Kalimera!

Good morning! It is about 11:30am in Athens and about 5:30am back in Chicago! Today we had our first Greek language class where we learned a portion of the alphabet along with common Greek phrases which would have been useful yesterday when we visited the Acropolis where we saw the Parthenon and the Erechtheion temple of Athena. We strolled through the plaza and hiked up the ruins where I saw the most breathtaking view of Athens (pictures can be seen on my Facebook). After touring through the ruins, sipping on frozen lemonade, and making friends with a tiny stray terrier puppy who begged to play fetch with a stick three times his size, we visited the Acropolis museum where we saw ancient artifacts that were discovered at the Acropolis. A group nine students, including myself, ate dinner (our garson called it lunch) around 5pm where I had my first frape and croquettes (baked cheese). Children approached us with accordions and guitars and begged for money. It was the cutest and yet saddest thing but after one of the women from our group got pick-pocketed after giving children euros, we had to decline. After lunch/dinner, we toured through the Athenian plaza and browsed through shops. We then spent the evening on the rooftop sipping cocktails and wine, watching the sun set, and making friends with other tourists (one of which got behind the bar and poured our friend Rebecca a glass of red wine into a martini glass because it gave him "power." He later lost his wallet. Needless to say, he was a lil out of it aka DRUNK!) Well, as my roommate just said, it's time for us to leave because we have a long day ahead of us as we will be visiting the archaeological museum, plaka, monastiraki, roman agora, byzantine churches of plaka, the ottoman bazaar, and the modern bazaar. Hopefully I'll get kissed by the Greek sun and get some color :)