There exists so much in this city it’s hard to write about everything, so I’m going to touch on some of the more interesting sights, smells and sounds of Greece I have experienced. I want to begin first with the constant sounds that surround me. Every morning, I wake up to the pleasant melody of my neighbor upstairs playing the piano. I’m not sure who it is in the building, but it makes me super happy and sets my mood for the rest of the morning, especially when all I can think about is how I can squeeze 5 more minutes of sleep in before I’ll be late for class. Another sound comes from the traffic on the main street of my apartment. I am located right on a busy intersection that is part of bus routes and so many motorcyclists. Our balcony barrier is made of a light metal sheet, so when traffic is booming, so is the metal on our balcony. It’s as if there’s a storm going on outside. At first I was super aware and mildly annoyed, but it has become something I rarely even notice anymore. A final sound that I have come to familiarize myself with is the tone in which locals speak. Back home if people talked this loudly and with such emphasis, people would assume there was an argument. Here, in most cases, people are simply chatting. I find myself starting to raise my voice when I talk and really get into the conversations. I like it.
Smells. Yikes, these smells have been some of the most amazing scents and some of the most disgusting odors. It’s the worst when they’re combined! The one thing that stinks the most is the areas near the trash collections and the trash trucks themselves. I guess being at Bowdoin I’m not ever really aware of where the trash is. Here, it is right outside my apartment building. This area holds the trash of an entire block on my street. I’m not positive about how it works, but I’ve heard some people say the trash is building up because the workers are on strike-go figure. Others have said that there’s only one day for pick-up and days are sometimes skipped. Either way, it is very present in my day to day. Another thing, the millions of dogs around have to use the restroom, right? Yeah, near my apartment there’s a little walk way that is super popular for walking dogs. Yay! Except it’s at the expense of my poor little nose. In this same walk-way, huge numbers of stray cats get fed by locals. What do cats also do? Yeah, unpleasant. On a happier note, I live close to a wonderful bakery! Yummy smells come from there as well as the smell of fresh coffee. Ah, so wonderful. Another scent that I find to be so great is the smell of olive oil. I realized that I make a huge mess when it comes to using it on my bread with feta, so it has started to seep into my hands and make them smell of olives all day. I absolutely love it and it’s a great way to moisturize on the go!
Finally, the sights. Now I could write for days on the things I have seen, but I want to give attention to the demonstrations/protests and my time at volleyball. I will begin with saying that the demonstrations are no joke. They involve throwing rocks and other objects, tear gas, shields and a ton of Greek version of SWAT teams. I went into the main center located near my house in order to catch the metro, however, when I got there the ‘peaceful’ demonstration had turned into a more hostile one and had a first hand account. Protestors were throwing stuff at the SWAT to the point where one was bleeding from the nose from being hit in the face with a rock and the lingering tear gas was making my eyes water. That’s one thing I actually didn’t smell, I just felt the effects of it. My eyes were burning and the gum in my mouth tasted disgusting. My nose also started to run a bit and I was afraid I would get a bloody nose like a lot of the people I saw were experiencing. Our program does stress to us not to go there if avoidable, but curiosity got the best of me, so I stayed a bit to see a little more of what was happening. In the pictures below there are people advancing on the steps of the plaza, while the SWAT retreat for a more united front. It’s interesting to see the passion of the Greeks during these demonstrations in comparison with how things happen in America. From the recent events on Wall Street, we can see there are enormous differences to how much people can actually express before police brutality begins to happen. Woes of the world. Also, here's some video I got of the events taking place.
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| people moving up the steps. |
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| coming together at the top of the stairs. |
A better sight that I’ve recently experienced has been the happiness and joy of the men I play volleyball with. They all come from Afghanistan. Some are married, while others are single. Some have jobs, while a good amount don’t. And even with being away from home, their families and jobless, they all continue to smile. They are constantly poking fun of one another and calling each other “malaka” (Greek for a**hole). I understand this word from spending time with my other Greek friends, so they think it’s great that I find it to be funny. They’ve started to teach me some of the other bad words in Greek as well as how to count in Arabic! It’s awesome. Hopefully I can leave here having learned 2 new languages. Speaking of learning, my friend Ranmat has asked me to teach him English. We’re beginning lessons today. I’m so excited. It’s like India all over again! Whoo hoo.
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| some of the guys playing while I snag pics. |
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| he crushed this ball. |
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| sunsets never let me down. |
All in all, I’ve been exposed to so many incredible (and stinky) things since being in Greece. I’m excited to see, smell and hear more and even more excited to share them with you.
