A FULL First Week!

Here it is! I am finally updating my blog! So much has happened this past week! I’ll try to cover everything but not bore you completely! At the moment, I’m having a glass of wine and will try to remember all the events of my first week and a half here in Athens. First, I’ll tell you about my classes and the more school-y aspect of the program. So far, all of my classes have been going well, but are pretty different from classes at R-MC! I am taking four classes, two of which meet on Monday and Wednesday, one which meets on Tuesday and Thursday, and one that meets Monday through Thursday. We rarely have classes on Fridays unless we are making up for a missed session due to a field trip, etc. We are provided lunches with our program, which are usually big enough I am not even too hungry for a big dinner! It is very interesting because our lunches are Greek dishes, so I have begun to taste some more Greek food and have almost been forced to eat it (or go lunch-less), which has made me try new things. I have had Greek burgers, yummy roasted potatoes, curry chicken, some crazy beef things, pastitio (a lasagna-like dish), and chicken with an apricot glaze. If you know me at all, you know this is a big step for me by trying new foods!!! :) Anyway, back to info about my classes.

I’m taking both Ancient and Modern Greek here in Athens. Ancient Greek is pretty tough, especially since I am way out of practice from not translating all summer. But, I’m in the biggest class I’ve been in since Freshman Year; there are six people in my class! :) It is strange to be translating with other students! We are translating Thucydides, an ancient historian, and we are reading about the fifth Spartan invasion of Attica in the Peloponnesian War in 425 BC. It’s pretty interesting, but my vocabulary on war is slightly lacking, and I definitely need to brush up on my crazy verb forms and Greek grammar this weekend! Modern Greek is pretty fun and meets daily. It is nice to be in a conversational language class again, for the first time since High School French. I’m having a pretty good time with it and our teacher is great and fun! We act out little scenes wearing different hats and ask each other questions back and forth. My biggest problem is that I am having a hard time pronouncing Modern after taking Ancient so long (the pronunciations of some letters are different). I’m not really sure how I’ll work that out, but I’m sure I will find a way! We have our first test tomorrow on fun little things like ‘What is your name?’ and ‘I am from America.”

My most ‘regular’ class would probably be my Byzantine History course. It is primarily a lecture course about how the Byzantine Empire and its history is relevant to today and what its influences are on modern Athens. We started off class last week talking about how many groups have different viewpoints on the significance of the Byzantine Empire, and today, we met in a museum! I know very, very little about Byzantine history, although I love the art and architecture, so I’m really looking forward to hearing more about it. Today, we met at the Byzantine and Christian Art Museum in Athens. It is an absolutely beautiful museum and definitely among my favorites of the museums here. We had a guided tour by an archaeologist working at the museum in an effort to get a brief overview of what the empire looked like and what types of art and architecture was left behind. The first part of the museum discusses the transition between the ancient world and its beliefs to the new Christianized culture. The museum showcases lots of sculptures that were ‘re-assigned’ from Greek deities to Christian symbols. For example, there is one sculpture in particular that is of the ancient mythological figure Orpheus, but was put forth as a Christ figure in the Byzantine times. It is really interesting to see how the Christians of old tried to put a spin on ancient traditions to spread Christianity. Also, by looking at the remains of the lifestyles of the early Byzantines, we can see what it looked like for a Christian in the early times living in a world of such mixed and transitioning beliefs. The second part of the museum showcases the other part of the empire, from about 6th century to the 15th century with the Fall of Constantinople. The museum had so much information and BEAUTIFUL art, including icons, architecture, and sculptures. When I go back on my own, I’ll take some photos and post them on my web albums!

My other class, Archaeology of Athens, is definitely the most different than I am used to! We only meet in our classroom three times all semester! We meet on site nearly every class session. Negative: it meets at 8 30 am! Our first class session involved our introduction and summary, but the very next class, Tuesday morning, met on Philopappos Hill here in Athens. (Check the web albums for photos). We will re-visit that site when we actually discuss the monument atop the Hill, but we spent our time Tuesday discussing the topography of Athens. We could see the water, mountain ranges, modern city, Acropolis, Lykavittos, everything!!! This was really helpful in understanding what the ancient city must have looked like and how big, and small, it was! I can barely imagine having to walk all the way to everywhere in antiquity, and how different the world would have been! The weather was really strange that morning, as it has been the past few days, and we were cold before hiking the hill, then hot as could be (and tired), then we were freezing on the hill listening to our lecture. By the time we were hiking back we got hot again, as the sun was coming back out, and enjoyed a nice walk back to our Academic Center and apartments. It’s also a cool experience to get to know some kids from my classes by walking around the city with them.
With our school, we go on field trips with the whole of our program. So far, we traveled to Brauron and Sounion. We have more to come traveling to the Peloponnese, Crete, and Delphi. The trip Saturday was good, except it was really rushed. We went on busses coordinating to our classes, so I was riding with students in my Archaeology class, and our professor led us around the sites. After exploring the site of Brauron, which was devoted mostly to Artemis in antiquity (check out my photos and captions), we went to the museum. The museum actually just opened up after being closed for three years! It was a beautiful museum and had so much in it, including some crazy wooden remains that had been preserved! Then we went to Sounion, which is at the southern-most tip of Attica, where there was an ancient temple to Athena, which has very few remains, and a temple to Poseidon. This temple is more preserved and is very impressive. Last summer, seeing this temple and the beautiful water below at sunset was phenomenal! Unfortunately, we left the site around 1 or 2, so we didn’t get to see sunset, but it was beautiful nonetheless. After a hurried trip to that temple, we hopped back on the busses to go to a beach. We ended up getting to the beach and had a bagged lunch and hopped out for a couple of hours. I waded in the water some, but ended up laying out and reading for a while…very relaxing and nice. I have started reading Atlas Shrugged again! I started it last summer in Greece, so I brought it to finish this time! :)

We came on back after the group field trip to Athens and wandered around our neighborhood (the area we don’t pass heading to and from school). We cleaned up from the gross sea water and decided to explore our neighborhood. We found a yummy gelato place in our wanderings and even saw a Greek Orthodox wedding through an open window at a church! It was nice to observe the night life a bit and just check everything out. Greeks are up and out so late every night it seems! I guess that’s why they drink frappes all the time, to get their caffeine boost from being up so late and awake so early! Our neighborhood is pretty crazy and fun, but I’ve still got to learn some of the streets for sure. :)

Sunday, a group of about eight of us (kind of a large group for exploring) went wandering to Monastiraki and Plaka (two districts of Greece, somewhat close to the Acropolis, etc) a bit. We walked along the edge of the National Gardens, which are beautiful, and passed through Syntagma Square and Parliament, as well as all of the streets I walked oh so many times last summer on the dig. We located the famous shoemaker poet who makes custom leather sandals. I’ll probably get some before I leave…they are pretty impressive. Eventually, the group broke up some and my roommate and I checked out the Monastiraki Flea Market. Such a fun and crazy time!!! There is stuff EVERYWHERE. Random as can be. Imagine the biggest and craziest garage sale and throw it in Athens and you’ve got a picture of this thing. We wandered some more and got some sodas, mmm Fanta, and ended up walking the area between the Agora and Acropolis in an effort to locate a Gyro place I knew from last summer for lunch! We took a very long way to get to it, but thoroughly enjoyed the sights and experience (check the photos) and finally found it! We got our food and wandered back up to Syntagma Square, where we sat at a café for a while and did homework/reading and chatted. I had a lovely frappe and enjoyed people watching as I caught up on some Modern Greek work. After that we headed back to our apartments. I finished up some homework that night and relaxed after a weekend full of walking and sun!

As far as random happenings and adventures that have been fun, there have been a few!

I got lost (more so misdirected) in my neighborhood one afternoon as I tried to explore a new route back to my apartment from our Academic Center. I approached two older ladies, with my very, very poor Greek, and asked directions to my street. They were so sweet as they directed me. I thanked them gratefully and as I went to walk away, one of them grabbed my arm and pulled me close. A bit confused, I went with it, and she asked me where I was from and what I was here for, etc. I told her the answers and such, then she explained my way home again in English, and in Greek! They were so sweet, and reminded me of the friendly Greeks you always hear about, but don’t see all the time!

A group of us decided to go to a free theater production in a park about a 15 minute Tram (which we forgot to validate tickets for immediately!) ride away from our area at the end of last week (Friday night). There were about six of us and we journeyed across the city to go and see Lysistrata! If you know the play, you know it is quite a ridiculous time! Pretty much, the women of Greece are angry that their men are always gone, and that they are so incapable of governing the world, so they decide to withhold sex from the men and overtake the Acropolis! Needless to say, it is quite a riot! We didn’t give ourselves quite enough time to get there apparently, but it was starting as we arrived and there was only room to stand along the edges! It was in Greek (obviously) and there were thousands of people crammed into this little outdoor theater. The actors were almost all men (even the ones playing women) and it was hilarious. I had read the play, as well as seen it performed on a video and at R-MC, so I knew what was going on, even though I understood only the occasional word. That was quite an experience and strange for sure! From annoying Greeks around us to fake naked actors, it was so strange and fun!

Another night, my roommate Kara and I decided to go hang out at a little Taverna one night. She was going to have dinner (I had already eaten) and I was just going to chat and have some wine. After getting thrown out of one place since we didn’t have reservations (after already giving us bread and water!), we wandered to a place close to our Academic Center. The waiter and owner (maybe) were very sweet to us and helped us speak to them in English and practice some Greek. They are familiar with our program since we are so close by, so they were happy to have us. We chatted for a few hours and were trying different foods and enjoying the beautiful evening in a cute little restaurant! Just as we were leaving, the waiter gave us each another glass of wine, which we were obliged to drink, since it was a gift! So we got back a bit later that night, but it was a great night of chatting and enjoying the evening (not to mention people watching!), and getting to know my Roomie! She’s great.

As far as other random happenings, we have gone to a nice little bakery a few times and gotten various treats! Some chocolate cake and little ice cream bars (dark chocolate and butterscotch!) have been my choices so far. Who knows what I will choose the next time! :)

Apart from all of this I do not have much to say. It has been very strange getting used to being here. After about a week and a half, I am feeling much more settled. I’ve got tons of photos on my wall and knick knacks on my desk, as usual! It has not been easy getting used to all of this, but I’m enjoying it and am learning so much! I had been mooching internet in my apartment from a neighbor, but they have security locked the connection! :( Yet, I’m still on Skype and AIM fairly often in the late morning and early afternoon, so if you get a chance, hop on and say hey! Emails are the easiest way to contact me since I have access daily to internet (except on trips).

I’m going to be taking a cooking class that meets like 5 times this semester with a Greek chef and some students from my program, am going to a Garden Party at our President’s house next week, taking Greek dance lessons Friday night, and am looking into some hiking and trips with Greeks!
Also, I’m getting really excited about visiting Dad and friends in Serbia over my 21st birthday, and Mom’s visit over our Fall Break! Also, this weekend my roommate and I are planning to go to Meteora, a really cool monastery area about six hours away from here. I’ll post tons of photos and info I am sure later! So fun, more details on those to come! :)

Always feel free to email or Facebook me with fun questions or anything. Don’t forget to check out my photos. Talk to you soon! Yeia Sas!