last day @ Athens Backpackers

Woke up early this morning with this song in my head for some reason:

Miss Restless by Polka Dot Dot Dot

Broke out my iPod for the first time since being here to listen to it.

So, today is my last day at the Athens Backpackers. It's been a good time, but I think I'm ready to move on to a new place, with new people. I think I got very lucky in randomly choosing a hostel with such a central location that managed to find me three of my classmates from just randomly walking around.

The cold is almost gone now, I'm on my last leg of it.

Slept in my clothes last night I was so tired. Quite excited to have access to laundry today.

I feel like I've already seen so much since being here it's hard to fathom there's still more yet to come.

My goal is to learn a new Greek phrase every day. So far I've got

Good morning (Καλημέρα) pronunced cali-mera, works for both a hello and goodbye

Good evening (Καλό βράδυ) pronounced cali-spera, works for both a hello and goodbye

Please/You're welcome (παρακαλώ) pronounced para-khalo

Thank you (ευχαριστίες) pronounced, okay bear with me, eff-er-ist-oh, accent on the -oh

It's incredibly rude to not greet the owner of an establishment when you walk in for the first time.

Perhaps it's the jetlag, but I've been having unbelievably vivid dreams. Last night, I dreamt I was the head advisor/assistant for a Californian politician, who for some reason reminded me of T. Boone Pickens, and he was supposed to be endorsing an act similar to Proposition 8 to legalize gay marriage in CA and he kept beating around the bush until finally I said to him, "Look, if you don't agree with it, if you don't think it's what the people want, don't sign it, but you can't keep stringing people along like this!" And he smiled at me and said, "That's what I was looking for, here, let me sign it."

Oh! One last bit of good news! My friend Anthony from Houston is graduating in May and we are finishing up final plans to meet in Florence once I'm done with class! I have a flexible ticket, so I may end up extending my stay in Europe for a week or so and visit a few more countries while I'm here. Oh happy day! We shall see!

Anyways, my check-out time is fast approaching, and I still want to shower before heading out. Καλημέρα!