Leaving Paris may have been one of the hardest days in the past few years for me just because that city, that quaint apartment and the people I met had made everything feel just like home. Lucas said it best the Saturday night before we left: We lived in Paris… for one month, Paris was our home and provided us with a wonderful month of culture and growth. Everyone left early that morning, a few for the States, a few to other countries in Europe, and for the first time in 4 weeks, I was totally alone in an amazing city. After dropping off my luggage for storage, I walked down Champs Elysees to see more extravagance. I’ve said it before but it can definitely be said again… Parisians do luxury very well. I spent at least 2 hours in Notre Dame because it was a Sunday and I felt like worshipping in one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. One of the biggest things I’ve missed this past month is church so praying brought me a huge degree of comfort during my very lonely few hours. After my makeshift church service, I made my way back to the FIAP to collect my suitcase and head towards the train station to leave Paris behind for quite some time.
Watching the city shrink into the distance from the train window stung so I loaded up my friends’ pictures from the trip and relieved my loneliness with memories over the past month: the wet trip through Amsterdam, the beer of Munich, the beaches of Barcelona, the art, passion, and culture of Paris, and most importantly, the six new friends I had made during the course of this Maymester. I slept very well on the train that night, partially from exhaustion and mostly from a serenity of being alone. The morning in Barcelona was extremely sunny; I watched the Spain vs. Italy game in the lobby of my hotel as I waited for Brennan to arrive just before noon (thankfully, Spain won!). We headed straight for the beach in our suits and laid for several hours, soaking up the sun and the peace that comes with the crashing waves of the Mediterranean.
During the course of the 3 days in Barcelona with Brennan, we got along extremely well, shared the past few months of our lives to one another. Between my junior year of college and Maymester and his frequent trips to South and Central America, we had plenty of stories to go through so conversation never ceased. The second day was very overcast so we lounged around the hotel room for a few hours and then walked around a few of the more popular sites of Barcelona; it was Dia de San Juan so most stores were closed for the holiday but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the city. We drank more sangria and ate some wonderful Spanish food before getting some rest that night. The final day in Barcelona was spent primarily on the beach (where else??) soaking up more sun. We bartered with several souvenir shop clerks and both bought football (the original game) jerseys. That evening, we decided against going out because I wasn’t too interested and he was exhausted still and had to travel extensively later that week. The next morning, we taxi’d to the airport and left for separate countries.
My flights went from Barcelona to Rome with a 2 hour layover, then from Rome to Athens. Due to the Italian apparent inability to organize, my flight to Athens was delayed at least an hour but I successfully made it to Greece that evening and met up with Sheena! It took quite a while to make our way across the city to our hotel so we watched the final bit of Spain beating Russia in the semi-finals before going straight to bed. The beds have been uncomfortable to say the least and we both found adequate sleep impossible but that won’t stop me from enjoying the one city I’ve been longing to visit for years! We spent the entire first day walking to the Acropolis, seeing the Agoras and ancient ruins, finding the restored temples and seeing the ancient side of my favorite civilization. Albeit covered in scaffolding for restoration, the Parthenon was breathtaking and a surreal experience for me. The roots of democracy and western society were formed on that hill by Greeks we speak of in legends now. As I stood in the Greek agora, the central market place for Socrates, Aristotle, St Paul, etc, I felt this historical magnitude and significance I haven’t felt anywhere else, even in Rome. Sheena and I both purchased Greek opal rings from this family owned jeweler and we wandered around for the rest of the day.
We had previously agreed to spend a day on a nearby island so we selected Aegina primarily because of its proximity to Athens, only an hour by ferry. Upon arriving, we didn’t see the “vast beaches” I had read about in the island’s descriptions but we made the most of the small strips of water front and both got probably too much sun. We found a small sand bar in the water and spent most of our time reminiscing and catching up in the comfortable sand. After 5 hours of sun, we both felt burnt and found our way back to the ferries and back to Athens once more. Although both exhausted, neither of us slept particularly well so we lounged in bed this morning before embarking on a quest through some authentic Greek flea markets.
I had read online about the famous sandal-maker, known in Greece as the Poet, who has been making sandals by hand and writing world famous philosophy since the 50’s. He has since retired but his son, the Son of the Poet, famous in his own right with several published works, still makes sandals daily just to the side of this flea market, near the acropolis. Sheena and I walked in and he was sitting behind a desk hammering away at strips of leather and his assistant helped us find sizes and styles that suited us. I purchased the Socrates and she wanted the Prince style created in honor of Prince Philippe of Spain years ago; mine are apparent copies of the style worn by the famous philosophy, one of my favorite men of history. The SotP fitted the sandals to my fit, nailed in the straps and attached an ankle strap to my foot and personally inspected his work before sending me off with a signed pair of authentic Greek hand-made sandals! I really want a copy of his latest play, Bacchus, but the printers won’t have copies ready until probably Tuesday of this week so I may have him mail me a copy back to Texas.
The flea market was a great taste of the less historical side of Athens with gypsies selling eclectic mixtures of crap and treasures, store vendors advertising their ‘authentic’ designer wares in the middle of the streets and tons of people spilling out into the shaded streets in attempt to find rescue from the heat. Thus far, I’ve had chicken suvlaki with a Greek yogurt sauce, some delicious chicken in a strawberry marinade with puree of potatoes, a ham, cheese, and bacon crepe, and lamb in lemon sauce; the Greeks are not exceptionally noted for their alcohols, except ouzo which I hear is disgusting, so I have yet to drink anything other than water during this trip. The Athenians themselves have stood out as a very helpful, incredibly nice people always keen on helping their common man regardless of nationality or ethnicity. We’ve had several people stop us to offer directions and suggestions, some extremely nice servers in restaurants, and a generous jeweler who has given us several wonderful discounts on opal rings for us and our families. We have one more day here which will hopefully be spent relaxing but I will already miss the friendliness of Athens!
I’ve gotten extremely homesick now that my trip is almost over; I can taste the Tex-Mex already! Never before have I missed my family this much and I’m really looking forward to getting back to all of my friends. While this has been an eye-opening and life-changing experience from day one until now, there really is no place like home. Sleeping in my own bed, sipping wine with Rob, holding my dog again, giving mom a hug, catching up with dad, and just being a Texan all seem too exciting to me right now.
Hope everyone is doing well! I will post one more time (hopefully the night before my flight back to the States) with a recap and the official list I have been working on: American vs. Europe. My pictures from Greece will be up hopefully soon although with the internet going out in my hotel room, I can’t promise anything. I’m looking forward to seeing yawl (damn that feels great to type)!
