Daily People and Activities

The first activity of the day where I interact with people from Greece is when my roommate and I walk down the street to get coffee. The young lady behind the counter always greets us in Greek saying, “kalimera” and then once we request a freddo cappuccino in English, she switches to English. She is very polite and friendly even though it is so early and she doesn’t have anyone else helping at the shop. She makes our freddo cappuccino, an iced coffee that is just a shot of espresso, milk, and foam with “medium” sugar. She always asks if we want anything more and after was typically decline, we pay and make our way to school.

            Once at school, we are greeted by the security guards. They are usually less friendly and their English isn’t the best. To enter onto the campus, everyone has to scan their student or faculty identification cards. I almost never have mine out so I wind up stuck outside as I dig through my backpack while the guards stare at me probably wondering how I still haven’t learned. Then after security, my friends and I walk through the long parking lot towards the main campus.

            Typically, I then go to the cafeteria to meet up with another friend who does work with me for an hour before our first class while everyone else goes to their 9:25am. Here we say hello to the people working at the cafeteria and depending on the morning, we might get a coffee or something to eat. All around us, Greek students hang out and do homework before their classes start as they gossip in Greek and laugh with each other.

            During classes, Greek students constantly interrupt the teachers. I find this to be very rude, but apparently it is the norm here in Greece. Some teachers encourage students to shout out since it promotes conversations and discussions. However, other teachers find it to be rude and are angry when students stop them while they are talking to state their own opinion or idea. I have noticed that my teachers all want the students to learn and succeed so they frequently remind us about office hours and say they are available if we need help.

            At lunch, my friend and I always run to the cafeteria to try to beat the rush. If we get there late, we could be waiting in line for fifteen minutes and then another ten minutes for our food to be ready. The people who work in the kitchen rush back in forth as they cook up fresh chicken burgers and Greek salads. The take orders in broken English and work as quickly as they can. It is always very busy but they remain helpful and polite.

            Walking home, or walking anywhere in Athens and my neighborhood, cars and motorcycles rush all over. They do not stop for pedestrians and even park on the sidewalks. When it comes to driving, the people driving assume they always have the right of way. Because it is so common, I don’t think it is considered rude. However, I met an elderly woman one time that was very upset about how the drivers treat pedestrians. I didn’t understand what she said, and I told her this, but she continued to rant about it as she pointed at the cars and the street.

            For dinner, some friends and I often stop at a restaurant right near our residential building. The restaurant is called “M.I.L.F.”, or “Meat I Live For”. They sell the best gyros and souvlaki in town, as well as fantastic burgers and other types of finger food. The service is extremely fast and when we order our gyros to go, it usually doesn’t take more than two minutes. Even though it is a small restaurant, there are always several people working there. To me, it seems like there are too many people but that may be why the service is so good. In this restaurant, there is always music playing and the people seem very happy.

On Mondays, there is a farmers’ market on the street next to my residential building. Here, the entire street is covered in tables with fresh fruits and vegetables. The venders are very friendly and holler at you to try to get you to come over to their stand. As the day goes on, they lower their prices or will give you deals. The fruit I buy at the farmers’ market is some of the best fruit that I have ever had.

            When it comes to homework, only one of my classes assigns daily homework and this class is introduction to Greek. This makes sense since it is a topic that needs constant practice and repetition to learn. Most of my other classes; however, either don’t assign homework or just assign readings. Here in Greece, the grades depend almost solely on the midterm and the final. It is interesting because this is so normal for all of the Greek students, but luckily American students have adjusted to this style. And since most of us only take classes on Tuesday and Thursday, Wednesdays and Mondays are dedicated to homework, studying and writing essays if we did not finish it between class periods.