Tying Up Loose Ends

We had a free day in Thessaloniki but we all pretty much spent the day working on finishing up our journals and studying for our final exams the next day.  Oh and we also watched Hercules, the Disney movie (totally relevant to what we were doing) and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Disney movie (we made it relevant to what we were doing).  The next day we had our final exams (that was a twist that I bet no one saw coming) and we boarded the bus for the 6 hour ride back to Athens. Oh I don't think I mentioned it before but we left Athens right before the riots got really bad and we got back right after they calmed down.  When we arrived back in Athens the students all went out for a final dinner (I didn't have a gyro but it was still very good). And on the metro back we decided for some reason to stop at Syntagma Square, which for those of you that haven't been to Athens is probably the most dangerous place in Athens right now. Why? Well Syntagma is where all of the riots take place. It is in the center of the city and more importantly in front of the Parliament building. I honestly think that an anthropological curiosity is what lead us there.  Fun Fact about Greek protests: They don't throw eggs at people they dislike, they throw yogurt.  There were places that we could see where columns had been knocked down and steps had been broken up for people to get chunks of marble to throw at the police during the riots.  There were no riots when we were there but it felt like one could have started very quickly, so we did not spend much time there.  We got back to the hotel and packed everything up for the flight the next morning.  We got about 2 hours of sleep before we had to wake up at about 1:45 AM to leave for the airport at 2:30 for our 5 something flight. We then had about a 3 hour flight to Amsterdam. Then about a two hour layover, a 9 and a half hour flight to Dallas. Customs to go through and then about a 4 hour drive back to Houston. When I finally got home I had been traveling for about 24 hours straight. In any matter I am happy to be home but I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to go.