Sorry for the recent inactivity on the blog. The past couple of weeks have flown by with work and getting to know the town a little bit better. Athens has been a good time and I'm not real sure if I've ever seen a town that likes to party as much as this place. I've probably gone out a total of 12 times and I think that i've seen the sun come up for 5 of those times. The crazy thing is....there are probably thousands of more people in bars as I make the walk back to my place. I've been able to make friends with 2 Greek guys and one of them is really funny. They took me to this bar where all of the "anarchist" hang out. I immediately feared for my life the 2nd I walked in the door and heard Rage Against the Machine playing over the speakers. People were moshing to music that the DJ was playing. It was good times.
On another note, I saw one of the craziest but ended up being the coolest thing to happen since I've been here. I was partying with some of the guests last Tuesday night. We decided to grab some beers from the store and drink them in "the square" which has a great view of the Acropolis. We are sitting there talking and we see this guy walk up and he's just minding his own business when all of a sudden, some stray dogs attack him (there are tons of them on the street). We all start yelling at the dogs and finally they leave him alone but he has been bitten and clawed really good on his arm. Me being the Public Healther that I am have some sanitary handwash in my pocket. We begin to talk to the guy and at this point he is in tears. He starts telling us that he has lived here for 4 years and hasn't really made any friends. BTW he is Chinese. He also tells us how his grandmom had passed away last week and that it had been really tough on him. He said that he likes to walk in the square at night b/c he gets really lonely and just likes to look up at the sky and think about things, but he said this night he was really depressed and didn't know what to do. Well needless to say, 2 Germans, 2 Indians, 1 Mexican, and myself start talking about life with this guy. It was one of the most amazing and humbling experiences in my life.
OK. now that the sad stuff is out of the way I want to go through some lingo that this one British girl has been teaching me.
Bacardigan- when it's cold outside but you are warm b/c you've had alot to drink(e.g. Bacardi). Last night I forgot to wear sleeves but I put on my Bacardigan and it kept me a little warmer.
Fox, Moose, Rhino- terms for girls in the bar(fox=hottie, moose=someone you'd take home, rhino=I'd rather hook-up with a man.) Rhino's are few and far between but if you seen one and get a picture with her doing the rhino symbol then she automatically gets a kiss.
Keys in a fishbowl-Apparently that is how swingers in Europe decide who is hooking up with who. But the Brits also use it to describe a probability of something happening. I'd like for bama to win the national championship but we'll just have to put our keys in the fishbowl.
Oz-Term for Australia
Those are just a few, I'll try to remember some more and put them up tomorrow.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Blogger Correspondence
Dear Scott,
Why is your life always so interesting? Please post pictures of our new abode/life for the blog world to see. How is football season on your side of the world?
Sincerely,
Your co-blogger
PS Geaux Tigers
PPS I'm hanging out with Julio Jones right now. Call me back...
Why is your life always so interesting? Please post pictures of our new abode/life for the blog world to see. How is football season on your side of the world?
Sincerely,
Your co-blogger
PS Geaux Tigers
PPS I'm hanging out with Julio Jones right now. Call me back...
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Pinatas, Foreign Languages, and No Benadryl
Hello my blog reading friends!
I have arrived safely in Athens, Greece but I was met with some difficulty getting here. First off, in Atlanta I get on the plane and am sitting in an aisle seat but it's in the middle row. The guy beside me is not a big dude, but he is from Copenhagen. He had been attending a funeral in Huntsville, AL of all places, and was pouring his heart out to me. I was basically this guys shoulder to cry on. He is recently a father of a 3mo. old in Denmark and I feel like his life was just a little overwhelming for the guy at the time. P.S. this is all before takeoff. As the guy is schpilling his guts out to me, I'm looking for empty seats b/c I don't know if I can take this for 11.5 hrs. While looking around, something peculiar strikes the corner of my eye. I look and it is an 11yr old girl carrying a pinata onto the plane. I have seen some crazy things in my day being boarded onto a plane (tv's, dogs, birds) but this takes the cake. The pinata is seriously no joke 2ft tall by 2ft wide. My first thought is how did this get past the security check point? It couldn't have fit through the conveyor belt, therefore is should not have been allowed on the plane. Needless to say, it was. Then I see her brother beside her with a boogie board from the beach. Once again, something that would not fit on the x-ray machine. Finally everyone is seated except these two kids and their mom b/c they are trying to find a place to put these ridiculous things away. Nothing is found and the mom had to sit with both of the items in her lap for the majority of the flight.
In Paris I boarded my plane to Athens and it was a much better flight. I had an entire row to myself to stretch out. I knew right then things were looking up. That was until I got off the plane. The airport is kind of far away from downtown and central athens, which is where my hostel is. I find someone who speaks english and tells me that I need to get on a bus to so-and-so station, then take the metro to blah blah blah. Fanfreakingtastic! The guy tell me the stations in English but each stop is written in Greek. I decide to stay on the bus, and just try and guess a stop. That is until everyone gets off b/c we are at the last stop for this bus line. I wander around this stop and what do you know I see the metro in the distance. Not real sure which way I need to go and it's so late at night that the only attendant working this station doesn't speak english. I pick a train and by the grace of God it was the right one. I get off and walk around for 1hr and 15mins before finding my hostel 1 block away from where I got off the metro.
Anyways, things are going really good except for the fact that they don't sell Benadryl here and I have a really bad skin itch, and can't sleep at night.
Love you guys,
Scott
I have arrived safely in Athens, Greece but I was met with some difficulty getting here. First off, in Atlanta I get on the plane and am sitting in an aisle seat but it's in the middle row. The guy beside me is not a big dude, but he is from Copenhagen. He had been attending a funeral in Huntsville, AL of all places, and was pouring his heart out to me. I was basically this guys shoulder to cry on. He is recently a father of a 3mo. old in Denmark and I feel like his life was just a little overwhelming for the guy at the time. P.S. this is all before takeoff. As the guy is schpilling his guts out to me, I'm looking for empty seats b/c I don't know if I can take this for 11.5 hrs. While looking around, something peculiar strikes the corner of my eye. I look and it is an 11yr old girl carrying a pinata onto the plane. I have seen some crazy things in my day being boarded onto a plane (tv's, dogs, birds) but this takes the cake. The pinata is seriously no joke 2ft tall by 2ft wide. My first thought is how did this get past the security check point? It couldn't have fit through the conveyor belt, therefore is should not have been allowed on the plane. Needless to say, it was. Then I see her brother beside her with a boogie board from the beach. Once again, something that would not fit on the x-ray machine. Finally everyone is seated except these two kids and their mom b/c they are trying to find a place to put these ridiculous things away. Nothing is found and the mom had to sit with both of the items in her lap for the majority of the flight.
In Paris I boarded my plane to Athens and it was a much better flight. I had an entire row to myself to stretch out. I knew right then things were looking up. That was until I got off the plane. The airport is kind of far away from downtown and central athens, which is where my hostel is. I find someone who speaks english and tells me that I need to get on a bus to so-and-so station, then take the metro to blah blah blah. Fanfreakingtastic! The guy tell me the stations in English but each stop is written in Greek. I decide to stay on the bus, and just try and guess a stop. That is until everyone gets off b/c we are at the last stop for this bus line. I wander around this stop and what do you know I see the metro in the distance. Not real sure which way I need to go and it's so late at night that the only attendant working this station doesn't speak english. I pick a train and by the grace of God it was the right one. I get off and walk around for 1hr and 15mins before finding my hostel 1 block away from where I got off the metro.
Anyways, things are going really good except for the fact that they don't sell Benadryl here and I have a really bad skin itch, and can't sleep at night.
Love you guys,
Scott
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