Well today was just about the longest day of my life. The days have so many more hours in them when you wake up at 6:30 am! Today was the first day of classes, and the first one was at 8:30 in the morning. Fortunately, it wasn't a battle to wake up in time today - that may change in the future. The near future.
So the day began with Ancient Art and Architecture, which looks to be as much of an ancient civilization course as an art history course. The professor is notorious for calling on students to finish his sentences and answer random questions. He also is highly opinionated on his subject. I was debating switching out to another section as I didn't want to deal with another Lou C. situation, but found to my surprise that, while abrasive, he encourages argument with his views and doesn't particularly care if you get an answer wrong so long as you say it loud enough. I'm going to stick it out.
After class, I thought* I had until lunch to do a little shopping for school supplies/food/etc., and walked off int he direction I believed the school supply store to be. Was I ever wrong! 2 hours later I've happily found all the supplies I need, but I have no idea where I am. I never walked into a bad part of town and no one gave me trouble (except the people with fliers on the street corners, but that isn't specific to Athens and they don't follow you for long) but it certainly tested my knowledge of the city. I managed not to stray too far, but it took asking directions and remembering half an hour later that I, in fact, had a large map in my bag to get back to Pangrati (the apartment area). I am very proud that I figured out how to get back basically painlessly and I explored the city for a fair bit, but I'm also really sad that I don't recall how to get back to any of the cool stores and restaurants I passed by. I'll figure it out again later (with a group!)
Now, I mentioned that I THOUGHT I had all this time, but this wasn't exactly true. I had been told that my Modern Greek class was the second block, and who was I to question the person handing me my Modern Greek textbooks? Naturally, in the way of luck, I was on the register for the first block and was told while eating lunch with friends that my name had been called then. So I ran up to the registrar and discovered that, Yes, I had completely missed my first Modern Greek class. The registrar was very relaxed about it, and apparently we didn't cover much (my friends in the class went over everything with my and showed me the homework) but I still feel bad about it. I'm planning to arrive early tomorrow and explain with homework in hand. At least then I might make a good impression face-to-face. Ah well.
Ancient Greek Myth and Religion came last for the day. 3:50-5:20 is absurdly late for a class period in my books (Williams has spoiled me greatly) and I got to class really tired (if you look at the post time on the last entry and compare it to my wake-up time in this one, you'll quickly see why!) The class itself was ridiculously easy. It is an introductory course, but I had no idea how little some people knew about Greek Myth. Several couldn't name even a few Olympian gods and when asked how to identify gods like Poseidon (trident) and Demeter (grain) there was total silence. Either people were very tired, shy or new to the material. I'm honestly not sure which. However, the teacher was quite good and a refresher course with interesting tidbits thrown in was fun and the class isn't much work. I've read nearly every play and poem on her course list, which is oddly satisfying. Also, she is currently writing a book that incorporates Greek myth WITH the religious cults and rituals, something that I've never seen done in a class and always wanted to know more about, so that will be interesting. Another student and I talked to her and the Director of Academic Affairs about taking the course at a higher lever (no go) but I don't really care much. It's nice just to be thinking about the myths, and it's nice to know that I will usually know the answers in this class at least!
Today's final adventure involved discovering a fruit market three doors down from the apartment where I got 3 bananas, 3 carrots, 2 oranges and an apple all for 2.15 €. We have a new favorite market. :) Tomorrow is Open Market day and I don't have class until 12:20 pm, so I'm going to try to get a fair haul of food so I will stop getting gyros for every dinner. I'm not tired of them, but it will eat into my bank account eventually. :P
Modern and Ancient Greek classes tomorrow. I will have friends in Thucydides, and all of them seem to be at about the same level I am, which feels wonderful. I hope the professor is energetic, understanding and nice. I've heard good things about the Modern Greek prof., so I'm not worried on that front. That class will be very useful very quickly.
Καληνύχτα! Good night!
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