After a short and suspiciously comfortable visit to the dentist, I went to the Byzantine museum with Alexandros and Thanasis for a lecture by Rem Koolhaas (”Rem Koolhaas LIVE!”). The lecture was pretty much standard fare for those aware of AMO, his preoccupation with the Chinese architectural industry, and the recent Prada project. What was more interesting was that I kept running into acquaintances. First, Philip Alexopoulos happened to walk in front of the museum while I was waiting for Alexandros; his office is nearby. It was all downhill from there: Stephanos Nassopoulos (about to start his Diploma at Oxford Brookes), Stella Pieri (just got her Part II from Sheffield), Olga Venetsianou, Nelly Sfakianaki, Rhea Walden (a film she scripted is shown in a few days at the Athens International Film Festival), Nikos Patsavos (soon to start a PhD at the AA), Nefeli Papademetriou, Elina Sgouritsa and John Consolas (both having finished their BSc at Bath and returning for their MArch), Martha Giannakopoulou (completed the lot at the AA), Katerina Vordoni (just got her BSc from the Bartlett, like Alexandros). After the lecture we happened upon Antonis Vordonis (Katerina’s brother), Vassilis Andreoulakis, Costas Politis, and Psorras, all from my year at AC.

That makes a grand total of sixteen (16) unanticipated run-ins with old friends and acquaintances within the space of a few hours. A first observation is that I know more people in the Athenean design circles than I thought I did. A second observation is that I know all these people from highschool, apart from Stella and John, who were studying with me at Bath.

An enjoyable night.