Back in the Sates

Well, I'm back in my bed and so far my first three American meals have consisted of cheeseburgers. Now that I'm slightly caught up on being in the right time zone, it's time for some reflection on those last few days in Greece.

You know how they say 13 is an unlucky number? Well wouldn't you guess it, that when I ordered my 13th gyro, they were out of beef-my favorite!! It was a mild upset but of course, Tootsies still delivered a pretty damn good chicken gyro! After cruising the shops one last time, my roommates and I celebrated our last night in Serifos hanging out on our balcony with some drinks and music. The next morning, we packed up our bags, said our goodbyes to my lil Cracker Jack (our most faithful and loyal companion), boarded the ferry, and left for Athens. That night, we met with some students from Athens and then the undergrads and I went out to dinner, drank on the rooftop bar, and then headed back to the garden bar that we went to almost a month ago. Of course, the garden was still as gorgeous as I remember it being (as well as expensive).

Saturday night, we FEASTED! Sitting at a table of 8, the waiters served us 2 of everything which included: Caesar salad, Greek salad, scordallia (potato garlic paste), some sort of eggplant/olive mixture, friend eggplant, friend zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant parmesan (at this point we thought the meal had ended), fried calamari, fried anchovies (here we thought the meal was finally over), and then for the grand and surprising finale: a giant meat platter that consisted of chicken, sausage, lamb, and then 2 types of meat that I wasn't sure what they were. I had never been so full in my entire life!! After traveling to a bar for some ouzo, we somehow had enough room in our stomachs for bugatsa!

Sunday consisted of  final souvenir shopping and we witnessed a parade and then some break dancers! We sat at a very snazzy cafe then hung around all day until we ate our last gyro of the trip bringing me to a grand total of 14 Greek gyros.

On the 4th of July, my roommates and I woke up early to grab our last bugatsa of the trip. After a hilarious cab ride to the airport, I purchased my last alcoholic beverage before I returned to the country that will forbid me to drink for another 42 days (but who's counting??) A woman offered to switch seats with me on the plane and the seat that I traded to had extra leg room! SCORE! 10 and a half hours later, we landed in Newark and after passing through customs, Sabrina and I bolted towards the nearest McDonalds and got a Big Mac and let me tell you, it was the best "Welcome Back to America" meal I could have ever hoped for! After 19 hours of being in transit, I finally arrived home and slept for a good 15 hours.

So all in all, I had one badass time in Greece and I'm going to miss it terribly. Studying abroad was the best experience of my life and if I could, I would do it all over again! But I can't lie, it feels pretty great being home with my family and to be back in my own bed. Hopefully, I'll be able to travel across Europe and to one day, make my way back to Greece. Kalispera everyone.

Stolen Serifonian Day

Well, today I am stranded on the island. Really, I am. For those of you who haven’t been keeping updated with Greek news, there have been riots that involve tear gas and the stoning of police officers. On top of that, there is a 48 hour transportation strike meaning that flights, metros, and ferries are not in service. Although we were scheduled to leave Serifos today, there is no ferry so whoops, looks like we had to stay an extra day! How heartbreaking…NOT! Our only concern is that we don’t officially know when the next ferry is arriving. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that one will show up tomorrow so we can spend our last weekend in Athens and more importantly, be able to make our flights on Monday to head back to the states!

With that said, this last week in Serifos has been incredible (as always). Sunday night, a few of the girls and I went out to dinner and enjoyed octopus, moussaka, and other Greek specialties. For after dinner cocktails, we danced at Dimitri’s while the DJ played some classic rock songs including Elton John, Bon Jovi, Lynard Skynnard, and many others. The next day, my fiction class and I hiked up a mountain to venture off to a hidden beach near Sikamia. It was more a task of psychological endurance as opposed to physical but once we made it to the stone beach we discovered that there was no view more beautiful or more rewarding than the one we had at that very moment. After an hour or so, he we hiked back around the mountain and enjoyed a most satisfying lunch. Tuesday was another marvelous day at the beach and yesterday, my fiction class met for one last workshop. My class read in front of our entire study abroad group. For dinner, all of the undergrads had a feast while we dodged being attacked by giant dragon bugs! Once again, the night ended in dancing and belting out the words to American songs (I find it so strange that DJs play American music but hey, it makes it much easier to sing to!) Today, on our stolen day on the island, we took one last visit to the beach to soak up some sun. Right now, I am killing time until my fiction class meets one final time to enjoy a round of drinks and discuss some of the books that we have read over our trip. We have one last reading tonight by some of my classmates and I am very eager to hear what they have written during our time in Greece! Afterwards, we will head to Tooties for one last Serifonian gyro a very sad number 13. Hopefully, tomorrow we will board our ferry and arrive in Athens sometime tomorrow afternoon where (keeping our fingers crossed) we will be able to avoid the riots and protestors! Right now, I’m overhearing a conversation between Scott, our program director, and Pam that tomorrow night we will be enjoying a dinner with Athenian students! I can’t wait!!

Σ'αγαπώ

Kalispera everybody! This week has been pretty busy with reading and writing but I was still able to squeeze in a few Greek adventures! Let's see. Sunday night, my roommates and I went out and had the BEST pizza! We each ordered a different type (Greek, Meat, Veggie, and Bacon) and we were served bread with BUTTER (olive oil is great and all but every now and then the biggest butter craving will set in). From there, we returned to our apartment to find our entire MU seminars group engaging in an outdoor celebration where everyone sat on their balconies and sang, a mixture of songs echoing throughout the courtyard. Monday, my fiction class and I returned to Sikamia to swim and eat lunch where we played 2 truths 1 lie and drunk or child. Needless to say, we had a blast! Tuesday morning, our Greek class walked around the port and our teacher taught us how to read signs that we passed. Because of the extremely hot weather and the extent of how exhausted the other students and I were, she let us out early and we left to get breakfast. Of course, Jack joined us and the tiniest kitten danced around our feet while we ate. For dinner, Craig, his wife Aliki, their daughter and goddaughter invited us up to the Hora where we visited Aliki's home which was 250 years old and used to be a school house! It had white walls, seats carved from stone, and a balcony view that took my breath away. It was extremely windy that night so while we ate dinner, the restaurant howled and whistled while the windows and roof banged. It sounded terrifying but the food made up for any mild discomfort. After dinner, we adventured further up the mountain to have salami cake, or chocolate cake with cookie bits mixed into it. It was my first chocolate cake since being on the island and let me tell you, it was every bit of satisfying and delicious that I ever dreamed of! It was still very windy all day (and all night as my hair keeps blowing in my face while I'm writing this) which made laying out by the pool absolutely perfect! The wind kept us nice and cool against the heavy sun which is turning my skin darker but making my hair lighter! Pretty legit combo if I do say so myself! For dinner, we went down to the taverna and enjoyed Greek salad, saginaki, romethea (chick pea stew), taziki sauce, this olive paste, garlic potatoes, and this cheese/feta pie. We forced ourselves away from further festivities that include Greek dancing lessons so we could study for our Greek exam tomorrow. As much as we should be studying our Greek vocab and phrases, we are all congregated in the courtyard sitting on our laptops. Whoops! Tomorrow, we plan on waking up early to get some fresh bogatsa and hopefully study some more! Kalispera everybody, time for me to be a good student!

Yamas!

Thursday night, my friends and I decided that we needed to celebrate the long weekend. So how do you do that in Greece? You eat! We walked down to the taverna by the ocean and ordered saganaki (fried cheese), Greek salad, meatballs and fries. Everything was delicious! The manager sat and chatted with us while we defended our food from flies and beetles. In fact, one beetle got so aggressive that it decided to attack and flew in my face, hitting me right on the lips! EEK! Our new friend Jack, the most loyal and friendly dog on the island, sat and ate with us. Then, our dinner turned into an evening of music and dancing! We received a free half kilo of this rum and honey that smelled like old lady perfume but had a very sweet after taste. For all the Americans back home don't worry, I'll try to get the name of this so you all can have a taste! The manager let us plug in our friend's ipod and we sang and danced. Then, we left, started walking towards the Shark Club, ran into our teachers who were heading to the taverna so we decided hey! We should join them! So we walked all the way back while I chatted it up with Pam Houston. Well as it turns out, the taverna had closed in our absence so we turned right back around and a few of us left for the Shark Club where we started the dance party! We had a grand old time and I even got to bust out my Spanish and Greek while talking to a Brazilian guy! I felt so smart and talented until I remembered that people from Brazil don't speak Spanish, they speak Portuguese...whoops! Jack stayed the whole night and kept a look out for his new favorite owners. Jack escorted us back and slept right outside our door after we fed him some cheese and crackers. He's such a perfect dog :) We were woken up around 11am the next morning by Aliki asking us if we wanted to travel to Sikamia and visit a monastery! So, we gathered up some water and powerade, and forced ourselves into the rickety van. We arrived at a monastery that was built in 1400 and it was absolutely beautiful! There is one monk who lives there by himself who was very quiet but also very friendly. After roaming around for about 45 minutes, we left for the beaches of Sikamia at 12:30 and didn't leave until 7:30! During that time, we swam in the ocean, some girls went snorkeling, and we had a delicious lunch of stuffed zucchini, saganaki, and meatballs. For dessert, we were brought fresh from the garden watermelon! That night, I enjoyed my lucky number 7th gyro!! Don't think I'll ever get tired of those things! All in all, it was an exhausting but beautiful day!

The Beauty Process

Today, Pam had us do a writing exercise with only one instruction: tell a story through a list. Well, my list kind of, sort of morphed into a poem. So here you go, my list.

The Beauty Process

Date night.

7pm

Let the process begin!

Wash the body

Shave the legs

Curl the hair

Paint the face.

7:50.

Right leg in, left leg in

Squeeze on the pants

Then search the closet.

Red blouse with buttons

Or the deep blue V-neck?

Put on the red, take off the pants

A skirt for easy access makes more sense.

Stand in front of the mirror

Hand on hip

Purse the lips

No. Try again.

Take off the red.

Put on the blue and look once more,

Wrong again.

Shirt and skirt equals too much skin.

“You idiot, its winter!” my legs cry, “Take it off!”

Right leg in, left leg in

Put on the pants once more.

8:05.

Consider the date: Nighttime. Starbucks. December.

Can’t wear heels, can’t wear sandals.

Flats? Vans? Or boots?

Boots.

Uggs or suede?

Consider the weather:

Sludge.

Uggs.

Right foot in, left foot in.

Accessories.

Studs or chandeliers?

Jeweled bracelets or braided hemp?

From the rainbow of scarves, which one to pick?

Purple.

Gold.

Black and white.

“You fool!” I yell.

“Fuck you,” my closet spits.

Fine then. Purple.

Back to the mirror.

Hat? No hat? Hat? No hat?

I put it on, I take it off. Hat? No hat?

Hat.

8:20.

I sprits perfume.

Wrist, neck, then in front of me and step through the citrus cloud.

I’m early.

Suppress butterflies with a cig,

Prevent babies with a pill,

Kill time with a song.

Pace my room

Smell my breath

Check my mirror

Smooth my hair.

8:30.

Time to leave.

Arrive fashionably late

Receive a hug, a kiss, a gaze, a compliment.

“Oh this?” I ask, “Don’t mention it, I just threw it on.”

“Lies,” my outfit hisses.

Party at the Monastery!

Right now, I am sitting in the courtyard checking my usual favorite websites (facebook, hotmail, etc) when I paused to look up at the moon. The crisp white moon sends a glowing haze that illuminates the ocean which glistens off in the distance. Then I realized, the last time I saw the Grecian moon shine this brightly was Sunday night which I completely forgot to blog about! So here I go:

Sunday afternoon began with quite the adventure as we piled into a rickety old van and made our way up the giant hills of Serifos. We drove through the very narrow and windy dirt road while my eyes tried to soak in every aspect of the scenery. As we climbed higher and higher, my ears popped but I didn't care because the view of Serifos' numerous beaches, large patches of wild flowers, the low valleys and high cascade terrains were completely worth the mild discomfort (and slight ping of terror as we drove extremely close to the edge!) We arrived at this beach, ate dinner, and drank some white wine (pretty much the only thing we were able to communicate to our waiter as no one could speak English). After chatting it up and taking pictures next to the ocean, we drove to the very top of the island and arrived at a 15th century Greek Orthodox monastery to celebrate the Pentecost. The chapel was absolutely beautiful. Slim candles illuminated by worshipers lit the room and light flickered on this large golden altar that displayed images of the last supper, Jesus crucified on the cross, and his holy resurrection. It was the most beautiful and holy experience of my life. Then, my friends and I made our way inside this tiny room and scrunched ourselves onto this tiny bench where Greeks attempted to ask is if we had eaten anything. The only problem was, no one spoke English and no one could understand what little Greek we knew. Thankfully, the members who worked at the church graciously brought us bread, potato/minestrone soup, and the most bitter wine I had ever drank. It pretty much tasted like (and had the similar effect) of brandy. Being in that room, eating authentic Greek food, drinking authentic Greek wine, listening to authentic Greek musicians, and being surrounded by people who could only speak Greek, I felt like I was finally submerged in 100% Greek culture. As the night progressed, familiar faces from our group came into the room and sat by us as we all listened to the four men strum their guitars and sing. Around midnight, it was time to dance. I looked up and realized that this older man was telling a young Grecian boy to ask me to dance. "Ohee," or no, I repeatedly said. I tried and I tried but the Greeks weren't having it, they cheered and they begged for me to dance and so before I knew it, I was dancing with this Greek guy. I could feel my face burning up and turning red as I kept my eyes on the floor, trying to copy his steps (right left right, left right left) with our hands extended into the air. When I looked up, I realized all of the Americans were taking pictures and videos of us, laughing and cheering me on. It may have been my most humiliating moment while being in Greece but hey, I tried to make the most of it by laughing it off and pretending I knew what I was doing. Soon, we had a group of our friends dancing with us like that last scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," with everyone in a circle laughing and having a great time. The most eye opening experience of that night though was not my 5 minutes of fame, but discovering that there was NO BATHROOM up there! I asked an old man where one was and he said "There is no water closet up here. You must find a place with no light and go on ze side of ze road." Oh. My. GOD! EEK!! Anyways, after our group decided we had celebrated enough, we left the festival. Before arriving at our apartments, we stopped at this beach and walked across the sand and looked at the moon, it's reflection sparkling in the ocean. Waking up the next morning at 8:45am for Greek class after sleeping for barely 4 hours was extremely rough but completely and 100% worth every minute of sleep I lost by being up at the top of the Serifos mountain.

Glimmers

Yesterday, my fiction class and I traveled to a beach on the other side of the island. After we packed ourselves into this rickety van, Pam told us that our assignment for the day is to write three glimmers during the course of our trip. Pam describes glimmers as extremely vivid moments we experience. This is how most of her stories are written: a collection of glimmers. Here are the three that I wrote:

Glimmer 1

The loud screech of the brake pads thinning makes everyone wince at its painful whistle while our driver slows our rickety van down the steep cliff. The van bucks like an outraged stallion and the tires thump against each divot in the rocky terrain. A sharp turn around the bend sends passengers smashing into each other, pressing one unfortunate student against the window. One finger at a time, I attempt to crack my knuckles but I cannot get even one satisfying crack as this ritual repeats every five minutes or at least every time I’m able to relax my muscles enough to release my frightened grip. I focus on slowing my heartbeat by breathing deeply and keeping my eyes on the passing scenery, anxiously awaiting our target destination - the beach.

Glimmer 2

Stepping stones wobble underneath my weight as I walk across them, tiptoeing across them one stone at a time. Weeds and other prickly plants bite my ankles as I head towards the blue wooden door. Entering, I wonder how many people pack themselves inside to attend service, how tight the air must get, and feeling your neighbor’s hot and heavy breathing when the townspeople gather inside to celebrate the feast day of the church’s honorary saint. The faded scent of perfume lingers on the ashes of what used to be incense that sends my mind traveling to Easter mass back home. The gold décor that contrasts the building’s architectural humbleness combines into the beauty of true Greek authenticity.

Glimmer 3

Floating, I am experiencing weightlessness and serenity, feelings I have long since experienced. Extending my arms and my feet flapping against the gentle waves, I move with each rise and dip that the ocean carries me. The cool sea water splashes my face and salt seeps past my grinning lips. I’m smiling at the sun that illuminates a red glow against my eyelids which I have shut to accentuate the directionless current that rocks me to and fro. I glide my arms and stride my legs, still remaining afloat as my hand grazes my hair that swirls in the sea below me. My mind is set free, my worries are inexistent, and my only thought is one of imagining myself as an angel, gliding through the clouds of heaven in an eternal bliss.