Daily life: Post number 200

This is the 200th post we've written in our 4 years coming here.  I imagine this to be a primer for life on the UNF summer program.  It is a day in the life showing key places students need to know about when they first arrive.

We live in the residence halls at Deree, which have wifi, air conditioning (if necessary!) and free laundry.  Here is Deree's link to a 360 degree view of one of the apartments.  They are usually two double rooms, a shared kitchen and bath, and a balcony.  There is a lounge on the ground floor with a study room, tables (we use them for group potluck dinners), a tv area, fitness room, outdoor space, and an RA on duty all day. Here are some views of our apartment.

The bedrooms are small but adequate, with some good built-in storage space.

Again, kitchen is small but adequate, and has a great view!

View from our kitchen window.

The balconies are what make the place!  

We live on ours.

The college is gorgeous, climbing up a hill, with its own Olympic pool (in which Michael Phelps actually swam in 2004!), marble amphitheater, gym, indoor basketball courts, classrooms, and a Starbucks.  Take a virtual tour!

Courtyard with the library behind.

Marble amphitheater. Yes this is on campus!

Then there is daily life in Athens.  We live in a safe, quiet, residential neighborhood a few miles from the center of Athens.  Everything we need for daily life is here, within a few minute walk:  school, residences, groceries, restaurants, cafes.

People just live outside, especially when they eat and drink.

This is a periptero, a kiosk that is open long hours everywhere in Greece.  You can buy many things:  milk, drinks, snacks, metro tickets, phone cards, batteries, bobby pins, postcards...it is also the go-to place if you are lost, as they usually know the neighborhood and will give you directions.

Then there is food.  Students have a few choices:  cook, eat gyros, or eat in tavernas.  Cooking is wonderful as fruits and vegetables have extraordinary flavor.  Every year students who don't like tomatoes at home tell me they love them here.  Ditto zucchini.  People actually say they LOVE zucchini.  I'm not kidding.  There is a weekly produce market nearby where there are incredibly delicious, inexpensive fruits and vegetables.  

The market

A typical week's haul

Brief video of the market

Karantinos Market:  the local supermarket

Breakfast.

We have a tradition of a weekly potluck in which each room brings a dish to share and we all eat together like a huge family.

I'm always impressed with what the students bring!  And if you don't know how to cook, this is the place to learn.

But there are plenty of other food options besides cooking.  There are the local gyro places which our students always love.  There are several on the plateia (central square of our neighborhood) and the students always favor one of them. Here is 2013 and 2014's favorites.

2013:  MILF

2014's winner

For cheap snacks or light lunches, there are lots of bakeries which sell small, inexpensive sandwiches and savory pies (cheese pie, spinach pie, meat pies)

One of the common bakery chains where you can get inexpensive Greek pies or sandwiches for lunch.

This is another of the very common bakery chains.

And then there is the taverna, where we find the common foods students have heard of, like moussaka or pastitsio, as well as many delicious and inventive dishes we will discover.

Taverna meal near Omonia Square

When students are ready, they take the bus and the metro into central Athens and explore this amazing European capital.

This is the sign for a metro station.

2014 at the Acropolis

On the Areopagos looking down at the Hephaisteion..

In case of a problem, I give students a phone card that can be used at any of these devices, which are very common in Athens.  

It is called a payphone, and we used to have them in the US, too.

Then we return home to the residence!

Sunset from our balcony.