Day 57 - Getting fined at the metro station - Athens, Attiki and Pagrati

I caught the bus into Athens as per usual. I got off at Attiki metro station, with connections to the city centre. Here, I encountered a problem.

I was checked for tickets by the ticket inspectors. And, I got fined. I had the ticket in my possession; the same kind of ticket I bought yesterday, to which yesterday's ticket inspector said nothing. I was asked to provide a Student Card to backup my discounted metro ticket. So I showed him my International Student Identity Card. Nope, it wasn't good enough. The inspector said I had an invalid ticket. I had to have a Greek Student card, not an International one. Like I was supposed to know. The rules aren't stated anywhere on or near the ticket counters. International Student Cards are only valid for metro tickets to and from the airport. Again, where was such rule stated?

I was mad. I had to pay €48. I could have argued with him; but I don't have such skills. I didn't have the money on me at the time, so he wrote me a slip, which I had to take to Syntagma's station and pay the fine at the head office within 20 days. I went and paid my fine as soon as possible. I withdrew cash from the ATM machines at Syntagma station and paid the fine, but not without trying to claim that the rules aren't stated anywhere.

I headed to the Lonely Planet bookshop afterwards. This was going to be my base for knowledge. I would come here every time I'm in the area, and study what I could. They had a large variety of different books; it wasn't just for Lonely Planet. There were language learning books, science books, maths, kids, you name it. There was also a café up here. This was indeed a good place to utilise time.

Afterwards, I decided to try and arrange another meeting with Lora, Elen, Angelika and Ada all together. So far no one has responded. I then went to spend the remainder of my day at Niko's workshop, and had my little whine about the fine that I got at the metro station, and my personal problems with Agnes. It helps to vent out your frustration with others.