On this hot Monday morning, 14 (soon to be 15) Princeton students and two faculty gathered in Athens to begin a six week long exploration of 5th century tragedy and comedy, as scholars and as performers.  We’ll be learning basic modern Greek, seeing performances at the Athens and Epidauros festivals, and most importantly learning where to find the best feta cheese.  Some of us tried octopus for the first time last night.  I spent the afternoon wandering the markets, looking at parts of animals I had no idea people ate and trying to pick from dozens of kinds of olives (I did pretty well, I think).  The election that could well decide the future of Greece–or at least its economy–is happening on Sunday, and everything feels very quiet, like the city is holding its breath, waiting to see what will happen next.

Over the next several weeks, the students will be taking turns updating this blog with our adventures, impressions, reactions to performances and, as is always the case in Greece, crisis or no, reveling in the unexpected.  I love it here and am thrilled to be able to explore this city in depth.  An Athenian for a month?  There are worse fates…