March 29, 2008
Hello! Sorry I haven't written in a while, I've had a pretty busy few weeks and my internet has stopped working in my apartment so I have to come to school to use the computer. Now the only place you can get the internet in my apartment is on the balcony that overlooks an apartment building that may or may not have some sort of mafia thing going on inside, so I'm avoiding that area. Not to worry, I live in a very safe neighborhood, I just don't want to hang out on the balcony with my computer much anymore, you know, just in case!
Annnyway, busy weeks! I think last I wrote I was off to a documentary film festival in Thessaloniki. It was a fun weekend. I saw a ton of movies and it was really interesting to see how they organized the festival (I wrote a paper on it afterwards, so I was paying close attention). They've converted a bunch of warehouses on the pier into cinemas and other cultural art centers like a photography museum and a contemporary art museum. The contemporary art scene in Greece is small but definitely growing. It's an interesting thing to be witnessing, even if only for a short amount of time. The movies I saw were rather hit or miss, but I did see one INCREDIBLE one called Heavy Metal in Baghdad. If you ever get the chance to see it, you should. It doesn't matter if you have any interest in heavy metal (although the musicians are very very talented), it will give you the most real perspective on the war in Iraq that I have ever seen. It's made by two American guys who traveled to Baghdad to check on the state of this Iraqi heavy metal band they love after the civil war broke out. I was really really moved by it. It's making it's rounds on the international film festival circuit and I think it's having its premier in the US in Austin, TX in the upcoming weeks.
After the festival I had mid-terms. I DID NOT think about that little fact when I signed up for this program. They were fine, but lets just say grad school is not in my near future. I can't handle test taking anymore.
Then....the most exciting thing I've done in the last to weeks was go to Berlin!
How was Berlin? Well. First off, I couldn't have gone to a more DIFFERENT city from Athens. The streets are so big and wide, and everyone parks where they are supposed to. It snowed and hailed everyday we were there. The city is underpopulated and nothing is very centralized so there are hardly any people on the streets which makes it very quiet. They have awesome soy yogurt, very expensive water, and very expensive public transportation. You can smile at people and they wont take it as a come-on. Techno/electronica music is very popular. There's a very cool art scene. The is so much well preserved history. Annnnnd, drum roll please!....you can throw toilet paper in the toilet!! I know it's a bit strange, but I definitely went through mild culture shock from it.
Definitely my favorite thing about the trip was all the cultural art things we did. I met up with Mary and her friend Mike from college for the trip. They are big theatre people, so I followed them along to a different performance every night. It was great! Seeing shows is something that I would never really think to do on my own, but really enjoy it when I do. Some of the shows I enjoyed more than others, but it's the act of going that counts. Things we saw included: a very long Brecht play--3 hours, all in German. A really great Sasha Waltz dance piece. A 5 hour long opera in the East Berlin opera house. And my personal favorite, The Kitchen, a pseudo remake of Andy Warhol's film The Kitchen by an English-German theatre company. It was brilliant, and I'm not going to lie, the fact that it was partly in English helped a lot.
We also went to a bunch of galleries and museums which I loved. There is some really interesting stuff going on the contemporary art world, and so much of it is there. Besides the museums, there are also a lot of other really cool venues like the partially demolished, artist-occupied former warehouse/department store, Tacheles. The artists took it over 10 years ago when it was set for demolition and occupied it until the building got listed as a historical building and now the artists who work there are partially subsidized by the government. The whole place is covered in graffiti and you can walk into all the studios to see the work, and they hold events like concerts and exhibitions all the time. Very neat.
A large part of why I went to Berlin was to explore that scene because I've been hearing so much about how it's THE hot spot for art these days. There is so much going on, it's very cool. I have to say though, I was entertaining the idea of moving to Berlin in the future, but after having spent time there I think it's a place I'd rather work/visit for short amounts of time, but not live permanently. I realized on this trip that I actually like crowds. Maybe not as much crowds as Athens, but I need something a little more than what's in Berlin. Of course, the weather didn't help much. But, I bet it's beautiful in the summer. Berlin gets big points for how much green space it has. And apparently all the cafes open up onto the sidewalks during the summer, so it does get slightly more crowded.
Another reason why I think I'll hold off on the moving to Berlin thing though is that the thought of starting another language right now is a little overwhelming, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE learning new languages, but I need to focus right now on the ones I sort-of-kind-of know before I add another one to the list. I'll say though, coming back to Greece after 5 days of being surrounded by German (of which I know a grand total of 4 words) was amazingly validating for my Greek skills. I would've never thought I'd have said it, but when I got into the Athens airport all I could think was, Finally! I language I understand! (Sort of.) Compared to German, I am a pro at Greek these days. I can finally give clear directions to cab drivers in Greek and not have them look at me funny. I also had a whole conversation with a Swedish guy (of all people) in Greek the other night! Maybe I understood so much because we were both speaking slowly, but I was REALLY proud of how well I did.
Getting out of Greece was really good for me all around though. I needed to get some perspective on things here in order to be able to start appreciating them. Greece is a really strange place and for better or for worse I'm connected to it, so I want to get as much out of this experience as I can. I don't know exactly what that entails, but I'm going to find out. And with that being said, getting more exercise is one of those things so I'm going to go try to find the elusive track everyone keeps talking about and go for a run. And if anyone wants to donate to my yoga/really expensive gyms fund, you're more than welcome to. It's better for my knee than running. If you feel so inclined, you know how to find me.
I hope everyone is well!
Until next time,
A.
A.
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