Happy tuesday everyone!

Last night we had the most wonderful experience... we walked up to lykavittos hill to see the view of all of athens. Seriously, I felt like dropping to my knees and thanking the universe. It was such a spiritual place with such good energy. Plus, we've become good friends with two girls named Ellie and Reem. In short, I absolutely love them!! And actually, fun factoid for you, Ellie roomed in the same exact suite, room, and bed that I had last year! Super weird coincidence. Not sure what that means, but I'm betting we're soul sisters. So anyway, last night after we all trekked up to lykavittos we watched the sunset, took pictures, and waited for the city lights to go on before going back down. After that, we walked to the old city center to a place called plaka. We were all really hungry but we were totally digging the atmosphere of the city streets and our buddy nathan had told us about really cool restaurants in the heart of plaka. Plaka is sorta like a more snazzy version of Camden town.... as you can guess we all LOVED it!! Anyway, so we got to this cool restaurant, sat at a table on the street and got the most amazing lamb souflaki! I had never had lamb before, but i tell ya, this lamb souflaki is going to be hard to beat! For some reason that night was just the most magical experience. I'm not sure if it was the wine, the acropolis looming over us, the good food, the company, or a combination of everything. It was one of those experiences that you dream about... eating a fantastic meal in a great foreign city, smiling uncontrollably with your friends and just seriously digging life. In short, I fell in love with Athens that night.

Today we had our first day of class and I was a little too tired to concentrate. So I just did what the greeks do: grabbed a coffee at the break, walked up the street and chatted with my friends, and took a siesta when we got back to the apartment. I felt royally lazy sleeping in the day, but i think it was worth it. The class today was pretty good. Professor gallant is always an excellent lecturer, and I knew a lot of stuff already from taking his archeology class. We've been getting to know him and his wife, Mary, more and we're all really enjoying their company. They are both really bright, street savvy, and funny as ever.

To be honest, I just keep pinching myself that I'm in greece with amazing people learning about awesome stuff and having great experiences. If i hadn't before, I have definitely caught the travel bug :)

Tonight we had our first (of two) paid-for group dinners. I sat with different people tonight and got to know some of the guys pretty well. Who knew the most outspoken guys could be so sensitive? The food was delicious; greek salad (with tomatoes to die for), fresh feta, incredibly tender chicken, grape leaves (called horta according to gab), a couple other dishes, and juuuuuuicy watermelon for dessert. I was sitting next to some of the quieter girls in the group and I really tired to get them to open up a bit. Sure enough, they were really interesting. After we ate, an old guy with a guitar came around and sang to everyone and then asked for money. Should have expected that haha! Afterwards we went to Reem and Ellie's place and hung out for a bit, then joined the others downstairs and chatted. Then Karlo walked me, gab, and our roommate leah home. We finished off the night with some greek yogurt with honey & bananas.

Tomorrow we're pretty sure we're having class on-site tomorrow, but we may not becasue the general strike is still going on and some museums may be closed. If we don't go on-site, we'll just have class at the research center like we did today. Whatever the case, I can't wait for our new adventures :)

Love to you all, les mando besos y abrazos!!

Ale