Catching Up & Taking Off

In front of the Hephastion

Hello all! I really did not keep up with this blog thing as much as I would have liked to, but I will quickly recap the past two months of my time here!

The end of March and first part of April was spent in northern Greece exploring Thessaloniki and many other sights! This part of Greece was so beautiful and I was very excited to see more of the country. There was a much younger crowd than in Athens, with lots of college students which was exciting.

Sunset in Paros

Mykonos Town

After returning for a week of classes, spring break began! My roommates Jamie, Katie, and I, along with Joe (who we visited in Rome) hopped on our first ferry to the island of Mykonos! We spent a few days (and Palm Sunday) on Mykonos eating Greek food, touring the island via ATV, and shopping in little Venice. From there, we had an unfortunate incident of missing our ferry after some complications, so we ended up staying an extra night and catching the next ferry to Paros. We spent about 18 hours on Paros, which included the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.

Kouros with Jamie for comparison

At the red beach in Santorini

From Paros, we hopped over to Naxos to meet our friend Emily, which became my favorite island. The mountains, trees, and scaffolding in the landscape were incredibly beautiful. We rented ATVs again to tour around the island seeing the largest kouros (statue of a person of a specific style) I have ever seen just hanging out, hidden away by the sea. From Naxos, we headed off to our final island, Santorini. In Santorini we walked around, swam at the red beach, visited the ancient site of Akrotiri (a city covered in ash from a volcanic explosion), and attended midnight Easter service outside one of the churches in Thira. We came home after 11 days of islands ready for class!

Later that week, I was blessed to be visited by my momma! We got to spend 10 days touring around Santorini and Athens. I got to take her to all of the sites, have her try all the Greek food she could possibly stand, we got matching tattoos,

Mom tries a gyro!

and have some much needed with a little piece of home.

Since then, I have focused a lot on the rest of the school year, preparing for finals and the end of the semester, fitting in the occasional site tour and museum visit.

Now as the end of the semester is here, I have to express how grateful I am to have been able to have this incredible experience. I would not be here without the continuous support of my family and friends at home, along with the new friends I have made here in Athens. I am truly blessed to lead the life that I do, and I look forward to bringing a piece of Greece home with me. I'll see you all in 62 hours!

Oracles, Exams, Gelato, and Small Airports

Roma, Roma! Forum views

Hanging out on a cliff

Last weekend, right before midterms, CYA held a class field trip to Delphi where we got to explore ruins and inquire about the future. Before making our way over to the small village, we stopped at the Ossios Loukas Monastery which I have actually visited once before with the Athens Hiking Group. The beautiful valley surrounding the monastery is even more beautiful in the Greek sun (last time the weather wasn't as nice). This monastery houses a rare relic, the entire body of St. Luke which is on display for visitors to see. After breaking for lunch, we continued on to the lower archaeological site of Delphi were some ruins remain, but aren't the best preserved. After arriving to the hotel and having the rest of the day free, some friends and I hiked around and found some pretty awesome views of the Delphic valley. Dinner and a movie were followed by a visit to the one night club open in town where a variety of music genres were played (like the happy birthday song; three times).
 

Delphi

The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel before driving up to the upper Delphic archaeological site and museum. Here we walked the path that visitors seeking information would walk after being cleansed in the stream to seek our own fates. Partway to the top, we found the naval of the world! The popularity and mythological influences of Delphi in ancient times led to the title of the center of the world, and Apollo's naval was erect. We continued on to the temple were the oracle would sit nine times a year and then up to the theater were you could see the entire site. A short break followed by visiting the museum where it held many of the surviving treasures of Delphi such as a sphinx, the naval cover, and lots of other statues. We left the site and stopped for lunch in the cutest skiing town before heading back to Athens.

Jamie and I practicing ancient wrestling moves

The rest of the week was consumed by midterms and classes, all of which I managed to survive. One cool thing that we have been doing in my ancient sports class is reenactments of the ancient sports, hands on. We learned and practiced moves from ancient wrestling, boxing, and pankration (basically MMA all out brawling) with our classmates and punching bags. It has been a total blast!

The Colosseum

This past weekend I got to finally go on the trip I have had booked since the beginning of the semester, Rome! Leaving late Thursday evening, Katie, Noa, Olivia, and I heaed for the Athens airport to fly into Ciampino. Arriving around 11pm, we made our way to the hostel in the city and went to bed pretty much immediately. The next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed straight for the Colosseum. With our CYA issued ICOMOS cards, we skipped the line and got in for free. It was the perfect time to go as it wasn't super busy yet, and we had lots of time to walk around and marvel at the oval shaped death playground. After exiting, we ran right into the Arch of Constantine followed by the Palatine foothills and the Forum which we explored for a few hours then walked along the Tiber river. 

Gelato ft. Katie

THE PANTHEON

Creepin' in the Forum

Lunch involving pizza was next, where we met Katie's friend Joe who is studying in Rome. For the rest of the day he toured us around the city showing us the Best Gelato Place in Rome (Frigidarium), the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, Spanish steps, Piazzo di Popolo, Caravaggio church, and finally we had dinner in a lively neighborhood at Da Otello where we were too Greek and stayed until they closed (we were there for hours, as the Greeks do). Also, we witnessed the aftermath of a pick pocketing incident on the bus which was very alarming! 

Trevi fountain with Noa, Olivia, and Katie

Saturday we got up early again before hopping on the metro that would take us to the Vatican where we were distressed as the line looked to be about 3 hours long, paid tour guides were yapping at us about paying for a tour to skip the line, and trying to decide what to do. We ended up deciding to try to get in again with our ICOMOS cards, and the security guard waived us past the line and let us in early. We then rushed through to the Sistine Chapel to see it before it got too crowded, which was amazing. After seeing the marvelous works Michelangelo, we went back through the entire Vatican again, but slower to appreciate the rest of the museum. I saw so many Greek and Roman sculptures, including about 7 different ones Artemis in the round. One of my favorite galleries was the contemporary art gallery which contained many pieces from the mid 20th century and on including what I like to call "pop-art Jesus." After about 3 hours inside the Vatican, we switched over to St. Peter's Cathedral, which had a line too line that we could not skip, so we opted to just look at it.

Sneaky photo inside the Sistine Chapel

Pop Art Jesus

We then walked over to the Jewish quarter and saw the Great Mosque and had lunch at a restaurant near there. After filling up, we walked along the Tiber and stopped by a few other churches on the way back to the hostel, including the Cornaro Chapel which contains the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini. After gathering together at the hostel, we met again with Joe for dinner in another restaurant where we clearly were overstaying our welcome, as the servers seemed to rush everything. At this point it started raining, and we made our way back to the hostel, saying goodbye to Joe, to get our things and head to the airport.

Posing w the Vestal Virgins

Now here's the thing, we originally were supposed to have 3 days in Rome and leave Sunday night, but Ryanair being Ryanair switched our return flight to Sunday morning about a week before we left, so we decided it wasn't worth paying to stay in the hostel for a few hours and cancelled that night when we first arrived in Rome.  We took a cab to the airport around midnight, because no buses were running until 4 am and our flight was taking off at 6:30. The kind taxi driver talked and told us stories the whole way, except he spoke absolutely no English, so he rambled on to us in Italian. When we arrived at the airport, we came to find that it was closed, doors locked. We snuck in to arrivals and sat in there for about an hour before that closed to, so we spent the rest of the night (until 4 am) laying on the ground outside waiting. I was frustrated, cold, tired, and annoyed by the situation, but it really shed some light on what it is like to be without a home, and I am very grateful and humbled by all that I have access to in my life that I take for granted every day. 

Finally I arrived back in Athens, and I have never been so happy to see my bed before (springs poking my back and all) and I then proceeded to sleep allll of Sunday which was much needed. We had one day of classes for the week today, and now I am packing and getting ready for our final field trip to northern Greece tomorrow where we will spend 5 days learning about the history and culture of Thessaloniki and the surrounding areas!

Rhodes, the Pelopponese, and my favorite place in Greece

Hey, Hi, Hello! I know it's been awhile, so I will preface this post with a warning: this is going to be long. If you manage to make it through, congrats! I will try to keep it as brief and descriptive as possible.

RHODOS

First things first, March is a crazy busy month for me. We have field trips every week (except one weekend, but I'll be traveling then on my own) and midterms coming up! It has already gone by so fast and all I can think is how is the month already halfway over?? But before we continue, I must backtrack to the end of February where I left off.

Jamie and I enjoying the view of the Acropolis

The weekend after I visited London was a long weekend for Greek students, as Carnival came to and end and Clean Monday began Lent. On the 27th of February, street fairs and festivities take place near Philopappos Hill where kites are flown and people relax. It was a gloomy day weather wise, but spirits were at their height. The rest of the week continued as usual, though we had to make up a class day on Friday, so no three day weekend for me.

Though we had class on Friday and a short weekend, that didn't stop me from traveling! Noa, Jamie, and I hopped off the plane at RHO to spend the weekend on the beaches of Rhodes. We stayed in a cute air bnb right on the beach in Filaraki and were easily able to make it down to the city of Rhodes by bus. Walking along the shore and into old town was absolutely beautiful, including weather and architecture. The city fortifications were still heavily involved in the integrity of the modern city and it was clear that the locals appreciated their home. However, the place was a ghost town. There were hardly any stores, shops, or restaurants open during the day, and pretty much nothing at night. This made for an inconvenience of touristy activities, but allowed us to spend more time exploring.

My new man

Aphrodite

We visited the museum of Rhodes which is located inside the Medieval Knight's hospital which held some of the most amazing artifacts from prehistory to medieval periods that I've ever seen. The preservation was absolutely incredible, and the variability in the different pieces showed how diverse Rhodes was and the importance of port cities in antiquity and beyond. Later we went back to Filaraki to find no restaurants open so we had a nice little picnic with groceries yay!! Sunday morning I woke up to find I had a horrible allergic reaction and my lip and left eye were completely swollen, and it being Sunday no where in Filaraki was open so we had to catch a bus to Rhodes to find the one pharmacy open. It all turned out okay and after spending some time walking around the beach and city, we headed to the airport to go home to Athens. At the airport we met Lily the airport cat, who was born in the airport and is an official resident. She jumped right onto my lap for cuddles, and the strangest part is she looks just like my cat Abygale from home! It was a sweet end to a packed weekend.

Lily cuddles

After returning from Rhodes, we had one day of classes before we

The Lion Gate

Treasury of Atreus

were off on another adventure! The first field trip of the semester to the Peloponnese started bright and early Tuesday morning where we split into buses and headed for the Peloponnese at 8 am. Our first stop was at the man-made canal that separates mainland Greece from the Peloponnese and it was incredibly deep. We packed up again and then stopped in Mycenae. This my friends, was one incredible ancient city. We started off the tour by seeing (and going inside) the Treasury of Atreus (!!!!) and I literally squealed when I saw it. Yet another thing I had learned about in my art history class that I was able to see in person. This was followed by visiting some more ancient graves before entering the citadel through THE Lion Gate (more squealing). We climbed to the top while stopping at important sites like where the mask of Agamemnon was found. After a picnic lunch with all of the students (and local strays) we headed toward Nafplio, our home for the next two days).

We were awarded a grand tour of Nafplio by one of the CYA professors, and he was very very knowledgeable about the city and it's history in entirety. After we were set free, we got the World's Best Gelato™ at an Italian gelato shop, which was great! Before finding some dinner, my friends and I stopped in a shop where I got my first set of κομπολόι, or Greek worry beads! The shop owner hand makes each pair and taught us (in Greek, yay for being able to understand people more!) how to use them. 

Track at Nemea

The next day my ancient sports class visited the site of Nemea, where the Nemean games were held. We walked around the site seeing where the athletes prepared before having a little competition on the track itself! The ground was spongey due to the clay from a nearby river laid on top, making running feel light and a little easier. We then visited the site of Epidauros where we learned about ancient medicinal techniques (you really didn't want to get sick back then, because your cure would be sleeping in a temple praying for healing by a god [okay, they had some doctors, too] which doesn't sound fun to me). Finally we visited the theater or Epidauros (!!!!!) and got to experience the incredible acoustics of the stage and stands. 

Theater at Epidauros

Thursday we visited the city of Mestras and got to see some really incredible Byzantine era churches, and visit another nunnery. I also learned that this site is where my professor first excavated after receiving his PhD. After looking around the site, we got back on the bus and went to have lunch in Sparta. Yes, the Sparta, which is no more than a little touristy town with hardly any, if at all, remnants of the ancient civilization, much to my disappointment. After a treat of donuts by our group leaders, we headed to Kalamata for the next hotel where we would spend the night.

Royalty

Trap door in Messene Theate

Bright and early we woke up to find a hoard of French high schoolers in out hotel, so we ate breakfast quickly and headed to my new favorite place in Greece, Anicent Messene. This site is so large and full of history, and is still in the process of excavation (and probably will be for another 50 years). We began by visiting one theater where there was a beautifully preserved throne (which of course, I seated myself) where great men once sat, including Hadrian! This theater was so high tech, it included a trap door in center stage, that had a tunnel that led into the back chamber in the skene for quick access. We saw ancient ruins of an temple dedicated to two Egyptian gods (to please the Romans, they were intrigued by Egyptian deities) along with countless other sites including not one, but two temples to Artemis (!!!). We ended up in the stadium where we played two ancient team games involving scoring a goal with a ball, kind of like rugby/football but with no rules pretty much. The entirety of Messene completely awed me and it is definitely one of my favorite places in Greece, and I hope to visit again one day. 

Beautiful Ancient Messene

My man Hermes

Posing like an Athlete

Saturday was our last day in the Peloponnese and it was spent, rightfully so, in none other than Olympia. We walked in the footsteps of ancient athletes before our sports class took our rightful place on the track for a race. We completed both a full sprint, and a half double dash, both of which I took third place. However, I was disqualified technically in the double dash because I ran into the post, our professor, trying to push someone out of the way (it was touching the post that got my disqualified, not the pushing btw). After walking around the rest of the ruins, we then retired to the museum where we saw some artifacts including two pediment structures from the temple of Zeus, and statues of Nike, Hermes, and a giant bull. We left Olympia having gotten the gold, and made one final stop at the beach to learn about Greek ecosystems before returning to Athens. 

Pediment statues

These past few weeks have been action packed and tiring, but a lot of fun. I look forward to my next few trips where I will be visiting Delphi, Rome, and Thessaloniki and Northern Greece!

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!