I was really exciting to see Athens. Yes, our trip is mainly to go to Paros (an island in Greece) but for the past week I’ve been watching a bunch of documentary videos on the Greek Gods and Goddesses like Zeus and Athena! I stoked myself up so much and I expected way too much from Athens.

My roomies would make little comments like “Greece isn’t doing” and I didn’t really take it seriously BUT GOD DAMN. They weren’t lying! We got out of the plane on to the train and I just did not feel safe.. Well I am a scaredy cat but the reason why is because there was graffiti all over the walls and trains. Everyone looked angry. It was a very different vibe. To top it off Fitz got us a really cheap hotel for the night. Walked in, smelled like wet cat.. nobody spoke English.. every store was closed or looked deserted.

I definitely wish I watched local news on Athens before assuming all this glamour about it. I guess the reason why there down and out is because a few years back there were crazy riots, the government is corrupt, and everywhere is poverty. Fitz said that he’s read 4/10 children grow up in “extreme poverty” there. That’s not just regular poverty, it’s the low low. It’s so sad.. another friend of mine, whom lived in Greece for 13 years but some smaller island, she said “Greece is the flame of modern civilization, left holding the candle”. At first, I didn’t understand it but she means that they contributed a lot to modern society but now they’re stuck in poverty.

Sorry for such a long post but I think that I learned something from this frightening experience, and that is Pinterest photos, etc. don’t really show the true side of places.

XO,

Hunter Kelsi