Sept. 8

Day 12 September 8 Saturday

It’s our first full day in Volos. Yesterday we had picked up some bread and jam from a store on the way home, so we had a bite to eat before heading to the school building. We have the key to get in anytime we need to, and that is the main point of internet access. I forgot my USB drive with all my blogs on it, so I’ll be putting all this up at a later date. The tech the Center hired was ill for a couple of days, so only three computers are fully working. The others are in the middle of being updated. I had to wait my turn to use the computer, and by the time I was done everyone else had left. A trio had gone to the beach, some others had gone out to lunch, and I got myself locked in the bathroom. I finally got myself out and went back to the apartment. I called my parents and talked to them for a while. I miscalculated the time difference and called them at seven a.m. their time. I walked to the store, called Champion, and bought myself enough food to last for a couple of days. I have a roommate who is very picky about buying her own food, and the stores aren’t open on Sundays. I went back to my apartment and realized that I had forgotten a couple of things. One of the girls I’m living with came back from visiting one of the boys’ apartments and said that she needed a couple of things at the store, too. We ended up at a German chain that’s kind of like a normal Wal-mart store. By the time I had gotten back to the apartment I had everything I needed to make a decent sandwich. It was getting dark, so the other girls wanted to get to the boys’ apartments before nightfall. I’m living with two other girls. One is dating one of the architecture boys, and the other is really good friends with the other business major of the group. I stayed here and did some laundry, made myself a samich, and did some stuff in my Journal. Have I explained the Journal before…? Here’s the rundown: The journal is the place where we write down our experiences and observations. It is a lasting public account of my journey, and I’m getting graded on the consistency of effort and quality of content. “It is a personal account with a potentially public audience. It is a monologue that may at any moment become a conversation. It is your portrait as a youth.” Every day of our trip around Athens and the Peloponnese we had an assignment or two, but we didn’t necessarily have to stick to answering the questions. A hard part of the Journal is that is has both written and graphic elements. I won’t be graded on how well I draw but on how I tried. [?] I think that’s right. Mostly I just sketch some basic stuff and fill the rest of it up with writing.