A Fond Farewell

The last blog from Athens 2006. I still can't believe it's already here...

One more Thanksgiving picture, with Kalenga and Mari

As the last few days in Athens approach, everyone is scrambling – some to study for exams, others to finish last minute papers.  But after tomorrow afternoon, all the classes will be done, and we’ll have Friday and Saturday to get our last kicks out of Athens. 

Tomorrow night, my writing class will have a reading for all of the Athens Center.  Rumor has it that some people from the Greek Ministry of Culture will also show up.    The seven of us in the class have been working intensively to create original works of fiction throughout the semester, and we’re all pretty excited to finally show our work to an audience.  My piece is a modern farce of the ancient Greek play by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, with President Bush and his Cabinet making up the modern cast.  I hope everyone else thinks it’s funny….and that Sophocles doesn’t come back to haunt me for “tweaking” his story…

Other than a possible morning trip to the site of the Battle of Marathon, there’s not too much else on the platter.  We’re all going to our favorite restaurants and seeing our favorite sites one more time.  And of course, we’re all trying to hang out with each other as much as possible.  The only downside to having a nation-wide program is that all of us are spread across the nation – this makes visiting each other a bit more difficult for some. 

And finally, I wanted to share a few pointers with students who are considering a study abroad semester in Athens.  Here are a few things I wish I would have known when I first came to Greece:

1)      Buy Vivodi phone cards (at most kiosks) to call home – it costs 6 USD for 2 ½ hours of call time to America.  Talking on a pay phone with these cards gives you much better reception than using an international cell phone, you won’t have any dropped calls, and you won’t have to pay for a phone and fees.

2)      Bring at least 15% more spending money than is recommended in the program fee – you may not need the money, but it’ll give you peace of mind, and you’ll have money to do some extra traveling or whatever comes up.  (And I promise you things will come up.)

3)      Public transportation has many different ways of charging for a ride – single, student, discounted, and double tickets.  Ask someone (the Athens Center will know) which one to buy for which types of trips.

4)      After you know which ticket to buy, buy it.  Public transportation in Athens is very efficient and relatively cheap – don’t try to cheat the system.  We had quite a few instances where a mistake or laziness cost students 60 euros in fines.

5)      Don’t sit in your room forever – you paid too much money to not see Athens and the area around you.

6)      Use your resources – Athens has a lot to offer, but much of it is has to be found.  Talk to the Athens Center ladies and your teachers - they will gladly tell you where to go, and what you must see.

7)      Have fun – if you go into this experience with an open mind, I promise that Athens will give you the ride of your life.

Well, my faithful readers, this is it.  This is my final blog from Athens, 2006.  Thanks for coming along on this adventure with me, and giving me an excuse to go see it all (and take a million pictures while I was there.)  If you’re considering/are studying abroad in Athens, please feel free to email me at mlboog@svsu.edu with questions or thoughts.

It’s been a blast guys, and I’m out of here – I’m going home!!  Yeia sas!

-Matt

"Your globe-trotting blogger"