Athens: Summertime Sadness

Hello! After competing my thesis project and effectively my master's program, I am back to the blog.

Currently, I am in Athens with my built-in Greek tour guide, Konstantina who wants a taste of fame and requested to co-write this post. I must repay her for her guiding services so, I have graciously accepted this request. Her thoughts are represented in bold while mine remain classically roman (lol). 

We spent three days here in Athens, and tomorrow we will head to Konstantina's hometown (village) to get some proper relaxation in the Greek countryside. Although the time we spent in the Greek capital were fantastic, it also opened my eyes to the fragility of the social and political systems we live and work within, and has reemphasized the need to fight for and protect our rights as human beings. 

I have to admit; it's an honor to be invited in this co-authorship activity - thank you Abby! Well, being back to Athens reminded me in a nutshell, all the things that I love and hate about my home-country (here presented in juxtapositions): The sunny days / the unbearable heat, the walkable cities / the unreliable commute systems, the cheerful people / the perpetuated social maladies, the birth of democracy / the murky modern political scene. It couldn't be otherwise; Greece is itself questioning its identity - in between Europe, Asia and Africa, the many influences find ground in its urban and cultural mosaics. This collage of features is actually what is left to attract me the most from this land. A meeting with my favorite people - now living and working in Athens - reminded me why I chose a different path abroad as a professional for the years to come: low salaries and high prices, long hours of work and lack of adequate leave, collapsing infrastructure and overpriced houses. But that's adulthood - with which I struggle apparently. My return to my small town/village, Agia, and the nature that I grew up in gave me a melancholy - summertime sadness one might say - about a life that is long gone. Anyway, enough with the (Greek) drama...! I am glad that I am on this back-to-basis vacation with Abby. Her scope and comments feeds me with new perspectives about the places that I thought I knew so well...

It is true that I was (and still am) awestricken by the history, culture, and natural beauty of Athens and Greece in general, but I have learned that there is more going on beneath this beautiful facade. 

Konstantina has mentioned these feelings of frustration and melancholy surrounding her home on several occasions and has expressed a sense of feeling unable to return to live and work in Greece because of the lack of basic workers rights. Although I have felt for her, being here with her has given new weight to the dilemma that she describes. As a visitor, the physical beauty of Greece obscures any systemic drawbacks it has. But being in Greece with Konstantina granted me a perspective which I don't think a lot of visitors get. As she wrote above, there is a lot to love but also a lot that is less than ideal in Greece. Hearing about her experiences working here and also talking with her friends who still live and work here, adds a layer to the experience of visiting this country which is so popular among many. The vibrance of the culture and the sense of aliveness in the city is intoxicating and is almost enough to entice someone to live there, but when hearing about the extreme hours and workload paired with minimal pay and time off it starts to feel more like a prison than a paradise. It is obvious when talking to her that she wishes things were different here so that she could remain in her home, close to family and familiarity.

Although the situation is not remotely the same, I can relate a bit to how she feels about the place she is from. Watching from abroad as democracy crumbles in the US gives me a similar anchorless feeling. The Netherlands will never be home to me and I think Konstantina feels the same. But when the country that acted as the fertile ground of your youth betrays you, it is unclear where next to turn.