Tag: British Council

Athens Day 5: My Last Class

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Hello!

Much like yesterday I had to spend a lot of today resting, that and we hadn’t planned anything because of the decision on Greece’s financial state was due today and staying so close to parliament square made me feel a little uneasy. Luckily there were no protests and all was calm, well apart from loads of police being around at the moment. I hate to admit that I slept for most of today, once I fall asleep the pain is gone for a little while, which is good.

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          Ready for my final class and the British Council building where the magic happens! 

Tonight I mostly wanted to write about my course and the excitement and sadness of it being my last day. I’ve loved the course and interacting with other young writers as well as my mentor being amazing. I have ideas that I’d never thought of before and more confidence about my writing. Tonight we read a lot of short stories, talked about things we wanted more depth on like relating to the reader, dialogue, how much to tell in a story and how much to let the reader imagine. At the last part of the evening we met another class and had the opportunity to read, I actually wanted to do it. I was excited and terrified and people seemed to like my work!

While I’m excited that I have the tools to start working, I’m also a little sad that it’s over. My class had lovely people in it but we haven’t exchanged contact details, so I doubt we’ll stay in touch. I’m back to mostly writing alone, which I don’t mind but I’ll miss bouncing ideas off of people every evening. I’m so grateful that Kingston gave me the opportunity to take part in this, it was incredible.

To celebrate me completing the course, Ali and I headed to our hotels bar to have some dessert and a cocktail for me (Ouzo special mmmmmm!). I’ve really loved having Ali here with me, overall we’ve had a great time together and honestly I just feel like I love him a little bit more after everything he has done for me.

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As for tomorrow, I have no idea. We’ve kind of just left it open for us to take a wander and do what we feel like! Sounds like a good idea to me!

Athens Day Three: Open Top Bus Tour, The Acropolis and working with my novel

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I made it! I made it out and got to see some of the sights. After filling up on breakfast we slowly made our way to buy tickets for the bus. City – Sightseeing Bus Top Tours are all over the world, I’ve often seen them around London but now I want to actually go on one. The deal was you buy one day and get another free, we’re hoping we can use the other day later this week, because there is a lot too see it’s just really spread out. IT cost us 18 Euros for the bus, so not the cheapest and I didn’t get as many photos as I wanted too because the sun was so damn bright. We sat on the top deck, with our headphones plugged in, melting in the heat of Athens. If you do any of these tours then water is a must, and a hat which I bought before we got on board.

The bus travels around the city, giving you a mix of historical information, opportunities for walking tours and photo tours and top tips for the city, all included in the price. I knew I couldn’t do much walking so the tour was a nice way to catch a glimpse of the city and it’s beauty. The columns standing after thousands of years, statues of the Gods mixed with modern touches too. Children shouted hello and waved to our bus and we waved back, laughing at their excitement.

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In the city gardens

Our method was to stay on the bus the whole way round, which took an hour and a half, before getting off at the Acropolis. It didn’t take long to realise my hopes of going up the Acropolis weren’t going to happen. Most of the city was too uneven for my wheelchair and there were a lot of steps surrounding, Ali promised we’d come back later on when I could do it, but I was heartbroken. I did, however, get to go to the Museum where most of what was inside was moved to, or casts of them anyway. Seeing what had survived and the detail of the ancient world was breathtaking, unfortunately you’re not allowed to take any pictures while inside. There was even the old streets under your feet that you could look at through glass.

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The Acropolis Museum, (l) Stadium, (r) The best picture Ali and I could get together on top of the bus and he’s actually smiling!! 

As we got off of the bus we were lucky enough to watch the changing of the guard, the outfits are amazingly detail with 400 pleats and take 80 days each to make. The 400 pleats represent 400 years of occupation. They have a special march and guard the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Today put a lot of strain on my spine, we came back to the hotel for an hour or so that both of us could drink a lot of water and relax before having to head to class tonight. I was upset with my spine, fed up of the pain and still wanting to do everything. Even going to class this evening was a struggle, but I’m glad I did!

As well as discussing another piece of work by a fellow student, I also had my 1-1 meeting with my tutor. We sat down and worked through my submission piece and discussed where I was going to go with it, how I felt about ideas that had been put forward, things like that. Katherine is a brilliant tutor. I have so many ideas and directions of where I can go with my novel now, it’s actually becoming real!

As for tomorrow, it very much depends on my spine and how I feel but I’m hoping to go out and explore again (fingers crossed).