Updates

Things I know after orientation that I didn't know before:
-There are protests and/or strikes in Athens almost every day. Protests traditionally start outside of Parliament in Syntagma Square and finish outside of the American Embassy, no matter what the cause.
-Showing your palm to someone with all fingers extended (like you're going to give someone a high five) is a rude hand gesture in Greece, roughly equivalent to flipping someone off. Protesters do this towards Parliament during protests.
-Tipping is not common in Greece. Instead, a gratuity is included in the bill.
-Coffee is expensive because you're paying rent on a table for as long as you like, not just having the cup of coffee.
-The unemployment rate in Greece is around 10 percent.
-The system that we use for pronouncing Ancient Greek was created by Erasmus during the Renaissance.
-There hasn't been a major earthquake in Athens in about 10 years.
-Posing with statues is offensive to the gods. Taking pictures without posing is fine.

In other news:
-I talked to a member of the Modern Greek faculty, and she told me that taking Ancient Greek, Latin, and Modern Greek would be a bad idea, and she advised against it strongly. So no Modern Greek class for me.
-I've been spending the time that I haven't spent in orientation wandering around trying to get to know my neighborhood. I'm also still talking pictures of all the interesting graffiti I see. Knowing me, I will end up with more pictures of graffiti than of all the "picturesque" sites that I'm "supposed" to be photographing. But it's my camera, and I can photograph whatever I want.
-For the only time in my life other than at the Classics teas, there are more Classics people around than anyone else. All four of the other girls I'm living with are Classics majors, and we make up the majority of the people in the program. Last night, one of my roommates and I were talking about reading the Crito as an intermediate class rather than as an advanced class. I love spending time with non-Classics people, but for four months, this is awesome.
-I had an adventure yesterday trying to buy laundry soap in a store with no English labels. All of the boxes, not surprisingly, were labeled in Greek, and I couldn't read any of it. I ended up getting some kind of Italian laundry soap, because at least I could read the label.