Let's talk about home!

In the spirit of me trying to find cheap/free housing associated with my jobs (i.e. SJP dorm, Tomahawk tent), I opted to live in an on-campus house at my school in Athens.  Now, I'm pretty sure most of you have no idea about the scope of this campus, so I figured I'd give you a tour.  We'll start off with the school grounds and will end with my luxurious mansion.

Kollegio Athinon (Athens College) is a campus between two well-off parts of outer-Athens: Psychiko and Halandri.  It's a gated campus, with security staffing the gate 24x7.  I suppose this is necessary for two reasons:  First, this school draws the children of many wealthy and/or important Greeks.  This includes children of the former or current Prime Minister, children of diplomats, actors and actresses, and many others of the same type.  That's not to say they do not have your typical Greek family sending children to school here, but you get the picture.

From the gate, we have the option of hanging a left to the athletic buildings or straight to the academic buildings.  Athletic buildings include a swimming pool, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, a turf soccer field, tennis courts, a weight room, and a racquetball court.  

This pool has the honorable distinction of being the cleanest body of water I've EVER swam in.  

Yes, that includes Long Lake.  And the YMCA.
Maybe those aren't the best comparisons...

Like I mentioned earlier, if you went straight up the hill from the gate, you'll start passing a few other buildings.  The first one of distinction is the library.  This is the largest school library in Greece, and it has a full-time staff of around twelve.  Then there are the teaching fellows, who work in the library either with specific classes or full time.  Tons of resources.  Further up the hill is clearly the hallmark building of campus: the Benakio.  This is the building that I'll be spending most of my time in, and it houses most of the classrooms for the high school.

On either side of the Benakio are two other awesome buildings:  to the west, we have Saka, the alumni and staff "lounge."  The school hosted a cocktail party for myself and my co-fellows on Thursday evening, and they regularly host other functions.  Pictured is Saka in preparation for (presumably) a wedding.  To the east of the Benakio is the Athens College Theater.  This is a really large auditorium (probably seats upwards of 2,500), with a few areas for art displays as well.  Apparently professional groups come through to use that venue quite often, too!

And now, finally, we head up to my house.  I think the best way to describe the room is to go through the description provided to us and fact-check it:

The house has six bedrooms... (FALSE:  It has five real bedrooms, and there are seven people living in it.)
two and a half bathrooms... (True, but only when they're all functional)
a kitchen... (Technically true, but it's a stretch.  We have no stove nor oven, but a combination of the two that we affectionately call a "stoven."  Sketchy.)

a breakfast nook...  TRUE

a living room...  TRUE, a very nice one at that too!

a library...  FALSE.  That is now my "bedroom."

a rooftop balcony...  True, but it is completely filled with a solar panel.

a piano... True.

and a lovely garden terrace... False.  It is not lovely yet.  It will be, though!

complete with a 264 gallon swimming pool!  False.  Our inflatable pool was punctured.  We have a 0 gallon swimming pool.

Regardless, it's home.  In time, I think we'll all grow to love the place!

Our chapel.