Public Transportation...

On Monday, February 2, Sarah, Steph (Sarah's roommate), and myself went downtown to meet some other study abroad students at the other dorms that are closer to Aristotelous Square (downtown). We didn't have any bus tickets and when we finally realized that we needed to get them, we just bought them from the machine in the middle of the bus. Well, this was a little interesting because all of the directions were in Greek... NO PICTURES on this machine... Go Figure! We all just kind of stared at the thing and then a lady came up to us and asked if we needed help. What a life saver! We gave her our 3 euro (they are 0,60 euro each) and she said that we couldn't use that because it you can only buy one ticket at a time. So one of us would be without a ticket because that was all we had in coins. She reached into her pocket gave us three of her tickets and showed us how to use it. We tried to pay her for them but she just smiled and said that we didn't have to, that she was glad to help!

We got off at our stop and then called Katie Maack, one of the girls we were meeting. She told us to walk straight up the road until we saw London University and then turn right and keep walking up this road until you see the cemetary. She was going to meet us there! Sounds simple right!??!??! Well we didn't know it was over 12 blocks to this cemetary after you turned on the road by London University. We thought we were completely lost so we called Katie back and she told us to just stay where we were and she would come to meet us!

After about 20 minutes, she showed up with Dewey Thoner and we started to walk back to DYZEPI Taverna ("The Chicken Taverna"). The food was amazing... The chicken was so tender it basically melted in your mouth! We had fried zucchini, Greek salad, chicken souvlacki, and flan for dessert! The food was so good, I was surprised because it had a lot of onions and tomatoes in it all and those are not my favorite foods!
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Classes started this past Monday, February 9; Sarah Frost and I took the city bus home. I was ready for it this time because I had some tickets! We knew we had to take the #58 bus until it made a complete right turn and then get off at the next stop. Walk behind the bus across the street and then get on the #30 at that stop and ride that until the Vasilis Olgas stop!

The #58 came and it was so packed, we couldn't see through the windows to the other side. We decided we should wait for the next one because we had full backpacks and really didn't want to take them off to set on the floor because we had our computers in them and with our luck, something would happen to them. The next #58 came, and it was just as full as the previous one! We weren't going to wait for the next one so we squeezed our way on... Seriously talk about fitting 10 gallons of water in a 5 gallon pail!

We braced ourselves for take off; the city bus drivers do not have exactly what we would call smooth acceleration skills. It is kind of like slamming into a brick wall every time they take off. After a little while, I was like ok Sarah, I think the next stop is the one we need to get off at... She was like "Britney, settle down, we need to be on here for 15 minutes... It has only been about 5!" I guess I was a little anxious...

The bus made the full right turn and we found our stop, we got off and crossed the street to the next bus stop. Everything was going relatively well, surprisingly! The #30 came and it was about as packed as the first #58 bus... Fantastic... We were not going to wait for the next one because it would take another 30 minutes before it would come again. So again we squeezed onto the bus (this time it was like 20 gallons into a 5 gallon pail)... Crammed. There are 3 entrances and we got on the middle one. I could get all the way up the steps because it was so crammed; I thought it was ok though because I had a railing to hang onto and didn't have to frantically grab the rope above me everytime the bus slammed on its breaks and then took off like a bat out of hell again.

Boy was I wrong about standing in the stairway. When we hit the next stop, people were trying to get off on both sides of the stairs and I was caught in the middle. I forgot I had my backpack on and would turn one way, but the people behind me would hit my backpack and I would swing back the other way but then those people would hit my backpack... I felt like I was going in circles. I was also hanging onto the railing for dear life because there were so many people (trying to fit 3 people out a door for 2 and I was caught inbetween them all). I looked up and all I could see was Sarah laughing! I started laughing after that, but she said that the look on my face looked like I was about ready to be trampled in a buffalo stampede!
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The next day, Annie, Sarah, Kelsey, Steph, and I took the bus home and Sarah and I handled it like pros. However, it was a different story for the rest of them!!! When the bus driver accelerated, Kelsey stepped back to brace herself and stepped on a crabby old woman's foot (She got crabby after her foot got stepped on -- Who wouldn't??) But then Annie's bag swung back and it hit the railing right where this same woman's hand was... She was being attached by the brutal acceleration. She started whinning something in Greek and no one could understand her. She would point to her foot and say something and then hold her hand and say something else. I felt so bad... but then we couldn't understand her at ALL... It was so hard to keep from laughing just because we couldn't understand her and all Annie and Kelsey were saying was "Signomi, Signomi, Signomi, Signomi" (Signomi = sorry in Greek). That was all we knew how to say that would sound considerate. When we got off the bus, we all burst out laughing... It was quite a scene!
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I think my sole purpose for taking the city bus from now on is when I need a good laugh and when I need another STORY!!!