A day trip to Pireus

On a Sunday morning my tandem language course started. It means that people filled an application online to inform what language do they want to learn and what is their mother language. The idea is that you can meet your partner when ever you want and how often you want to. The idea is not to sit in a classroom to study, you go for a coffee or to the supermarket or movies to learn the language. So after the deadline for the applications the ESN people who organize this thing devided people into pairs. I was a bit afraid that no one would want to learn finnish but there was this one girl who did want to learn my language and she will teach me hers, Greek. The first meeting was in this Old Univeristy in Plaka, which is nowadays a sightseeing place and a museum. Despoina, my pair, wasn't there but I've emailed to her and we are gonna meet this week!

Taken from the balcony of the Old University

Sunday was a pretty fine day also (like Saturday had been) so I suggested to the girls that if we would take a metro to Pireus and go walk around to see the area. :) So we (me, Maggie, Anais, Marie and Nina) met at 3 pm and took a metro to Pireus. The metro station was really near to the place which I've been like over 40 times, the place where we took our boat to Poros island. It was a strange and happy feeling to be there and to be reminded of all the familiar smells and hear all the noises. I also went to the Hellenic Seaways office to ask for prices to Poros, 15€ for a student studying in Greek University. Cool!

Pireus

After walking around 3 hours in the public harbour as well as in the private one with yacht boat (Zea Marina) we found a place to eat. It was my first time on this trip eating in a real Greek restaurant with greek music, the view to the sea and the greek restaurant furniture. :) Food was good and we started making our way back to home. We took a trolley which was a slower than a metro but we wanted some change. :) At home I was around 15 minutes so that I just changed my clothes and was off again.

Zea Marina

Only this time I had my skates with me. I was going to my first ice hockey practise! This time the rink was really easy to find. I was there five to ten as I had been told to be there around 10 pm. The first girl arrived 10.20 pm. Then we just waited in the "lobby" or the small area with chairs. There was a problem. Currently the only rink in Athens area is owned by this woman who doesn't like hockey players. She actually once didn't allow the men's national team to go to the ice to practise! The coach and Georgia fought with her around 30 minutes to get a permisson for us to go to the ice. The owner was telling something about some law that it would be illegal to let us to the ice if there wasn't a doctor or ambulance present in a case of emergency. I just didn't quite understand why sometimes she lets the girls to practise. And it would be money for her. I don't know. It was just so so sad to watch the situation and the expressions on the girls faces. They are so close to practise the sport they love but they aren't allowed to the ice. They just wanna practise. It was really sad to imagine what they have to deal with in order to play. To come to the ice rink many times a week and have to deal with the disappointment of just going back to home. The girls looked at me so jealously when I told that in Finland I get to the ice average five times a week. Now I can really understand them. :/ After leaving from the rink empty handed the girls were really nice to me and asking if I can find my way home and I even got a ride to the metro station.

Not that much space on the bench..

Monday I was finally able to go to the supermarket since my fridge was empty, again. I also went to the cosmote store to argue about my phone, again.. Then I went to the post office to get some stamps. :) Then I fixed some food for myself and listened to the thunder and rain outside. I called to my teacher who gave me some number to some student girl to whom I called and she didn't know anything about me or why I had called her.. She just told me that the way to the hospital is really long from where I live.. :/ I called back to the teacher who told me to call to the girl in 10 minutes. I did as told and I had a date with the girl on Wednesday at 7.15 am in some metro station. We are supposed to be at the hospital at 8 am and I have to leave from my home around 6.30..

Lake Vouliagmeni

On a Saturday morning, after sleeping around 5-6 hours, I woke up to my alarm and tried to text to people that whether or not they were going to the trip to the city of Vouliagmeni. Of course my shitty sim card cosmote What's up didn't work so I couldn't get in touch with anyone! The meeting point was at noon in Akropolis metro station and I decided that I will go even though if all the people I knew wouldn't be going, so I hit the shower at 11.15 and I was really in a hurry. Just when I rushed out the door I got a message from a German Nina who lived near my place that she was going and would meet Maggie next door at her place. So I left with the girls and we were sure that there wouldn't be that many people since most were so drunk the last night at the party. But at the bus stop there were around 40 of us going! We all hopped to the bus E22 going to the lake and when after riding around 5-10 minutes someone of us shouted: everybody out! ..we were going to the wrong direction.. :D On the second try to the right direction this time, we had to wait an other 30 minutes before the bus left. The bus ride felt like it took for ever!! It was around 60 minutes or so and the bus was really full and it was so hot in there.

Vouliagmeni

Finally we arrived there and the scenery was beautiful! The sea and the sun!! The Lake Vouliagmeni was really close to the bus stop so we walked there and it cost 8€ to get in. We didn't have our bikinis with us and the lake was rather small so we figured that we would get bored quickly and also we were starving! So me, Maggie and Nina decided not to pay to get to the lake, instead we wanted to walk along the sea and find a place to eat. We found this restaurant which was really cool, all the prices were half if you took what you ordered with you! Perfect for us! We went to sit down to the rocks above the sea. It felt like it was June aslo the temperatu was around +20C! People swimming and playing watersports. Perfect lunch!

Our lunch place and it's view

After eating we wanted to go try the water so we found a place to get closer to the water. When we got into the mood of the water, sun and the beach we went to the beach! The beach was full of Greek people! The girls went to swim in their underwear and we took sun on the beach for around 3 hours. At some point we were joined by, also an Erasmus, Andrea from Milan and his two friends who were visiting him. :)

Andrea suggested us that we would climb to the mountain which is above the lake to see the view, the sea and the sunset! Of course we agreed on that! :) The hill that we climbed was really steep but we didn't mind because we really wanted to see the view. On the top we spotted a road and benches and stuff there. There actually would have been stairs leading up.. :D We spent time there taking pictures and enjoying our stay! Then we headed to the bus stop to wait for the bus. Out of all the Erasmus people who were there we were the last ones to leave for home. :)

Lake Vouliagmeni from the mountain

Sunset

There would have been this HUGE house party in the evening but we decided no to go since we were really tired! Great day and I was so happy I decided to go !! :)

Gym, sun, police officers and ice hockey!

Wednesday was a boring day, again. In the morning I went to the gym and after that I didn't have much to do. In the late afternoon I decided to go walk around near Syntagma area which turned out to be a bad idea. The metro was on strike for 24 hours so I should have guessed that there might be demonstrations going on also. When I left home there were about 15-20 police officers with their motorbikes in every major grossroads. I was walking in the National Garden when suddenly these police officers came next to me with their bikes and ask me to stop in Greek. I was shaking! They asked to see my passport which of couse I didn't have with me, but they accepted my driver's licence. They asked me tons of questions like when did you arrive to the country, what do you do here, where do you live, do you remember your street address, have you been in contact with the police and stuff like that! Couple of them were standing next to me and one of them was talking to his radiophone to tell my name and check me up probably from computer or something. Then they said have a nice day, gave me my id back and I was free to go. I was a bit shaken so it was the end of my day walk..

Zappio, National Garden. Ymittos mountain on the back

Thursday morning I went to the gym and after that I took a nap. Again there was a strike so I didn't wanna take a taxi to get somewhere so I just stayed at home. In the evening me and my neighbour girls and some others too left again to the bar in Plaka, Brettos. We had a fun time there and I got to know more and more people whose names I can't remember, or even pronounce. There were 16 of us in this small bar but we all fit well. :) I met guys from Holland, Austria, Poland, Romania, France (many people are from France!) and Latvia.

We left from the bar almost everyone together and since most of us where going to the same direction we decided to walk home. :) I walked with a guy named Callum and he is just a nice guy!! We had so similar sense of humour and we understood each other immediatelly! :D We had so much fun laughing to every stupid thing we could come up with! :D The walk to home was almost 2 km but it went really fast :) 

Syntagma sq.

Friday morning I went to the gym once again but it was so forced that I only were there 60 minutes. At 1 pm me, my flatmate and the girls next door left to the Syntagma sq. where we met this Greek girl (friend of the others) and went shopping to the famous Ermou street. I didn't buy anything but I saw so much stuff I could have bought! Gotta go there again some day.. :P Then we went to eat at the Monastiraki sq. where I ordered in GREEK.. :P The waitress was amused but anyway I did it. Then we decided to walk around to get to know the major streets and areas. The girls needed to find a bookstore (many people also study english, french, greek etc literature). I bought a children's book to practise my greek.. :P

Monastiraki sq.

We walked a lot in the afternoon!! A lot! I walked home from Syntagma sq. and it only took me less than 15 minutes so it's really close to my place! :)

In the evening the others left to Kypseli for a pre-party before to actual party in Thissio/ Akropolis when I instead left to watch Greek Men's first ice hockey Championship game near the mall of Athens Heart in Petralonia. I found there pretty easily and met the girl Georgia with whom I've been emailing for the past months! Georgia introduced me to our coaches, other teammates who were also there and to the president of Greece ice hockey. The other girls on the team also spoke good english so that was nice. :) The game started and it was so different than in Finland. Most of the players were old and they were canadian-greek or german-greek. On the ice they mostly spoke english. The ice rink was half size from the normal ones. They could skate okey but they game was still so.. I don't know the word. I mean it was really the kind of hockey you can see played in outdoors in winter time, like amatour hockey. It was so nice to notice all the same feelings going on the ice when you play the game, I doesn't matter in which country you're in. I got my first practise on Sunday evening and I can't wait!!

From the game I was supposed to find some of my friends who had gone to pre-party in Kypseli.. I got a ride from the ice hockey people to Viktoria metro station. There I tried to call people but nobody answered to me.. So I decided to take a metro to home. The metro stopped at Omonia (the neighbourhood which is really bad especially at night time) and everybody had to go out since it was the last metro.. That was just my luck, I was left alone to the neighbourhood which is the worst part in Athens. There were three girl standing outside looking as stunned as I was and they asked me if I was an Erasmus and that they were going to the actual party near Thissio. I joined them and finally found my friends at the bar! :) 

Carnival in Patras!

Snow on the top of the mountain

On a Sunday morning at 6 am me and my neighbour girls: Maggie from Germany and Anais from France left to the Evangelismos metro station to meet some other Erasmus people. Then together we headed to Viktoria metro station where our meeting point was. There were around 200 Erasmus students gathering to buses to get ready for Patras which is the third biggest city in Greece. On the bus ride some people started drinking whisky and beer at 8 am. :D We stopped at Corinth Canal for 15 greek minutes so around 30 minutes and then continued our way towards Patras.

Corinth Canal

On our way we passed the famous Rio-Antirrio bridge

We arrived to Patras around 10-11 am and the buses left us a bit farther away so we started walking towards the center. When we got closer to the center we could see the carnical mood that was going on! The streets were full of people selling whistles (everybody had a whistle that they blew all the time!), wigs, costumes, funny sunglasses, serpentine, confetti and everything you can only imagine! At every corner of the building there were coffees or snack bars and already at 11 am they were all full! Me and Anais looked for a place to eat around an hour or so! 

The first meeting point for us was in front of this Magazara bar at 1 pm. Outside the bar people were finishing their costumes and drawing stuff to their faces, acting crazy and of course drinking. Then we started making our way to the main square and it was really difficult to keep everyone together but we managed to get maybe 50 people with whom we spent the most time to the same place. The parade was supposed to start at 2 pm but it started around 2.45 pm and it started with a small demonstration. There were lots of police officers to make sure nobody goes to the street were the parade walks. The parade lasted around 4 hours and it was just amazing how they had some many people walking there and particapating and all the costumes and stuff were different! (I read from the internet that there were around 30 000 people actively particapating to the parade and around 300 000 following the parade! BUT that really can't be true, can it?! 'Cause that's hell of a lot people!) So after the parade was over people started to make their way to the harbour were the burning of the floating carnival king was supposed to start at 9 pm and after that there were fireworks. At the harbour there was also a stage with some bands playing there. 

Callum at the first meeting point

The French guy who only drank raw Vodka and while being drunk told that he is gay!

Pierre

First people of the parade

On the parade there were many hidden or well, not so hidden message about the situation in Greece. Money played a big role in the parade. Also there were really open messages how much the people in Greece hate the german Angela Merkel right now..

money, money, money..

Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel

Neighbours: Anais, me and Maggie

:P

So many diffirent costumes!

After the parade ended we went to get something to eat and then to the harbour to wait for the fireworks. Time went past so slowly! People started to be really tired and not everyone were drinking any more so.. We just waited for the time to go past. Maybe 9.30 pm they light the carnival king of which we didn't see anything because there were so many people there.. The fireworks were really cool!! :) Me and Anais started walking towards our bus to ask the driver if we could come in and sleep. The driver said no. :( We were so tired and at every bar there was loud music and drunken people. Finally we found this coffee place with old greek men there watching football. We went in and stayed there for almost three hours.. I've never watched so much football before.. :D At 1 am we headed to the New Marina were our after party was. The buses left from Patras at 2.30 am and I desperately tried to get some sleep since I had promised to go for my first ice hockey practise in the morning at 7 am!! Well I didn't get almost any sleep on the bus and I got home at 6 am so I had to text Georgia that I can't come. I was so disappointed! :( I really would have wanted to go! 

Carnival King

The next morning there was supposed to be a picnic because it was a Clean Monday which meant free day from work and school! Clean Monday, in other cultures is also known as Ash Monday or Lent Monday! It symbolizes the start of The Great Lent; a 40 day period (before Easter) of fasting during which certain foods are not eaten. People cather to parks to have picnics and fly their kites! :) It started at 1.30 pm and I had my alarm set at noon but I woke up at 2 pm.. So I didn't go there. I went for a walk to the nearest park but the wheather was so terrible that there weren't any people at the park. 

27th of Feb was also the first day of my membership in the gym! So I went there and I really really would have wanted my Jillian to be there with me. I really didn't get anything done because all the equipment were so different and there were also lots of hot guys there.. :D

In the evening my flatmate Alice had sent a message through facebook to invite people to Plaka (area under the Akropolis) to a nice and cozy bar. We were maybe 12-15 people there and the bar was so nice!! We got home at 2 am. 

Today the weather was also really boring so in the morning I headed to the gym even though my legs were really hurting! After I went again to the Cosmote store because my sim card didn't work. Then I just hang home, went to stores, made food, washed laundry, cleaned and took it easy. :) I also called to my teacher to get some info about my practical training since it was supposed to start on Thursday.. Well I have to call her again on Monday and I might start it next week on Wednesday.. And what I understood that the place is not so close.. So, we'll see.

Warm Saturday :)

Yesterday evening we had a gathering at our place and people started arriving around 10 pm and the last ones left around 2 am. It was nice hanging around and to get to know people who have already been in Athens since September or so. I also met some people who study at the same school as I, since most Erasmus people study economics or telecommunications or something like that. We also talked about our introduction week (all the other schools have already had theirs). :) 

+20-21C

In the morning my friend Xenofon picked me up with his car and we drove to the Lycavittos hill and the view was impressive. You could see the whole Athens and the mountains surrounding it. Xenofon also knew a lot of history and all the buildings so I really got a lot of information! :)

St. George chapel on the top

Pireus and the sea

Pagrati

Xenofon and me :)

After Lycavittos we drove to the biggest mall in Athens, The Mall. :) There we just hang around and drank sodas and I went to buy a mask for me for tomorrows carnival in Patras.

Tomorrow is a whole day trip to Patras for the carnival which is one of the biggest in Europe! In the afternoon there is this parade and in the evening there is a burning of some floating carnival King and fireworks and then of course some party. The buses to Patras leave tomorrow morning at 7 am and we are coming back around 4-5 am.

Here is some more info and pictures about the anual carnival:
Patras Carnival

Time goes by so slowly..

Wednesday was really boring! In Finland I'm always coming or going to same place. I rarely have a time that I really don't have anything to do. If I'm not at school I'm working. Maybe I just have to start enjoying that I have nothing to do or no plans. I can do whatever I feel like doing! :) I woke up in the morning and left to T.E.I school to meet some member of the ESN to get the ESN card. The guy was this nerd boy and I got the card and he showed me to the international office where I tried to get some answers to my questions like when does my greek language studies start or when do I get the discount paper for public transportation. Apparently I can only registerate to the school on 6 of March! That's just stupid I think since my practical training starts on the first..! Well anyway nothing happens before the sixth. Then it was noon and I had nothing to do! It rained almost the whole day so I wasn't the eager to go wander around the city. In the evening there would have been this Athensmus animal party with a dresscode: animalistic.. I decided not to go since the bar would have opened up at 12 and I was too tired + I absolutely would not had had anything to wear! :D

                                          

A nice wake up in the morning. And the french balcony doors are closed, so that well you can hear all the noises from the street.

Yesterday morning I slept late and left out to have a walk and to try to find a place where to buy stamps! Apparently a lot easier said than done. There is a post office at the syntagma sq. (where all the riots and demonstrations happen) so I wasn't that eager to go there. Pretty near my place I found a some kind of post but when I went in it was so full of people that I decided that I'll try some other time! At 4 pm I met my Greek friend Xenofon who actually was in Finland to do his Erasmus period one and a half years ago. :) It was nice catching up with him and it was a bit hilarious since the last time we saw I had said that I wish I could come to Athens to do my Erasmus and practical training and now we met under the Akropolis! :)

Then I talked on skype with my mom and dad and also with Lotta. :) Then it was a nap time since I was planning to hit the Crazy Masquerade party in the evening.. I wasn't quite sure if I would stay awake until the party starts at 11 pm. My flatmate and the girls next door decided not to go so I wasn't that eager to leave there alone BUT I did go. Even to my surprise.

At the Kerameikos metro station I spotted a guy who had been in the Akropolis event also. We were the first ones there along with three Greek girls who were the planners of the event and we waited around 60 minutes before we went inside the bar (no one else had arrived). People had nice and fun costumes on (when they arrived around 12-2 am) and, well, the party was okey. I can't say I really really enjoyed myself since I really didn't have anybody with whom I would have been there. You might think that why didn't she go and talk with people and have fun with them. Well, of course I talked with people but at first when I don't know them (some of them I wasn't even that eager to get to know to..) I'm really shy and I can't really totally be myself. And I only drank two small beers so that didn't help either for getting courage. :D I took a taxi home around 2.30 am when I got too bored watching girls with miniskirt way too drunk. :D

Today I had planned to sleep late but I woke up before 9 am. I cleaned my room, did some laundry and left out to enjoy the sunshine. I walked to the nearest post office where I waited for 35 minutes to get couple of stamps to my letters.. After I went to sit to the nearby park, read the letter I received from Lotta and laughed aloud, read some greek and tried to figured out my practise program for next week. People stared at me 'cause I only had a t-shirt on and I was putting on some sunlotion while other people had their jackets and scarfs on.. C'mon it was +15 and cloudless sky! Then I decided to go to Lidl as it was really near also. Then I came home to fix some food and rest a bit.

Then I head out again to just walk and enjoy the buildings, smells and the athmosphere of Athens and most of all Pagrati streets. I went to this supermarket AB and took my time to just wander around the shelves and see what there really is. All things started to make sence, I started to find the same things I'd normally buy in Finland. :)

In the evening I spoke on skype with my sister and mom. I send emails to the hockey girl and to my school in Finland. My first hockey practise could actually be on Monday morning at 7.30 am. I'm so excited and also a bit nervous since the carnival trip to Patras is going to end around 4 am.. But I think I can manage to stay awake! :D Hopefully!