure came back up, but it was an interesting (read: rather terrifying) experience, feeling as though you're slowly going deaf and being incredibly dizzy and then hearing Greek. I also came to the conclusion that I don't enjoy it when a doctor smells like cigarettes.

Everyone else is starting to count down the days until they go home, because it seems to be rushing up all of a sudden and it's making me feel like I still have a lot of time before I'm back in the US. It's not a bad thing since my parents are coming over here, but still. I really am excited for them to get here, especially because then I can show them around and explore more of Greece and not have to pretend that these classes really matter. Because, they don't. Not that I'm slacking off (because I'm not) but it all seems so unnecessary.

But that's my life update for now.

Fall break

So I know that fall break should be the thing I talk about for a long time and write a really long entry about, but I just don't really feel like it. So sorry if you're disappointed; if you really want to hear about it, you can email me or facebook me or skype me or whatever. So here's a relatively short/undetailed entry about fall break.

I loved Rome. I was excited about being there as soon as we touched down. On the cab ride from the airport we drove through an aqueduct and I got excited about it, because I apparently do get that geeked out about history. But that is nothing to my reaction to driving by the Colosseum. I'm pretty sure I bruised Candy Dream because I hit him out of excitement and trying to not be incredibly loud about it, as there were other people in this van/cab.
Things I saw, in order or just about:

• Spanish Steps
• Keats-Shelley House (they had hand written letters from both of them and a hand written memorial poem Oscar Wilde wrote about Keats!!)
• Trevi Fountain (which is absolutely beautiful, no matter how touristy it may be)
• The Vatican Museum- including the Sistine Chapel. (The Vatican Museum is absolutely huge and spectacular and I got really distracted by a statue of Lacoon. I also saw School of Athens by Rafael, which I really liked seeing in person. The Sistine Chapel is really different than I expected, but it is still one of the most magnificent things ever created by man.)
• St. Peter's Basilica. (THE PIETA IS UNBELIEVABLE! Seriously, it's so beautiful; I'm not sure how so many beautiful things could come from the mind of one man, so thanks Michelangelo. As much as I don't dig Catholicism, it has been the inspiration for some absolutely beautiful things. St. Peter's Basilica as a church is beautiful in itself as well. We got in there as a mass was happening, which was sort of cool)
• The Colosseum (I pretty much freaked out the entire time. I mean, it's the Colosseum for crying out loud- one of the most recognized symbols of Rome. The place where gladiators fought!)
• The Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill (I walked along the Via Sacra. I actually got to touch history. I stood in the places of Caesars. It was on the Palatine Hill, looking at the remains of the Roman Forum that I almost cried. I was so happy. I was on the foundation of the foundation of so much of Western Civilization looking at echoes that still were stunning. I was in love with Rome at this point.)
• The Pantheon

I ate pizza at a cafe in Rome and walked down the street eating a canolli. We had a symposium over a bottle of house wine at this little basement restaurant and ate plates of pasta in Italy. It was pretty spectacular.

Amsterdam was amazing as well. That city is gorgeous, but it doesn't boast the same sort of big name tourist sites that Rome does. But here's what we saw in Amsterdam:

• Coffee shops (no, seriously, they're everywhere. It isn't a myth that marijuana is legal in Amsterdam. And half the coffee shops just looked so very stereotypical, with the neon lights and the trance music blaring from it and the couches filling it.)
• The Van Gogh Museum (but no Starry Night. Some of that artwork is intense. The sheer amount of knowledge Van Gogh must have had about color is insane to think about. There is also a Monet piece in there, so I've seen one of those now too).
• The Red Light District (no hookers in red-lit windows though. We just saw the doors to brothels, which we knew because of the body guards and the blacked out doors and the names of the places)
  
• The House of Bols Bartending Museum (WE GOT A STUDENT DISCOUNT! But not one at the Van Gogh Museum... Yeah, I didn't get it either. Bols is apparently one of the oldest distilleries in the world. They have like 36 different flavors of liqueur and we got to try 2 each.)
• The Vodka Museum (which was LAME! I did learn some stuff about vodka though- it takes 6 month to distill not-shitty vodka and vodka is generally 40% alcohol, or at least that was how it was meant to be made.)
• A bunch of street performers- break dancers mostly.
  
• a shit ton of Bicycles! (The Dutch do not play games about their bikes, man, they ride those things everywhere!)
  
• Lots of canals
• Lots of really pretty blond Dutch men. I approved of them.
  
• A carnival. (We wandered into a Dutch carnival!)

That's pretty much what I got for Amsterdam.

Fall break was absolutely spectacular. I'm pretty sure I won't get to experience a week quite as cool for a long time, if ever again. Life is pretty fantastic.