routines

It was a mellow weekend, after a hectic week of midterms - lest for a day trip to Rhamnous, where i took these pictures, I just bummed around the city and tried to do homework. I've grown unaccustomed to being stationary, and writing papers is like pulling teeth these days.



I have, on the other hand, become accustomed to Athens. With that comes affection but also some annoyance, some petty complaints with the way things differ, now that the newness of it all has mostly faded and I am faced with my identity as a resident of the city. I think it's this familiarity that has sort of sparked some awareness of what this place lacks, and has brought on my first bout of homesickness.



It goes without saying that I miss the people I love - I miss knowing and being known, more than I can explain. But it's also some small, unexpected things. I miss my road bike, the blurring green in my peripheral vision, the private wandering. I miss magazines, the familiar inconsequential patter of day to day life. What few we get here become cherished possessions, tattered by readings and sitting in pieces on the radiator in the living room. I miss being able to eavesdrop in line at the grocery store, or at a corner waiting for the light to change, and being able to read what I see on the street, getting the full scope of the world around me. Perhaps most oddly of all, I miss my adorable deceased pet rabbit Duncan. It's ridiculous, but sometimes I look at how big and bare my room is here, and I think of how much space there is for him. I guess he was for a while my constant traveller.



So anyways, these are my thoughts. It's hard, but in a sense it makes it real as well, and for that I am grateful. We travel a lot, and in many ways I am having the time of my life, but it is by no means an extended vacation. It's a life, nonetheless worth living.



This week the whole school is setting off on a weeklong field trip to Olympia and Delphi - our only day of classes is tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing more, and getting a change of pace. For now, there is a paper to write on the separation of church and state in ancient greece. It seems like one could spend their entire life on the topic and I'm not entirely sure what I plan to say about it in five pages, but I'm about to find out.