Monday night I had my first Greek cooking class. The cooking class is an activity sponsored by the school and I thought I would try it out to learn more about Greek culture and food (and it means one less dinner I have to worry about during the week). I didn't really do much cooking, I basically just stood there while Chef Stavros ordered everyone around, but the food was very good. We made tzatziki (which is a yogurt, cucumber, garlic dip), fried pitas to eat with the tzatziki, lentil soup and some type of meat and rice which I did not eat. Some of the people in the cooking class went to go buy wine from the wine store around the corner from the school from which I learned to stay away from homemade wine that comes in big water bottles. I'm really excited for our very last cooking class which is going to be devoted completely to desserts!

On Tuesday we had a school wide meeting about our trip to Crete next week. We leave next Monday night and take overnight ferries to the island and stay until Friday. They didn't explain much about what was going to happen on Crete but I'm pretty sure we're going to Knossos, the ancient Minoan city, and I did learn that the last day of the trip we have to get up at 5 am to go hiking to the place where the ferry is leaving from. I'm excited to go hiking through Samaria Gorge but it sounds like a very intense excursion. The hike is 16Km and they warned us about falling rocks, the heat, and Cretans with guns (although I think the last one was not serious). Tuesday I also bought my plane tickets for fall break. My roommate, Alex, and I are going to go to Dublin, Edinburgh, and London. It will be a lot of traveling but I'm very excited.

Last night everyone at CYA was invited to the CYA president's house for a garden party. The president lives in the northern suburb of Kifissia which took over an hour to get to because of the traffic. On the drive I got a glimpse of the Olympic complex from 2004, it looked really amazing so I will definitely be taking a trip back there. The president's house was extremely nice and also very big--his backyard was big enough to fit enough tables for over 160 people and there was still a lot of space left over. The food was very delicious. I had a pita with tzatziki and grilled vegetables and some type of Greek potato salad. I'm usually not sure exactly what I'm eating but it's always very good.

Today, I had to get up early to go to the hospital for a TB test so that I can get my student visa extended until I leave. That didn't take very long, so this afternoon (because I don't have class until 5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays) I decided to go walking around Athens. First I went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which I got to see for free because I'm a student. Most of this temple has fallen down, but it was still amazing to see. Then I walked to Plaka which is the old area of Athens but it was so crowded with tourists that I think I'll have to go back and visit again when it gets cooler and less people are visiting. I walked back through the NationaGardens, where I saw two turtles fighting (I didn't know Athens was a native habitat for turtles). This was probably the highlight of my day.