Goodnight, Athens

I can hardly believe that the room I'm now stuffing into my suitcase is the same room I collapsed in when I stepped off the plane in February. Because I began the semester in winter and am ending in summer, two very very different seasons in Greece, it feels like I have been here for much longer than four months. Thinking about the first time we walked around Agia Paraskevi getting to know our surroundings is like thinking about a memory from at least a few years ago...it's been so long. Over four months I reached the point where I felt almost like a resident of Athens: I went to the grocery store all the time, I learned the shortcuts out of the metro stations, I was speaking casually with my professors, and I even learned to say a few words. On that note, for my very first entry, didn't I make a list of goals? Let's look over that now and see what actually happened.

1. I WANT TO GO TO SPAIN FOR SPRING BREAK. Done. I may have a few small regrets about my time in Greece...but I don't have ANY about Spain! It was everything I could have hoped for and more! Without having gone for two weeks, I don't know how my time in Greece would have been different.

2. I WANT MY SPANISH DRESS. It's green and patterned. It ties sort of strangely, but I wasn't passing up the pattern for that little trifle. Having this dress is really good closure, after not getting it last summer.

3. I WANT AT LEAST ONE LASTING RELATIONSHIP. Well, I already told two Americans I met here outside school I'd be in touch. I told the girl from Egypt I would visit her one day. And I told the guy I met up with in Barcelona that we'd recreate the moment on the rooftop having great conversation, but in another country. I want to try to be in touch with some of the people I lived with, plus at least one of the Greek friends I made. I'm normally not very good at keeping in touch...but I might never see them again unless I stay in touch, and wouldn't it be great to meet up with them in some other part of the world? This is a true benefit from study abroad.

4. I WANT TO SPEAK GREEK AS WELL AS I CURRENTLY SPEAK SPANISH. Um...I thought I was worse at Spanish than I actually am :). I think, when I got to Spain, I was so excited to be speaking a language I sort of knew rather than didn't know at all, that I spoke it a lot better. My Spreek got a little too good ("esta al aerothromio"...Rosie, that's two different languages).  My Greek did get to a good level, though. I think my speech is okay, but it's hard to hold a conversation with a Greek because they talk ludicrously fast. You can hear the difference when they revert from English to Greek. This has got to be how they make up for Greek time. I don't know when I'll get to practice Greek anymore, but I definitely don't want to forget it.

5. I WANT TO GO ALL OVER GREECE AND ALL OVER SPAIN. Done! Let me even say this: you can TOTALLY get away with coming to Greece and NOT going to Athens.

6. I WANT TO BE LESS STRESSED ABOUT FINANCES WHEN I RETURN. Um...done! I hope. I did relax a lot about it. I think I was just worked up over it because this year has been the first time I've ever been on my own, having my own apartment and paying my own rent and having a job. So hopefully this one has manifested.

7. I WANT A GOOD PART OF MY TOURING TO BE BASED ON SITES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY. Done...but what kind of a goal was that? Am I supposed to say, "I don't want to go here because Athena never came here?" I'm a more open-minded tourist now. As said earlier, I like to see what the place has to offer me...and sometimes it doesn't offer mythology. I might as well mention that Greece in terms of mythology and ancient times turned out to be not what I expected. The Greeks preserve it, but they don't really care about it. They prefer to move forward. At their own pace :).


8. I WANT TO ENGAGE IN PHILOSOPHY CLASS DISCUSSIONS. Okay, so I could have done better, but at least my philosophy professor was happy to have me in his class. He's even been to Flagstaff before. He says the best hamburger he ever had was in Flagstaff.

9. I WANT TO BE ATHLETIC. I was. The gym was like my second home there. Plus the only place to run in that suburb was up a mountain...so running was never easy, it was always a workout. I had to keep working out, because I kept gaining weight somehow (who knew souvlaki and pastries and gelato caused weight gain?).

10. I DON'T WANT TO PARTY. Done. But I don't really want to get into how difficult it was to avoid it.

My goals were generally accomplished at least to some degree. So I'm happy. There are a few pangs of sadness that hit me sometimes now that I'm making my last rounds in Athens, for sure. But overall, I feel good about finally coming home, like it's finally time.

Note: keep reading. I'll make at least two more posts about re-entry to the States.