My First Days in Athens

Day 1

My flight arrived at the promised time and after picking up my baggage I found my way to the bus station and waited 10 minutes for my ride. The driver was very nice but he didn’t have the best English skills, so it was a bit hard to chit chat. I think it took like at least 40 minutes to get from the airport to the area Vyronas. On the way we picked up the guy who had the keys to my apartment.

When walking in to the apartment I was greeted by two of my roommates. They were just cooking dinner, so they asked me to join them which was very nice. I unpacked and started struggling with my supposed to be “travel wifi” which I found out isn’t to be used outside of Finland – what? I specifically asked for something I could take with me to Greece. Oh, well.

I didn’t go out that day because it was raining, and I was tired from the bad night sleep I had at the Munich Airport. I contacted two Greek students who had promised to show me around on my first days in Athens. They were both out of town, so we scheduled a meeting for another day.

The apartment was just like the photos and videos I had seen. I was really happy with it and I still am. It has everything you need. I was told that someone would come to fix our washing machine (done) and to install the wifi (still waiting). Other than that, everything was perfect.

Day 2

I had a good long sleep and woke up to a lot of noise, but I guess that is just the life with roommates ;-D I didn’t have any food in the fridge, so I was planning on going out to find a market, but then I decided to take care of some phone calls and e-mails first. Exactly when I was on my way out the door the cleaning lady and the apartment’s caretaker came so I wanted to stay in case there where something I should know about.

After all this I finally made it outside and tried to find a grocery shop. I walked to Lidl and went straight in thinking there would be shopping baskets inside but what did I know. And then it seemed like there was no other way out than between the cashiers which were full of people, so I tried walking out the way you come in when a Greek lady started telling me (in the Greek language of course) to use the other direction. Here it doesn’t help to say that you don’t speak Greek – they just continue babbling, at least most of the locals.

Anyway, I went back outside and took a shopping cart and wandered in the store for a good time trying to find all I needed. When I was done I had two heavy shopping bags and no clue of the way back to the apartment. Athens is a labyrinth – luckily, I have my new best friend Google Maps.

I didn’t do much that evening because I was exhausted from getting lost and walking back and forth with two heavy shopping bags in my hands. I made myself some food and then I talked with my family. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I was alone in the apartment that night when someone ringed the doorbell and I assumed it was my roommates and of course opened the door. A strange man walked in with shopping bags in his hands and stated that I most be the new roommate. I was a little bit confused because I thought I had already met my roommates, but little did I know. I wonder why the other ones didn’t tell me about him or maybe it just went in one ear and out the other one…

Day 3

Woke up, ate my breakfast and stressed about how I would find my way to the metro station of Evaggelismos where I was supposed to meet a Greek nurse student. This time I actually didn’t get lost – I walked 20 minutes and arrived to the station where I met a wonderful young woman who made my day perfect!

She taught me how to use the metro and then we travelled to the place where the TEI of Athens is. After that we went to the centrum of the city and walked a really nice path around the city. Unfortunately, I don’t remember or know how to write the names of the places we went to. It was a beautiful day, almost like Finnish summer – 15 degrees and a clear blue sky. I would have been fine with shorts and a t-shirt but the people here wander around with winter jackets on.

After a couple of hours of sight seeing with my personal guide we went back to Evaggelismos and continued back to our homes. While walking back home I tried to find an open store but all was closed so I ended up at a little street kiosk and bought some water and cola. When I came back to my apartment my Irish roommate invited me to eat dinner that he had made. I have already been fed twice by my roommates so maybe I should cook them a Finnish meal someday. Do you have any suggestions?

Day 4

Today I have been the laziest person in the world. I woke up at 12, ate a delicious breakfast and catched up with my friends and family. Almost everything is closed on Sundays, so there isn’t that much you can do – or at least not something I would know about.

We actually had a blackout not too long ago. Luckily, it only lasted about 40 minutes. I wasn’t prepared at all, but my roommates had wine and candles, so you can say that we made the best of the situation.

Now I’m trying to plan what I should do tomorrow. The original plan was to go to school and attend to an orientation session but for some reason the school is closed. I think I will try out a gym that should be very near my apartment and then I’ll probably take the metro to the centrum and shop for an umbrella. It has been about 17 degrees and sun today, but I think it is supposed to rain at the end of next week.