Starting Out in Greece - Athens

In August/September 2016, I did a study tour of two weeks to Greece with the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies to explore the origins of Classical European culture to get to know the origins of philosophy and democracy in some early forms along with tons of history and archaeology.

Arriving by plane, we saw the Greek islands below ... the weather was great, and it should stay that way! I've been looking forward to this trip for some time, so I was very enthusiastic to explore everything! Exiting from the station, I pulled out a huge map to find the hotel, and very fast, a local young woman approached me and asked if she could help me. Her English was quite good; I assume that learning English is very important to young people in Greece in order to go out into the world because the economical situation in their home country leaves many of them without a job, even those who graduated from a university. Actually, I also saw some homeless on the street, one of which threw a bottle after me (maybe being angry for some reason).

The parliament in the Old Royal Palace at Syntagma Square has a memorial for fallen soldiers in front of it, as well as soldiers on guard in traditional uniforms (from the War of Independence period around 1820 or 1830, I guess) changing their positions and shifts with very slow and exaggerated movements. It's always a tourist attraction, comparable maybe to the Queen's Guards in England.

The university (Panepistimio) features classical columns and Athene, patron of the city and goddess of wisdom, to the left and Apollo, god of music and the arts, to the right, as well as a relief of the pantheon and mythical scenes on the main building.

The library has red walls and a mosaic with golden colours on the outside; also the inside is supposed to be pretty, but I did not enter as I was heading towards the hotel with my luggage. On my way, I gave some small change to a person with a crutch on the street ... but when I turned around again, he was packing his things and left without using the crutch You have to be careful not to be deceived or stolen from as a tourist! Luckily, nothing bad happened to me and so I could meet the other students in the three-star hotel ...

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