Uh, Dr Killebrew? You gave me Turkish money...

Sorry for ignoring my blog for basically an entire month. Oops. I began to get busier with schoolwork after spring break and it will not stop until finals are over this week. So, this blog will be quite long since I have a month to recap. Oof.

Several holidays have passed in the month of March. The 15th was the Ides of March. Of course being a Latin nerd, I always celebrate the holiday. “Et tu, Brute?” Another one of my favorite holidays came just a few days later. Obviously since I’m in Greece, St Patrick’s Day wasn’t a big holiday here, but I still wore my green and drank some Guinness in honor of my Sainted Grandmither. The Greek Independence Day was March 25 and we had no classes. Several of us went downtown in order to watch the parade. We had a good spot and view of the parade. It essentially just had those who serve in the military march down the road. It lasted for probably only 15 minutes or so. In addition to holidays, there were several birthdays that happened in March. My grandmother turned 89 on the 20^th; Piper had her 2^nd birthday, and my Mum had hers on the 26^th.

I finished my Modern Greek language course at the end of March. We had a written final as well as an oral final. I was in a group with Jon and Emily for the oral. It lasted for about 10 minutes and was super easy. I was so relieved that I wasn’t paired with someone that I did not like.

We took several field trips within the past month and all of them were really fun. For John’s class we went to the Benaki Islamic Museum and I really liked it. Islamic art is so colorful and gorgeous. We also took a long trip to the Peloponnese, a day trip to Boeotia, and finally we went to Crete last week.

John accompanied us for our trip to the Peloponnese and our Athens Centre representative was Vassia. We first went to Nemea, which was a Panhellenic site in ancient times. We stopped at Argos along the trip for just a short while then proceeded to Sparta or Sparti. We were not able to see the Mycenaean site of Sparta so I was quite bummed about that. The following day we went to Mystras, a Byzantine site. Mystras had a fortress and the city was considered to be the third major city in the Byzantine Empire, only behind Constantinople and Rome. Pretty cool. Afterwards we went to Methoni, a Venetian fortress close to Pylos. It was built in 1190 and looks out onto the water. So cool. Then we settled at our hotel in Pylos. Our hotel looked out onto the harbor and it was a gorgeous spot. The next day we first stopped at the harbor of Pylos and talked about the island of Sphacteria and the War of Independence. Then we went to Nestor’s palace. It was very well preserved especially the megaron and throne room. After the palace we went to Messene. There we saw a temple dedicated to Artemis, statues of Hercules and Apollo, and a stadium that held gladiatorial games. Pretty cool. After spending quite a while at Messene we were back on the road to Olympia where our hotel was. The next morning we finally went to the ancient site of Olympia! We first went to the museum then the actual site. We walked through the areas where the athletes trained and we saw a shrine that Philip II of Macedon built. Then we saw the remains of the famous temple of Zeus and I wish it was more intact, but thanks to the early Christians, a lot of pagan temples were knocked down and destroyed. That afternoon we left Olympia and made our way to a little village town called Andritsaina. We stayed at a little villa and I shared a room with Teresa, Emily and Kadi. The village was quite quaint and I really enjoyed walking around it. The following day we packed up and headed back to Athens. But first, we stopped at the temple of Apollo at Bassae. It was very much still intact and beautiful.

Our next trip was a day trip to Boeotia. We visited Orchomenos, Gla, and Thebes. We saw a tholos tomb at Orchomenos that had a beautifully decorated ceiling. Gla was a site off the beaten path and we had climb up a huge hill in order to get there. Thebes was probably the most memorable site even though there was only a small portion of remains that we could actually see. The town of Thebes was pretty nice.

I did not go anywhere for Easter so I just stayed in Athens, but it was definitely relaxing. I went to a midnight service at a church close to my apartment. It was really cool. Everyone had candles and right at midnight, the bells began to ring and fireworks were set off. It was very loud, but really cool. It was a fantastic experience. I realized that every time that I have been abroad, it has been during Easter. When I went to Rome, I spent Easter at St. Peter’s and then I got to experience Greek Orthodox Easter here. That’s so cool. I worked on an essay for one of my classes and then just read the entire time. I bought three books at the giant bookstore near Syntagma. I got Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, and Dubliners by James Joyce. I read the first two and I haven’t had to time to read the third one.

The week after Easter we went to Crete! We left on Thursday, April 8 at 10pm. We boarded a ferry that was called Festos Palace. I shared a cabin with Teresa, Emily and Kadi. The cabin was incredibly tiny and barely had enough room for our luggage selves. The ferry was very fast and we arrived at Crete at 6 am on Friday. The port was at Heraklion and we had some breakfast at our hotel. Then we went to Knossos! Knossos is the most famous palace on Crete and was the supposed palace of the mythic King Minos. There were a lot of reconstructions of the palace that are very intriguing. I enjoyed my time there and I got a lot of good pictures. After Knossos we went back to Heraklion to see the museum. The museum had one room open and only held certain objects.

On Saturday, we left Heraklion and made our way to my site, Gournia. But first, we stopped at Malia for a short while. We finally got to my site and I presented it. I didn’t have to look at my notes too often, but I kind of failed on knowing my site plan. I hope I did well overall, but I’m not sure. There was a book on my site, but I didn’t have any money, so Professor Killebrew gave me some money. However, it wasn’t 5 euros that she gave me. She gave me Turkish money instead. But, I noticed it quickly and handed it back. I later paid her back for the book, which is very helpful for my paper. After my site we went to Mochlos. It is an island so we got to have a short boat ride over. The weather was gorgeous and it was really cool. We then went to our hotel in Siteia. A bunch of us went to dinner at this place called Gremlins. It was incredibly cheap, but the food portions were huge! It was quite delicious. After dinner, Teresa and I got celebratory gelato because we were done with our site presentations on the trip.

On Sunday we made our way to Palaikastro and Zakros for the day. The weather at Palaikastro was cloudy and slightly rainy. The snails that were on the ground distracted us all and there were probably hundreds of them! We finally made it to Zakros, which is a pretty cool site. The site was very well preserved. After our tour of the site, we had lunch in town and the food was delicious. We had strawberries for dessert and they were really good. I probably ate many of them. Then we went to our hotel in Ierapetra.

We began very early on Monday morning. We had a long bus ride to Gortyn from Ierapetra, but the site was really cool. It was a Roman settlement so were able to see a site from a completely different context and time period. We saw the famous Law Codes of Gortyn and the Odeon. I really liked the site a lot and our presenters did a great job. After Gortyn we made our way to Phaestos, the second largest palace site after Knossos. This was incredibly well preserved and very easy to get around. After Phaestos, we visited our last site, Agia Triada. It was a small villa and had a church nearby. As we made our way back to Heraklion in order to catch our ferry, we stopped at a potter’s workshop and watched the potter throw the clay and create beautiful pots in just a few minutes. And then we went to dinner in Archanes. Penn State so graciously paid our meal and it was very delicious. The food was very filling. We finally arrived at Heraklion and to our ferry. I was in a cabin with the same girls. We had the fast ferry again and we arrived back in Athens on Tuesday morning.

I had my last classes this past week so this means that this upcoming week is finals week. But, I don’t have many finals. I only have two finals and both are on Wednesday. It is open note for one of my finals and I already know what is going to be on the exam, so I can just write in my notes what I am going to write on the exam. But, for the other exam, I have to study very hard because it will be on anything we covered in class, which is a lot of information. I have three papers also due this coming week, but I have already finished two of them. I just need to write my Byzantine paper on Thursday and then I can relax and enjoy the remaining days I have left in Athens.

I can't believe that I will be back in PA in less than a week. Hopefully the volcano will stop spewing and will let me get back home in time. But, my time is nearly up here in Greece and I am beginning to miss my family, friends, and baseball back in America. I will cherish forever my time abroad and the friendships I have made. Greece will always have a special place in my heart and hopefully I will return one day.

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Do I really have to back to school?

Well, spring break is almost over. It's currently early evening on Sunday. I must return to class tomorrow. Darn. I really enjoyed having time off from school work. Oh, well.

Anyway, this post is dedicated to highlighting my time during spring break and a few days before that.

Thursday, March 4, was when my break officially started. We had class at the Acropolis Museum for what seemed like the 10th time this semester. We were done by 3pm and Mary and I went shopping in Monasteraki. The other girls were busy packing since they were leaving early in the morning on Friday. That evening was karaoke night at the Athens sports bar. It was quite amusing to watch my fellow students sing (horribly). But, at least they enjoyed themselves while they sang. :)

Mary and I were the last ones in our apartment on Friday and Saturday. We went to the farmers' market to buy some olive oil and just hung around the apartment lazily. Both of us were quite anxious, so we did not sleep well.

My mother and sister arrived in Athens a little before 3pm on Saturday. Had I known that they got to the hotel earlier, I would have arrived sooner. But, I didn't get there until close to 4pm. Oh, well. We were all so glad to see each other! We made our way up to our room, which was on the 7th floor. We had a great view of the acropolis from our room, so that was pretty cool. Thanks for the suggestion, Dad! We explored the Plaka area and had dinner. We got back to the hotel and both were super exhausted so they went to bed probably around 9pm. I stayed up and listened to my iPod before falling asleep.

We woke up before 7am on Sunday morning. Then we made our to the dining room where we had a buffet breakfast full of fruit, cheese, bread, eggs, and cereal. Yum. That morning we had a small tour of the city. We saw the old olympic stadium (the same one near my neighborhood), the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, and the Acropolis! Finally! I did not have a chance to visit it until now. And it was super awesome! Unfortunately, it was raining while we were there, so we had to be careful to avoid falling. The Parthenon is incredibly huge and so cool. We were so close to it! I was so happy. After taking numerous pictures, we headed down to the Acropolis Museum. I enjoyed explaining some things in the museum to Mum and Christie. And I think they really liked the museum. We stopped at Everest, a food place, and got some lunch. After that, we went back to the hotel for a while. I took a nap, then we went to Plaka. We got dinner at at place that I had eaten at before and the food was good. We got saganaki (fried cheese) to share and I got moussaka. Very delicious, but filling.

Monday was a good day. We started out later than Sunday. We went to breakfast around 8:30 then headed to the 8-level mega-bookstore on Panepistimio. I bought the 4th and last book of the Twilight series. Then we headed to Parliament to watch the changing of the guards, but we missed it. So we went to look for a shop that my Greek language teacher told us. It's called The Mastiha Shop and it has items that contain the product from the Mastic tree. This mastic tree is only found on the Greek island of Chios and supposedly this product can cure many things from ulcers to cancer. We checked it out and the store was really cool! It has gum, many beauty products, and even cooking stuff with mastiha. We didn't get anything then, but I will have to go back before I leave Greece in April.

Afterwards, we again made our way to Plaka where Mum and Christie bought some souvenirs. Mum graciously bought me a cute pink tank top and she bought some blue slippers for herself. We continued to shop throughout the day and got some more souvenirs. It was then time for lunch we stopped at Pita Pan and got some delicious pitas. Yummy. We then dropped our gifts at the hotel and proceeded to the Cycladic Museum. It was my second time around, but I enjoyed it. Probably because I could explore it at my own pace, but it was fun explaining the figures to my mum and sister. I think they really enjoyed this museum as well. We were hungry, but it was not quite time for dinner, so we headed to Monasteraki for ice cream. I got cappuchino and baileys. Yum. Then we went back to the hotel and we booked our trip to Sounion.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. It was sunny and warm. We climbed up part of the way to Lycabettus, where St George is. We then took the venicular up to the monastery. It was absolutely gorgeous weather when we were at the monastery and the day was super clear. We were even able to see some of the islands in the distance. Then we made our way down and stopped for lunch in Kolonaki. We got a seasonal salad and a Greek pizza. After chilling in our apartment for a while, we then went to my neighborhood, Pangrati. It's about a 25-minute walk from Syntagma, where our hotel is. We walked through the national gardens and ran into Emily and her family. I showed mum and Christie my school and they met some of the staff there. We then went to my apartment and skyped with Dad. After that, we went to the square and to my favorite bakery. I got some Μπουγάτσα, a cream pie, and shared some with mum and Christie. They really liked it! After exploring some of my neighborhood, we returned to the hotel. Later we went to dinner where Christie and I shared this yummy pasta with broccoli and cheese. We were all so exhausted and went to bed pretty early.

We toured the flea market in Monasteraki for a while, then headed to Plaka to buy some more gifts. I bought Monica's bday present and she is going to love it. :) Mum bought me a 2011 calendar of Athens. Thanks, Mum. We were done with our shopping around noon, so we went to Everest for lunch. We learned that Mum's and Christie's flight was changed because of a general strike on Thursday, so they booked another night in Athens. Our trip to Sounion was in the afternoon. It wasn't raining, but it was very windy and cold. But, the temple was still very pretty. I hope Mum and Christie enjoyed the site despite the weather. We returned to Athens around 6:15 and I was tired so I took a short nap. Then we went to Goody's for dinner, which was surprisingly good. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and played some cards. I won.

Thursday was essentially a free day for us, so we just chilled out for the morning. Then we headed to my neighborhood again. Mum and Christie tried to check-in for their flight, but the website was not cooperating. Then they helped me with my grocery shopping. I then took then to my favorite gyro place for lunch. I think they really enjoyed them and were surprised that the gyros included french fries! Ha. I then walked Christie and Mum back to the road across from the gardens. We said our goodbyes. I hope they were able to avoid Parliament and the protesters in Syntagma because of the strike. I returned to my apartment and began to unpack. I checked my emails and was update on some news. Then I read my book for the rest of the evening.

Friday was another lazy and slow day for me. I woke up around 9 and made my way to the farmers' market. I got some olive oil for Mary and then bought a lot of fresh fruits and veggies. I was very happy. I really missed the farmers' market. I then spent most of the day reading my book. Mary and her boyfriend, Joey, came back from Santorini that evening. He's such a good guy.

Saturday was another lazy day for me, but I don't mind. I won't have many of these left in the semester. I finished my book in the late morning. It was interesting. Not how I thought it would be, but oh well. Joey kindly made dinner for us all and he made a ton. Could have feed 8 people with full portions. There is still more than half remaining. We spent the evening hanging out together and it was good.

Today is Sunday and the last day of break. I was incredibly bored so I took a walk around Plaka. Then the rest of my roommmates returned in the late afternoon. Thank goodness. Turns out they didn't get to Croatia, but spent their break in Roma. Not a bad alternate.

Overall, my break was good. It was the best one so far during college. This weekend we continue with our field trips. We go to the Peloponnese and I am excited to see Pylos and Sparta.

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Spring Break is almost upon us

Γειά!

It has been about two weeks since I lasted updated, so here we go.

Penn State's Dance Marathon or THON occurred and raised $7.8 million for the kids! That is truly amazing and I am so proud to call myself a PSU student. Many of my friends and sorority sisters were dancing that weekend. If you don't know too much about THON, dancers are chosen from a lottery system and cannot stand or sleep for 46 straight hours. They endure pain and sleep deprivation in order to channel what the kids are going through during treatment. I was able to watch the event online and I felt so connected. So,thank you to all who danced, were on committees, volunteered, and supported everyone. One day, we will find a cure!

On Monday, February 22, I woke up and did not feel good at all. I must have eaten something bad the day before. So, I missed my first class, but by the afternoon, I was feeling much better and could keep things down.

Two of my professors were away on field trips, so I did not have class on Tuesday or Thursday. On Tuesday, my roommates and I headed downtown to a huge multi-language bookstore. It had 8 levels and had many books in English. Since I had already read book 1 of the Twilight series, I decided to get books 2 and 3. I know what you are thinking. I have fallen victim to the craze, but I'm not obsessed with them like other people that I know.

Nearly every single office and public institution was on strike on Wednesday. Everyone just decided to make a statement to the government and pretty much everything was closed, schools included. Not mine however, because we run separately from the other institutions in the city. It is complete chaos when someone wants to strike. Taxi and bus drivers march down major streets and don't forget about the Communists! Oh, geez. You would never hear of this back the States.

I got my midterms back in Killebrew's classes and I got 98% on each of them. She doesn't believe in giving perfect scores, so she finds the most miniscule things in order to dock points. Oh, well.

Friday's day trip was my most favorite of them all. We made our around eastern and south Attica. We first stopped at Brauron where there was a temple soley dedicated to women. Interesting. We then headed down the coast to Thorikos. Thorikos was home to a theatre and an ancient mine. Pretty neat. However, I was itching to get to Sounion, the place of Poseidon's temple. We finally made it there and I was in awe. The temple is situated on top of a cliff that is right next to the sea. Oh, the water is super blue. The setting was the most gorgeous I had ever seen in Greece. It is a must for any traveler going to Greece. While there, most of my group headed down to the water, but Teresa and I stayed behind and enjoyed the peace. It was mostly silent with the occasional sound of waves crashing and sunny. Favorite place outside of Athens hands down.

Saturday was one of my roommate's birthday, so we went to Aegina for the day. Aegina is an island just off the coast of Attica and takes about an hour or so on the ferry. Everyone in my apartment and all the guys went. It was a great time. We originally wanted to go swimming, but we couldn't make our way to the beach, so we hopped on a bus and visited a very large Orthodox church. The church was incredibly beautiful and huge! We decided not to take the bus back, so we walked back to the main port. That took us a little over an hour, but it was a good stretch of the legs. We took the 6pm ferry back to Athens. It was interesting waiting for the ferry because it was very windy so the waves were HUGE! I got splashed several times waiting.

Sunday was a day of rest and I did my Greek homework. We are learning about the accusative case. Only two of us took Latin and ancient Greek, so we understood the case, but everyone else were scratching their heads. Thanks, Latin and ancient Greek!

This current week, we don't have Killebrew's classes because she's back in the States. We do have John's class every day except Thursday. We finally began to talk about Justinian and the construction of the Aghia Sofia in Byzantium (or Constantinople or Istanbul).

Monday was the first day of March, so happy March everybody! I can't believe my program is more than halfway done. I don't want to leave! Later that evening, a bunch of us went to the Athens sports bar for trivia. We got second place! Not bad.

On Tuesday, we went to the National Museum and talked about Archaic and Classical statues. Whoo. It is incredibly boring mostly because we spend 20 minutes on one statue alone! Oh, so boring.

We had John's class outside at a cafe and discussed Islam. It was super fun and interesting. I am very intrigued by the history of Islam and I can't wait to learn more about its rise, dominance, and conquest of Byzantium. We had Greek again and we are learning so many new verbs. I should try them out, but it is so hard because we try to speak Greek to the locals, but they speak English back to us, so it doesn't help at all.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we only have one class and then my spring break starts sometime before 3pm! I can't wait for spring break. I am so excited to see my mum and oldest sister. It will be a great break! So, Mum and Christie arrive in Greece in 3 days!!

Since I won't be updating again until after spring break, I hope you all have a good two weeks!

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It's Carnival Time!

I just want to start by stating the number of days when my mother and oldest sister arrive in Greece. They visit me in 13 days!!! Can't wait to see them!

Okay. Got that out of my system. :)

Since I last blogged, Monica turned 24 years old, my group made two day trips, and pitchers and catchers reported for spring training!

On Friday, Feb 12, we visited Corinth and Acrocorinth. It is a little more than an hour away from Athens. Professor Guy Sanders, an expert of Corinth, gave us a lecture at the site and took us on a VIP tour. So we visited and saw a bunch of things normal visitors would not be able to see. We then got lunch at a local taverna and made our way to Acrocorinth. Acrocorinth is a medieval fortress looming above the ancient site of Corinth. My group got a little lost wandering around the site, but eventually met up with the rest of our program group. We headed back onto the bus, we were still short two kids. We jokingly said they were going to get locked in the fortress, but when we saw the guards for the site closing the gates, we panicked! We yelled to the guards and luckily the two kids showed up right at that point in time. Whew!

Last weekend was carnival time because the Orthodox lent was coming soon. On Saturday we saw many people of all ages dress up in costumes and have a great time. We wanted to take part in the festivities, so we all bought some masks. Mine was pink and sparkly and went very well with my dress. The carnival lasted the entire weekend. Monday was Clean Monday, so that meant more festivals and no school! A bunch of us headed downtown close to the acropolis to check out the festivities. There were bands, food, and lots of kites! Apparently, kites are still a big deal here in Greece and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was flying or attempting to fly a kite on Monday. It was great to sit down and do some people-watching.

However, we could not celebrate the entire day since we had to study for our first midterm, which was the next day.

On Tuesday, we had our first midterm on the Trojan War. I think the exam went well and I hope I got a good grade.

Then we had our second midterm on Wednesday and it was on Crete. The exam was similar to the one on Tuesday, so I think I did well, again. I hope. Wednesday was also the day when pitchers and catchers reported for spring training. Not many kids on my program are interested in baseball, or at least not as interested as I am, so they didn't understand this holiday. Oh, well. I was happy. :) Later that night, my professor was lecturing on the Philistines, so we all went out to hear her lecture and give her support. She was so happy that we were all there for her.

There was some time before our first class, so I and two other girls went shopping. I bought some black boots for a very good price because nearly every store has sales, but it ends soon, so I had to buy some sooner than later. We then had class so it was a rather normal and boring day.

On Friday, we had our next day trip and it was to Rhamnous and Marathon. The first site was cool because we saw a temple dedicated to Nemesis and an ancient fortress near the sea. Marathon was the site of a major battle in Greek and all of world history. The Athenians were able to defeat the mighty Persians and prevented them from expanding their empire westward. The battlefield itself is covered with crops, but we saw some tombs dedicated to the 192 Athenians who died during the battle. After we visited the sites, we stopped at a tavern that was next to the sea. It was too cold, windy, and cloudy for me to go swimming. Also, there was a lot of seaweed on the beach, so that was really gross. But, overall, the day was really good.

Today was a very relaxing day so far. I did some very early spring cleaning and went to a burger joint with my roommates. It was surprisingly good, but incredibly filling. I probably won't be eating until much later tonight. We might head up to St George later today because some kids have not been there yet, but I don't know if the weather will be good enough for us to climb up.

This coming week will also be very relaxing because I only have class on two days. Two of my professors are away, so their classes are cancelled. Sweet! Then on next Friday we will head south to Sounion, where the famous temple of Poseidon is located. I can't wait!

I think that's all for now folks, but don't forget to look at my pictures on my picasa webpage.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mkwitzig

καλό Σαββατοκύριακο!

Center of the (Greek) world

Γειά!

I haven't written in over 2 (almost 3) weeks, so I figured this would be a good time for an update!

On Wednesday, January 27, we visited the acropolis museum here in Athens. The museum has a modern design that works with natural light and is situated at the base of the acropolis. Essentially, the museum is designed on the actual features of the acropolis, with the third floored entirely modeled on the Parthenon itself. It is a pretty neat museum, which only just recently opened. We didn't have time to explore the acropolis, but I am waiting for the day when we do.

Thursday, January 28, we took a field trip to the National Archaeological museum with our Aegean class. We only explored one room of the museum for an hour and a half! But, it was really cool to see a lot of the ancient pieces that I have studied before coming to Athens like the mask of Agamemnon.

We took our first weekend field trip was during the last weekend of January. We left on Friday and stopped at Chaeroneia before getting to Osios Loukas and Delphi. Chaeroneia was a battle in the 4th century BC between Philip of Macedon and the Greeks. Phililp won. We then stopped at a beautiful monastery called Osios Loukas or St Luke. The view of the valley below and the monastery itself was just absolutely gorgeous. Then, we finally arrived at Delphi and had the entire afternoon to ourselves. That night, I and my other roommates celebrated Mary's 21st birthday.

Saturday was the day we went to the famous oracle of Delphi and the surrounding area. We walked through the ancient road in Delphi, but we could not go into the actual temple where the oracles were made. We also saw a stone that was shaped like a navel. Apparently in the ancient Greek world, Delphi was considered to be the navel or center of the world. After our time in Delphi, we made our way to Kalambaka, the village close to Meteora. Since it was officially Mary's birthday on Saturday, we had a program dinner celebrating it.

On Sunday, we drove up the long hill to Meteora. There, we visited two monasteries and one nunnery. We first visited Great Meteora, the largest monastery in Meteora, then went to Varlam, and ended with the nunnery. At each one, all the ladies had to wear skirts, even though our legs were already covered by our pants. Oh, well. I am truly amazed and just how those monks were able to climb those mountains and subsequently build monasteries on top of them. Just, WOW. After our visit, we got back on the bus and made the 6-hour trek back to Athens.

I know I am a bit late, but Happy February, everyone!

On Thursday the 4th, we went to the agora, which is at the base of the acropolis. A beautiful and mostly intact temple was located there called the Hephaestion, which was dedicated to the god Hephaestus. The view from the agora of the acropolis and of the city of Athens was spectacular. The weather was nice and we had blue skies.

This past weekend, we went on our second field trip and went to the Argolid. The Argolid is a small part of the Peloponnse on the eastern side. It is just west of Attica, the state where Athens is located. We first stopped at Mycenae, the "home" of Agamemnon. There we visited several tombs, including the most famous one called the Treasury of Atreus. We then hiked up to the old city itself and it was really neat to be there. Not much remains (obviously) but the view from it of the surrounding plain is wicked pretty. That afternoon, we made our way to Nauplion (also spelled Nafplion). It is this gorgeous little town near the harbor that has Venetian and Turkish fortresses. It is a more modern city compared to those that we saw in the Argolid, but it has the BEST gelateria in Greece. We went several times during the two days we were there.

On Saturday, we made our way to Epidaurus and Franchthi Cave (when pronounced fast, sounds like Frank the Cave). Epidaurus was an ancient healing site that was attributed to the god of healing, Asklepius. Also there at Epidaurus was a cool theatre that awesome acoustics and could seat many people. From there we made our way to Franchthi Cave, which was an old cave that housed people way back in the day. First we had a picnic of bread, cheese, and wine, then hiked to the cave. It was super awesome and we also did a little bit of rock climbing inside the cave. We then returned back to Nauplion.

Sunday, we visited the Nauplion Museum, then left for Lerna and Tiryns. Lerna is famous for the House of Tiles, which was two-storied and had tiles covering the roof. Tiryns was another Mycenaean-period settlement. Unfortunately, we didn't spend too much time at Tiryns because it was raining heavily. Then we made our way back to Athens in the rain. Boo. Also, Sunday was the 1-month anniversary of being in Athens. I can't believe a month and some has already gone by. Jeez.

This week has been different from the other weeks. On Monday, we learned to learn to dance Greek dances in Greek class. It was super fun. Additionally, we only had Byzantine history once and won't have it for a few weeks. Today, Wednesday, we only had one class and it was our Trojan War class. So, that means we have Greek tomorrow. It is just a weird week.

On Friday, also Monica's 24th birthday, we are doing a day trip to Corinth and Acrocorinth. I am excited, but I hope we have time to visit the farmers' market before we leave, since it was been several weeks the last time I was there. I miss my cheap and fresh veggies and fruit.

I spoke to my parents this past weekend on ichat and learned about the massive snow storm that is hounding the east coast. I am glad that I am not there right now. :)

In less than 4 weeks, my mum and oldest sister will be spending spring break with me here in Greece! I cannot wait to see them! Although, I wish my dad and Monica could spend it with us as well.

Oh, and pitchers and catchers report in a week!

I think that is about it, folks. So, until I blog again,

έχουν μια καλή ημέρα (Have a good day)

There's four cheeses on here, Mary!

γειά σου όλοι!

It's around 8pm here on Saturday and this past week has been busy and fun.

We visited the Cycladic art museum on Monday for our Crete class. Cycladic refers to several islands in the Aegean that are in a circular pattern. The art in the museum is gorgeous and there is a great exhibit on Eros (the god of love). We each had to do a presentation on a particular Cycladic object and it was really neat to hear about everyone's object.

That night we had a pizza and game night for all the girls. It was super fun and I played a new game. It is called Phase 10 and it is a card game. Each round you have to get a specific phase in order to move on in the game. If you didn't get that phase, then you had to repeat that one until you got it. It takes a long time to determine a winner.

Tuesday was a normal class day and we talked about our upcoming Delphi trip. One of the girls, Mary, will have her 21s birthday while we are there, so we want to celebrate it by going to the oracle.

We talked about The Iliad in class on Wednesday and it was good. We went over the main cast of characters and attempted to write a good summary of the story, which is harder than you think.

On Thursday we had to do some more paperwork, this time for the police. So, we had to go to the police station and while there we saw a guy get arrested. Awesome. We had both classes, but our last one, Byzantine history, was later than normal (5:30-7:30pm), so my suitemates and I went to a cafe for coffee in between classes. We attempted to order in Greek and our server helped us. I ordered a cappuchino and it was delicious.

John, my Byzantine history teacher, is probably the most engaging and fun teacher I have ever had. I truly enjoy his class and I can't wait for him to be our tour guide in Delphi, which will be in about a week.

Friday was the day for the Λαϊκή (street market) and I got a lot of fresh veggies and fruit like tomatoes, kiwi, and lots of clementines. The market is super cheap and the best place to get fruits and veggies. We also went shopping in Syndagma Square before class and I bought a cute dress. We learned several swear words in Greek class and it was probably the highlight of the class. Later that night, we had another game night where we played more Phase 10 and also KIngs. Both are card games.

Today was a good day. I did some Greek homework, made a grilled gouda cheese sandwich, and chatted with the 'rents. This afternoon, seven of us (4 guys, 3 girls) took a hike up to St George church on Mount Lycabettus. The hike was pretty grueling and it reminded me of The Thousand Steps hike. Oof. But, once I got to the top, the hike was worth the pain and time. The view of the city of Athens was absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. I almost didn't want to leave, but it was getting really windy and cold.

That's all I have to report now, but καλό Σαββατοκύριακο! (have a good weekend!)

My life is now a bit incomplete

I received an email from my father yesterday evening urgently explaining that he needed to ichat. I was a bit alarmed, but nothing prepared me for the news I got.

My dearest and most loving beagle, Indiana, passed away on Sunday morning. Doctors believe it was a tumor, which can explain some of his oddities and habits. I truly never thought this day would ever come. We had him for nearly 4 years and I thought I would have more time with him, even though he was pretty old.

Now I know this doesn't really pertain to my trip to Athens, but it's life altering news. I will no longer have that sweet faced beagle greet me when I return home after 4 long months. It's hard for me to bear that right now. And this will probably affect me in some way while I'm here. I know that I will be at times sad and have bouts of melancholy, but I refuse to be a hermit. I will continue my life, but it will be different, and I'm not sure I will like that.

It's hard to imagine my life without this precious beagle who helped me and my family cope with the death of my grandfather. He provided solace and brought smiles to our faces. It was hard to ever be mad at him for long. My senior year of high school would be dramatically different and college life would be even more different.

Sometimes I might have balked at coming home from school to take care of the dog while the parents were away or not taking certain trips, but in the end, I really didn't mind. I loved him and he loved anybody who would take a second out of their lives to dote on him.

Now, this news is so hard on all of us. Being told through ichat while away in a foreign country is obviously not ideal. I'm a huge mess right now and it doesn't help that there are stray dogs all over Athens that constantly remind me of Indiana. Not able to really say goodbye until months later and not being able to comfort my sisters and parents, who probably took this even harder than we did, is super hard. I feel so distant from everyone.

I truly hope that God is watching over this wonderful dog who just loved to chase bunnies, snuggle up to you, and eat prime rib. A chunk of my heart has gone with him to heaven and my life is now a bit incomplete and it will take a long time for that to heal.

I will always remember and love you, Indiana.