Riot #2, Soccer, and Poros!

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  Poros, Ionian Islands, Greece
Sunday, March 14, 2010

    So more riots broke out in Athens. This past Thursday, a general strike shut down all public transportation AND the entire Athens International Airport, which meant that my friend Joe, who was supposed to visit me this weekend, got his flight canceled and had to reschedule for April. But I went with some friends to the demonstration that marched from Omonia Square to Parliament, and back to Omonia. At first it was just a bunch of communists holding banners and chanting things on megaphones (the usual). But as the anarchists began to join the parade, wearing black and red bandanas and gas masks, things got a little out of control. All the stores were closed up and bolted shut before the strike--with good reason. People were smashing the exteriors of banks with sledgehammers, and throwing the huge chunks of marble and stone at the riot police. There was red paint thrown everywhere, all over the fronts of stores and sidewalks. There were huge piles of broken glass and stones everywhere. Trashcans and piles of trash were on fire in the streets, as well as newspaper stands and even entire cars. People were spray painting things and setting off Molotov cocktails. It was actually pretty frightening at times, especially when I saw the riot police putting on their gas masks and heard the stun grenades and tear gas bombs going off. I got hit with more tear gas again, and I wasn't even participating. Just documenting it on film. I'm beginning to get used to that familiar burning sensation in my eyes and throat.

    Friday night, we woke up at the crack of dawn, 6am, to go to Piraeus to catch a ferry to the island of Poros, in the Saronic Gulf. The group consisted of me, my friends Matt and Russell, and my roommates Caitlin and Kaylin. The ferry ride was really fun, because it was a beautiful day, and Matt was playing "Zorba the Greek" music on his bağlama while the rest of us practiced our traditional Greek dancing. We stopped by the islands of Aegina and Methana, until we finally reached Poros. Poros is a gorgeous island, with a little port town and tons of mountains and hills. And unlike many Greek islands, it actually has sand! So we pulled into port, explored for a bit, and found a place to stay for the night, which was right on the beach and had a gorgeous view (for only €10!). We then got lunch from the supermarket and sat on a nearby dock and ate. It was warm and sunny and beautiful, and so relaxing! We decided to walk around the island and find this monastery and the Temple of Poseidon. We did find the monastery, which was quite beautiful; but we did not find the Temple because we got lost on some backwoods mountain paths. But we had a lot of fun getting lost! Later we went swimming in the sea and got a delicious dinner at a taverna, and finally retired to our lovely seaside hotel to watch a movie. The next day, we got gelato for breakfast and sat around the pier and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We had to get a Flying Dolphin, which is the fast ferry, because the conventional ferry was experiencing some technical difficulties. We were a little bummed because the Dolphin is twice the price of the conventional ferry, but luckily a random Greek man helped us get a student discount and saved us each €6.

    After we got back to Athens on Saturday, we rested for a bit until Caitlin, Kaylin and I headed out to the soccer game at Olympic Stadium that night. It was AEK vs. Nea Kavala, and it was my first soccer game. Our friend Dylan joined us at the game too. It was a cool experience, but there weren't that many people in the stadium so it was a bit odd. We made the best of it though, and were cheering the whole time. The team we were rooting for, AEK, won 3-0. I bought an AEK scarf afterwards and I'm wearing it right now! My roommates and I are planning to go to the huge game next Saturday, Panathinaikos (the Athenian team) vs. Olympiakos. It's supposed to be very intense, and my roommates are big Panathinaikos fans.

    Yesterday night after the game we all went to Matt's apartment, a few streets up the hill, to watch horror movies and smoke hookah. It was a fun time, and we watched Suspiria and half of Ringu before we were all way to tired to go on. This morning, I went to my first Latin mass with my friend Kate, which was interesting because they actually spoke Greek, Latin, and English at various points throughout the mass. Then Caitlin and I went exploring around our apartment to find out if we had roof access--which we DO! We only have to climb through a window to access the roof stairwell! So we will be using that for tanning purposes. The day ended very well because Kaylin, Caitlin and I booked our tickets for BARCELONA next weekend (crossing our fingers that a strike doesn't cancel our flights...) and we watched Hercules with Claire and her mom who is visiting for the week.

    Until it's time to go to Spain on Thursday, I am looking forward to another "demonstration" on Tuesday (a.k.a. riot potential), and then St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday, which will be my first St. Patty's Day legal! Great plans are underway! Now it's time for homework.

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Tear gas.

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