My Life in Ruins: Athens, Greece January 2013 Day 1

Greece was a trip I never thought I'd make. I was short by a few euros but my friends lent me money so I can book my ticket for our three-day trip to Athens.

We took a train ride to the bordering Italian town of Ventimiglia, another four-hour train ride to Milano Centrale and finally, one last train ride to Milano Malpensa where we will be spending the night to wait for our plane to Athens.

It was freezing and it was difficult to get some sleep. I was getting claustrophobic. I normally like airports but there was something with Malpensa that made me uneasy.It was a beautiful morning, the day after. There are no words that could compare to the serene morning I woke up to.

It was my first time to ride EasyJet. It was not a smooth one but four hours later, we arrived at Athens, safely.

We were not so lucky. It was raining the time we landed and there was a transport strike. The only option everyone was giving us to get to the city center was to ride a cab, which, of course, we refused. I was on the verge of succumbing to a cab ride but my friend insisted we commute.

We took a provincial bus that will take us to Athens (Markopoulo), and another bus that would (hopefully) take us to Monasteraki. Night fall came, still raining, and with my greek knowledge failing on me, I became anxious. Good thing majority of the Greek people spoke English, and my friend took basic Greek classes back in Nice. Another friend tried to ask for directions from one of the passengers in the bus who advised us to get off on the next stop to try to catch the train at Syntagma to Monasteraki  - where our hostel was.

Since it was past six in the evening, the strike was over and all transport system was in order. We took the short ride from Syntagma to Monasteraki. I wanted to cry. It was such a long day. But we made it out the station, tired but still standing. I took a turn to see if my friend was behind me when I saw this magnificent view that made me want to cry. First, because I could not believe we made it, and second, because it was beautiful, very beautiful.

There it was, right in front of my eyes. The great Parthenon.