Starting off - Athens

Being stuck in a plane for ten hours was pretty tough, but aside from the length the flight wasnt bad. I didn't get much sleep, but Greece is very much a napping culture during the summer so it works out. I met up with Rachel in line to board that last flight, and we ran into Pete and Sheila at the cafe by the airport's "meeting point". It was pretty convenient since we're the four who aren't from Rutgers' New Brunswick campus. We hung out for about a hour (the plane got in around 10:00 and we were due to be picked up at noon) in the cafe before realizing that the rest of the students, all but one of whom were on our flight, had been camping out at the other end of the cafe. A little while later the professors showed up and we took our bus into downtown Athens to CYA. Literally next door to the building is the stadium they rebuilt from ruins for the 1896 Olympics, and the Acropolis is visible from the upper floors of the CYA building. For reference, I took all three of these from the same spot (which is why the stadium photo is so lousy):
CYA: College Year in Athens building
90 degrees to the right
90 degress to the left

After lunch we moved into our apartments. Pete, Dan and I are living at 9 Fedrou street a few blocks away from CYA; half of the girls live directly above us, the other guys live down the street and the rest of the girls live a few blocks closer to CYA. They're meant to house five students, so we all get our own rooms, though the AC unit in Pete's room isn't working properly so he's sleeping in the other bed in my room. In the photo you can see the brown wooden shades. They help keep the heat out during the daytime and also keep the rooms nice and dark for napping.

After settling in we got a tour of the neighborhood. It looks a bit run-down from the outside (just like the rest of Athens) but it's middle-class. Walking just a few blocks from out apartment will take you to a long street with shops and restaurants and nightclubs on both sides. Dan, AJ and I explored it a bit last night. Anyway, after the tour we were treated to dinner, which was a sort of sampler deal. Every few minutes the waiter would bring another dish. It was a great meal, we were out on the rooftop and even when we left at 8:30 we had the place to ourselves. During the summer, at least, Greeks tend to work until or two every afternoon until the heat starts getting really nasty, and then they eat lunch and take a siesta until six or seven. It's pretty common for businesses to open back up closer to dusk for a few hours, and the usual Greek dinnertime is something like ten o'clock.

Today we got a basic overview of the city, with a brief lecture on the Aeropagus, which is essentially a big chunk of limestone a little to the west of the Acropolis. It's not the highest point in the city, but it gives a great view of most of the archaeological sites as well as the urban sprawl out to and past the mountains nearby.

Obligatory Acropolis picture
Pictures from the Aeropagus:
Likavitos hill, the highest point the in the city.
The Acropolis
The Pnyx, where the Athenian assembly met in the ancient city.
The Agora. Most of the bits in the middle are gone, but the temple of Hephaistos to the left is very well preserved. To the right you can see where they reconstructed on of the old buildings.

After this we got a nice tour of the Plaka, which is mostly shops and restaurants. After eating I came back here through the National Gardens. Tonight we've got a crash-course in Greek and then we're making our first trip to the National Archaeological Museum tomorrow for another pretty easy day. On Thursday we take our first trip out of Athens to hit up the Mycenean stuff, and then take the ferry to Crete overnight.