Hello, World
Hello, World. Or should I say: Hello, Athens. About three months ago, I returned from the most amazing experience of my life. I lived, studied, partied, worked, trekked, flew, swam, ate, slept, ran, and walked in Athens, Greece for almost a half of a year. It’s still crazy to me that I can say I lived in Greece. Athens is a hub in Eastern Europe for tourism, history, and democracy where over 20 million people visit each year. That number is rising and will continue in the future due to Athens’ popular tourist attractions and beautiful sights. How many people actually live in Athens, you may ask? It only has around 665,000 locals in the greater Athens area. These kinds of numbers make me question why Athens has become more of a pass-through destination instead of a place to call home.
During my time in Athens, I got to know many locals and see lots of different places. I could draw a map of the neighborhoods of Athens if I really needed to. However, the one question that stuck with me from the beginning was: Is Athens a truly livable city? This idea is on my mind for several reasons. Every day, I would see many people emerge from their apartments, getting ready for a trek to work. Yet, there was something about the people that made me question whether they truly liked where they live. Unhappiness seemed to strike every single person I would see, yet in the touristy parts of town, the locals seemed tremendously happy. While tourism is one of the main sources of money in Greece, is it also the main source of happiness?
Some of the most amazing people I met in Greece were my professors. They were caring, intelligent, thoughtful, and always ready to help. I studied subjects such as the architecture of the Acropolis (I got to go inside the Parthenon!), Byzantine Art and Architecture, contemporary urbanism, and urban sustainability, all relating to Athens and Greece as a whole. I absolutely loved learning about these topics from people who are experts, yet they all seemed somewhat removed from the rest of the population. They would talk about the city as if it were a spectacle rather than where people lived. They also all taught at an American Institution for American students. Most were more well off than most of the population.
Throughout this blog, I will be addressing this question of Athens’ livability. In doing this, I will discuss my own experience, along with the effects of the wildfire on the people, the effects of the crisis, urban sustainability and Sustainable Greece 2020 Initiative, tourism, the connection of the islands to Athens, and more. Over the course of time, I hope to reach a more clear understanding of my question through deeper research and a connection of many different factors. Yet, even in my six months living in Greece, I couldn’t come to a conclusion. Hey, if the ancient people of Greece could build nearly perfect geometrically proportionate buildings and monuments without computers, I can do this.
