Piraeus, Greece: Days 1 and 2

Monday was our first day in Piraeus. As I developed a very undesirable sickness (think Strep throat), I slept in late and did not go out until my SAS trip to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. I joined DrewAnd, my Spanish teacher, my Art History teacher (the trip was for her class) and perhaps 25 of my peers on a bus to the museum, enjoying a stop at the original 1896 Olympic Stadium, where we could see the Parthenon in the distance. Driving through Athens, I was disappointed. I had expected something…prettier. I’ve heard that the islands of Greece are very beautiful, however my Semester at Sea trip to the Saronic Islands was canceled and I am not up to finding my own way to one of the islands, especially since I’ve been basically gobbling my euro ever since this trip began.

The archaeological museum was very cool, especially because I could tell exactly what century and time period (as well as specific aesthetic qualities of the pieces and the obscure names for these qualities; i.e. daedalic) the exhibits were from, due to my midterm having been two days prior. The museum is enormous, however, and I was exhausted after two hours of wandering and seeing hardly any of it. After I explored the small gift shop (I bought a memory game for Jack and a book on Greek Mythology for myself), we headed back to the ship and I napped for awhile before Steph and I left for dinner. We ran into Corey on the way and he tagged along as we searched for a restaurant open at 9 PM. We ended up at an Irish pub, where I ordered a very delicious looking fish and chips as well as a Sprite to soothe the nausea I had developed. Unfortunately, my nausea went untamed and I could not eat much of my meal. The pub had since filled with Semester at Sea kids (how does that always seem to happen?), and after eating Steph and our friend Tim walked me back to the ship (aww), then went back to the pub.

The next morning, I awoke and called Steph to see if she had gone on her trip to Delphi; it required a 7 AM wakeup and I have never known her to rise before noon. She had left, and as Jill was visiting her friend in Santorini (or the Saronic Islands…I’m not sure), I was on my own. I ran into Tom, someone I had recently met, in the hallway, and he invited me to join he and his friend at the beach later. I agreed, and we ate lunch and left for Athens. We took a cab to a small beach and settled in, enjoying the view and looking up every few minutes to say “no…thanks” to the men wandering the beach with random soccer balls, bathing suits, towels, and jewelry for sale. Tom and his friend enjoyed the bargaining and both ended up with month-long tattoos, to which I said “no thank you.” After several hours of lounging and swimming, we headed to the beachside restaurant where I snacked on French fries and cheese and hot pepper spread and the boys both had chicken souvlaki.

We cabbed back to the ship, and I showered before noticing that not putting on sunscreen just because I had run out did not prevent me from developing a sunburn along the entire front side of my body. I was still feeling sick and so I chose not to go out with them and the group they had acquired that night. I settled in to watch “Remember the Titans” for the next few hours before sleeping.