Ancient Corinth

I went to Corinth on Friday October 23rd. We left early riding with Jan (my teacher and school director) up to Corinth in her little car. It was a scenic ride up, the road followed the coast and the little houses spattered along the road.

The stopped at the canal, it was beautiful. The water we a pure blue. It was so pretty, so many years the canal had been created by the water that passed through.

When we drove up to the school that Jan's husband Guy worked at, the first thing I saw was the Templ of Apollo. It is located in the far corner of Ancient Corinth.

The I turned to the right and there stood acrocorinth. It was beautiful from below, and is known for its beauty from above. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we were done with the tour of Ancient Corinth and lunch.

This is a picture of Guy. He was an epic tour guide. He is a professor at the Graduate School in Corinth, and was amazing. I cant think of other words to describe him other than a history god! In this picture he is showing us where hinges are in the rock. In the Ancient times the preists and preistesses would climb into this hiding place in the agora. When people came by they would ask the gods questions, the preist would pour wine down a spout if the answer was yes, and water if no.

The whole time he was talking to us, we were behind the ropes that keep the tourists off the anceint site. I was in a state of pure joy. But when he took us to the workshops behind the site, that is when I thought i might have a heart attack! We got to go back into the storerooms and touch all the artifacts that had been found earlier in the summer. We watched a guy fit peices of pottery together. Guy told us that you can learn a lot about the culture from the garbage that they find - like what the ate, how the lived, what the customs were.

He ended by taking us to the cemetary. He told us that you learn more about civilaztion from a cemetary than you do any houses or palaces. You can find out, the age and gender of the person. If they had any ailments, like cancer, arthritis, poor dental hygiene or serious injury.

Going to Corinth and having the ultimate tour with Guy has been by far my favorite part of the entire trip. It makes me want to go to graduate school when I graduate - but I have a long time before I make that decision. : )

Day Trip: Aegina

It was a wet rainy day, but still a great day trip. The port city, the Temple of Apollo and the Temple of Aphaia.

We left Πανγρατι at 6:10am, hoped on the Metro. When we arrived to port, we couldnt find the ticket booth, after about 20 minutes of panic we found it and got out tickets. the Ferry was a peacful trip, we mostly rested.

Port was nice, the city very villagesque. We bought bus tickets and then went to the Temple of Apollo. It was pretty cool, there was no one else there and no gaurds watching us.

Then we got on the bus and rode to Αγ. Μαρινα, but that was one stop past the Temple of Aphaia and so we jouneyed up a hillside - it was not fun. The Temple was worth it though, very well preserved and grand views. When it is clear they say you can see Athens.

Kevin Costner?!

So this morning started like any other morning... I woke up talked to my Mom, Randy and Michael and then finished getting ready for class.

I walked in the rain to the New Acropolis Museum and class began. Then Jan (our teacher) was approached by one of her friends who works for the Museum. She told us that Kevin Costner was at the museum touring with the new Prime Minister...

SO - we stopped class temporarily and went to go get a glimpse of dear Kevin. He was in the archaic part of the museum. We went and he was walking towards and we all acted like totaly paparatzi (sp?!). But you cant have cameras in the museum - stupid tourists ruined that for everyone - so i could get a picture of the still good looking even thought he is old movie star that is now a country singer. But a few of the girls had the guts to ask for his autograph, and they got it. He has a crappy autograph - just a K squiggle and a C squiggle thatend with a downward slope that I guess it supposed to be the 'r'?

He looked this but in a jacket and with a baseball cap on. But the facial hair is the same.

So that was the excitement of the day!

Pirated Pictures

Kaylee hiding from the rain under my scarf.
Morgan and I.


Kaylee and I hiding under my scarf from the rain.

kaylee and I before the concert started.

I know I am repeating myself, but the concert was amazing. And it still sticks in my mind as one of the better concerts I have gone to in my life - it ranks with TSO - and I didnt even know what they were singing about. The music was beautiful...

These pictures are from the Traditional Greek Concert I went to mid September. (I stole them for Morgan King's facebook)

Modern Greek Homework

SO I thought that you all might be interested in my education here. This is a short paragraph that I had to write about my family...

Η Οικογένεια Μου

Η οικογενειά μου εχει πένετε μέλη: την μαμά μου, τον μπαμπά μου και τους δυο αδελφούς μου. Την μαμά μου λένε Jenny και τον μπαμπά μου τον λένε Randy. Τα αδέλφια μου τα λένε Kristi και Elisa. Η Kristi εíναι 18 χπονών και η Elisa εíναι 14 χπονών. Η μαμά μου εíναι δασκάλα και ο μπαμπάς μου εíναι λογιστής. Η μαμά μου και Elisa μιλάν ισπανικά.

My Family

My family has five members: my Mom, my Dad and my two sisters. My mom’s name is Jenny and my Dad’s name is Randy. My Sisters names are Kristi and Elisa. Kristi is 18 years and Elisa is 14 years. My mom is an elementary school teacher and my Dad is an accountant. My Mom and Elisa speak Spanish.

The Pre-Weekend

Thursday and Friday October 8th and 9th. (It is backwards again, sorry. Read from the bottom up.)


Then we went to a chocolate shop - amazing! I will have to send some chocolates home with people when they come visit. Then we went to a Spoon Sweet Shop (the above picture). The spoon sweets are eaten plain, with yogurt or on bread. They were so sweet, I could only have a couple bite - and if you know my sweet tooth you can imagine! So the sweets on the plate are top: Cherries and Strawberries, Middle: Chestnuts, Bottom: (left) grapes and (right) this weird nut.

Then we went to a cute little taverna, and ate baklava and this sweet cake. They were so good! Then off to the Musical Insturment Museum. There are the Bazookies that I talked about in the first picture.

A collections of inticate designs based on royalt from antiquity.

Friday I went on a tour of Athens called "Oddities and Sweets." We went to weird museums in Athens and at sweets at well known sweet shops. This necklace is from the Jewelry Museum in near the Acropolis. It is modern Jewelry made from inspirations of Ancient and Modern Civilization, Biology and Technology. The inspiration for the set of jewelry in the picture above is sperm.

Thursday night Morgan, Kaylee and I order Mio Gusto, ate baklava and talked for a couple of house. I then headed home but when I walked past our favorite cafe I saw a guitarist setting up. So I called them and we headed over. It was the two guys in the picture, the one on the left is playing a guitar and the right an bazooke (spelling?). They had great voices, and I practically fell in love with them!

Woes of a student abroad...

1. Taking a foreign language in a foreign country it a terrible idea. This comes from latin class, which I have much to complain about but to stick to this topic. Myrto my teacher reads the latin with a Greek accent, this is terrible for me for a couple of reasons. First she pronounces everything different (ex: she pronounces the 'v' hard instead of soft - should sounds like a 'w'). Second she learned it differently, so she says the parts of a verb in a different order and in Europe apparently they like to give names to everything. Whereas at home I learned how to translate not the names of everything - they are viewed as important back in the states.
2. Getting sick... I have the beginings of a head cold. They dont have the same medicine here as they do back home. And to get anything you have to go to the pharmacy, it is over the counter but you cant get it anywhere but the pharmacy - even throat thingies. Then there is trying to find "comfort foods" to make you feel better. I luckily have some soup my mom sent me but otherwise I would be at a loss. I was told by my Anc. GR teacher (who is also sick right now) to warm some milk and put honey in it and then a hald hour later to drink some tea.
3. Food in general. Maybe you havent noticed my "items to send list" on the side of the page but I am compliling one because those things are not to be found in GR. The only one that I have found it peanut butter - but it is 4 euros (about $6) for a cup of peanut butter! Then making food - I really wanted homemade chocolate chip cookies, I planned to chop up a candy bar and use that instead of the chips but then I realized they dont have vanilla extract here. So my plan is on hold.
4. The Fuse Box - In a previous post I told you how I have to turn the oven on using the fuse box. But I also have to turn the water heater on. So to take a shower it a planned event. You have to turn the water heater on a hald hour before you want to shower, then turn it off before you get in (to avoid being electrocuted) and hope that there is enough water to get you through the whole shower. I cant wait to go home to my lovely water heater! : )
5. I consider myself more a burbs girl, but a city girl still. But I have learned that I am truely a burbs girl. The noise here at all hours of the day and night has been an experience and something that I am still getting used to! I do live next to a very popular square and there are many good restuarant near me, which adds to the noise but the cars... oh.

(Side note, all those restaurants... there is a bakery on my street corner. It is known for being really good and have really good prices. When i get back in the end of may I will look like a sumo man - GR has not been kind to me...)

More to come - dont worry...

A Weekend in Delphi

Dephi was amazing - even for my second time being there. I forgot how beautiful and magestic the mountain range is. As we drove through it my ipod played "Indescribale" - it was perfect.

On friday we toured the lower site and then climbed Mt. Parnassus. It was a strenuous hike, but worth it. This is the small group that went up with us. It was fun but took 4 hours - I was exhausted when i got back to the hotel.

This is the view a little less than half way up Mt Parnassus. It was so beautiful, I couldnt help but look at the view as I climbed up the rocky path and then through the prickley mountain oak bushes.

This is at the lower grounds in the lower gymnasium. I am leaning one of Apollo's sacred olive trees. the olives were ripe yet...

Driving into Delphi...

Saturday was dissapointing, there had been a rock fall earlier in the week and they museum hadnt cleaned it up yet so we couldnt go see the Temple.

I was a good weekend none the less. I got home on Saturday night and made tomatoe soup and grilled cheese - it was the ending to a good weekend!