Eurobank !!

So Monday morning we finally did the Parthenon on the Acropolis for Archaeology of Athens class. It was not as exciting as I thought it would be but I love going to the Acropolis. I also tried to go to Eurobank to get my atm card back but they didn't have power and so the lady said that I needed to come back.

Today, Tuesday, after class I went to the Greek parliament building in Syntagama. CYA arranged for us to go with a professor to parliament and have a tour. I found out that the building used to be the palace for the king and was later tuned into the parliament building. Syntagma in Greek means constitution by the way so Parliament is in Syntagma square. The professor was not our tour guide but rather someone who worked in the building. We sat in the main room where the sessions are held and such I can't think of what specific word he used to describe it and he gave us a little background on the building and on their government which was actually really helpful. So I found out that the current constitution has been in place since 1973 or 75 I can't remember exactly and we got to see the first copy which was upstairs in one of the old palace rooms. The constitution is not even under glass haha and is not well guarded. In fact we didn't even have to go through a metal detector. Anyways they have 300 representatives in parliament. Greece is a presidential parliamentary democracy. The president is more of a figure head and is not elected by the people but the parliament. There are currently 5 parties in parliament. The party that just one in October was the socialist party. The president is allowed to sit in to Parliament but he is seated in a chair without a microphone because he is not allowed to have any say in Parliament. There is an old royal box above the speaker of the house chair but since 1975 when the constitution was put in place none of the President's have sat there as a reminder that they are not royalty and that Democracy is something they have to work for everyday. There are also 200 seats in the upper section for any Greek citizen to come and listen to Parliament. The visit was not as special as I thought it would be but I am so glad I at least got into the building and learned a bit more about the government.

So then after that I tried to get my bank card yet again. This time I had to deal with this man who did not speak English very well and did not look very happy to be dealing with me. First he went to check the atm to see if it was there. He did not really understand what happened to my card which was odd since it was their atm !!!!. So then he went to go talk to another lady in the bank. Then he came back and told me that my card had been canceled ! ! ! ! I asked why and he just replied it was canceled. I asked if they had canceled it, if I could get it back, etc. Every answer was that it was canceled and that I could do nothing about it and that it was Greek law. So frustrating ! ! ! ! ! Then I came back to call bank of america to see what they could do. The first lady I talked to said I was not providing the right verification information for my card even though i already had to punch in my social and I read her my driver license # ! ! ! ! Even more frustrating. She told me that if I called back again I might get different questions so I called back again and was able to make them believe it was my card. So bank of America is sending me a new card which should be here on Friday. I will never go to Eurobank ever again.

Stressful week so far but im sure it will get better!