Today marked my first full week of being in Greece! So many crazy, exciting things have happened already - some good, some bad - and I still have 11 weeks to go. More on this insanity to come in later posts.
I had a pretty lazy and enjoyable start to my day. After yesterday's day-long adventure in Aegina, I was utterly wiped and ended up sleeping in until almost 10:00 am (like a true Greek on the weekend, I may add). I took my time getting ready, and eventually headed down to the square to grab coffee and to do some homework. I also made my first real grocery trip while being in Athens (yay to finally having a solid amount of food readily available in my apartment!). Later this afternoon, my classmates and I met up with our professor for a Greek cultural activity: a long lunch at a traditional taverna, live Rembetiko music (a type of Greek blues), and Greek dancing. Even though we were all a bit wary about this event (especially since it was at 3:00 pm on a Saturday when most people wanted to be doing other things), I actually had a really fantastic time. The taverna itself was beautiful. The roof was made entirely of glass; the butter-colored walls were covered with plants and artwork; and colored strings of lights hung daintily everywhere. There were also giant wine barrels in several areas of the main room. However, the big attraction was - obviously - the food. Oh. My. Goodness. The food was so insanely delicious, and it just kept coming out course after course like an endless train of different plates. It was served "family style," so all the plates were shared amongst everyone at the table (for us, we had 3-4 tables pushed together, so we had 3-4 plates of everything). We started out with some bread and tzatziki. Then there was fried feta (nom). Then we had Greek salad. Then a spanakopita-type dish (my personal favorite. It was filled with other vegetables other than spinach, so it wasn't technically "spanakopita," but similar). Then feta-stuffed peppers. Once we thought all the courses had been served, huge dishes of meat and potatoes were delivered. And then a spinach-covered meat dish. Then pureed eggplant and lamb (my least favorite dish). It seemed never-ending. In addition to all this food, we also had a plentiful supply of red wine flowing at all times. It was great. As is European tradition, this meal ended up lasting for nearly 4 hours! We talked, and ate, and drank. And then talked, and ate, and drank some more (shout out to Penn State for generously providing the funds for this fun and delicious excursion). We also got to enjoy the live Rembetiko band playing for the majority of our meal. The jazzy, blues-y, soulful music was an excellent addition to the already pleasant environment. The musicians could really play, and the vocalists had fantastic, smooth voices. They sang for hours, but you could never tell just from listening to them. Overall, it was a really fun time. I'm so glad Dr. Killebrew decided to take us out on this trip in downtown Athens. You simply can't get this type of experience in America; everything is so often too fast-paced and impersonal. We had many great conversations, and even learned some new things about each other. Amazing food + bonding = successful outing. TTFN, - Hannah
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Hannah BisbingStudent @ Penn State. Figure skater. Writer. Traveler. Coffee fanatic. Foodie. Semi-professional people watcher who recently returned home from backpacking around Europe. All photos taken by me, unless otherwise noted.
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