A Final Exam, a Quarantine and a Concert

Finally, the last post to catch up! If you're just reading this and want to know what I've done for the last week, look down the page; there are four or five more posts.

This morning, I had my Greek final. Most of the questions were exactly (word for word)the same as the examples we did from the book so that was nice. I finished early so I came back to my room and immediately took a nap for an hour and a half since I had stayed up late studying. I woke up just before Greek/Albanian class, but I shouldn't have bothered, because just as class was going to start, Ioanna and Evi, two of our administrators, came in. When we went to the Pink Palace, several people had bed bug problems, and last night, two of the girls washed out their backpacks and found said bugs in them. So, long conversation short, the university is going to fumigate some, if not all of our rooms and we'll be staying in hotels in town. We're not even supposed to bring a change of clothes. Until then we're not supposed to hang out in eachothers' rooms so we don't spread the bugs. This whole situation would be fine and dandy except that we're supposed to be writing out ten page papers and studying for our final on Monday. Due to this calamity (in the eyes of the university), those who had been bitten had to go see a dermatologist immediately and so class was canceled. I was lucky and had zero bites of any kind. My roommate at the hostel, though, got eaten alive which makes me very nervous. I've washed all my stuff with incredibly hot water and/or put it through the washer and dryer, but you never know.

I spent my extended afternoon researching for my paper, and then I went on a run around campus and to the track. There were a few legitimate track athletes there practicing, which was incredibly; they were 200 m sprinters and they were SO fast. We went up to dinner after, and unfortunately it was seafood night: octopus (legs complete with suction cups) in pasta or squid on rice. They did have feta, bread and huge oranges, though, so it wasn't too bad. After, we walked down to an outdoor amphitheater that we had seen with some people in it earlier. We discovered that there was a concert happening so decided to stay for a while. We felt incredibly out of place since we were still wearing running clothes and carrying oranges from dinner, but the concert was totally worth it. The amphitheater, like everything on campus, was covered in graffiti, but they brought in a whole sound and lighting system and had 5 performers who were excellent. They played half American music and half Greek music, and we really enjoyed the experience. Supposedly this sort of thing is just getting started since it's getting to be nice outside, so I hope we can see more things like that before we leave (next Tuesday; I can't believe it's so soon!). On that weather note: it's nice that Greeks finally consider it to be spring; other students are starting to wear shorts, t-shirts and bright colors instead of coats and jeans every day. We still stand out, but not quite as much.

Love Alex