Monday, Jun. 18th

Time goes by quickly. Believe it or not, it is already our second week in Greece. This Monday morning, while walking down the noisy, crowded streets to our morning Greek class, it seemed that nothing have changed. However, this Monday, to all Greeks, was a special one, one that contained uncertainty mixed with hope. With the Greek election results being released on Sunday evening, it felt like Europe breathed a collective sigh of relief. With New Democracy’s victory in Greece’s election, a Greek exit front the euro zone appeared to have been averted, at least for now. As foreigners in this city, though the election result would not have any significant immediate impacts on us, we still felt the weight that this election held for Greece and its people. It’s an interesting experience to be in Greece at this critical moment of change. In my mind, the image of Greek people smiling and socializing loudly on streets frequently clashed with the image of homeless men and dogs sleeping in the corners of the streets. Under the surface of a seemingly calm and beautiful city, I sensed that there were also infinite nuanced changes taking place, not just in the government, but also in people’s psychology. While witnessing modern Greece struggling to break away from this financial and political turmoil, I constantly caught myself wondering, questioning about the future, and hoping for hope for the Greek people, just like what every other Greek around me was doing.

As the second week started, everything seemed to be settled into place more. In the past week, we carried out adventures after adventures, some succeeded with pride, some failed with honor. With limited vocabularies in our Greek word bank, we managed to confuse the locals and made them almost believe that we were native Greeks! We naively but courageously “invaded” the noteworthy stadium near our school and learned the hard lesson that though the fences usually looked friendly, behind the fences, there always existed an alert, angry guard. It always amazed me how Athens could combine excitement and thrill in perfect harmony with control and order.  Day after day, we announced our exotic presence to this lovely city while occasionally catching the Greeks in surprise with our Americaness. At the same time, we slowly picked up and learned the controlled rules that were emphasized in this dramatic city.

The Monday routinely started with our language class and acting class. The Greek classes were very useful and practical because they did not only teach us “survival Greek,” but also cleared up a lot of confusion we had during our adventures. For example, in Greek culture, there also existed different ways of saying “hi” depending on the person you were talking to. When encountering an elderly person, it would be better to use yasas (a formal greeting) instead of yasoo or ya, which were more informal ways of greeting.

Tonight, Tim also cordially invited us over to his house for a group dinner. In the afternoon, Annika, Rachel and Sean went to an open food market to go shopping for the first time. With only 25 euros, they bought multiple kilograms of meat, vegetables, eggs, cheese and pasta. Of course you can say that foods were relatively cheaper in those markets, but can you believe it, the shopping team was able to get deals like 1 kg of tomatoes for 1 euro. I believe that all the Greek merchants could not help but to be subdued by the shopping team’s charm and mighty bargain power. According to the shopping team’s first-handed report, the merchants in the open market were overwhelmingly kind and excited when they saw a group of Americans wandering around for groceries in local markets. Many were very impressed by the few words that the shopping team uttered during the purchase. Greek people, once again, made us feel so loved!

It was a busy afternoon, as Rachel, Annika, Sean, Savannah, and others cooked and prepared amazing food for us. For dinner, we had pasta with feta chesse and tomato sauce, fried cucumber (oh woops, it should have been zucchini, oh well, it’s the same, kind of!…), chicken in lemon sauce (the chicken was so tender that some vegetarians in the group could not help but to take a bite, hope that did no create too big of a problem for them), and some delicious Greek dessert (chocolate soft cake and honey cakes) brought in by Michael. Dinner ended in a delightful note. It was another memorable night. Though tomorrow will again be another new start, but these beautiful memories would remain with us, always and forever.

Peace, Lily

Kalimera, paidia! Good morning, pals!

While it may not be morning, Greeks use this phrase up until the early afternoon. Then there isn’t a defined greeting from the afternoon until around six pm. From six til ten, you’d say kalispera (with a soft d or slight rolling r) which translates to good afternoon. Then from ten pm on it’s kalivravi: good evening.

Just last night, Michael ordered dessert for our group dinner at Tim’s apartment, and the bakery told him to pick it up “in the afternoon… at seven”.

So what happens in those hours the sun beats down the hardest? Greeks sleep. They siesta. And, not wanting to be culturally insensitive, most of us have taken up this ritual. There’s essentially an institutionalized nap time in Greece, and it’s lovely. The heat is greatest then, and some days that great heat has meant simply stepping foot outside at three pm brings such discomfort that one is tempted to get a few minutes, or even hours, of slumber.

By the late afternoon the temperature drops ever so slightly and after some good shuteye Greeks are ready to resume the day refreshed. At eight pm, there’s still plenty of sun to take in as we wish pleasant afternoon tidings to one another. Accordingly, Greek dinner is usually at nine or ten, as the sun sets.

So, dear readers, kalimera! And kala evdomada ~ have a good week!

Katherine

Sunday, June 17th was a historic day. Even Google doodled about it:

On the 17th, Greece held a second set of elections, six weeks after the previous set in which no party received a majority.

So here’s what happened as I understand it. All this information comes from people we’ve spoken to and articles I’ve read. Please note I have simplified some aspects of this, but my hope is that in doing so I have not detracted from the essence of the particulars.

In November 2011, former Prime Minister George Papandreou called for a referendum to be held over Greece’s continued commitment the euro. Papandreou later called off the referendum due to political pressure and as a result he resigned. This ushered in an interim government headed by Lucas Papademos which lasted until elections in May 2012.

The May elections resulted in no political party winning the majority of seats in Parliament, which is required by the Greek constitution to form a government. The three largest parties had an opportunity to form a simple majority by aligning but they did not do so. The constitution called for Parliament to be dissolved and new elections scheduled, and these elections happened on June 17^th.

This election, as Greeks described it, put to vote the public’s commitment to the euro. Voters had a hard choice between continuing with harsh austerity measures or the unknowns of returning to the drachma. Regardless of their votes, social unrest and economic instability are here to stay.

The three main political parties:
New Democracy is a pro-bailout/austerity conservative party.
Syriza is a radical left, anti-bailout/austerity party. The word “syriza” references a Greek word meaning “back to the roots”.
Pasok is a socialist party, which had long ruled Greece.

In the May election, New Democracy received 19%, Syriza received 17%, and Pasok received 13%.

In Sunday’s election, New Democracy received 30%, Syriza received 27%, and Pasok received 12%.

Both elections reflect a minority victory for New Democracy, which is a party notionally committed to keeping Greece in the euro by sustaining a national austerity program.  This program has reduced the nation’s economy by 20% since 2007, and promises to cut wages and pensions by another 15% next year.

A Greek political pundit said that for Syriza, this was the best possible outcome. They didn’t win which means they won’t have to run the country, but they proved that they are a viable opponent to ND. Syriza, founded in 2004, was not taken seriously until a couple of years ago, and now their popularity is undeniable.

If Syriza had won an outright majority, Greece would have likely exited the euro zone and defaulted on its loans. Abandoning the euro surely sounds dramatic and it would have likely sent the world financial system into turmoil, but it’s important to note that Greece has a history of corruption and tax-evasion that seems to have burdened its EU partners.

We’ve been told that Greece will run out of money by the end of July. Can’t quite wrap my mind around that. Sunday’s elections added to their debt, and if a third set of elections is called for, that will surely run them dry. Let alone all other costs that are, you know, necessary to run a country.

Since no party won a majority, no single party will have enough seats to govern by itself and New Democracy must now form a coalition. On Sunday evening, Pasok (socialist party) announced that they would not join a coalition with ND (center-right) unless Syriza (radical left) did so. This coalition, if I’m not mistaken, is supposed to be formed by tomorrow, Wednesday the 20^th. If they do not form a coalition, they will schedule a third set of elections in six weeks.

Fortunately for us (and primarily our worried parents) this means that at least for the next 35 days in this global seminar, the euro will remain Greece’s currency and the drachma will not make a comeback. Greece’s troubles are certainly still present but they are not being dealt with until they have a functioning government again and it’s not clear whether that will happen during our time here.

Perhaps the strangest part of being in Athens during tumultuous times is the fact that we’re simultaneously learning about Greek history, simultaneously visiting the Acropolis, simultaneously (and constantly) hearing from Greeks how there’s was the city that fashioned democracy. It seems an unfortunate paradox that we can so praise their origins and treat their current state as a cancer.

Hopefully this served as a clear, inoffensive, and relatively concise explanation of the Greek political climate.

Over and out,
Katherine

This is coming a few days late so we’ll see how well my memory does. In preparation for Saturday’s travels, we read Aeschylus’s The Persians, as well as the introduction and first part of John Hale’s Lords of the Sea. These readings offered us context, highlighting the importance of the port and island that witnessed the defense of Greece, and arguably much of western civilization as we know it. It was in the waters surrounding Salamis and Pireaus that the Athenian navy stopped the Persian fleet. Both Aeschylus and Hale provided us with vivid details to bring us back through the millenia to when it all happened. Sofia, our guide, then pointed things out and filled in the gaps of the accounts to lift the story of the battle from the text. On this tour we also got to see ruins of yet another sacred site, this one honoring Demeter. To be honest, a lot of the ruins that we see are starting to blend together. This one was interesting, however, because we learned that when Christianity came through Greece, churches were built at the same sites as the pagan temples. Over the course of the day, we also got to have a brief dip in a quiet little area of the coast of Salamis. The water was beautiful! When night came, our attempts to find a nightclub in Athens were unsuccessful. After trying every wrong direction, we finally came to the understanding that the place we were looking for had changed its name AND was not open for the summer. Ok. We made our way back near our hotel after a run-in with ticket-checkers–a close call. From there, we had more interesting encounters and ultimately ended the night defeated, yet with the hope for better luck in the future.

Until next time,

Kanoa

Ya su! So yesterday the group had a very exciting day because we visited this lil thing called the Acropolis.  We started off the day by going to the New Acropolis Museum where Sophia (“wisdom” in Greek), our lovely guide, led us through ancient pieces and sculptures that had been excavated from the Acropolis. She was very knowledgeable and explained that she wanted us to go to the museum first so that we would have an idea of what the Acropolis might have looked like in its prime by looking at various models of it and the real pieces that had been there (parts of the Parthenon and other structures on the Acropolis are composed of plaster copies of the real pieces). Also, fun fact, it is a myth (no pun intended) that Athena is the goddess of war.  She is the goddess of WISDOM. After our tour, we got some lunch and began our hike up to the Acropolis equipped with a lot of water and sunscreen. We started by sitting in the Theatre of Dionysus where many of the ancient Greek plays we have read by Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Aeschylus were first performed!! We continued our hike and passed by the theatre of Herodticus Atticus (I may have just made up that name) where we saw the italian opera a few nights ago.  The H.A. theatre holds 5,000 and that seemed very big but…wait for it…the Dionysus theatre held 15,000 people!! Yes, 3 times the size! Soon enough we made it to the gates of the Acropolis and the view was incredible. We could see the entire city, the sea and Salamis beyond. Sophia told us more stuff and then we walked through the gates and checked out the many doric and ionic columns.  Once we walked through the gate we admired the Parthenon (scaffolding and all) and got a group pic in front of it (after Juliet retrieved her hat which flew away). Then we admired the view of the city from the northern slope where we spotted our school, the Marathon track, the remains of the Temple of Zeus, the Parliament Buliding, the Fro Yo place that Tim loves in Monastaraki (very close to the actual name I think), and finally the Delice! (The items of this list obviously vary in importance…) Then we let our hair blow in the wind (see video below) before passing through a temple with Caryatids (giant female statues; the real ones we saw in the museum) and a cool porch.  We then hiked back down towards the Mona… area where we saw a lot of graffitit/street art, the Roman Agora (marketplace) and an ancient sundial. And, I think that’s about it! An unforgettable and special day.

Stayed tuned for a blog post about our day today at Salamis and Piraeus!

Ya su,

Caroline

Thursday was our last day of classes for the week, and this time we really got to try out some things with the Greek tragedies and comedies. Some great collaboration went on in the room, from lifting Mary Lou Kolbenschlag (’14) to the ceiling to tying a fake…ahemm…body part part around Caroline Slutsky’s (’14) waist. The day was quite productive and some of the scenes really came a long way by “just doing it” in the words of Timothy Vasen.

After class we all had our daily siesta  before we went out to a dinner provided by College Year in Athens (CYA). We ate a long delicious meal up on the roof of a taverna style restaurant. Afterwards, some of us headed back towards the 1896 Olympic Stadium, which is located right next to our school. Feeling quite adventurous, a few (about 7) of us climbed the walls of the stadium and took our place on the first, second, and third metal podiums. After about 30 seconds of fun and laughter, a scary and angry man ran towards us yelling who knows what in Greek (we’ve only had three language classes so far). He chased us out of the stadium and back over the wall. Apparently that wall isn’t meant to be climbed over? However I think the fun was worth the fear. I will try to post some photo evidence in the future. Anyways, after we made our way back to the hotel we rested up and got prepared for our big day at the acropolis. Check back soon to see how that went!!

Ya su (goodbye) for now!

Julia

a bit of wind reveals the inner medusa during our acropolis tour