Two weeks...Life as a CIG Intern

Orange tree on the sidewalk outside my flat.

Entrance into the foyer groundfloor, with view of our office door.

Elevator in our building. I know scary!

Elevator door.

Our office door. The knobs on the front doors here are at the center.

View onto the street from 3rd floor hostel veranda

My bed

The CIG library, where I do my slide cataloguing

My kitchen

On the way to Greece

Flying over the Alps

Some yummy curry dish with chick peas and salmon

So I realized that I have been writing about the Metro, the beach, etc. but I never wrote about my flight and first few days....so here goes.

The Flight:

I was scheduled to leave for Greece on Sunday, May 24th 4.40pm. By Saturday morning, I still had to pack, edit an essay and write two more.....yikes.....So I gave myself 2 hours to pack, which seemed reasonable enough. I had a checklist going with categories (e.g. Toiletries, Medical & Health, Work Clothes, Fun Clothes, School stuff, etc) along with sub-categories, that then went into Column A (Checked Luggage) or Column B (Carry On). I think the planning is what took long and perhaps I should have sifted through what tips at the Predeparture Orientation pertained to me instead of "over planning." For example, I don't think obtaining my own personal syringe in the First Aid Kit was that necessary for in Greece the Health System is pretty good, and there are about 5 hospitals in my neighbourhood. Hence, there I was organizing and packing at the same time and it took me SIX hours to pack. By the time midnight hit, I was ready to go to bed.

The flight went well. It took me about 8 hours to get to France and the layover was only an hour. It was just enough time for me to get to the right terminal and then board to the next plane. The food that I ate on the plane was amazing and I have never felt overstuffed like that before while on a plane (but then again I am comparing this with the 3 hr flights to Cuba in which I was fed only drinks and cookies) I arrived in hot, sunny Athens on Monday, May 25 noon, Athens time. I was greeted by my boss, Assistant Director, Dr. J. Tomlinson, who was kind enough to pick me up at the airport; I was greeted by him with a big sign with my name on it, a friendly smile, and a thick British accent. The ride to the Institute was a 40 minute drive. I admired the familiarity of the Greek landscape, the abundance of scooters and bikes on the road, and the hot summer sun.

Once I arrived at the Insitute, I was greeted by Tori, the intern that replaced me for the month of May (due to delays caused by the York U strike). She was so sweet to get me settled in my room and much to my disappointment, I had to decline her invitation to go to the beach. I had those two papers to write!

Finishing up some last minute assignments:

So there I was first day in Athens, editing one finished essay and then starting on the next one that was due Monday, May 25 9pm. Ah ha! That was the beauty of it, Toronto time 9pm...which meant I had until Tuesday, May 26 4am Athens time to complete the task! (I thought of this brilliant plan that Saturday after packing) I tried as much as I could but unfortunately, much to my denial, I was hit by jetlag and worst, WRITERS BLOCK. The next day, after I finished my first day of work, I dove right into the second essay and finally completed it with success. All the while, Tori, was so sweet making me breakfast and lunch throughout the day. But I tell you, leaving those essays last minute was a bad move....I was doing the preliminary readings for Essay#2 in the airport and on the plane instead of enjoying the featured movie "Bride Wars". Sigh!

Living Arrangements:

The Canadian Institute in Greece (CIG) is located in a five storey building which is comprised of apartments and offices. Our office is on the bottom floor in an apartment space that was renovated to accomodate CIG's needs. The result is a library, a kitchen, a bathroom, a smaller office, my boss's office, and my room. Which means, I can wake up at 7am and start work at 7.30am and I can never be late! I literally, get up and walk out into my office. This is kind of nice since I have everything here and I don't have to spend money on commuting to work. I also have access to the 3rd floor, which is CIG's hostel. It has five bedrooms, a kitchen, a computer room, and a living room. Oh and did I mention that I have a veranda in my room, as well as upstairs? (It is common in Greece to have verandas that you can actually sit outside on, unlike those faux verandas that suburbian Toronto houses have, that are only meant to detail your master bedroom windows. ) Office hours are 9-1pm Mon to Fri, so once 1pm hits, my boss leaves and I am by myself. I have access to the Metro just up the street from my house and it is walking distance to Syntagma (the main square of Athens, picture Dundas Square in downtown Toronto).

My internship at CIG:

So the main project that I am working on is the cataloguing of slides donated to CIG by an archaeologist. The slides number almost 12, 000 and I am cataloguing the last 18 or so boxes before digitization begins (scanning of slides). Two interns (both non YIIP interns) began this project last year and believe it or not, the first intern who designed the database is my very good friend and colleague from college. We both took the Museum Management program at Fleming College, so we were trained in the same way. So it was great to see the work that she began and at the same time understood her thinking and methodology.

At first, I thought it would be a piece of cake, but I realized that cataloguing artefacts was somewhat different from cataloguing slides of an archaeological nature. First, my forte is not archaeology, and having only dappled in it during my Classics courses, I find myself stumbling over the differences between calyx kraters, volute kraters or discovering new types of vessels such as ewers and rhytons. Second, the Chenhall system of Cataloguing Museum Collections, which I practice religiously, did not seem to hold up well when applied to archaeological collections. I find myself double checking and second guessing myself. Third, after staring and squinting at slides for 4 hours straight, regardless of how much you love Ancient Greece, history, or museum work, let's face it...you start to fall asleep. And that's when I get up for an intermission and tend to my other "administrative duties" (tsk tsk tsk Larissa and Natasha, you didn't tell me I was doing dirty laundry! LOL).....Let me explain. As part of my duties, I am to do the laundry for the CIG hostel. (I suppose my unlimited access to the free laundry facilities and supplies onsite--right in my bathroom---is more than enough payment for my service....lol) But seriously...I do not mind it at all as I love doing laundry believe it or not and thank goodness that it is only sheets and towels that I have to do (LOL...when I told my boyfriend he said "Isn't that kind of weird that you are doing your colleagues dirty underwears!?") So yes, when I feel like the task of slide cataloguing is starting to get monotonous, I start doing laundry to wake myself up. Or, I just start cooking up a yummy dish in the kitchen!

But all in all, I am enjoying my internship. I love the dynamics of the group, both with my boss and my colleagues who live in the hostel. I also cannot complain about my benefits of being a CIG intern: free pass to all the museums, archaeological sites, and art galleries in Greece & exclusive invites to dinner parties and lectures (e.g. today was a lecture at the Belgian Institute which was followed by a lavish reception at the Belgian ambassador's home here in Athens)

Life is sweet right now and this experience I know will go down in history as one of my most memorable.