Corinth, Mycene and Nauplion

I'm not sure I spelled all those correctly but those were the places we visited today. In Corinth we got to explore the ruins at an American run archeological excavation site, and we got a tour from a friend of the Kaplans who shared a bunch of interesting and old facts about the agora (or since it was roman built, forum.) I learned today that Paul, from the New Testament, had visited Corinth which was pretty nifty. I might just be a strange child but I thought the ancient toilets were pretty cool, how they were all built along one water channel and there were still carved rock indications or toilets from the ancients. In Mycene we walked to the top of another acropolis, that's just the top of the mountain or hills, and then they build the temples and palaces and such on top of the acropolis. There was an old, I believe it was a cistern, that we got to climb down to the bottom of, it was really cold and wet the farther you went and I thought something was going to jump out at us. Then we got to visit the museum where I spent most of my time there reading the, I think they're the mythologies, behind the cities and the castle and the origination of the wall, it was built by a cyclops by the way, that's how they got super huge rocks up a mountain. Lastly we visited Nauplion where we visited a super old castle. The place was huge, and if you fell off the side you could apparently fall to your death as well as into cacti. At the castle I proceeded to find a window and climb into it where I did get a picture. I'm not sure why but I thought the formation of the rocks in the wall was particularly interesting at the castle. I don't think it was everywhere but in some of the walls they had stones and then encompassing the spaces in the stone there were bricks. It made for a neat looking design if I'm not really sure about the constructional usage of such a thing. Also today I learned about different kind of columns, specifically Doric, roman, and more modern Greek columns. Doric columns were built on the original foundation of the temple unlike the newer Greek columns that had a platform on top of the foundations. Doric columns were also wider at the bottom and more narrow at the tops and built all in one piece from lime stone unlike the newer Greek columns who look to be the same size and built in pieces from marble. Also Roman temples had one entrance, and were built from stone and cement. Greek temples were built out of columns creating entrance to the temple from anywhere, also they had several steps leading up to the temple, but it was encircled with steps so again you could enter from any point.

Nutella, Fruit, and Relationships

I've never had nutella before coming to Greece and now I wonder how I've gone without it. We have a panini maker in the dorms so sometimes for breakfast I'll make toast with jelly, cream cheese and nutella. It's pretty awesome. Also bought two kilos of strawberries today which I believe equals out to 4.4 pounds of strawberries. The strawberries here are the best I've ever had. They're so fresh so sweet and red and juicy. I want to turn them into jam so bad, I just want to make jam out of all the fruit here. Fruit and veggies just seem cheaper and of better quality here than they do back home. It'll be one of the things I'll miss when I leave. I've never had a tomato quite as good as I have had here. The food altogether just seems fresher and of better quality here in Greece. And the feta is so fresh, super creamy it just kind of melts in your mouth. I love food. On a different note I can now see relationships begin to form in different shops. Like the cashiers are more willing to stop and talk to us, or help us with something. I left my sunglasses in a restaurant we've now been to twice and the lady walked half way down the street just to return them to me. A guy in the butchers today when we were trying to order pork chops helped us speak to the Greek lady and made sure we got what we wanted. And then there's this lady at this bakery we go to a lot now, she's very sweet and helpful and stops to talk and gives suggestions and things. Plus they have the most amazing tarts I've ever eaten, ever. I love food. Somehow it all comes back to food.

I can't dance.

I might as well have two left feet. We as a class took dance lessons today and I just wasn't getting it. At a few times I seemed to get the steps and keep up with everyone else and at other moments I completely lost it but had to keep moving because we were all stuck in a circle. Maybe it would have been more helpful if the teacher went over it more than twice before rushing us into doing it on our own. It seemed simple enough at first but those were lies. Then you're trapped in a circle tripping over your own feet and hoping you don't get called on as leader or pulled out into the middle. Then you get to trudge sweat drenched to class. It always seems sweat drenched here though, between the stairs, the hills, and the heat I don't think I'll ever have a good hair day here. They also don't have vending machines anywhere in the building where my class, there's one teeny tiny cafe thing that doesn't have snacks and they're closed most of the time anyway. There is also no air conditioning in the classroom and the lights come and go as they please. So there's that.

Classes

Classes started yesterday and already they're not what I expected. Taking a history class in Greece, from a teacher I think is Greek, it seems more like story telling than an actual class. She lectures the whole time but the way she speaks I have no idea what I'm supposed to be writing down or focusing on, or even really what she's saying. It seems everything is a big what if, or it sort of happened like this. Yesterday we went over the syllabus (at least I think we did) and today back in class the teacher asked, 'did I go to fast for anyone yesterday? everyone got it okay we can continue?' And I was all 'whoah, hold up. didn't you go through the entire history timeline yesterday?' I was under the impression we had a month to learn this stuff. I'm so confused, and I don't know if it's the teacher or if this is how all classes in Greece work. I think I'll be sticking to reading the text book though. Might be more helpful, probably understand what's going on better. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who feels this way about my class, tried talking to the others, I think they do but might understand it better than me, or not. I'm really not sure at this point, and it's really only day two.

Parthenon/Parthenoff

Yesterday we took the bus and the metro to downtown Athens where we ventured to the acropolis to see the Parthenon. The climb and stairs were no where near as bad as the trip to Delphi or maybe I'm finally getting used to all the walking, or maybe it was because yesterday I was a Spartan warrior. They had helmets in the flea markets but they were super expensive, I really wanted one (p.s. my birthday is tomorrow hint hint.) ANYWAYS the Parthenon was pretty cool, even with all the construction they're doing on it, even with all the people walking about making it difficult to get a good shot of the site and then people pushing and shoving to get their own pictures. People can be so rude, there was a guy in a wheelchair trying to take a picture of the Erectethon (spelling?) and everyone kept walking right in front of him. I was the only one to stop to let him take a picture, and when he got the chance to get his picture he smiled and me and said thanks. That made me feel good, but all those other people pissed me off that they couldn't take a second to stop and notice someone else trying to get a picture because they were too concerned with their own agendas. Something else I learned yesterday was that the Parthenon was erected in honor of Athena. I didn't know that before yesterday.

Oh my gosh so many stairs!

Visited Delphi today, saw the temple of Apollo and the temple of Athena, a museum, the town and an old church I can't remember the name of. Lots of stairs, lots of sunburn. The thing that frustrated me the most is probably all the stairs. I can take a lot of walking, but what kills me is stairs. My one true enemy: stairs. I trip over them, I slip and slide and fall, and there's so many here. It makes sense because there's a lot of mountains here and it's a modern-ish way of traversing them. I'm more amazed at how people of the ancients managed to get giant things of marble and rock up the mountains to build all these giant temples to the gods. Not even just the ruin part, which would still be astounding in itself but complete buildings. And I get tired just walking up a few hundred steps. I did it though, and it was worth it. It'll be more worth it if I develop rock hard abs by the end of this trip. Opa!

Butcher-ing the language

Adventured to the butcher shop today for hamburger for meatballs. They did not speak English, I don't speak Greek. Luckily I had google translated and researched in the phrase book enough of what I really needed to get my grocery shopping done. I've also memorized how to say 'Do you speak English?' 'me-latte ang-glee-ka?' The butcher said 'oh-hee' -no. I managed to ask for a kilo of ground beef and he ground it in the store right there. There was another lady who I (very brokenly and a lot of hand motions) talked to and asked about mozzarella. Managed to figure out how to ask for it, understood when she said no and pointed out a substitute. I declined, we paid for our beef and left. Accomplishment of the day was getting through that, helping out another friend do the same thing, and traverse through a language barrier for beef. Gold Star!

Rhodes

... was one of the greatest places I have ever been. Not as great as the one time I went to the Bahamas but they're on the same level. I didn't like the beach, it was so rocky to the point that my bare feet were in so much pain I just wanted to fall over and sob like a little kid. I didn't even make it in the water, and I'm telling myself it's because I have this thing about drowning. The hotel was nice I guess. The shower was strange and leaked everywhere, the beds were really low, and it was hotter inside than outside so sometimes I woke up just layered with sweat even with all the windows open and sleeping on top the sheets. Breakfast was really a different experience here that I enjoyed. They have both savory and sweet breakfast items, but the bread is kind of hard and the milk was hot, and they have lunch meats and fresh feta and olives to go with your bowl of cereal and eggs if you want. The pool was nice, but unlike other American hotels I've been in they close the pool and open it back up only at certain times. So you want to go for a night swim it wasn't happening. I found that really strange and kind of annoying because after our first hot day of touring I just wanted to submerge myself in cool water and it wasn't happening in the pool and that led to the terrible beach experience. The sites we visited were awesome but I felt it would have more an effect on me if I was hearing about the history behind the places as we toured. Being there and seeing it, didn't feel as significant to me as I felt it should. The tour of old Rhodes town was really cool, and the bazaar shopping was awesome. They have lots of penis stuff, like wooden penis bottle openers, and key chains, and pornographic playing cards. I was confused as to if it was just a tourist thing or Greek people just really like penis that much. I think it might just be a joke on tourist to make them feel uncomfortable or for laughs. Tried two of the three foods on my list. Still left: Tarama Salata (roe of carp salad), also really wanted to try snails while I was in Rhodes but it didn't happen. Stifado: was a lot of onions and less meat in a real thin, rich tomato broth, after a while it just made my stomach feel empty and kind of sick from the richness of it and I had to order something else. Dolmaldes: I've had in America before, and I don't know if it might have been the restaurant we were at, because the restaurant sucked, they were served warm and I felt they weren't as good as they could be. Another kind of rich dish that after a while the amount of vinegar really hit my stomach and I couldn't eat more. I did also try octopus salad which was very good, had a nice chewy texture to it and a lot of vinegar again. The service here annoys me sometimes, because we'll eat dinner so late and at that point I'm super hungry,(doesn't also help that I'm hypoglycemic and my blood sugar is kind of low at that point) but we'll order and we'll get drinks in no time, but it takes forever to get food, seriously so long, and then if you want anything else or the bill, good luck hunting your waiter down. Seriously, you'd have better lock shooting him off than getting his attention for the bill, which to ask for in Greek is to lo garizmo. There was a lot of sneezing in Rhodes because I'm allergic to pollen so it must have been in the air. I also had a canker sore on the inside of my lip so it made eating a pain. I have found a new love of fruit juice in Rhodes and it has blossomed back in Athens. Peach juice, and a lot of other juices here have become my new life and I might just stay here for the juice. Yah-soo (bye but can also mean hello as well)

Language is hard

Had a safe flight over. My first remembered experience on a plane so everything was new and exciting, and we didn't die! So very successful! We landed in Greece around 9 something am. I can't really remember. But planes are scary and exciting and leaves you in awe because everything is so tiny. My first view of Greece was pretty awesome, reminded me a little of home except for all the words I can't understand. I'm learning some though. Slowly, but I am. We went for a tour of the neighborhood where the dorms are and ate lunch. First real feeling of actually being in another country. I can't read the menu and then feel so stupid for not being able to remember any of the words. :/ It's difficult and I'm finding putting letters together is extremely difficult. I also find myself keep wanting to tell the people thank you in English when it should be (going to spell it phonetically) ef-khah-ree-sto, so I end up not saying anything and feel as if I'm being extremely rude. My one success of the day, crossing traffic. No such as thing as jay walking here. Haven't got hit yet, so there's that.

Still trying to figure this blog thing out while maintaining relevancy.

COUNTDOWN CLOCK WEBSITE

Welcome to Le Blog

This is a blog dedicated to my future trip to Greece. Read on for updates about these fantastic travels to places I've never been and as I try to eat my way through a foreign country while maintaining good grades and not ruin foreign relations.
Goals for this trip include:
Eating lots of Greek food
Keeping up on my homework
Adding a third language in which I can recite the entire alphabet forwards and backwards.

Wish me luck.