Sunday, April 7, 2013

A Flavorful Evening


            After a long two days of papers and an exam today was my one day to catch up on some sleep that I had missed out one.  Needless to say, I spent the day in bed while the rest of the group went to see the Greek Independence Day Parade down in Sintagma Square.   I woke up a few hours after they returned for lunch, which was about 3:30 in the afternoon.  The sun was still shinning bright as if it was still midday. I could feel the warmth of the sun beating down on my back as if I was sitting in front of my fire place back home.   I began to start feeling as if I was getting a sun burn therefore I went inside to quickly get ready for class.
            Today class was being held at Professor Roth’s apartment on Voukourestiou, which is about a twenty minute walk from our apartment.   I packed my backpack and began my walk with Zach to Rich’s apartment.  I remembered walking past his street many times, but I had only walked past his apartment once before this.  We got to his street in less than fifteen minutes, but couldn’t remember which end of the street he lived on. 
            After looking up and down the street and contemplating which way to go. Little did we know the girls were a minute behind us and knew what end of the street his apartment was on.  When they caught up to us we all walked to Rich’s house and rang the door bell so he could buzz us in.  Living on the top floor of an apartment that has no elevator is something that I am quite accommodated to, but for some reason those stairs took their toll on me.  After the first three floors I was already slowing down and breathing pretty heavily.  It seemed as if spring break and all this Greek food was finally beginning to take its toll on me.
            For class we discussed the book we were reading, Twice A Stranger by Bruce Clark.  This book is a collection of different stories that were all about the population exchange that happened between Greece and Turkey.  This exchange happened in 1923 and was a decision between the two countries to exchange people based on religious identities.  Greece was giving the Turks all of their residents who were of Turkish decent, spoke Greek, but practiced Islam.  While Turkey was giving the Greeks all of their residents of Greek decent who spoke Turkish, but practiced Greek Orthodox.  After we were done talking about the book we tried a brandy that Rich had picked up.  It had a very bitter and thick taste to it and then a0 bite that warmed your insides. 
            Around 6:30 we went out for dinner as a group to an Italian Cuisine restaurant called La Pasteria. With our trip to Rome approaching within the coming days this was only a teaser to what I will be trying while in Italy.  The choices on the menu sounded delicious in every aspect.  My choices came down to Pasta Mista, which was a baked pasta with chicken5, bacon and a garlic sauce, and a pasta that had ground beef, bacon, and a cream sauce on it.  Ultimately I chose Pasta Mista and luckily enough for me there was a meal that cost fifteen euro and it came with a salad, choice of pasta, and desert.  A Caesar salad as an appetizer, Pasta Mista as a dinner, and for dessert I had a calzone that was filled with an ice cream, chocolate sauce, and Nutella that tasted like heaven.  The size of a half a pizza filled with chocolate and Nutella goodness that sat in my mouth for a half an hour after we left. 
            On the way home Zach and I took a different way than the girls because for some reason they don’t trust us with directions.  However, we managed to get home much faster than how long it took us to get to Rich’s apartment.  Later that night our friends Paul and Kevin came over to hang out.  We hadn’t seen them since before spring break, so we had a lot to talk about.  We sat outside on the deck, cracked open a couple beers, and told them about our adventures in Dublin and Amsterdam.  It was nice to be able to hang out with them and catch up with them for a couple hours.  After they left Zach and I made some delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and home fries with cheese.  It is the perfect late night snack for a college student and it puts you to sleep.
Patrick Malone
Monday March 25, 2013
A Flavorful Evening

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