So yesterday we had another birthday, she turned 20, so we went out on the town to celebrate! About 15 of the twenty students went and we had a great time at a cafe in the Plaka, where they play all sorts of music, and surprisingly a lot of american popular music. We danced the night away in the 2nd level until they kicked us out at the end of the night!
Today we toured the Acropolis Museum, which is not finished yet because of all the renovations taking place on the Acropolis. It is only open to student groups, so we felt very special to be able to go inside. The display was very small, as most of the good stuff was still being preserved and renovated to go on display. They actually made a special room for some pieces they hope to bring back to Athens that were taken by some English excavators years ago and are currently on display in the British Museum. There is a huge controversy over these sculptures taken directly from the Parthenon when it was not under protection. We then were allowed into the office building of the archeologists working on the project to look at some models of the Acropolis and how it used to be, and some of the methods used in its construction years ago. The models took it through all the stages of the Parthenon from its start as a temple of the Goddess Athena, to the cathedral, to the Turkish mosque and so on... It was really cool and apparently not meant to be seen by the general public.
We were turned loose at noon and a bunch of us girls went to an outdoor cafe to munch and do some homework. I got an iced chocolate and it was delicious! After this we headed over to Syntagma square, where all the best shopping is and it was super busy...on a Thursday! Right in the middle of the street there is an old church we toured this past weekend. It looks really out of place because it is in the middle of a concrete jungle. Apparently when Athens was being re-vamped a while back, they took out hundreds of churches but this one was one of the few that were saved.
The weather is still beautiful here, around the mid-50s. I just did my first load of laundry...in the sink 
It was kind of fun, but I'm not looking forward to doing it again. This weekend we have tons of stuff planned for class including some traditional Greek dancing lessons! I can't wait to write all about it! Yassou!
