Day 4 - First Day in Athens!

Hey everyone! It's Caroline and Laura here! For our first day in Greece, we did lots of exploring! When we finally got to the hotel after our almost hour bus ride into the city of Athens, we quickly put down all of our belongings in the hidden part of the lobby as our rooms got ready for us and some people changed, if needed! For the next 3 hours, we went with one of our guides into the “hub” of Athens and learned about the Temple of Zeus, the Arch of Hadrian, the ins and outs of the pedestrian roads, and where good food is! We even found a McDonald's! Then we got to explore for the next hour and a half and get a bite to eat! At first, we checked out the menu of a sit-down place, and a worker out front encouraged us to come in, saying he had a big table that would be perfect for us. Our group was ushered in, and when we sat down and took it all in, we realized there was no way we would be served in time to meet back with the group by 1:30. So we had to awkwardly leave and head our separate ways. Some broke off to a sit-down restaurant, a smoothie place, or McDonald's. But Laura and I (Caroline) went to a grab-and-go with sandwiches, bagels, savory pies, and pastries like baklava! We did a quick grab and go, so we could explore all the cool shops around, and we found some very cool and interesting souvenirs! We recommend the chicken sandwich!! It was delicious! 

 

Then, when we returned to the group, we walked up to the Presidential Palace to see the changing of the guards, and we both thought it was so cool to see how different it is from anything we’ve seen performed before! To sum it up: Every hour outside Athens’ Presidential Mansion, two soldiers in tan skirts and red hats walk up in slow, high stepping steps, their wooden shoes clacking on the marble. A guard asked everyone to move back toward the sides so the soldiers have a clear, straight path. Under another guard's supervision, the pair performed using rifle swings, echoing stomps, and mirrored salutes before marching off, leaving the two new people to take over. It really reminded us of the changing of the guards back home in D.C.'s "tomb of the unknown soldier" and how unique it was. Here, people were talking while watching and in D.C., everyone must remain completely silent. It also reminded us that respecting space, literally stepping aside, can be a small yet meaningful act of honoring another culture’s traditions. 

Then we walked through a botanical garden where we saw goats before getting to the Olympic Stadium! (Shout out to the wonderful and amazing Dr. John Harris for getting us there by reading a map and not using directions already given!) It was home to the first modern Olympics in 1896. We didn't have enough time to do a tour, but getting that close to the stadium made an impact! Standing and looking at the stadium made us feel how sport and history intertwine, turning a simple stadium into a living monument.

We finished off the night with a group welcome dinner. Rather than order our own dishes, we were served family-style, various traditional Greek dishes. We had Greek salad, chicken, spinach and cheese pies, risotto with goat, and my (Laura) favorite, the eggplant hummus, and Caroline's favorite was the Greek salad. There was so much food, every time we thought they had brought it all out, they brought out so much more. Although we have only been here for one day, I feel that we have gotten to learn a lot about a new culture. I think that by putting ourselves into a new culture, we have new experiences that force us to reflect on our values and habits, and in turn, know ourselves on a deeper level.

 

Over the past few days we have had time to focus on our main concept “Know Thyself”. We have had time to reflect and journal on things such as our beliefs, who in our lives that we thank for teaching us our values, and doing an activity to examine what and who we put our trust in. 

We’ve had a great first day in Athens, despite our exhaustion from the plane ride and all of the walking we did today. Looking forward to more great days exploring Greece and learning more about ourselves.

Kisses from Greece,

Caroline and Laura