I basically lost everything this weekend. Every credit card, form of identification and about 275 euro were taken along with my pick-pocketed three-euro Laiki wallet.

But I’m telling the story out of chronology. Let me begin from the beginning. Or at least the beginning of the weekend. Which was Thursday.

So Thursday night a small group of us went over to Theissio, a cool little place near the Acropolis, because MTV was putting on free concerts there. All week long MTV has been celebrating its debut in Greece with free musc performances. We didn’t really know who the bands were, and some of them were singing in Greek, but it was outside and it was live music, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The culmination of this MTV week is tonight with a free R.E.M. and Kaiser Chiefs concert and I plan on being there at least 3 hours before it begins.  I figure I should show up early because all of the Greeks will be late. Hehe… look at me stereotyping and everything!

Friday morning was nice, though the Laiki was somewhat of a disappointment. Sub par fruits and vegetables this week. That should have been a warning sign. I met the group heading to the island of Syros at the downtown metro station in Syndagma Square at 2:30pm since we had to catch a 4:00pm boat out from the port, Piraeus.  I had a backpack and a side bag, and I guess I forgot to zip up all my bags because when we got to Piraeus, right as we’re getting to the dock, I reached into my bag and realize that I couldn’t feel my wallet. I fell to the ground on the spot, forcing people to go around me, and I began tearing through my bag, throwing things everywhere.  I nearly fainted when I realized my wallet was gone. I had all three credit cards, all my forms of identification and about 275 euro in there.  Part of me wanted to jump back on the metro and go home, but all my friends would have none of it.  They picked up my stuff, helped me to my feet and walked me down to the port.  When I got on the boat, I dumped everything out again, but to no avail. I called my mom to tell her to cancel my cards, pulled out my iPod, tuned out the world, and stared off the side of the boat at the ocean for literally half of the three-and-a-half hour boat ride, absolutely numb.

We got off the ship at 7:30, checked into our hotel, and went on a small walking tour of the town.  Syros houses the capitol of the Cyclades Island chain in Greece, and the architecture of the main city is quite interesting. I was tagging along the Greek architecture class, so it was kind of fun to have the professor explain all of the different styles of buildings we were seeing.  We all went to dinner at a little taverna where I ordered a Greek salad and drank two glasses of the communal white wine.  Between the alcohol and the delicious food, I was feeling pretty good, and not even my lost wallet could ruin the night.  My friends spotted me money for dinner and my pal Allison loaned me 50 euros until I could get access into my bank accounts again.  The professor, Dimitria, bought each table different appetizers to try (we got cheese and tomato stuffed eggplants) and went around to ask us how the food was.  She looked at me and must have seen the pink glow in my face because she said, “You have drank just enough! Bravo!” in a cute little Greek accent. It made my night.

We were up early the next day to visit a shipyard, which was pretty cool. We had to wear hard hats and our tour guide actually ended up living a street away from me here in Athens, so we had a little discussion (part Greek, part English, though mostly English) about our common living area in the city.  I started laughing to myself at one point and my friend Mari asked me what was up.  “I feel like I’m in a place in a video game,” I replied.  I’m a dork, I know, but I really felt like I was at Juno in Final Fantasy 7.  These dang video games are ingrained in my soul, I tell you.

Syros has a lot of history, and to save a long history lesson, I will say that there are two hills in the main city… one of them has a huge Catholic church on top while the other has a huge Greek Orthodox church.  From afar, you can immediately tell the differences in architecture.  In any case, we hiked up to the top of the hill with the Catholic church and, much to my joy, found an awesome view of the city.

We visited an opera house next that was built to look like the famous opera house (I can’t remember its name now for the life of me) in Milan.  We weren’t allowed to use flash photography so my photos came out really blurry, but there were so many private boxes in the place, I sat down in one of the ones at the very top and imagined for a moment that I was in Paris watching The Phantom of the Opera or something.

Lunch was at another taverna where I had the most amazing salad (that wasn’t a Greek salad) since coming here. It was full of sundried tomatoes and had some cheese made in Syros and was apparently a specialty of the island.  The whole thing was tossed in balsalmic vinagrette, and the bread was hearty and wheaty and heavenly.  I know, I know… I talk a lot about food here, but it’s really hard not to when it’s such a central part of the culture.  I can’t believe how much cheese I am eating… and how okay with it I am.  As Brendan mentioned last during our Skype conversation, feta is certainly a gateway cheese…

We had to leave at 4:00pm again, so there wasn’t much time to wander. BUT – I did find a gelato place… WITH A FROZEN YOGURT MACHINE! My pal Mari got a little cup, which seemed far too small for me, so I ordered a medium and consequently made myself royally ill from all of the sugary goodness.  Back on the boat we staked out some spots outside and I, again, spent most of the trip sticking my head off the side of the boat, feeling the wind in my hair and enjoying the moment.  It seemed like ages ago since I lost my poor wallet.  I still have some things I need to do in that regard, but I’m trying not to stress out too much about it.  Greece kicked my butt this weekend for sure.  Well, it may have won the battle, but it shan’t win the war…

This morning I had to go to a cemetery to do a sociology field work assignment, so a few of us went off to the first cemetary in Athens.  I felt like a creeper, watching people and writing about them.  But it was still an interesting experience, I guess. There was a Greek Orthodox, a Jewish and a Protestant section and each part was radically different from the others.  The Greek section was the most interesting because people have literally built mini-mausoleums to house their entire families. I witnessed at least three funeral processions and actually exchanged some words with some Orthodox priests dressed in all black who looked a little intimidating, I’m not going to lie.

I still feel really tired today… I didn’t sleep much this weekend. I think I am going to try and finish up some sociology reading before I go camp out for the free R.E.M. concert tonight!  How exciting!  Nothing is better than a free concert in an Olympic Stadium!  I love study abroad!  Even despite the losing every important ID I own.

Oh yeah! I wrote my first “essay” in Greek! I think it looks neat because it’s in another alphabet!

Today/Tomorrow marks the one-month mark of being here. I have learned so much already. I have changed so much already (Hello! can we say cheese addict again?!).  I have seen so much, experienced so much, felt so much, tasted so much… I need to start buying gifts and souvenirs for everyone! There are only two-and-a-half months left!  This is all going too quickly…