Sharp in Greece

Kalimera everyone! It has been one full week in Athens, Greece so far since my arrival on Monday morning around 10 a.m. (3 a.m. U.S. time). For all the family, friends, and other platias (squares) that may worry about John Sharp, everything has gone as smooth as possible thus far. My first plane ride was exactly like your first plane ride except I almost missed it!


They really should tell their “non-frequent” fliers that there is a boarding time on your boarding pass, or I’d still be in Indiana right now. On the bright side, I had the privilege of hearing my name yelled on the intercom system (pretty sweet if you ask me) as well as the opportunity to sprint through the airport because of course my gate was the last one at the very end. If you’ve ever been to the new Indianapolis Airport just imagine Usaine Bolt sprinting with a backpack on, his carry-on bags in one hand, and a Gatorade Fuel in the other hand yelling I’m coming, I’m coming! Now envision me only minus the Jamaican accent and instead sounding like a ghetto kid from FSQ (that’s fountain square, the outskirts of downtown Indianapolis for all of you that don’t know!) who had to sweet-talk his Mom, tell her she’s the most beautiful woman in the world just to get a dollar for the ice cream truck. But now time has been wasted trying to coax his Mom and the ice cream truck is leaving. So the chase is on and the yelling begins, I’m coming, I’m coming! Needless to say, I made it just in time for my flight to Newark, NJ. The flight to Athens went fine as well. I don’t know which seems longer; flight to Athens or The Green Mile? Quite possibly The Green Mile except the only difference between the two being I could sleep through The Green Mile (not saying I did, it’s a good movie just forever long!) Attempting to sleep on a nine hour flight reminded me of my night of luxury spent inside Wabash County Jail’s drunk tank (Underage drinking freshman year of college, we’ve all been there, don’t judge).


Our apartment is quite the setup only it doesn’t have a balcony like all three apartments shared by the girls, but who’s complaining?! We make up for it in my opinion, see video. Oh wait, the video that should be here but isn't because trying to snag Wi-Fi here is like me trying to snag a model wife. MTV Cribs International Edition Episode 1 will be up soon, sorry!

The school I’ll be attending for the next 3 months, (yes, I actually have to go to school and study while I’m on this “vacation”) City University has two buildings, one of which has a café/sick looking coffee shop called story café in the front of it.





I still have yet to officially choose my courses but orientation itself is worth 6 credits! I haven’t made up my mind whether or not I will take one or two more courses on top of my required Greek language course. My top three choices are; Overview of the European Union, Photo Journalism, and International Business. Classes begin on October 11th. I honestly thought the whole class thing wasn’t true, that maybe universities around the world use “study” abroad as a cover up for sending their really superb students on a well-deserved vacation.


A full week in and the only scare or problem I have had so far was when I stayed on the tram (like we were supposed to) as two of my roommates and three of the girls waved to me from the stop, yelling John get off, while a tram full of Greeks found it quite hilarious.


Keep in mind that at this point we don’t have cell phones – I really enjoy breaking the habit of reaching in my pocket for a phone every two seconds, I think I’ll buy one sometime next week – but lucky for the wandering geese I got off at the next stop and went back for them. I could have easily spent a day on the beach by myself. These guys better learn to trust my decision making skills over the next three months. The beach is about a 30 minute metro and tram ride away from our apartments and the really nice beach is more of a distance but they’re all nice to me. Easy to say when Indiana is what you have to compare it to!



On Friday we went to the Acropolis aka giant magnet for tourists. The Acropolis is located in Monistiraki, only three metro stops away from our apartments which are located in Megaro Mussikis. The Plaka is also located in Monistiraki and is a marketplace where you can wheel-n-deal to catch good bargains on anything from clothing to jewelry. Mainly, the Plaka is where all the illegal immigrants primarily from Albania, Bulgaria, Pakistan and Nigeria attempt to sell you everything you would never need but wouldn't mind having. They sell knock offs of every designer brand you can think of, Gucci, Chanel, Dior, Coach, Ray Ban. Basically quote your price and they’ll accept the offer, just for the sake they’re happy someone is buying from them. However, it does get annoying when you’re constantly approached at dinner and asked to buy bootleg DVDs, bracelets, purses and possibly my favorite, especially when it’s a table full of guys, roses. The Acropolis was by far my best view of Athens thus far. See pictures/teasers and please ignore the disappointing photo stitch lines.


This is the point where I could throw out a bunch of random facts about the Acropolis that you’ll never remember and for the sake of not putting people to sleep who read my blog, you may have heard of Google, perhaps you’ve used it once or twice? This is the point where, if you’re still interested, you very carefully type in the word A-C-R-O-P-O-L-I-S.



In all seriousness, its topic toss-up time aka mumbo jumbo aka random stuff I want to share with you but isn’t necessarily paragraph material. Brace yourself…

Everyone drives mopeds and those suicidal smart cars or some sort of tiny vehicle, to fly through the tiny streets of Athens because obviously the Greeks enjoy supporting Europe’s reputation of being #1 for traffic accidents. Yes it rains here, I know whodda thunk it?! I’m putting in a request for my money back because not once did I ever see a rainy picture on any website or postcard hanging inside Professor Rohrer’s office! It’s actually raining for the first time in my week here as I write this on our three hour trip to Delphi (again, Google).



The most important meal of the day is lunch and then everyone enjoys ciesta, a midday nap with most shops closing during this time. Personally, I think we should adopt our own sort of ciesta in the states. This may be the reason for Athens’s amazing night life which starts around 11 p.m. and ends around 4 a.m. Wi-Fi in our apartment comes around rarely. Starbucks and I have become well acquainted already. I hope they have Baklava in heaven.Cops ride on two-seater motorcycles.
I’m interested in finding out how they decide whose riding and whose driving, rock-paper-scissors possibly? Our director Aphrodite told us that Greek guys believe they’re more macho than American men. Although, I believe someone lied to them because steroid use is much more visible in the U.S. Greek food is the best! Gyros are the greatest and I hope they serve them in heaven as well. One of my roommates bought a bottle of olive oil, or so he thought it was olive oil. Turns out it was a small bottle of wine that we have been eating over our salads and meals cooked at home! Word on the street is you can get round trip airfare to anywhere in Europe between $50-150. My roommate’s friend flew to Germany last year for $5, for all we know the pilot could’ve have been drunk at that rate but what matters most is that the flight was cheap. Italy is at the top of my list! Any travel recommendations? The churches are ridiculous! I haven’t been in a protest yet but I see them daily, soon enough I’ll find my way into the middle of one (Mom, I apologize ahead of time). Last but not least, Afrodite is the director of our program/my Greek Mom for the next three months.


Sorry for the long post but I have a bunch a folks across the pond who remind me that they need/want updates asap. Plus I want to share what I can of this experience with all of you or at least allow you to see Greece through my eyes because the only true way of experiencing Greece is to visit Greece. Yes, that means you! Get off the couch, find a job in this great recession, save some scrilla and let all the dreams floating around your mind after reading this blog become realities. And to anyone who says, “But John, I can’t!” (whiney voice) First off, go see your Mom she’s calling for you. Secondly quit lying to yourself and stop letting a bit of hard work get in the way of your dreams. To everyone at home I miss you already, not a lot yet but yes I miss you. Until next time - hopefully sometime next week but don’t hold me to it – adio sas!

If anyone would like to send me mail, the address is...
John Sharp
City University, Syntagma
Athens, 10561, Greece
and if you do decide to send anything make sure to only do it how Stevie would...