Monday, April 29, 2013

Fish & the Acropolis


Lauren Miller
Blog 4/18
Fish & the Acropolis

            Today I woke up early to get a morning run in! I have been really busy the past couple of days so taking the run gave me a chance to rejuvenate my mind. There was a light breeze so it was perfect running weather! Afterwards, I came back to the apartment and ate a small breakfast: yogurt and fruit. After Katie woke up, we left the apartment and headed around the corner to the new coffee shop. We have been going there daily and the man that works there now knows our order by heart: medium freddo cappuccino with sugar. They also give you a small cookie to go with the coffee; which is a definite bonus for me. Walking with our coffees in hand, we headed in the direction of the school to meet up with everyone else. We met up near Athens Bakery and started in the direction of Syntagma. Today we were going to climb the Acropolis one last time before we leave for the islands (Santorini and Naxos) and then our final destination, America! When we arrived at the historic site, we found the boys. Fortunately, today was free day at the Acropolis! The only down side to this was that there were a lot of people. We had trouble walking up the pathway; I found myself squeezing in between people and it was hard keeping our group together. There were also lots of small children with their school groups visiting. At the top, we took the time to relax and make plans for the upcoming days of cleaning and traveling. We spent about an hour at the top; it was very windy and because I was wearing shorts, my legs were very cold! After we climbed back down, we made our way out to the main road and then took a side road next to Zeus’ temple. We noticed there were a bunch of white tents lining the streets and figured there was some kind of market going on. We learned it was a food market, my favorite kind of market! Being the people we are, we went to every tent to try a sample of the various foods: bread, nuts, honey, and cookies. After trying all the goodies at the market, we were in major need of some sweetness! We went back down to Syntagma for one last hoorah at our favorite frozen yogurt shop called White. I had my usual: honey-frozen yogurt with granola, strawberries, and cranberries and it was as good as the first time I tried it! After walking down through the shops on Ermu Street, we went back to the flea market for the third day in a row. I bought a couple final Athens souvenirs. At about 3:45 pm, we started walking in the opposite direction for our 4:00PM appointment at Athens Fish Spa. When we found the building, the spa was on the second floor. We chose to do a package that included 20 minutes of fish spa, a 10-minute foot massage, and a pedicure to finish. I chose a mango color polish because we are going to the islands next and I was feeling tropical! They also served us hot tea while we were being pampered. During the fish spa, I put my feet in a tub with small fish called Gadaroufa Fish. They then proceed to suck on your toes, ankles, heels, and balls of the feet biting off the dead skin. The tubs were placed against a window, which allowed us to watch outside. When people would walk by, I would wave and smile at them. Chryssie and I went first, so after we were finished we had some free time. I sat on the back porch, which had a garden with lots of pink flowers on it. In the spa, there was also a “mascot;” A three legged, fuzzy white cat named Kebal. His face looked like an old man! Hayley fell in love with him and would not leave him alone. He only had three legs because he fell from the 7th floor of a building almost two years ago. The fish spa was such a fun experience and a great way to spend the afternoon with all the girls.
            On our way back to the apartment, we couldn’t resist and we stopped at the boutiques! I am glad we had not found this part of the town until today because they were cheap and I would have spent all my money within the first week if I had known about them. We were unsure of our whereabouts, so we took a taxi back to the apartment just to assure that we didn’t get lost. When we retuned, we only had a few minutes before leaving once again to head back to Hellenic American University for International night. We only learned about this event last minute, so unfortunately we were unable to bring an American dish. There were students from over 15 countries and many more nationalities that came to the event. Some of the dishes that we tried were from countries such as America, Mexico, Spain, Greece, Syria, Italy, Lebanon, Philippines, Nigeria, Kenya, Romania, and Albania. I enjoyed every dish and was very happy to try many new ones. I tried to get the names of some of the dishes but it was hard to understand some of the students as they were explaining what each dish was. During the dinner, our friend Nicole sang the Greek and Italy national songs; she has such an amazing voice. After we had all finished desert, we left to go back to the apartment. Many of us had homework to get done and wanted to finish getting packed for our next island trip! The weather is getting so nice and I am so sad that we have to leave to go back home so soon. The friends we have made and the places we have been will forever be such an important part of my

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