Written By Riley & Ethan
This week we boarded an early morning flight from Crete to Athens to explore the independence of Greek city life. After settling in to our spacious AirBnb on Loulianou Street, afternoon free time was spent napping, locating laundromats, vintage shopping, and sampling the wide variety of cheese pies Greece has to offer. That night, the group dined together at a local souvlaki restaurant where we were treated to many delicious platters of covered gyros, falafel, and of course, souvlaki.
On Friday, the group traveled to the Acropolis, marveling together at sites such as the iconic Parthenon, the Temple of Athena, and the Theater of Dionysus. There, we pitched different topics of debate such as: is water wet? Did we discover math or invent it? Is cereal a soup? Is ketchup a smoothie? Afterward we hiked back down the hill to visit the Acropolis Museum where the group posed for pictures next to statues and purchased postcards for each other to read in the future. The rest of the day was spent freely exploring the surrounding areas and anywhere else the metro could take us. Crepes, gelato, and more thrift shopping galore! Dinner that night was a student-organized home-cooked pasta in marinara sauce meal eaten on the couch in front of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Saturday started with an info session run by Overseas Educator Adam brushing us up on our WWII knowledge and how it shaped what would eventually become the European Union. Then the group hopped on the metro for a fun group activity run by student group leaders of the week. At the ice skating rink, students slipped and skated and hugged the wall to the tunes of Greek pop music. That afternoon was open for more exploration, as many students headed over to the picturesque Plaka neighborhood for outdoor crepes and shopping before a large group dinner on the iconic Plaka steps. The restaurant reminded us of our taverna days in Crete, as more and more plates appeared and the table space grew smaller and smaller. Thoroughly stuffed, we headed down to inhale some more gelato, practicing our Olympic-worthy hurdling skills on the way there.
Our last day in Athens started earlier with a game dubbed, “Shmeopardy” by Adam. Two teams battled it out with trivia on the history of the EU. In the end, the Poopy Yoga Pants team pulled ahead by 50 points over the Poopy Stinky Poops. The students then took the metro to Monastiraki and enjoyed a brunch together in the shadow of the Acropolis. We then set off to explore the famous Monastiraki Flea Market, stopping at multiple tourist shops and cafes along the way. Dinner on Sunday was student choice so while some students revisited the souvlaki restaurant, others picked up sushi while all gathered on the couch to finish the student-favorite trilogy with Kung Fu Panda 3. We packed our bags again, ready to start a new adventure at ReGreen!
