The saga continues...
I do a horrible job keeping things up to date, don’t I? I have my excuses though, and school work definitely falls into that category. Luckily, after spending a couple nights preparing an essay and two oral presentations for my Balkans class, as well as studying for the final exam, I have gotten that whole nightmare out of the way. The future now appears much brighter.
Before I get my head too far into the future, I’ll go over the past just a wee bit. Please note, this is going to be long because I’m dumb, so if you’re only interested in pictures just click on the links. Anyway, right before heading off to the fun countries I went to for fall break, our Monuments class went on an excursion in the Sounion direction. We visited several sites: the Amphaireion, a healing sanctuary; Brauron, where the Sanctuary of Artemis existed as well as a school for girls; and finally Sounion, the place where the Temple of Poseidon stands and where I almost BUT DIDN’T fall on the rocks when exploring the area. Luckily we had great weather the whole time. Zeus must like us.
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Living it up at the Temple of Poseidon
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Fall Break happened (see previous post) and days later it was Halloween. It’s fun trying to live the way the Greeks do, but when there’s a holiday/reason to celebrate/excuse to get trashed, we’re going to do it the home country way. Josh and Will hosted a Jungle Juice party in their apartment, so everyone scrambled around the little square we live in to come up with costumes. I was shocked and impressed; everyone did a wonderful job coming up with something to dress up in. I ended up wearing fairy gear I found in the toy section of a store nearby and I wore it with a dress I brought from home. The party was fun and everyone was in a great mood. Three of the guys dressed up as pink rhythmic gymnasts and they put together a routine for us! After a while a group of us took off to Mike’s Irish Bar for some dancing and karaoke. I sang “Don’t Turn Around” all by myself. Eek! I feel bad for all ears in the room!
Oh, Halloween...
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Our very own rhythmic gymnasts!
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The lovely hosts
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Next up was visiting the Peloponnese. It’s a beautiful section of Greece, I felt so privileged to see it. I stood above the Corinth Canal and felt nervous and excited all at once. It reminded me of when I would stand above Hurricane Gulch back at home- vertigo definitely goes into play. We visited the site of Epidauros, where the famous theater exists which is practically perfect in every way. After that we drove to Nauplion and walked around Palamidi, which is an old fortress that was super windy! I spent the rest of the day wandering the adorable streets of Nauplion. I would love to go back there. Ummm… brain dead. Oh yeah! The next day we visited Tiryns, a site my teacher spent time excavating at one point in his life. Oh- ho- ho, then we went to Mycenae, and that was a total treat! I loved seeing the Lion Gate and Treasury of Atreus. I HATED walking down into the cistern. I do a horrible job walking down hills and stairs with full light, so having no light and uneven broken stairs put together and throwing me in there with the expectation of getting down there is a bit insane. The next day we drove to Vassai and saw the temple of Apollon Epikourios. It’s in a tent so that it doesn’t endure continuous damage from outside elements. I ended up doing nothing but resting for the rest of the day. The next morning we went to Olympia. Our group ran down the ancient stadium. It was pretty exhilarating, but a good time indeed. My favorite part of the whole excursion came afterwards- I got to stand in the same room as the sculpture of Hermes by Praxiteles. Oh, so what if it’s only a Roman copy? It’s still pretty flippin’ sweet if you ask me.
Theatre at Epidauros
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View from Palamidi
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Best gelato ever!
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It's a cruddy picture, but it's the Lions Gate!!
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Treasury of Atreus
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Look!!! This was the highlight of my trip (Hermes)
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How can one really appreciate a sculpture in the round if he or she does not view every angle? :P
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I will admit, there was an odd attraction to this Roman sculpture...
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Rubble rubble (pieces of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia)
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It's just a copy
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After finishing the Balkans class for the semester, the three guys who dressed up as the gymnasts for Halloween ended up hosting a white party. Everyone dressed up in white, it was classic. The best part was the fort we sat under, it was so clever! They live in room Delta 4, so they called the thing the Delta 4tress. Those boys can be so adorable sometimes.
We're so pure...ha
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The other side of the Delta 4tress
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Our lovely hosts
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Now we have one of my favorite experiences of Athens thus far. Andreas, a Greek student at UAF who has been wonderful enough to give me tips of how to survive in Greece, had given me contact information for one of his friends who lives here. For the most part trying to communicate with people in Greece has been a struggle for me, and sometimes the outcomes have been horrible (remember the man who followed me home on his motorcycle? *Shakes* I do…) Meeting Johnny for coffee was such a good thing for me. We talked about everything, and I was given the opportunity to ask anything I wanted to about Greek culture, habits, and his life. I definitely enjoyed myself, and he proved to me that not all Greek people are difficult. (Note: the difficulty I’ve had in the past couple months I blame myself for, because, after all, I’m the visitor. Johnny just made it possible for me to finally be comfortable.)
Moving on! I went with my class to Delphi yesterday. This was my second time visiting the site, for I was there 7 years ago. It was fun to see the site again, but it was even better to actually understand what the place meant for the ancient world. The area was gorgeous; I don’t blame people for believing it was a dwelling of Apollon.
Stole this picture during a lecture at the Temple of Apollon
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We got to be here
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Roomies!
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Parg here and DIE!
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Five more cats showed up after this photo was taken, that poor woman
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I could have spent all day here...
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If you kept up with me through all this, great! And thank you! If not, I totally understand. I probably would have just skimmed over the whole thing. Karina- I know you read the whole thing. :P