Attica Update

2009-01-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

Athens is amazing. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful this place is.

I think I've fallen completely in love with the city. It's definitely an old city, with that classical European charm, but it's also gritty, graffiti-ed, and urbanized. The buildings are beautiful and have that romantic, 19th century architecture that's ridiculously charming (at least to me.) There are wrought-iron balconies and moulding. Best of all are the old-fashioned windows and shutters, completing that beautiful Old World look.

At the same time, many of the buildings are in disrepair. Due to the fires and the earthquakes the plague Greece, there are a lot of damaged structures standing next to lovingly maintained houses. To make restoration even harder, there's a law that states that the exterior of a building cannot be destroyed or altered during construction. I believe that owners can restore houses but only to the original design. However, due to the extensive damage, some of the restorations would probably cost hundreds of thousands of euros. Ergo, many buildings are a wreak.

Like any major city, Greece has it's underground art scene. You have to love the graffiti in this city. It humanizes the place and gives it a very modern feel. I've seen the "A" anarchy sign all over the place, not to mention other political symbols and slogans. It's so cool!

Okay, there's so much I want to see and do, so I'll do another post soon!

Inauguration of New Dictations

2008-12-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcome to my little niche in the vast and wonderful mass of wire and silicon that we lovingly call the Internet. I really should introduce myself, shouldn't I? My name is Angela, and I will be your narrator.

On January 1st, 2009, I'll be heading to Athens, Greece for 25 days on a study abroad program. I'll be living in an apartment in Plaka, the old section of Athens. I think it's similar to the French Quarter in New Orleans, so I'm really looking forward to staying in the area. I've read that the neighborhood's a bit commercialized, but the architecture alone will probably blow my mind. Plaka is also really close to the Acropolis, the ancient temple of Athena. (The original Acropolis was was razed by the Persians during one of their wars. What we see today isn't the first Acropolis, but what millenia-old building isn't renovated, restored, damaged or destroyed? We're talking about a birthday in the BCE here, people.)

Everyone's probably heard about the ~~insane, rioting anarchy~~ civil unrest in Greece. I'm pretty sure that the disturbance will have calmed enough by the time we get there. I can also understand why the Greek youth is upset; who isn't with current state of the world? We, as a generation, stand to inherit a graceless world with a lop-sided economy, a war we have little hope of justifying, policies that hurt people rather than help them, a horrible international reputation and a host of other problems that I'd rather not get into at the moment. But yeah, I get why the Greeks are rebelling. I might not agree with the fighting itself, but the reasons behind the turmoil definitely need to be addressed; the rest of the international community should do some serious self-reflection.

As you've probably guessed, I'm going to turn this blog into a travel journal for the next month. So stay tuned for the next episode of Vox Angelae!