Staring

There hasn't been too much going on this week, just because we've gotten into a routine. I will have more to talk about this weekend when we go on our excursion to Corinth.

One big difference between the Greek culture and American culture is staring and not smiling or looking friendly or...anything. In America if you make eye contact with someone there is usually a passing smile or a quick look away. Here in Greece guys will stare you down and not in the "I think you're cute" kind of way. They literally just stare at you, no smile or anything. It's something that I have not quite gotten use too. I'm generally a friendly person and I smile at people when I happen to make eye contact with them walking down the road and I really miss that being reciprocated back to me.

I'm loving Greece, but I'm definitely missing some of my American culture.

Classes

Before I delve into how my classes are going and all of that, I'll go ahead and give you guys a taste of the grand Acropolis....

A lovely view as we walked onto the Acropolis.

One end of the Parthenon.

The Parthenon.

The theater of Dionysus, which you can see when you look over an edge of the Acropolis.

I feel that pictures really can't do any of the sites justice, but it's the best I've got. Anyways, this past Monday we started classes (boo!). This means our careless vacation time in Greece has come to a close; however, even though I am falling into more of a routine it doesn't change the fact that I am in Greece. Yeah, I have class every day from 2:30-4:30, but I can take the metro in the morning and go hang out in downtown Athens before class starts. That's pretty awesome in my personal opinion.

The class with Dr. Kaplan is pretty cool cause we really get a chance to discuss the different observations we've made about Greece in comparison to the United States. Granted we still have to keep up with this blog and read a book, but it's well worth it cause it really relates to what we are all going through in Greece. We are also taking a survival Greek course which, I feel, will come in handy. We just started learning the alphabet a bit, but we will also be learning certain phrases and things to help us survive in Athens. Now, my art history class on Athens in antiquity is not quite what I was expecting. My professor is British and I think there is only one Greek in our class. This was kind of disappointing considering I was looking forward to making some Greek friends. However, it is pretty cool to learn about the history of some the artifacts I've already seen and will be seeing on this trip.

Yesterday we actually took a traditional Greek dancing class in stead of our Greek survival class. It was so much fun even if I did look like an idiot most of the time. :)

Today I will be going to the Byzantine and Christian Museum and I'm pretty excited, because I have to give a presentation on it too the class.

The Acropolis

First things to start with, I haven't had much of any frustration while I've been here; however, there is one thing that has started to drive me crazy. In the United States I had finally gotten use to ordering water at restaurants to be healthier and to lower the cost of the meal. Not only was it complimentary, but the water was never ending. Here in Greece, the idea of complimentary water seems to be as foreign as the whole country seems to us Americans. Not only do you have to pay for water when you go out, but you only get ONE bottle of water. There is no never ending supply, only one bottle of water for around the cost of about a euro. It's driving me crazy, when I go to a restaurant all I want to do is gulp down as much water as possible because of the dry climate here. From my perspective it is just a really annoying way to make more money off of one meal. However, after our first day in class Dr. Kaplan told us that there is a shortage of water here, partially due to the dry climate. With as frustrating as the non-complimentary water is, it does make since from the Greek perspective that they cannot just hand it out as freely as we do in America. It's taking some getting use too and when I get home I will be drinking as much water as I want whenever I go out to eat for free.

Anyways, this past weekend we took a tour of the Acropolis and downtown Athens. Seeing the Parthenon in all of its glory was freaking awesome; however, the view had to be the most breathtaking thing from atop the Acropolis. Even before we ascended the Acropolis we climbed the Areopagus, also know as Mars hill, which overlooked the whole of Athens. You could see from the Sea all the way across the roofs of downtown Athens.

After witnessing the Acropolis and all it had to offer we took a tour of downtown Athens. We saw the platka and the Athens flea market which are really awesome places to shop. They have almost anything you can think of there. However, I could not fully enjoy the experience because I was so tired from all of the hiking around and the heat of the day.

I'm sorry this is a really short post, but I will post a more descriptive one once I've uploaded the pictures to my computer. :)

Beauty

On the day we went to Delphi we also stopped by a monastery in Osios Loukas. I thought I had a pretty good idea what the definition of beauty was and then I walked into the monastery. I literally just walked in and stopped. All I could do was look around me and soak everything in. It was if I was paralyzed by the pure beauty emanating  from the walls. I was held in the gaze of  the most powerful figures in religion that developed from the very history I was witnessing at Delphi. As if to be the cherry on top, when standing outside the monastery all you could hear were birds singing in the background.

The altar

All in all the monastery has to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and I will never forget the sights I've seen.

Prophecies from the past

We've only been in Greece for about a week and I have already been to the one place I was most looking forward..Delphi. The place of the Oracle and the Navel of the Earth, Delphi contains more history than the average site of ruins. Before you reach the site of the Oracle and the temple of Apollo there is a spring running from the mountain. This spring was used to "purify" pilgrims who would make the journey to receive a prophecy from the Oracle.

Becoming "purified"

After stopping at the spring we made our way to the entrance of the ruins. The scale of the site is awe inspiring and there was definitely A LOT of climbing stairs and hiking about. However, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. When walking along the path to the temple of Apollo it is amazing to think that you are sharing your steps with the faithful pilgrims of the past. Athenians, Spartans, and the average pilgrim, all of them coming with the same goal, to hear the prophecy of the Oracle. It is hard to comprehend that kind of history when you are standing right in the midst of it. 

The remnants of the temple of Apollo

The site was located on Mount Parnassus, which towers about Delphi. The view as we climbed as far as we could was absolutely breathtaking. Surrounded by all the history and gazing out over the vast mountains was a moment I will never forget. It is something that can never truly be captured in a photograph.

While we were in Delphi we also visited the archaeological museum there and the temple of Athena. Seeing the towering pillars of the temples is and extremely amazing expereince. It will always be hard for me to wrap my head around the history surrounding these ancient relics. To think that people once truly believed in the Goddess Athena and traveled from far and wide to praise her at this temple. Thinking about the Oracle, it is CRAZY all of the momentous decisions that were made at her vague prophecies and I was standing at the very site those prophecies were given. To say that this was a great experience is an understatement. It is truly a moment I will never forget, nor will I ever want to forget it.

The most beautiful game in the world

As we all know the Euros are going on this summer. Greece actually made it to the quarter finals this time around and I was not about to miss their game against Germany. I can now check off the bucket list that I have been to a bar to see a major soccer match in a country that actually cares. The fire and energy of the Greek crowd was amazing. When the Greeks scored their two goals the place exploded and even though they lost 4-2. I felt at home among people who felt so impassioned about a sport I love.

Doing Laundry

So, you would think doing laundry is pretty self-explanatory...it's not. Here in Greece the laundry machines are a bit, shall we say, different. You have to pick the speed of the cycle and there are all kinds of different buttons with pictures and it is just much more complicated. It was the hardest thing to just figure out which machine was dryer and which one was a washer. For me this was the oddest thing, because I am just use to having the presets on my washer at home. At first I didn't understand why this would be necessary, presets are just so much easier. Then I thought about it and realized that the Greeks are more conscious of nature and their abuse of it. Greece is a very dry climate and they do not have a great access to water. They actually have a shortage of water, so things like the washing machines have a variety of settings to make it the most efficent. In other words, there are more customizable settings so you aren't wasting a lot of water on a small load.

I think I've figured out the laundry process now and it shouldn't pose much of a challenge any longer. I have also gone grocery shopping and made a nice home cooked meal. I really enjoy the culture here of having grocery stores, bakeries and all the other shops conveniently placed. I can literally walk to the grocery store and just buy food for the day. I don't have to plan a head and buy food for the whole week.

Tomorrow we will be going to Delphi and it should be a great trip. I will be posting pictures and another entry tomorrow. :)

Yia su from Greece.

Yia su (hello) from beautiful Athens, Greece. After, approximately, 14 hours in the air, 32 hours on a ferry and 4 days on the island of Rhodes, I am finally in Athens for the remainder of my stay in Greece. It has been an extremely tiring few days, but they have been some of the best days of my life.

First things first, the plane ride. The plane ride became, for me, an encounter with some of the trials and tribulations of an American teenager in Greece. Being my first time on a plane by myself, aka without a family member sitting next to me, I was quite nervous to sit next to a complete stranger. While I was hoping for a nice person to be able to talk to over the 10 hour flight I was quickly greeted with disappointment. A man well into his seventies approached the seat next to me and, after some difficulty stowing his belongings, he sat down next to me. I immediately realized he only knew Greek as he rattled something off to me that I did not recognize at all. The lady in front of me kindly said, "He's asking you if you know any Greek," which I quickly shook my head no too and smiled. It was a quite plane ride and there would be moments of communication through smiles and hand gestures; however, I noticed that the stewardess treated him with a very short and hostile tone. After going through some of the cultural readings I could see why this man acted the way he did in some ways. He was a very helpful man and if he saw a way to help he would go straight to doing it, no second-guessing or anything, he would just do what he thought to be right or helpful. In one particular instance he went to set his empty coke can on the stewards cart because she was busy taking trash for another passenger, she quickly turned and snapped at him, "I will get it from you when I'm ready too." This moment of discomfort can be summarized as a clash between the Greek and American culture. The man, being raised that he is always right, went to do something he felt would be helpful. The women, being disciplined to do her job a certain way, felt as though he was being pushy and impatient.

Even with that first experience with the Greek culture I was fully energized to see the sights of Greece when I got off the plane. We were quickly whisked away to Deree, the American College of Greece, where we dropped our stuff off in our rooms, ate lunch and the packed a few clothes for a ferry ride to the island of Rhodes.

The ferry to Rhodes was pretty uneventful. We were all so tired from staying up past 24 hours and the jet lag, so even the rocking of the ferry didn't affect our sleep. As we pulled up to Rhodes we all stood on the back of the boat and watched the beautiful island get closer.

As soon as we got off the ferry our traveling was still not over. We immediately piled onto a bus for an hour until we reached the town of Lindos. All of us were starving because we didn't eat breakfast on the ferry, so we took time to stop at a convenient store and grab a few snacks. After that it was time to hike up a steep mountain to the acropolis at Lindos. By the way, acropolis just stands for the highest and most fortified point of a city, so there are many acropolis in Greece. Running on barely any sleep and feeling the jet lag we all some how made it to the top and it was completely worth it. It was my first taste of ancient Greek ruins and the view from the top was mesmerizing. Even though we were all tired and sweating to death nothing could take away from what we saw. Being tired did not even matter, we were climbing over rocks and ruins and trying to take in every little bit we could. After spending quite a bit of time at the top we hiked back down, spent some time in the market and left to head to our hotel.

Yeah we hiked all the way up there.

One of the views from the top.

Just a few of the sights from the Acropolis at Lindos.

After our adventures at Lindos we all went down to the beach and had a refreshing swim in the Aegean Sea. The next day we ventured into the old town of Rhodes, which is a melting pot of different cultures and time periods. We first saw the city walls which were built by the Knights of St. John, also know as the Knights of Malta, and are built in the style of gothic architecture, very plain. We then walked further into the city and saw some Turkish fountains which are much more ornate and stand out amongst the plain Gothic style. The highlight of old town was definitely the open air turkish market and even there you could see the clash of Gothic architecture with the Turkish style. The shopping was a plus and I also discovered the greatest thing ever....Nutella ice cream. :)

We had a free day that I used to just explore the rest of old town. I went with a couple of friends and got absolutely lost, but it was fun because we discovered new things as we walked around trying to find our way back to some place we could recognize. That night we went to a place called the Blue Lagoon which had live Greek music. It was so much fun to dance and do some of the Greek dances. That has to be one of my favorite nights, so far, in Greece.

On Tuesday we left the hotel and went to 4 different sites before we went back to the ferry to head to Athens. We first visited the Archaeological Museum in the old town of Rhodes, which was really cool. All of the different statues and artifacts from various time periods was interesting. They had a beautiful garden with lavender, mint and other things. There were some many beautiful smells as you walked around observing history. We spent a brief 30 minutes at the museum and then traveled to a beautiful monastery called Filerimos, another place with beautiful views and history. This monastery was originally built by the Knights of St. John and then restored by the Italians. Being on a tight time crunch we only spent about 45 minutes there and then we went to our next sight, Ancient Kamiros. Kamiros is known as one of the largest ancient Doric cities found in Rhodes. Again we only spent about 45 minutes here and then we traveled to our next sight which has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. This place was called the Valley of the Butterflies. It may not have been full of ancient artifacts, but it was full of natural beauty. We hiked on the trails which was a physical challenge, until we reached a monastery at the top out of the valley. There we all took a break and sat down to a nice glass of fresh orange juice while looking over all of Rhodes. 

We hiked back down the valley and hopped onto the bus to go to the ferry and conclude our little vacation in Rhodes.

A picture cannot capture the true beauty of the Valley of the Butterflies.

All in all the trip to Greece has exceeded my expectations. I have enjoyed every moment and have made the greatest friends. In between the history and school work I have taken the time to think like a Greek and just enjoy time with friends. From finding my Kefi at the Blue Lagoon with dancing to watching the Euros at a Greek bar, the whole experience has been enjoyable.

By the end of the week I'll be in Greece?

I'm one of those people that really doesn't get excited for things until they happen. I don't spend time getting anxious or nervous before hand. However, with going to Greece it is completely different. I am anxious, nervous and, most of all, excited. I still can't believe that I will be in Greece by the end of the week and I'll be staying there for more than a month. I can't wait to be completely emerged in the culture and to be standing in front of the Parthenon, something I only thought I would see on TV or in magazines. So, Greece better be prepared, cause here I come!