Shopping at Walmart, Attempts at Dancing

I understand that most of you might have better things to do than to read 800+ word entries on every single one of my days here in Athens. Also, classes are starting next week, and I might have other things to do than writing such entries. However, since this blog does also serve as a personal journal, I want to keep writing about the things that are happening to me here since so many of them are worth preserving, and also sharing. So, maybe I will be a bit more selective about the things I’ll jot down here. Please don’t take this as a promise, however. Now, I just wanna talk about the most memorable from Friday: Shopping at Walmart and attempts at dancing. 

In only a few days, Sam has tripled the reach of his kind beneficence. No longer is he taking only me for shopping, but he also chauffeured Rene and Sophia to Walmart. In a way, Walmart was not easy. I’m not always good with making decisions. Thus, Walmart was the wrong place to go. Not only do they have everything, they have it in different brands, colors, sizes, and flavors. Oh, and most of it is coated in sugar. At the checkout, you really have to be a pro if you want to put your groceries in your own geeky tote bag. Otherwise, the cashier will put everything in plastic bags for you. And you feel that you have just committed a serious ecological crime. I did not buy that much, but still left the place with at least six plastic bags that are not even meant to be used a second time. It felt like they’d get damaged as soon as you’d lift them up with more inside than a box of Pop Tarts. So now I’m thinking of how to bring them to a good use.

Later that night, we shuffled through some bars again. I have to say in advance that most people I’ve met here so far have a very different understanding of good music than I do. Of course, that is reflected in the bars as well. The one notable exception is Tony’s, often playing some Punk Rock which is a nice alternative to the otherwise prevalent R&B music. As for dancing, even Atheneans admit that their city is not the place to do it. 23 bars, no night club. Two attempts at dancing in bars, both of some locals and some of us, were successful for maybe ten minutes each. And, as much as I still enjoy the older stuff of blink-182, you just don’t play “First Date” right between two rap songs when there's people dancing. After 2 a.m., when all bars closed, we had almost witnessed a fight at a burrito place over nothing, and we saw one drunken guy falling on the sidewalk. The police saw him, too, and they took care of him. So, Athens is really coming alive now. It’s a university city, and it shows. It definitely won’t get boring.