explore. dream. discover.: Adventures of a Greek Concert

So the past few days have been crazy as always, overloaded with school work and fun. The most exciting adventures have been centered around a concert that took place tonight at the Old Olympic Stadium, and even after everything that went into one night of fun, I was not disappointed.

Our adventure began on Monday afternoon when Caitlin found out that the concert was taking place that night, so we decided to brave a new part of town to get tickets. Map in hand and having really no idea what we were getting into a few of us headed out on the town. We took a new route on the Metro in order to reach our destination, but while trying and trying to get the little machines to take our Metro passes, but failing miserably we were soon stopped by a nice man that told us that it was the one day out of the year that all public transportation in Athens was free, who knew!? Anyways, we ended up at the right station eventually, and began reading endless street signs and numbers. We were on a time crunch since we only had about twenty more minutes until the office closed so we started getting a little frantic. We had the name of the ticket office written down so I started going from person to person, once again beginning every conversation with "English? Yes?" and FINALLY took a correct turn and ended up at the office. Coincidentally of course, it happened to be about 50 feet away from the metro station exit that we had come from, typical. We ran into the office just as she was about to close up for the day, but luckily she took pity on us ridiculous Americans and took the time to sell us tickets. Tickets in hand, and exhausted we went back home to rest up for the big concert.

Tori and I stoked that our outing was a success

Tickets! Hooray for going green and contributing to saving the environment!

The Metro is our friend, especially on free public transportation day!

While waiting, a HUGE rain storm moved in with thunder, lightning, the whole deal. We weren't sure how outdoor concerts would work here so we decided we would make the trip down to the stadium, just to see if it was canceled. On the way, the rain only got worse, it was INSANITY...and coming from a girl, born and raised in the constant rain of Bellingham, I'd say my opinion counts. This wasn't just rain, it was out of control, and the lightning was so close it was shaking the buildings and setting off car alarms all down the street. Needless to say, the concert was rescheduled for the next night so we headed home in the downpour. Rivers were flooding the streets and we were soaked to the bone by the time we finally made it back, but it was a hilarious adventure.

Jessi and I in the downpour!

The ladies on our trek back to the apartments in the rain

Beautiful friends being rained on.

We were so tired, cold, and wet but we had fun!

Tonight we finally were able to go the the concert. The entire Olympic Stadium overflowing of people was an incredible sight. We found seats pretty high up, and the view was incredible. Almost all the monuments in the area are lit up at night and you could see so much from the top of the stadium. Not to mention the amazing performances we saw. I wish I could have known at least a little bit about the music or who was performing, but it really didn't matter. The crowd was really responsive to all the performers so I could tell we were apart of something really exciting. The night consisted of a series of singers that came on for only a few songs at a time so we were able to experience a wide variety of music. Something I really appreciated about the concert was that it wasn't overly flashy, and not one performer was showing off. It was all about the quality of the music, not necessarily about an over the top presentation, as it sometimes is at home. Overall, I was more than pleased with such a great concert. And when we were getting ready to leave we went down to walk around on the track and see everything on the ground level as well. Such a good experience!