All Greek to Me

First city in the books. I spent two full days in Athens, Greece, and did the best I could to see all that the city had to offer. With Athens being the first city, I arrived completely exhausted. I left Gulfport, MS at 5 am on Saturday morning and arrived in Athens at 9 am Sunday morning. I hadn't slept. I don't know if it was nerves or excitement, but sleep just wasn't happening. Amazing what you can get accomplished on a 10 hour flight when you don't sleep. Regardless, I strapped on my 37 pound pack and walked into the city. Overwhelming is a good way to describe my first few hours in Greece. Train ride, Greek street signs, euros, and no Google Maps. Stop taking your navigation apps for granted. Real maps are hard. :) I found my hostel and checked into my bed (yes bed. I don't have my own room)..

Not quite Hampton Inn but when you haven't slept In a day, it doesn't really matter. 

Days 2 and 3 were spent walking the city. Ancient Greek monuments, original Olympic stadium, Mount Lycabettus, gyros, kabobs.  The streets of Athens are scattered with small cafés that seem to always have people sitting or dining. This was probably one of my favorite attributes of the city. Although, I learned pretty quickly that eating the way I'm accustomed would either be nearly impossible or extremely expensive. My first night I ordered a diet coke with dinner. When I saw the receipt, I realized that it was 3.50. My first reaction was "$3.50 for a glass of Diet Coke! Holy expensive". I later realized that it was actually 3.50 euro which is the equivalent of about 5 bucks. For a Diet Coke! Wine is cheaper. Let's just say that I was frugal for the rest of my stay. 

I was very impressed by the English spoken in Greece. For the most part, I never went anywhere where there was at least a communicateable level of English being spoken. Most Greeks actually spoke two or three languages. It definitely made me realize how boxed off we are in the US. Add it to the bucket list to become to become proficient in another language. Traffic laws don't really exist here, or at least none that I could observe. Cars, motorcycles, pedestrians going in all different directions share a single one-way road. Crossing the street is seriously like Frogger.  A few close calls, but luckily I survived. The last thing about Greece that I found different, gross actually, is that their plumbing system is not equipped to handle....toilet paper. Yep. Can't throw toilet paper in the toilet. Each bathroom has a small trash can for disposal. 26 years of throwing paper in the toilet, I might have forgotten a few times :/ Sorry Greece for any blockages. 

No city would be complete without a trip to a local Crossfit. Actually all but one city on my list has one. It was in the requirements. I found a gym a bit outside the city: Reebok Crossfit Primal. There was actually very very little English spoken in the gym so the first few minutes were awkward. Trying to relay what I needed through simple words and hand movements. Luckily, "WOD" is universal. At the 3.2.1 though, all of that disappeared. I felt right at home. We spoke the same language through movement. I knew it would be like this, but I never could have imagined the effect it had on me. I was comfortable. I was in a foreign country, knowing not a soul, and I was comfortable. I honestly didn't want to leave. I went back the next day. As I was finishing up the class, I saw a group of athletes warming up. It happened to be a few members of the Greek Olympic Weightlifting team. They were deadlifting so I walked up and said "deadlift?" Luckily "squat", "snatch", "deadlift" are all pretty universal as well. They all smiled and replied "yes, yes". So we did some deadlifting and then a few snatches. One of the members said in broken English, "We never see girl like deadlift".  I laughed a little at the irony. I actually hate deadlifting, but I appreciated the compliment nonetheless. This experience left me so excited to continue to Crossfit around the world. Always a home away from home. 

It's only been a few days, but I'm already struggling to remember what day it is. Time has been measured only by the sunset. So very excited for all to come

For more pictures, follow me on Instagram @amandamdearman.