Whirlwind

Settle in, this is a long one. Believe it or not, I was actually too busy to blog this week. Everyone needed to finish up their final stories in Athens, and I saddled myself with probably more video work than I could realistically handle. But like most things that require a lot of effort, this week was certainly worthwhile. We posted some great stories, from the state of healthcare for refugee mothers, to startups budding up across Greece (one of the few bright spots in the Greek economy according to one journalist who came to speak with our class), to the plight of endangered sea turtles.  There are still more to come, including the feature piece on the refugee crisis. I did a video for that as well, but I won’t share it here until it’s posted on our site, which you can check out here by the way.

Quick look at me trying to keep my eyes open this week.

This week also took me to some incredibly unique places, that I never would have seen on any brochure. That was actually the mantra of the first interesting person I met this week, John “Brady” Kiesling. He is a former U.S. diplomat who retired over his concerns about the legitimacy of our entry into war Iraq in 2003 (good call, Brady). He now has invented an app called ToposText, that shows users the history of where they are standing right from their smartphone–no brochure necessary. He took Mike and I up to the Pnyx, the place where democratic meetings used to held in ancient Greece. It had an awesome view of the Acropolis and the city, but he said most people don’t go there because it’s not on the usual tourist checklist. Panorama. 

Next up was a trip to Sepolia, a neighborhood of Athens where NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo (I’m a pro at spelling this now) grew up. There is a court there dedicated to him, with his image painted across the entirety of it. Brandon, Theo and I talked to a bunch of the kids playing there about their favorite players and teams. We also got to meet the scout who discovered the “Greek Freak” and interviewed him at our hotel. Brandon’s story on Giannis and the neighborhood is awesome, and is also up on our site.

Then on Saturday, Bridget and I paid a visit to Ergastiri, a training facility for people with mental disabilities. The residents there are put into classes and taught to make their own products: cookies, pasta, rugs, soap, gifts, ceramics, you name it. It was a beautiful facility and it pained me to remember that we were there because the Greek government hasn’t been able to pay facilities like it for well over a year. Story and video on that still to come.

Residents of Ergastiri working looms to make rugs.

Finally, I also got in some interviews for my personal project, which is a video on the Exarchia neighborhood of Greece and the street art there. The neighborhood is known for its rebellious and anarchist spirit…and its great street art. I’ll save most of the description for the video (which I’ll post on here later when I find the time to edit it) but the coolest part of making it was meeting the street artist Cacao Rocks.

Some street art by Cacao Rocks outside his studio.

Just like that, another dialogue is over. It was as much fun as I thought it would be, but also more challenging than I expected. I went out of my comfort zone a lot and I’m really happy I did (Carlene even said I wasn’t lazy!). One thing that never changes throughout these trips is my love of seeing new places and meeting new people. I’ll keep the blog up as I travel through Switzerland in the coming week, but I can’t think of three better pictures to post to officially end this dialogue.

Click to enlarge and have nightmares.

 

 

When it rains, it hails

At least in Athens it does. Yesterday I went to get some lunch after taking a break from cutting down Arabic interviews for an upcoming piece on the refugee crisis on the mainland of Greece. I went to McDonald’s. Yeah, I said it. I would say something about how each McDonald’s in a different country has it’s own feel and I wanted to see what it was like…but I passed over the “Greek Mac” and went for a quarter-pounder with cheese and fries. I’ve eaten a lot of Greek food, so judge away, I’ll be alright.

On the way back, the Greek gods seemingly wanted to punish me for my American lunch choice, and it started raining. I was not prepared for this in the slightest, so I took shelter under the library a few blocks from our hotel. At first I was pissed because my shoes were ruined and my pants were soaked through, but as I looked out on the square I realized I actually had a great view. As the good little videographer I am, I took a time-lapse video which you can see here, as well as a riveting close-up on the hail that was coming down with the rain. What started out as a negative ended up being a pretty cool experience.

That’s starting to happen a lot on this trip. On Saturday, I was excited for the whole group to visit an island for a beach day, which we missed out on in Thessaloniki because of the rain. It started out looking like a disaster, as we struggled to get ferry tickets and were looking at a lot of cloud cover. When we got to the shore, the beach we could see looked meager to say the least. But after consulting some maps and following Ellie’s leadership, we made it to a really nice beach and had a great day. I was so happy about the sun coming out that I soaked it in probably a little too much and have a nasty sunburn. But guess what? That burn is going to be a tan (and possibly skin cancer down the line but we’ll ignore that for the sake of this analogy). Negative to positive.

Artsy photo I took on the island.

Sunset over the Aegean from the ferry.

On Sunday I had decided to wake up early to go to a mass with Bridget. I woke up feeling like every bit of my skin was on fire and really regretted the decision. But once we got there that regret flew off me like a piece of peeling skin. The church was gorgeous, and the priests were decked out in ridiculously elegant clothes and had extravagant facial hair to match it. There was a chorus of about twenty men singing ancient hymns, and it wasn’t hard for me to imagine Greeks having mass hundreds of years ago.

Exterior of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens.

The inside of the cathedral.

It’s around this time that everyone starts to get stressed out, including me. Students start chirping me that I don’t do anything, deadlines are being imposed and everyone’s realizing that we only have single-digit days left in this great place and they might not get to fully experience it. While my main job is to do a head count to 19, I also like to make sure everyone gets a positive experience out of this trip, and doesn’t come away seeing it as a wholly stressful time or worse, a waste of time. I’m still friends with people I grew close with on these trips (shoutout to commenter Gina-Maria), I’m living with my roommate from my first time as a TA and I still show the work I did abroad to employers and they’re always usually impressed. It probably doesn’t sound great coming from me because I don’t have to write stories like the students do, but I was in their shoes not too long ago and I know how it feels. To complete the shitty analogy, the burn will wear off and everyone will probably be craving the Greek sun once we’re back in our normal lives for a little while. So let’s put on some sunscreen and get through this week.

Gallery: Acropolis Visit

A selection of photos from our visit to the Acropolis and Acropolis museum (here you go Mom and Dad):

Click to view slideshow

Selection of statues in the Acropolis Museum.

Recreation of the top section of the Parthenon.

Another recreation of the frieze of the Parthenon.

Golden coins found on the Acropolis.

View of Athens from the Acropolis.

Steps leading up to the Acropolis.

Panoramas are necessary.

Parthenon.

The Road to Athens

I’m in Athens. It’s been a busy past few days and we’ve been on the road for quite a while. The drive from Thessaloniki to Athens spans basically the entire country from north to south, so it was a long one. The stops along the way made it worth it and then some, though.

First up was Meteora, an area that used to be a giant lake but has since drained out and left gigantic stone pillars standing in the middle of a valley. Sprouting up from these pillars are monasteries, some built as early as the 14th century. The architecture is incredible, it looks like the buildings are growing straight out of the rocks. The inside of the monasteries are just as impressive, and standing in them and looking out at the view was nothing short of a humbling experience.

Selfie felt necessary

Our group at a monastery

(Click to view full-size)

Next up was Delphi, the site of the ancient Oracle of Delphi. We were told by our enthusiastic tour guide that the Oracle was really just an elaborate con, used by the wisemen of the time to exert their influence over everyone from the average person wondering who they should marry to kings questioning whether they should enter a war with another city-state.

As disappointing as it was to learn that the Oracle couldn’t really tell the future, the fact that Delphi was considered the center of the universe by many ancient Greeks was not a myth. The history of the city was really interesting, as were many of the artifacts on display in the museum(in which I didn’t get yelled at or even scolded…progress). Delphi also boasted some nice views, although they weren’t quite Meteoric.

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So now I’m in Athens. I’ve been here once before with my family when I was in middle school, but I’m not recognizing much other than the Acropolis. Thessaloniki was a great city, but Athens is quickly coming for the top spot in my book. It’s bustling, covered in art and filled with shops and restaurants. The combination of modern life with ancient history makes this place truly unique. It’s tough to beat being able to look up and see the Parthenon illuminated on your casual walk to dinner. The view from our hotel rooftop isn’t bad either.

Parthenon lit up in the distance.

View of the Parthenon from our hotel.