So just like the pix I'm taking, it's all an experiment: be forewarned, stream of consciousness. It's super hard to type on this EeePC too. Quite glad I brought it though... the computers are in constant use.

In Athens for a day and a half now. Couchsurfing didn't work out here. I'm at Hostel Aphrodite, which is a pretty nice place, catering to Engish-speakers Never been in a hostel before... lots of young travelers, everyone on multi-month tours. So far I have primarily met Canadians, Aussies, Brits, and Kiwis, with a few South Africans.. A minority of Americans. My neighbor was a Chinese kid who lost his stuff, so got stuck here: visas are a b**** i guess.

In Athens itself, not too many speak English, and at first impression, it is not the great ancient city it once was.

Took a walking tour of the city, it's historical sites: Acropolis, Temple of Zeus, AGORAS!, ran a tiny stretch on the first modern Olympic track, before getting kicked out. Not sure what to do today.. might just walk around the market to watch people, though it's better if you understand them.

But I'm finding that the people are the most interesting part. On the tour I met a couple of people, but I don't think they're my sort of crowd. The bar at the hostel is nice to just chill at and meet people, you hear stories from all over, comparisons between countries, travel reccomendations... it's almost like traveling to cities is an adjuct to this activity (similar to St. John's, ne?). Everyone is in their twenties, and it seems the common thing to do is to just show up with a round trip to Europe, and people don't "have a plan to what they are doing". Perhaps that's right a little, but I call BS if you have a plane ticket, or limited EURail. And (most) everyone only comes to Athens for a day, then off to the islands. I dunno what attraction they wouuld hold for me at this point. All about partying and relaxing on the beach, oh and in the case of Mykonos, spending a lot.

But, I don't like big parties, I think that the people who stand out in them are funny guys, but would soon get boring. However, I am immatrue in my socializing skills. After all, a party is just meeting many random people. That's traveling, so they go hand in hand. Most feel more secure in a group, but for traveling (and often the rest of life), one other is all that's necessary. Your group becomes your country. So I'll figure it out before I come back. Never been exposed to so mny different sorts of people. My education and activites have had me on a track where my experience was very limitiing. To grow, i need stimulus, and now that I can look at everything subjectively (in relation to my own good, as distinct from that of others), I am in a good situation to take advantage of this trip.

And here's the thing tht puzzles me: I think I'm doing this trip somewhat cheaply... I dunno what the living costs for the same time in Georgia would be in WesternEurope, but thee other kids are coming from uni and whatnot, I really don't understand the funding situation there. A couple of Kiwis are working the bar cuz they ran out of dough, and are trying to pay for a trip home.

I met ths kid last night who had the same sort of mind as my own. All you close to me know what I mean: observant, critical, amused, people-watcher, etc... We hit it off well, and it made the nite pretty good. Ended up discussing that money stuff with others, which got way out of hand... some people just don't know how to argue, I love St. John's: you can have the most heated discussion without biases and insults and obstinacy: not everyone can/wants to do this. Anyway, we talked about education a lot, contrasting the countries.

We'll see what happens the rest of the time... They all have different accents, but at this point, they all sound like British soup to me. I'd get killed for thet, LOL. Definitely defending America against all the naysayers... despite my own views about the GOVERNMENT, the COUNTRY is different... and it's really fun to get people riled up over stuff they CAN'T change. (think ginger-bashing).

But one thing that is common, most don't like "tourism" they want the culture; in a fastly merging world, we all want novelty (something about that and temptation: Here we come, Senior Essay). Oh, and I was in a bar, but drinking is definitely a uniting force... I stand by my old division: There are the drinkers and the non. Yes, those who drink before college or legally (in US) are a certain sort, but that division does not exist in the rest of the world. And if you drink, like other activites, it forms a bond, but it is a liquid one: everyone has a mouth, and alcohol is usually easy to obtain: I bought two beers last night, and people gave me additional ones and everytime someone new walked in, we all got a shot of ouzo, (licorice-flavored greek stuff, hits the back of the throat nicely). This happened like four times.

The turnover rate is crazy too. something like every four days: new people. Meet, connect, share, live, leave... sometimes they tag along: two Canadian guys picked up an Aussie in Denmark. My trip is too erratic for the first month to have the same tagalongs, but maybe once in italy...