"The more time you take to judge someone, the less time you have to love them."

From my blog posts, many of you are probably under the impression that my stay in Greece is all fun and no class.  At times, it seems that the roles can be reversed.  This past week, my Greek class on art history was kicked off with a midterm on Monday and I have had site visits every day since.  In a way I prefer this experiential learning to the traditional lecture-styled class and seeing the sites in person versus staring sleepily at slides projected on a screen, but one must take into consideration many factors that play into the site visits.  For one, most of the trips have had a report time of 9 am, and our professor takes full advantage of our allotted two hour class period. As I have mentioned many times before, I am not a morning person.  In order to get anywhere in Greece, one must take a bus to the metro station, ride the metro to the stop closest to your destination, then walk to the site itself.  We usually allow ourselves an hour and a half travel time (putting our wake up call thirty to forty minutes before that) and typically get to the site with ten minutes to spare.  I am so thankful for the transportation systems here, they are quick and always clean.  Sometimes the bus or subway can get pretty packed but with out it, we would have to walk a solid 15-20 miles daily just to get to class.  Secondly, one must remember that Greece is experiencing a heat wave that shows temperatures in the upper thirties, lower forties.  That translates in to the high 90’s low 100’s for us.  This itself has proved to be a big hurtle to jump and can make class unbearable at times, however, every site I have been to has taught me a lot about the history of ancient Greece.  Just this week we have been to the Acropolis, the Acropolis museum, the Agora, and we are going to the Temple of Olympian Zeus tomorrow. Our teacher does not account for the time we spend getting to and from the site, which is understandable, but he proceeds to hold us for the whole two hour time slot of the class.  Side note: My professor is amazing though.  I feel like this might come off as me compliaining about the class which is not the purpose of this at all.  Im pretty sure I have explained him in earlier blogs, but just to reiterate, it is his british sense of humor that keeps me going on the long strenuous days.  He is an amazing person and I have thoroughly enjoyed his class and learning about art antiquity. 

Anyways, after a long day spent at the Agora today, my friend Lauren and I wanted to do some exploring on our own.  We have found a comfort zone in the part of Athens known as Monastarkai or “Plaka”, which is home to many of the tourist shops.  Walking in the streets has allowed us to feel safe and being as we have lived here for a couple of weeks now, we know the streets bordering the square and how to get around the area, it has almost become second nature to us.  Wanting to learn and experience more of the city, Lauren and I picked a direction that was unfamiliar to us and started walking, being sure to remind ourselves which direction we had come from and talked through the turns we had taken.   It has been said that “life begins at the end of your comfort zone”, so here we were, about to live.  As we wondered around, we took in the beauty of this fantastic country. We soon found ourselves in what is believed to be the “sketchy” part of Athens, Omnia.    We could definitely feel a shift in the atmosphere. We were suddenly surrounded by a street meat market with dead cows and sheep all around us that soon faded into a street of merchants selling fish and spices. The cacophony of shouting men was overwhelming at first but did not take long to get used to.  There were more homeless individuals and a healthy dose of people who seemed to have no motivation to improve their way of life. 

Having said all of this, I only felt vulnerable for maybe ten minutes.   As I looked around and observed the people I was encountering, I started to notice that they were just here hanging out with their friends or trying to make a living, even if it meant they had to sell fly swatters and sun visors to the passing cars.  Everyone makes a big deal about pit-pocketers because “they are everywhere”.  I’m not saying all people are good because that would be nieve of me, but I think sometimes we have this idea that anyone who is different than we are, dressed in rags and sitting on the corner of a street wants to harmus.  Mother Teresa once said, “the more time you take to judge someone, the less time you have to love them”. Just because these individuals have come across some bad luck or weren’t given the same opportunities we were to succeed in life does not make them any less of a person.  I understand and encourage people to be smart with who and where they are traveling and to keep your bags zipped and close, but I also encourage people to remember that not everyone is out to steal your things and a smile never hurt anyone. Athens is one of the safest places I have ever been.  There are policemen on almost every corner and the people here are wonderful, but I will save that for another blog.  The beauty is never-ending and there is so much to do and see in the city that if we waste time dwelling on assumptions and the warnings from other people, we will have missed an opportunity to form our own thoughts.  My professor always tells us historical facts and then follows with the phrase “well don’t trust me go find out for yourself”.  I think the same can apply here because there is no time for missed adventures when you have the Opportunity of a Life Time!