Finding old things, eating a lot, and bad weather

On Cape Sounio

Week two consisted of some touristy adventures, bad weather, and a crazy amount of public transportation and while it was exhausting, I remain enthralled with my surroundings. Fair warning, this is a longer post than the previous ones!

Monday the 16th after making the now routine commute to Voula, my group began digging the second layer of our trench to further investigate what was happening. After a long day of axing, troweling, and getting dirty we returned back to campus and had a class period focused on the art of artifact dating and contexts within an archaeological site. Some of the girls and I went out for waffles and ice cream at Poco Poco later that evening, followed by my apartment starting the new Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix (NPH is wonderful, in case you were wondering, also Kronk).

View from my apartment kitchen balcony

Tuesday rolled around and after making it to the site and working for about an hour or two, the rain picked up and we had to leave because apparently digging in the mud isn't helpful (or fun, I might add).

Wednesday was more or less of the same thing, we arrived on site and saw the puddles in the trenches. But instead of going straight back to Athens, we stopped by the warehouse of artifacts found from different archaeological sites within Attica which is located in part of the old Athens airport. There were some amazing artifacts including lots of black wear, other pottery, tear holders (small vessels that held the tears of the mourners to be put into the resting place of the deceased), and even some neolithic period artifacts. These were all so interesting and gave some perspective as to how much raw, tangible history is all around me here in Greece.

Black wear pottery

The latter half of Wednesday, after making it back to Athens through the rain, was spent with the Voula gang and a few other cool people that are participating in the dig that aren't currently with CYA shopping around Syntagma. Heather and I got some cool new kicks at Adidas followed by a photo shoot to show them off. We then all headed over to get Lukumades (basically donut holes that can be filled/topped to your pleasure) which are DELICIOUS, I might add. After a long day of running around, we finally made it back in for the night.

LUKUMADES

Pottery handle w inscription

Temple to Apollo Zoster

Thursday was spent continuing through the second layer of the trench while joking along with one another. I really must add that all of the people in Voula, especially my CYA pals, are really becoming very dear to my heart and I will miss digging in the dirt with all of them. Later that night, I finally got to meet up with my pal Kaylee from PLU, along with some other PLU students that are in Greece for j-term. Though it was short, seeing some familiar faces is always a way to make my heart smile.

The next day was one to be remembered. Friday, after the usual commute and digging process led to an awesome discovery within the second layer of the trench. As I was troweling/hand axing away, I came across what at first seemed to be a typical pottery sherd or tile. However, as I uncovered it more I came to realize that it was a pottery handle from a large vessel and it still had a visible potters mark (what the artisan used to mark their art) with a partial inscription. This was super exciting for me, and the excitement carried on after the dig when we visited the temple to Apollo Zoster (on the beach!!).

My first gyro

With the weekend finally here, rest seemed like it would finally come. Wrong. Saturday was packed full of adventures starting with a new tattoo. The phrase γνώθι ςάυτόν is dear to my heart as it was one of the first phrases I learned in ancient Greek, meaning know thyself. It is now permanently with me and a gentle reminder to always stay true to my roots no matter where I end up in life. We then met with the group and a new student for lunch where I had my first Gyro (pictured left, yes those are fries, the Greeks love fries).

Women's March on Athens 2017

After waffle dessert, we made our way down to the US Embassy for the Women's March on Athens. The movement was beautiful and so many Americans and Greeks alike came together in solidarity with people across America in the fight for equality, human rights, and against bigotry and were met by the Greek's own demonstration. It really comes to show that the people can and will have the power, as long as we work in unison. (Also most major cities, including Portland, have said that this was the highest attended, most peaceful demonstrations with zero arrests, and that's pretty cool if you ask me.) After supporting my fellow women, the gang went out to Gazi for the night. Well, we actually left at 12am and danced the night (morning?) away until finally making it back at 4am via a Mercedes cab. It was such a fun, well spent Saturday. 

The gang at the Women's March

Finally, today was spent 85% waiting for and riding public transportation (while being freezing due to the crazy wind) and 15% sight seeing in Sounio at the Temple of Poseidon. The magnificent views of the temple and the sea were slightly blurred by the wind hitting my eyes, even behind my glasses. But before making our way to the sea, we all decided to try the local McDonald's to see if there really is a difference between countries, and there is (the meat tasted meatier and the bun was fluffier on my burger). Before catching the soonest possible bus back to Athens (about a 2 hour ride), we went in the restaurant for some early dinner where I got a delicious grilled cheese and some vanilla ice cream, I'm not so hard to please. After finally making it back to the apartment, I couldn't be happier to crawl into bed after finishing this post. Tune in next week for more stories of my adventures, to be focused on the conclusion of the dig in Voula and orientation week.

Temple to Poseidon at Sounio