Mediterranean Roots

So tonight I ate my last authentic Greek gyro. Our 8 day stint in Athens has come to an end and tomorrow morning at 5:40 am we will be leaving for the airport to catch our flight to Rome. We will be spending about two weeks in Rome, the longest amount of time we spend in one place on the trip. Our time in Rome is divided up though. We're trying to plan a day trip to Venice on Saturday and spending a weekend in Pompeii at the end of our time in Rome. Out time in Pompeii should be fun because we'll be meeting up with Geneseo's study abroad program based in Athens and spending the weekend with them.

As for the last few days, I apologize because I've been so terrible at updating this but our internet connection has been pretty unpredictable. I hear we're supposed to have better connection in Rome but who really knows how truthful that is. But anyway, Athens is such a unique city because on the surface it looks just like New York City, but as you're walking down the street you can glance to the side and see ruins. It's a really cool blend of new and old together. The other night our group decided to do a pub crawl through the city and as we sat at the first bar, I glanced up and saw the Acropolis all lit up at night right above our heads, no more than 100 meters away. Athens definitely has the historical factor that gives it a leg up over other cities I've visited.

We have been on lots of trips during our time here. We visited Corinth the other day and got to see a really cool isthmus. It was man-made and to construct it, they had to dig through a massive rock mass to connect the two bodies of water. The isthmus was no wider than the Erie Canal, but they had to dig at least 50m down and now there are sheer cliffs on either side.

Then we went on to explore the ruins of Palimedes castle that was built much later during Medieval times. Not only was the structure of the castle cool to explore, but the view from the top was amazing. There was a storm coming in at the time over the water, and I know how much some people in my family (coughDADcough) would have loved to watch that happen.

Next we went to the ruins of a Myceanean palace located way up on the top of a mountain. We are getting a ton of what my friend calls "accidental exercise" by walking up to the sites of all these ruins. Even though the weather is hot and the stones lining the path are seemingly unnecessarily slippery, the view from the top is always worth the hike, even if I never seem to learn my lesson and keep wearing flip flops on these hikes.

The next day we went to the ruins of the Oracle at Delphi. The bus ride from Athens to Delphi was about three hours through very mountainous terrain. While I thought it was a challenge to deal with the motion sickness resulting from the turny roads, clearly that was nothing considering the Greeks used to make the trek on foot. I find it ironic that they made such a treacherous journey just to get advice from the oracle, who was typically a young girl under the influence of some pretty hardcore drugs. I guess the times change haha

We also made a trip to the National Archeological Museum in Athens. According to our teacher, it is one of the top five museums in the world. It was so cool to see so many artifacts in one place that before now I've only seen in pictures in Social Studies and History textbooks.

And finally, today we took a walk to the National Guardians, located right behind the old Parliament building. We walked through the park that was a lot like a small Central Park and had a drink at a cafe there. It was a really nice and relaxing way to end a very busy week in Athens.

Well I'm off to go pack up the rest of my things so I won't have to run around in the morning. It's so weird to think that everyone at home won't have even gone to bed as I am getting up to go to the airport, one day ahead. Crazy! Ok that's it for now. Goodnight

We arrived in Athens on Wednesday afternoon and headed to our hotel in the city. We're staying at a really small hotel in the shadow of the Hilton called the Delice. Actually, calling it a hotel probably isn't right because it consists mainly of apartments, and I think people mainly stay here for longer periods of time, probably for business-trip type things. I'm staying in an apartment with 4 other girls. We have a small dining area, a living room, kitchenette, and 2 bedrooms. It's a pretty nice set-up. It's so surreal living in an apartment in the heart of downtown Athens; it's so exciting.

We certainly are making the most of our time here in Athens. While we were so laid back during our stay in Crete, we have been on the go since the moment our plane touched down in Athens. We had our first exam on Thursday morning then it was off to explore the Acropolis. It was so cool seeing things that I've seen for years in textbooks actually being right in front of me. The view from the Acropolis was simply amazing. You could see the entire city of Athens stretching out in every direction. Though I tried my best to take pictures to capture it, they do not do it justice. Rachel, Christina, Morgan, and I all did manage to snap some stones from the ruins, despite the whistle-happy security guards circling the premises.

Thursday night a group of seven of us went out to explore Athens' nightlife. The man at the front desk at the Delice gave us directions to the spot where apparently there was supposed to be a lot clubs and bars. We took two cabs there, but we were never actually ever able to find the place the man described. We walked around for a while, stopping to ask at least 15 people for directions, stopped at a few different places, and had a good time. It's interesting to hear the music that these bars choose to play. Some of the highlights include the Village People, Grease (as in the musical,) and New York, New York. We're planning another attempt for tomorrow night.

Today started off with a bang- a five hour lecture in the hotel. We all cram into one of our living rooms and sit around Professor Savellos while he lectures. When the class finally ended, we went to the National Archeological Museum. Professor Savellos had told us that it is one of the top five museums in the world and it certainly lived up to its reputation. It was filled with amazing artifacts, sculptures, and even gold-leaf crowns worn by the ancient Greeks (Rachel even managed to snap a picture of a gold-leaf crown despite the ridiculous security at the place.) After the museum, we crowded onto the subway to another area in the city. The subway car was so packed I was literally pressed up against the door as we left the stop. Feeling like that was probably not the safest place to be, I worked my way through the crowd and moved more into the center of the subway, ending up next to Professor Savellos. We were going along fine when suddenly I felt the zipper on my Vera being very slowly closed on my shoulder. I grabbed for my bag, and said hey really loudly. As I went to open my purse, I noticed the nicely dressed man next to me start to try to move away through the car. Before I had a chance to look and see what was in my purse, my wallet fell out of the hands of the man next to me. I reached down for it and picked it up. By the time I had it back in my hands, the doors had opened and the man had disappeared into the masses. He had really great timing apparently. Luckily, he had not had a chance to take anything out of my wallet so all's well that end's well. It certainly does remind you though that you have to stay on your toes. As I head out tomorrow to do more sight-seeing with the group, I know I'll be so much more paranoid about my belongings. Oh well, as my dad said, it's all about the life experiences.

Another busy day tomorrow; we have to be ready to go at 7:45 so I need to get some sleep. Goodnight, miss you all!

It was the decision of our group that Santorini is the most beautiful place any of us have ever been. To get there we took a ferry for about two hours out into the Mediterranean. When you arrive, you're just looking up at sheer cliffs, but up along the top, you can see villages just packed together, practically with one building on top of the other. We travelled by bus to three different villages on the island, each equally as beautiful as the other. In Morgan's words, the views just never got old. The island has remained economically prosperous due to their cultivation of grapes; the island is home to 13 wineries. Santorini is the number one supplier of wine to Europe. Rachel bought a small bottle of one of their popular brands, and it was delicious. Also, the island is a big producer of pistachios. For the record I was going to bring some back for my brothers, but Im not sure they would have survived in my suitcase throughout the rest of my travels. I had my first gyro on Santroini and it was soooooo good. Hopefully I'll be able to track down some more when we go to Athens.

The other night, pretty much the entire group ventured out of the resort and went to a bar in Hersonissios, the town at the bottom of the hill. Ironically, it was an Irish bar...go figure. They played American music and we had a great time dancing around. For the girls that lived in suite B1A, I would like you to know that a Grease medley was featured and I thought of you. It's different here because people don't even start going out in Greece until 1am. When your night does not even begin til this late, it makes it difficult to feel energized for class at 9:30, but oh well. It certainly is a different atmosphere going out here when I'm used to the sheltered setting of quiet Geneseo, but I'm thankful that we're traveling in a big group.

Well, I'm heading down to the beach now to enjoy the sunshine. Hope all is well at home. Miss everyone = )

So yesterday was a busy day in Crete for our group. We got up at 7:30 to make it to our bus at 8:30 when we made the trip to the ruins of the Minoan palace in Knossos (about a 40 minute drive from where we're staying.) Seeing the ruins was an amazing experience; it certainly is remarkable what a culture was capable of accomplishing over three thousand years ago. In many ways, it even seems as though they were more advanced than we are now in both thought and practice. Also visting the ruins at the same time were men and women of the Greek army. Rachel and I tried to pronounce some of the names on their tags, but unfortunately we do not know what sounds a sigma, omega, and phi make so we were not really successful.
After that we went to the nearby modern city of Irkalio. We had lunch there, where I tried eating octopus for the first time. It was a real challenge for me, but I did manage to have a bite but only after I cut off the part that had tentacles visible. It was chewy. I don't envision myself eating octopus again any time soon, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. We had quite an interesting waiter at the restaurant who proceeded to get in a fight with a man on the street in the middle of our meal. I turned around to see him knee a man in the chest, which was quite a sight. Apparently the two men had gotten in some dispute over money and the confrontation ensued. Some men at the restaurant ended the fight. It's interesting because I have yet to see a Greek police officer; they seem to have a much smaller presence here than in the US.
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some shopping around Crete then headed back to the resort around 5pm. Rachel and I made our first homemade dinner, pasta with mediterranean sauce and some delicious raspberry beer as well (yes it's exciting that I actually found a beer that I described as good at last haha).
This morning we had our first class for two hours and I'm headed back to class again soon for another hour session before we call it a day. Tomorrow we are headed out on a day trip to Santorini (the place you always see on the postcards from Greece with all the white buildings with blue roofs packed along the coastline) and we're all very excited about that. We are not excited about getting up at 7am to catch the bus but I guess you have to choose your battles. That's all for now!

Hello Everyone-

I'm writing this first post from my villa in Crete = ) All in all, travel went very well. We didn't have any major delays or problems on our trip here. We arrived at the resort around 6pm Crete-time, which is seven hours ahead of the time at home. Though Rachel and I really struggle to understand the mysteries of time zones, we came to the conclusion that we basically missed out on most of the 18th and 19th which is weird to think about.
We are staying at an absolutely beautiful resort. It consists of a collection of gorgeous buildings, with about 6 villas per building. Each building is situated around a centrally located pool. It wasn't really warm enough to take advantage of the pool today, but hopefully soon. For the most part, the resort is pretty quiet. Apparently this time of year the majority of guests are families with young children, but does a complete 180 in the later parts of June when this resort becomes overrun with young people, who, according to our professor engage in some pretty "wild behavior." I'll let you draw your own conclusions about that one haha.
The majority of our group walked around a nearby village to find a place to eat dinner. We ended up eating on the rooftop of a restaurant that overlooked the Mediterranean shoreline. We had a great meal and got to try lot of different Greek entrees. By the time we were done eating, it was already around 10pm here. We are all exhausted so we've spent the remainder of our evenings settling and relaxing. Tomorrow it's up at 7:30 to head to Knossos by 8:30, then later in the day we're heading somewhere else but I can't remember where at the moment. That's all I can think of off the top of my very tired head so on that note, I'm heading to bed. Goodnight <3 Rebecca