In the City of Dreaming Spires: Dangerous Dogs

Trysha and I spent the morning and afternoon at “the center”, the program office and classrooms for her study abroad program here in Athens. I worked on my final journal entry submission for OSAP, as Trysha does not have Internet access in he apartment. That is one thing that I have taken for granted this semester. While Trysha lives just down the street from the center, many of the other students live several blocks away and have to walk to use Internet.

After her classes finished and I emailed in my journal entries, we stopped by a corner bakery to buy tiropita, a flakey pastry filled with feta cheese. The Greek version of feta is much stronger than it is in America, so I had to try some. I haven’t eaten Greek salad since I have been here, which kind of disappoints me as I love feta, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

From lunch, we walked past the Stadium, the Olympieon, and Hadrian’s Arch to Plaka, a shopping area of narrow streets and small storefronts filled with jewelry, pashminas, artwork, and gifts from Athens. On our way, we unintentionally picked up two of the many stray dogs in the city. Apparently the dogs in Athens are very territorial. They are incredibly sweet and friendly, and Trysha informed me that they often adopt people to protect, especially girls. As we walked down the street, the two dogs followed us and sometimes ran out in front. If we stopped, they waited for us, and when we turned corners, they came too. This wouldn’t be so problematic if they weren’t so protective. As we passed a woman on the street, the dogs started barking at her and one even jumped up on her and nipped at the sleeve of her jacket. Trysha yelled at him, and he eventually backed down as we continued down the street. When we passed an old woman, the same thing happened. The dogs nipped at a young woman’s arm as Trysha yelled “no” in Greek. We stayed to the side at Hadrian’s Arch, trying to avoid leading the dogs closer to other pedestrians. As we needed to cross a street, we waited at a light, and the dogs affectionately leaned up against our legs. Trysha rubbed one dog’s head, and I did the same. I was slightly terrified of the dogs and worried that they would turn on us, but they continued to sweetly nuzzle against us. As afraid as I was, I figured it was better to keep them happy and stay in their favor than have them attack us as well. When we crossed the street, we were unable to shake the dogs as they ran across too. The first person we met was a businessman in a suit. The dogs attacked him as well, knocking him to the ground. He scrambled back up and yelled at them, stomping his foot. Trysha and I kept walking to try to get the dogs away from the man, and eventually they followed us again. By this time, Trysha and I were completely distraught, knowing that each person we passed was going to get attacked! Thankfully they didn’t bite anyone badly, but it was still a traumatic experience. When we reached a row of stores, we rushed into a camera shop, and the dogs tried to follow us inside. The men outside saw our trouble and tried to chase them away. When we exited, they were waiting, so we crossed the street and ducked into another store. We peered outside after a few minutes, and as they were a tad bit away, we quickly rushed out and down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. The dogs slowly started to follow, so as soon as we turned the corner we ran as fast as we could down the street. We turned another corner and didn’t see them behind us, but we ran to the next corner just to make sure. By this time we were well within Plaka, so we started our shopping as we waited for our hearts to stop racing!

Plaka was a wonderful area of shops. I would tell more, but as I bought a few gifts there, I will have to remain silent. Trysha and I walked back through Athens and to her program center for a murder mystery dinner! Clue is one of my favorite board games, so I enjoyed playing and meeting the other students in her program. As the story was set in Monaco, everyone used French accents, some better than others. We spent a good deal of time laughing and had a fun time. Trysha and I walked back to her apartment and fell asleep watching “Love Actually”, one of our favorite holiday movies and one I have been wanting to watch abroad as it is set in London.