Its been awhile, but too long I think not. I’ve missed blogging, and have been thinking about it since I stopped (or took a break), but life never stops to fascinate me, and I like this outlet to record it. So, hi. Welcome back :) I’m home, back from Athens. This blog was initially meant to be for that, to record all my experiences, and I’m so glad that I did. The focus will shift a little bit now, though I’m not sure where yet, most likely on whatever I’m inspired by. There’s a lot I want to know, a lot I want to do/see, a lot I wonder about, some of that will be on the blog. I’m living off campus and that’s caused me to be cooking a lot lately, which I’m loving more and more (it’s oddly addicting). Since the semester began, and I attended a screening of the movie earthlings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW3gunMSCu4), I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and reading about our world’s (and especially the United States’) culture in terms of eating and food production. Its fascinating, and interestingly extends far beyond just what we eat, but also makes me think about the meaning of life and what’s important…more on this throughout posts. For now, I’ll leave you with a song I’m loving (above) and a link to the website of a food conference I’m attending in Missoula, Montana this weekend, pretty stoked!

http://realfoodchallenge.org/northwest_summit2010

Mmm…it’s nice to be back :)

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m back in the u.s.of.a. and it feels darn good :) I love seeing family and friends and having the freedom from school to catch up with everyone I’ve missed so much, not too mention my little rascal pooch zoe who did NOT gain weight while i was gone (though my dad and bro successfully fooled me during the whole car ride that she had, i was quite relieved to see here. I hope you all have a warm and loving holidays and happy new year.

Welcome to my last post from Athens, my psuedo-home for the last 3 1/2 months. It was inevitable that my time here would come to an end, another event in my life has come and gone, as all seem to do. It has been a crazy time, especially when I think about how much travelling I have done this semester, I can’t believe how lucky I am to have been so many places. I’ll make some lists:

Things I will miss about Greece:

-Ease of travelling within and out of Greece - Fresh produce, that I know has been grown without the chemicals that are used in most of the US farms - Being in a country where I can’t understand every word the people around me are saying, it’s allowed me to be more observant - Learning to speak such a unique language and be in a country that is so proud of that language and their culture - I’ll miss those times when I’ve felt embraced in this culture, like when I went olive picking and genuinely felt the love that family embraced us with, there have been a few times like that with strangers and it is oddly comforting - the bakeries, this undoubtedly goes to the top of the list - the weather - the meditteranean, those are some of the best memories i’ll leave here with, swimming in the beautiful ocean with such amazing scenery around - incredible runs in crete and the peleponesse - gyros, cheap and filling :) -  having the Acropolis and Lykavittos as land markers whenever i am lost - the view from lykavittos, sitting on top of that hill after the climb up is pretty amazing - greek salads, and pretty much all greek food - friday open-air markets - seeing best friends since elementary school in foreign countries, never imagined that would happen - i’ll add to this list as it comes to me because i know theres a lot more im forgetting…but thats a start :)

There are things I won’t miss, this is for sure, but I don’t think I’ll make that list because I don’t need to remember those things. The list above is much more important. Just to give you an idea, though, I won’t miss the dog that constantly barks in the apartment across the street, the cars and motorcycles, and the bustle of this huge city.

Places I’ve travelled to this semester:

Athens - Aegina - Crete -  Mykonos - Peleponesse (Nafplion, Olympia, Sparta, etc) - Cairo, Egypt - Rome, Italy - London, England - And now, home to PORTLAND! and two weeks later, WALLA WALLA!

For those of you out there who have been on pins and needles as you read this post, anxiously waiting to hear the verdict of what will become of my blog, I will reassure your worries right now. I have loved blogging this semester. When I first made this blog I was weirded out by it and the idea of blogging, but as this semester has progressed I’ve become much more comfortable with it and really love being able to tell about what I’m doing and experiencing, as well as having a place to put up things I come across that I think are really cool, unique, important, and interesting. You may have noticed how I’ve been doing a lot more of that, like putting up videos, songs, pictures, etc. and I’m going to keep doing that when I get home, and I’ll keep writing posts, when I feel the urge to :) So, don’t forget about my blog if you’ve liked it so far, I’m excited to keep it going. Thanks to all the faithful readers out there, its because of you that this has been possible, haha jk but really thanks for reading and being interested. I hope some of my posts have in some way connected to your lives or past experiences and have allowed you to revisit those time or remember something you may have forgotten for a time. As I get older, I think about memories a lot more, maybe because I have more memories at any one moment in time than I did the moment before. I’m glad to know that I’ve made many memories this semester and I’ve also learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot about myself and what type of things I value in this life, and I like to think I’ll leave Greece with a different take on the world. Pacific Northwest, here I come :) Hronia polla (happy holidays), from Athens. And for one last time, just for kicks ya know, Yeia Sou and Pugs&Love, Megs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER!

The Athens garbage collectors are on strike, and have been for the past three weeks. I think it’s sweet that they’re on strike, but stinky for the rest of Athens. Normally, people throw their trash into the big dumpsters all over the city and the trash guys empty them every few days. So, with the workers on strike these dumpsters are currently over-flowing out of control. It’s incredibly disgusting and the city is now worried about health concerns. While the weather’s been pretty nice lately, it poured last night and has been drizzly today, so that’s made it even more gross. If I had my computer right now I would post a picture, but I’ll have to do that later. I’ve been covering my mouth every time I quickly walk by them in Pangrati (on the way to school from my apartment I walk by roughly…five of these overflowing dumpsters, some worse than others, but none getting better, oh wait I’ve seen one on the main street that was somehow emptied last night). I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but in Athens you can’t throw toilet paper down the toilet, something about the sewage not being able to handle it or something. So, you have to throw your toilet paper in the trash, everywhere you go in Greece. This makes the trash problem even worse because people throw their used toilet paper and bathroom whatevers in the dumpsters as well. I’m worried about the cats because I’ve been seeing them having a hay-day in the dumpsters the past few days and thats going to make the germ situation even worse. A lot of people, including the mayor, are angry at the garbage workers for protesting, saying it’s illegal. But I personally am a supporter of protesting in general, even if it is not for completely valid reasons, though it sounds like theirs is. I think the government should deal with the protests in whatever way they need to, but they’re gonna happen so if it happens to be the garbage workers than they need to have some way to deal with the garbage while they deal with the strike. We’ll see what happens, but there what’s happening in this gorgeous city :)

…watching the video four posts below. Just thought I’d emphasize in case you weren’t sure it was worth watching or missed it. If you need to smile or cry or laugh…

cheers to today :)