London's Calling

When you have to tell your mom you're in London...

This past week was full of many adventures, both in Greece and abroad, from visiting the acropolis yet again to walking on the Queen's grounds I had many new experiences.

Looking up at the massive columns in the Parthenon

I'll start with some highlights from the school week. I got A's on my first two tests, one in my religion class and the other in modern Greek, which is pretty exciting, and even though my grades won't really count back home, it's nice to see that I really am learning a lot here. The next (and coolest) big thing was that I got to go INSIDE of the Parthenon with one of my classes, which was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. It really adds to your perspective of how large the building actually is when you are standing in the cella and look up. It was also satisfying to get to walk around the ropes while everyone else had to just watch from a distance (petty, I know).

London is so pretty!!

That all happened throughout the week, and finally Thursday night came, where I got approximately 3 hours of sleep before I had to make my way to the bus station to ride to the airport at 3am, a I had a plane to catch for London!! As I waited for my gate to be announced, I saw another girl from my program was on the same flight and visiting London for the weekend. After landing, the customs process seemed to take forever, but I finally made it through and took the tube to meet my friend Christine from PLU at King's Cross station. Yes, the King's Cross station, which happens to be approximately 5 minutes away from Christine's apartment.

The British Museum

THE Discobolus

A Caryatid from the Erectheion

I spent my first day getting to know the city by riding around on a double decker bus and walking through the streets. Our first stop was at the British museum (free entrance!!) where I got to see some of my favorite art and architectural pieces, along with more pieces that I learned about in my art history class last semester. Highlights include structural pieces of the Parthenon, the lamassu Assyrian sculptures, many-a-Greek ornaments, and finally the Discobolus. Seeing all this history in front of me was incredible don't get me wrong, it just bothers me that all of the pieces are displaced from their origins and none of them have any context within Britain, other than by conquest. Anyway, we continued on and walked through Trafalgar square and saw M&M world and did some shopping. By the end of the day, I was exhausted from the constant going along with the fact that I was running on the fumes of 3 hours of sleep.

Buckingham Palce

Saturday came around and we planned to first get brunch at a diner that had some good ole American breakfast foods, something I have been craving since I arrived in Europe (the Greeks don't really eat breakfast). So, of course, I got pancakes with bacon and tater tots (they didn't have hasbrowns) and it was fairly good! We then went over to do all the touristy things like see Big Ben and the parliament buildings which were incredibly appealing to the eye. This was followed by a walk over to Buckingham Palace where I got to stand outside the gates and marvel at the Queen's home. After all the tourist adventures, we went to Westfield mall, the largest mall in Europe! I got some American classics like cinnabon and Krispe Kreme and shopped around before meeting my other friend Skylar for dinner at a little burger joint downtown.

In front of Buckingham Palace

The morning of Sunday was bittersweet, as I knew my time in London would soon be coming to an end. I met Skylar again to visit platform 9 3/4 and take the stereotypical phone booth photos before she had to fly back to Spain. I then stopped at a small restaurant for brunch by myself before meeting back with Christine & crew for the rest of the day. We then went to get our nails done followed by lunch at Nando's (a great chicken restaurant, and I love chicken), and finally a stop for gelato before I had to pack up my bags. I am so thankful for Christine and TVan for hosting me in their apartment and showing me around the city this weekend, this trip would have not been possible otherwise. We said our goodbyes and I got on the tube one last time headed to the airport where I departed on an almost 4 hour plane ride back to Athens.

Excuse me, do you know where I might find platform 9 3/4?

Italia

In San Marco square

This past weekend I had the best opportunity to visit Italy with an optional trip through my program. where three days were packed full with as much as possible.

A channel running through the city

Beautiful colored buildings downtown Venice

 It started around 5 am Friday morning I got up to meet the group in front of CYA to take a coach bus to the airport to catch our plane at 8:20. About 45% of the entire trip consisted of travel time. After taking off on the 3 hour plane ride, we touched down to a snowy Milan (which means it was freezing). From there, we boarded our official coach bus of Italy for an almost 5 hour bus ride to Mestre (the outskirts of Venice where everyone actually lives) and then to the ferry where we would finally arrive in Venice. As it was fairly late at this point, we were guided around on a walking tour to get a feel for the city before exploring and learning about it the next day. I might also add in that I became very ill at this point and was more than happy to crash at the hotel after getting back to Mestre.

On a lion's back in Venice

 The next day I woke up feeling slightly better than before, but still under the weather. Nevertheless, she persisted; I continued on with the class to explore the city of Venice. Now Venice is an island off of the mainland of Italy, where there are no cars or vehicles and it is swarmed with tourists. Now you may be wondering: Tourists? At this time of year? Why yes, it was the opening weekend of Carnival! That means despite the bitter cold and cloudy skies, the island was packed with people from all over the globe.

Inside the Doge's Palace

As we wove through the crowds, we visited San Marco's Basilica which is an 8th century Byzantine style church with breathtaking mosaics and artistry. We weren't really allowed to take pictures so I don't have much to show for that. Inside of the church there are many artifacts from the era including the original 4 Tetrarchs relief (which I learned about in my art history class last semester, so it was really cool to see in person). We then visited Doge's Palace (sadly, not for shiba inus) which housed all of the reigning Doges, who were basically like prime ministers of Venice during the Republic of Venice. There were many rooms for judicial hearings and meetings, and even a prison in the bottom! We then had some free time where Heather and I, along with some others, made our way to track down some Italian food because we were all starving. Right before meeting the rest of the group to leave, we also bought some cute scarves.

Side roads in Ravenna

Pizzaaa

After meeting up and ferrying back to the bus with a final wave of goodbye to Venice, we drove another few hours to Ravenna where we had the evening free. A group of us got lost in the city trying to find dinner and stumbled upon a quaint little pizzeria where I got a huge pie. Apparently we all are already so adapted to Greek culture that we stayed there for hours without noticing that the rest of the restaurant had emptied out, which then we decided to call it a night. The next day was spent visiting various churches in Ravenna including the Basilica of San Apolinaris in Classe where we attended the first part of mass which was...interesting. I am not a part of the Catholic religion so it was curious for me to get a new perspective on their service.

Beautiful relief on the dome of San Vitale

Mosaic in the mausoleum

We then loaded up the bus again to visit two amazing sites, the Mausoleum of Gala Placidia and the Basilica of San Vitale. First of all, Gala Placidia is a bad ass woman who ruled the world around her, and her mausoleum held beautiful mosaic reliefs all around, and pretty famous ones I might add. Right next door stood the infamous (jk, it's very famous) Basilica of San Vitale which was absolutely breath taking. Every relief completely filled the inside with awe, even those added in the later Renaissance era. Two reliefs that stood out to me the most were other pieces that I looked at in my art history class, Emperor Justinian and his court and Empress Theodora and her attendants. These rulers of the Byzantine era Ravenna were very elaborate, obviously enough to be put up in a giant church.

My first gelato

Free time came around and we visited a restaurant downtown Ravenna for lunch followed by dessert at a gelato shop. Fun fact: I have never had gelato before this, so basically I can never have it again because it won't be good as fresh Italian gelato. We think hurriedly shopped in a little boutique before meeting at the bus where we were surprised with donuts from the staff! Before making the trek to the airport in Rome, we visited Dante's tomb which was dauntingly cool. As we were backing out to hit the road, the bus was stopped by a police officer which we bribed (??) before we were allowed to be on out way. After the 12 year drive to Rome, we were behind schedule and actually had to run to our gate to board the plane for Athens.

Dante's tomb

Finally making it home around 2 am this morning, I realized how much I appreciate Athens along with the travel opportunities I have. While in Italy, I got a little homesick for the familiarity of Athens and the warmness of the Greek people. I've still got a little over 3 months left to live this life and I'm not wasting any of that time. My next adventure will include this upcoming weekends travels to London, where I will visit my lovely friend Christine who will be hosting me. Until then, ciao!

**In regards to video: I heard your comments, and I took lots of footage this weekend! Unfortunately my camera is not cooperating and letting me access the footage, but once I sort that out I will post a clip about Italy!

Routines, Classes, and Blissful Nothingness

This week marked the beginning of classes and new routines. 

First day of school!

I woke up bright and early Monday morning for my first day of school! After grabbing a quick breakfast on the way from Kekkos, I made my way to the classroom building for my first class of the day, the Orthodox Church. I have never taken a religion course before (PLU requires us to take 2 in our 4 years), so I was interested to gain a new perspective. Professor Iosif began lecture describing the direction of the course followed by a brief introduction to Christianity followed by a documentary clip. The clip was from a BBC documentary where they visited Athens to learn about Christian outreach and Paul's unsuccessful journey, then an esteemed historian appeared to give context to the audience which just so happened to be my professor. It cracked me up that she was showing us a clip that she featured in when she could have just told us the information herself in person (but let's be honest, I would do the same thing). After lunch, I had my first meeting with my Ancient Greek comedy class where we decided what text to read for the course (Aristophanes' Frogs was the winner) followed by a course outline where we learned that instead of a final exam, we can choose to act out scenes from the play in front of the student body to get the same credit. After classes, Mel, Jamie, and I went out for waffles at Poco Poco, followed by a night in preparing for the next day of classes.

A lil doodle

Tuesday morning I arose even earlier for my 8:45 Topography and Monuments in Athens class. We met in the classroom that time to go over the course outline and get some background on the topics. Though from here on out, we are to meet onsite in various locations depending on the day (I'll explain more once we get to Thursday). I then had my next class, Sports, Games, and Spectacles in the Graeco-Roman world led by none other than John Karavas, our dig director. Most of the students aren't aware of his humor and I swear he scared more than half of them with his opening lecture about brutal games and torture in the ancient world, and how we would endure the same things throughout the course. I'm really excited about this class, as we get to actually participate in all of the sports that we learn about. Lunch is followed by my final class of the day, Modern Greek. Let me just say I'm very happy that I don't have both of my Greek classes on the same day because it would totally fry my brain. Greek is hard, but I'm trying. I can say/read a few general phrases and pick out some words in conversation, but other than that it's all Greek to me.

The next day is where classes truly began, now that the syllabi had already been handed out and expectations were set. Orthodox lecture continued on and we learned more in depth specifically about scripture of Christianity, including the apocryphal gospels which was really interesting. In between classes, I ate lunch and finished my translation for the first part of Frogs which is what we went over in class after a brief history of Aristophanes. I was worried that here in Greece they would pronounce the ancient text in the same accented way they pronounce modern Greek language. For example, the word καί is pronounced /k/ in modern Greek, but in ancient Greek you read it as /k/[ai]. Fortunately for me, it is read in the same way that I am used to, thought my professor warns me that my modern Greek will at some point try to over power my brain. 

Thursday morning we were to meet by the acropolis for Topography, so Katie and I got breakfast at Kekkos before heading over. My professor gave us a hand out and a brief intro to the map of ancient Athens to provide context before we headed over to Philopappos hill for class. We basically got to see an incredible view of the city and listen to his commentary while getting a grasp on the layout and structure of ancient Athens. History of Sports was an adventurous class this day as we role played as caveman discovering the role and importance of sports throughout history. I then completely embarrassed myself while at the same time frightened the entire class by answering the question "Has anyone ever gotten into a fight?" after moments of dead silence by shouting "Yes". And then I was asked how it felt and what happened and I continued with "It felt good" making everyone laugh. Lunch, followed by modern Greek with the extremely over-excited 80+ year old professor ended my academic day. Later in the evening, Heather, Clare, and my apartment all met at a restaurant/bar for drinks where I got my first cocktail! The did waiter made fun of me for ordering fries with my drink.

Friday was met with an early wake up call from our housekeeper, so I went out with Katie to get some fresh produce from the farmers market. I then got ready for a meeting with a Greek woman about a potential English nannying gig for her children which went really well, more details to come later. I met up with the gang downtown and walked around before coming back to the apartment to start some painting on a new record Jamie bought for me. I'm attempting to do a blackware pottery style piece and I'm excited to see how it will turn out. Late Friday night we went out to Gazi and had some drinks before calling it a night. 

Rock n Roll 80s bar

Saturday was a lazy day, I didn't get out of bed until around noon to get some brunch at Poco where I had waffles with maple syrup!!!!! (I've been craving pancakes/syrup for awhile now, and I usualy get my waffles here with ice cream, not syrup) We then got our school supplies and found a cafe down in Monastiraki called Poems n Crimes and it was super cute, we ended up spending about 4 hours there just hanging out and doing homework. Jamie and I then went back to our apartment and spent the night eating pizza and watching Netflix (Riverdale is really good, also I started watching Black Mirror, also really good). The rest of the gang came back and made homemade lukumades which we devoured before heading to bed.

Today was another lazy day, I didn't even leave the apartment. But I wasn't completely the worst, I actually did some productive video editing, we finished our dig journal to submit to the professor, and here I am blogging away. Back to the video stuff, I was planning on compiling my favorite shots for a long video that I would finish after my trip, but would anyone be interested in seeing some short clips of random video before then? I don't know, just a thought, let me know what you think in the comments, or via facebook! I think I will end my night with some quality roommate bonding over netflix and dinner, which awaits me now. xoxo

p.s. sorry for the lack of pictures, I didn't see anything super cool and my photos aren't transferring from my phone!