The Greek flag still flies on the Acropolis.

I went out yesterday afternoon to Syntagma and Omonia to see what the damage was. Even after nearly a week to clean up and replace windows, you could still tell that something had happened. There were windows still broken and stores, especially banks, boarded up. The saddest was a department store on Ermou that had been completely burned out. I don't even know what the store was, but it used to have the prettiest lobby, with marble and tile and a big chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It's just a burnt-out shell now, and you can see the ruins of the chandelier still hanging from the ceiling.

But most of the damage has been cleaned up. The city looks almost normal now. Even with the damage that I saw, it was nothing like what I know the city looked like earlier this past week. Shops are open. The buskers are back on Ermou. The Monastiraki flea market is as busy as ever.

And all throughout this disturbance, the Greek flag still flies over the Acropolis. There may be turmoil, there may be disturbance, but even throughout all of the riots, all of the vandalism, Athens is still here. Greece is still here.

There's a reason why the symbol of Greece is an olive tree. They're well-nigh impossible to destroy. No matter how much you try to cut it down, to remove it, to destroy it, the olive tree always grows back.

Athens has been around for over three thousand years. One week of rioting isn't going to kill it. Even a week after this disturbance, the worst rioting since the junta fell, Athens is coming back, and even now is somewhat back to normal.

I won't pretend that this last week was an easy one, or that it had no effect on me or the city. A fifteen-year-old boy is dead. There was damage, a lot of it, over fifty million euro by one estimate. They burned down the Christmas tree in Syntagma Square. I had classes canceled on account of the disturbance. I didn't go anyplace but school and my apartment, and nearly went stir-crazy as a result.

But Athens is still here. Like the olive tree, it's impossible to destroy, no matter how much violence is directed at it.

I don't pretend to understand what happened this past week. I don't pretend to understand Athens, or the Greek people, or anything else. All I can offer is my observations.

I've lived here for the past three and a half months.

I leave here on Saturday.

It's weird to think that I may never come back again.