Author Archives: dla5116

Rollercoaster Sunday


It’s almost been a week since Joe Paterno’s passing, and much of the week has been a time for reflection.  All of us here in Athens woke up Sunday morning, January 22, 2012 to the sad news that Paterno was in decreasing health, with even some confusing reports that he had already died (fitting of course that media sources were quick to misreport the final moments even of Joe Paterno’s life).  The uncertainty, though, certainly made everyone here feel very far from the heart of Happy Valley.  Joe wouldn’t have wanted us sitting around reading about his status, so we put our emotions behind us, and 5 of us climbed Mt Lycabettus (“Ly-KAV-a-tos”), which is the highest point in Athens and has the Church of St George at the top.  We could see some of the surrounding islands, as well as the most eastern fringes of the Peloponnese.

 
We came home to find the even sadder news that Paterno had, in fact, passed.  We found out there was going to be a candlelight vigil held that night, so we bought some candles and had our own moment and said a few words for our fallen Coach.  5,000 miles away, and every feeling of being disconnected from Nittany Nation was wiped out.  It’s definitely been a challenging experience witnessing history in State College and watching it on live stream, but the sense of community that comes with being part of the Penn State family is something of which I’ve never felt more a member.

Always faithful to God, it was only fitting that Joe died on a Sunday, and Championship Sunday, none-the-less.  Even more fitting, the Giants, Joe’s hometown team being from Brooklyn, and the Patriots, who Joe came very close to coaching and who currently employees Joe’s successor, Bill O’Brien, won on Championship Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl.  Eh, maybe that all is a stretch to say that is fitting, but on a selfish note, it certainly was fitting for me, being the huge Giants fan that I am.  Planning my Sunday night around watching the game on a spotty Internet feed at 1am until almost 6am paid off.  Never would have thought when I signed up for this trip that I’d have to worry about watching the Giants.  Had I come any previous year, I would have had to read about the games the next morning since we were the first Penn State Athens program to have wireless internet in our apartments.  It just makes the memory of the Super Bowl run that much more memorable. 

As excited as I was, the night and following days were heavily focused on Paterno as we watched the processional through State College, heard from friends back home, and watched the speakers at the memorial service at the Bryce Jordan Center.  Nittany Nation certainly is hurting, but its pride is continuing to mount all over the world. 

Here’s to you, JVP .


Location: Athens

Bazouki

I introduce to you my latest purchase, a Greek Bazouki.

DSC_0382.jpg
It is a traditional 8-stringed Greek instrument that also crosses over with Irish heritage as well.  It is a staple in Greek music of the past and present, as the featured solo instrument in many bands that play in restauants.  It is tied to “Rembetiko,” a famous Greek style of music and movement similar to the Blues movement in Chicago and New Orleans in the 40’s and 50’s.  The sets of double strings that have the same notes gives it a very lute-like timber, sounding similar to a cross between a mandolin and a banjo.  I am positive the new addition of my Bazouki will add a whole new dynamic to my exploration of Greek Culture.  

Location: Athens, Greece

Octo-π

If you take your finger and trace it on a straight line from State College, PA to Athens, Greece, you will have covered the representation of 5,092 miles.  Plus another 173 miles from State College to Baltimore  I’m roughly 5,300 miles away from home, and it certainly feels longer.  

Daily life is peculiar here in regards to our everyday life in America.  Besides the obvious language barrier, its the little things that stick out.  First of all, People park on literally every inch of curb space available.  That means on corners, cars have wedged their way in.  There’s also no real rule of blocking an intersection if you have a green light but can’t really move.  People just honk if the light turns red and you’re stuck there.  As is usual in other European nations, Greeks love their “siesta,” or mid-day slumber, closing down businesses from about 2-5 pm, making it difficult to plan for food in between classes.  Restaurants are never busy when we go out, for people here don’t start to eat until 9pm.  We’re definitely be eligible for the early bird special wherever we go out to eat at 6pm.  
We did get a few walking tours of Athens our first few days, where we saw some aspects of the hustle and bustle of the city.  We saw Syntagma square, which, like College Ave and Beaver Canyon, has been in the news for the wrong reasons lately. In actuality, the similarities are quite comparable, since “rioting” is not the norm, but usually a relatively small portion of people (in respect to the 3.7 million living here) gathering to observe everyone else, while a few enraged and confused anarchists turn violent.  That’s really only happened a handful of times since June.  Their description of the few and far between demonstrations fit almost perfectly what I witnessed the night of the “riots” (5% of the PSU student body standing around on College Ave) downtown in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. 
DSC_0282.JPG
As you can see, only pigeons frequently occupy Syntagma square.
We also saw the open air food* markets, where we learned that the birds and rabbits up for sale were not part of a pet shop…
A few of us tried out Greek coffee, which we were warned upon arrival is very different since the grains stay at the bottom.  When we went to order it, the man in the coffee shop stopped and apprehensively asked us if we had had it before.  In the end its not bad, but I hate regular coffee so my opinion hardly counts.  It’s very thick and frothy and sure enough..the grains come up quicker than you expect.  
401152_10150689652279045_828739044_12233156_1547857784_n.jpg 
We also went to dinner to celebrate Tim Kunkel, one of our roommate’s birthdays, where I ordered Octopus and let the others try it. Once again, they asked me to come to the meat display to show me what else was for sale, thinking I didn’t actually want octopus.  It too isn’t bad, very fishy, but not as grey and rubbery as you might expect.  Because it was a birthday, they gave us a complimentary taste of a drink upon paying.  The easiest way to describe it is a concoction consisting of tequila, gasoline, and nail polish remover.  Since it is complimentary, it is seen as a sign of rudeness to leave any on the table.  So we all painfully sipped our thimble full of liquid fire before departing.  
It’s hard to make an adequate judgement of living here since we are so naive.  The Athens Centre is absolutely fantastic, they have so many opportunities and such great professors.  It’s a small building on a corner but a family of people from all walks of life.  As the Greeks would say, Bravo to PSU for finding this program.  With some sickness and the lack of a sleep schedule, we havent done much exploring, so its hard to say what all is out there beyond Dikearhou street. We had our first Greek Class among others, so the language wall should be  starting to be torn down piece by piece.  
Great city, far from home.  A week in, and we’re all looking forward to the adventures that lie ahead.  
Until next time, 
Yassas! 

Location: Athens, Greece

First look at the Acropolis..

…enough said.  DSC_0220.JPG

This morning, we got an awesome history lesson by directors at the Athens Center, before getting a walking orientation of the city.  We were led through the friday market before being turned lose..to which we all mostly stayed together to get our first gyros.  
The highlight of the day was definitely being taken up to the roof of the Athens Center to witness our first view of the Parthenon on this beautiful day in Attica, Helas as they say here in Athens.

Location: Athens, Greece

Expect the unexpected


DSC_0203.JPG

To expect the norm would be too convenient when traveling overseas.  One should always expect the unexpected, of which good and bad will come.  That being said, all of PSU Athens’ participants have arrived and are recovering after our first taste of real Greek Food as we type.  The unexpected free chocolate drizzled mousse cake that was provided to us made for a nice contrast for the 23 hours that led up to it.  

Everything started smoothly, as half of our group traveled from Philly to London with an hour layover before departing for Greece at 8am Thursday morning.  First of all, things that make a great flight are: an inflight move that make you forget you’re flying, and a flight tracker so that you can see how far the plane drops in sudden, unexpected turbulence.  A moonlit ocean on a crystal clear sky isn’t bad either, or witnessing daybreak on the horizon over London.  The sky was so captivating, no one really minded that we had circled over London 5, maybe 6 times before landing..which then led us to land 15 minutes before our flight to Athens left.  An hour layover across the pond turned into a jolley four hour sit for tea and crumpets at London Heathrow’s finest English dining facility at the expense of British Airway’s “sorry-for-flying-in-circles-causing-you-to-miss-your-flight-by-a-matter-of-minutes” vouchers.  We finally made it to Athens, and saw yesterday’s fresh snowfall on the highest mountain peaks during our descent into the city. 
 We then packed into taxis and took directions to places we couldn’t even pronounce, or that the taxi drivers had heard of.  Started to feel like I signed up for the Amazing race.  Speaking of racing, the taxi ride was an adventure in itself.  Lane markers are optional, more of loose suggestions in Athens, and when Americans would tap the breaks to adjust to traffic, Athenians find it more appropriate to lay on their horn and flood the car in front of them with highbeams until they moved.  Had myself asking, what am I doing here?  
Dinner of PSU’s treat helped answer that question as we got our first taste of authentic cuisine.  
Well, all aboard the Athens blog, its definitely going to be a ride filled with close calls, as we weave in an out of Athenian life in the fast lane. (just kidding, every lane’s the fast lane)

Location: Athens!

I hope to look like Thor when I get back

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for 30661.gif.jpeg
Hello Blogging World.  I’m Dave Andrews, a Junior from Baltimore Maryland.  I am a broadcast journalism major and a Music Studies Minor here at Penn State University, and so since I am studying neither of them in Athens, I will be using my reporting skills to meaningfully paint the picture for you readers as I see the world through my eyes.  I am so excited to travel to Athens, since it has already been a headache of Zeus-like proportions just preparing the logistics to leave.  The FBI lost my request for a background check twice, so technically I won’t know if I’m 100% going until about a week after I get back home for Christmas break.  That leaves less than a month to solidify preparations for living abroad.  Gotta be flexible though, I would hate to live a boring life of knowing my plans to live on another continent more than a month in advance.  Anyway, beyond my excitement to study a culture stuck in the crosshairs of the past and the present, I can’t wait to live in one of the most unpredictable nations in the world.  With the economy as turbulent as it is and the people of Athens holding their government accountable, it truly will be an examination of a Culture in transition.  I hope that I will get enough of a sufficient first hand understanding of all the challenges and triumphs that I witness abroad that I can then portray Greece in an accurate light here on the GeoBlog.  
Beyond the cut and dry facts, I hope to enhance this blog with pictures, stories, and humor that come up while I’m in the land of the Gods.  In order to do anything successfully, you can’t take yourself seriously.  I hope to take my work seriously, but a blog is a medium where anyone can freely express their ideas.  I laugh at myself all the time, and I’m ok with that and I hope you are too.  Join me on this ride to Athens.  


Location: State College, PA