My first day in Athens

Hey all

Thank you for reading my blog and I'll try to make it as interesting as possible!

This morning I arrived at the airport of Athens. My contact person ( so called exchange buddy ) was waiting for me there. The taxi drivers are on strike today because they refuse to start paying taxes so we had to use the public transport. Although all travel information was available in English I was glad that my buddy knew which train and bus to take. He guided me to the office of Stayinathens, the organization I booked an apartment at. There I met the landlord and he took me to my apartment and stayed there for a while because he still had to clean most rooms. His English is very good and like al Greeks he likes to have a long conversation. Of course, the economic crisis and the Greek culture were two of the many topics.

He said that the problem of Greece's economy was the Greek population. Where I expected the Greeks to be very collectivistic he stated that a Greek only cares about himself and if they were less individualistic the crisis could be solved. He accused the striking taxi drivers ,per example, of being selfish because they should not make such a problem about a little tax ( they didn't have to pay taxes before ) He also thinks that Geert Wilders is right about kicking Greece out of the European Union because the Greeks just can't get things done the way it should.

Although this is just one person's story it was really an unexpected eye-opener.

I didn't actually get the chance to see Athens yet so I'll tell you more about the city and the Greek culture in my next blog.

greetings

Robin Vek