Marco, Gyros, and Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε (utter confusion)

Today began with a glorious bowl of Greek yogurt and an apricot. Our lessons in modern Greek commenced this morning at 9:30 on the ‘rooftop bar,’ which, coincidentally, doubles as our classroom. Our professor is an adorable Athenian, Marco, who is patient and incredibly skilled at speaking articulately through the cigarette that is constantly resting in the corner of his mouth. His ability to simultaneously inhale smoke while coaching us through the proper vowel sounds is truly incredible. This innate skill reminds me of saxophonist Kenny G’s ability to play without pausing for breath. It’s quite inspiring.

Greek is impossibly difficult. I can barely make my way through the Rugby Road fraternity houses at UVA, so the apparent existence of letters I have never seen before has further complicated my understanding of the language. Fortunately, Athens can easily be navigated with a very primitive understanding of the language. The only Greek that I have found particularly helpful is “Οχι!” (simply meaning “no!”) which comes in handy when passing through markets.

Following our morning Greek lesson we ventured out onto the streets where we grabbed a gyro before we gathered again in the bar/classroom/acropolis lookout point for our first writing workshop. Scott, both the director of the program and leader of my workshop, is fascinating and helpful and our class is basically all about experiencing new things, making observations, and articulating them in inspiring and creative ways.

Tonight we are going to a poetry reading and then on to a taverna for dinner. Eating dinner at 8:30pm in Greece is the equivalent of going to the Heritage Cafeteria at 4:45 in the afternoon. It’s just lame and pathetic. So dinner is usually around 10, something I am not yet accustomed to.

Thus far, Athens has been amazing. I still get an “archaeology ‘BOING” every time I catch the acropolis out of the corner of my eye. If all writers could venture to Greece every once in a while, i think writer's block would shrivel up under the hot Greek sun.