This past weekend we got the opportunity to visit the beautifully historic cities of Nauplio and Olympia. We started out the journey by stopping at a GIANT theater in Epidaraus on the way to Nauplio. It was engineered in such a way that you could hear a coin drop from anywhere you were sitting in the theater. After our quick pit stop we were on the road again and spent much of Thursday on a bus.
Later we arrived in Nauplio which is not only an adorable city but also the original capital of Greece. I'd say that was my favorite city so far in Greece. It was a coastal town so it had amazing views, ideal for picture taking. There were giant sea-bearing cliffs and cacti growing out of the rock. Dana, Mary and I went on a little adventure around the outside of the city and found some amazing castles at the top of a hill we had been hiking. You could see the entire city from up there and could climb on all the ruins (just like an ancient playground of sorts!).
Beautiful cliff/sea views
After our little adventure I came back for our Thanksgiving dinner with my CSB/SJU family. It wasn't your typical Turkey Day celebration but it was still full of more group bonding and lots of laughter. The Greek cooks at the hotel were given some tips on what to cook for us so they made a reasonable attempt given the circumstances. We had a turkey with something that was to resemble stuffing (beef, rice, and orange peel mixture), along with sliced potatoes, bread, and a cabbage salad. They even attempted a sort of spice cake for dessert. Everything was delicious and we were stuffed. Even if our families couldn't be there with us we all had so much to be thankful for.
Bill carving the turkey for our side of the table
After spending two nights in Nauplio we headed to Olympia for the last night of our Thanksgiving "break" (which sounds deceiving seeing as we had class every single day...). But Olympia was incredible as well. We toured several historic sites (lots and lots of rocks to sum it up). We also saw the Olympic museum filled with with artifacts from some of the first Olympic games, which was definitely a highlight for me as I demonstrated my discus skills from high school track and field! My coach would be so proud I was able to critique this horrible throwing form.
We got a unique opportunity to go olive harvesting the other day at an authentic family olive grove. There were about 16 of us who got a chance to go, we rode behind a pick up truck through the countryside before we reached their beautiful home. We were all welcomed with open arms by the grandmother of our bus driver. She kissed each one of us saying things in Greek we assumed could only be welcoming judging by the giant smile plastered on her face. The family was absolutely precious and 100% Greek, felt like we were walking into a movie.
After the greeting process we were put straight to work. We were each given a hand held rake (AKA olive comb) to retrieve the olives. There were giant tarps under all of the trees which would collect the olives as you would "comb" them out of the trees. One of the workers there gestured at my hair and pretended to brush it with his rake to give me instructions since he spoke no English (which was quite comical).
We spent the entire afternoon combing out the olives, naming the trees, and drinking Raki (which contrary to popular believe is not in fact hydrating). We gathered the olives in giant buckets after picking out all the twigs and leaves. From there they were taken to town to be made into olive oil. We finished the day with lunch which consisted of giant chunks of meet, a block of cheese, and half a tomato, completed with their homemade wine. Overall it was a successful day in the Greek countryside!
This past weekend we went on an overnight trip to Delphi, which is about 2 and a half hours outside of Athens. On the way we stopped at a beautiful Greek Orthodox Monastery and toured the inside of the church. It was pretty similar to the church service we attended for Theology last week so we were already familiar with some of the things inside the church. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there (mostly because of the weather). It was raining and freezing outside so they lit the fireplace and let us warm up for a bit before loading onto the bus again.
Adorable city outside of Delphi
We stopped in a little city outside of Delphi for lunch. We picked a family taverna where I tried the local pasta and something the city's best known for which was their fried cheese. Both were delicious. It turns out that is our professor's favorite restaurant in the whole city so we made an excellent choice (even though we picked it purely because it was the cheapest)!
We arrived at Hotel Acropole where we got a chance to get settled and go over a brief overview of the significance of Delphi. We were all exhausted so we took a solid nap before heading to dinner at another family owned taverna down the road (which was owned by the brother of the hotel owner). After our amazing meal the owner of the restaurant recommended we head to his best friend's bar later to celebrate the 21st birthdays of Missy and Ashley (two of my Rome roomies). So we took his advice and headed to a little family owned bar with a little dance floor to celebrate. We were literally the only people there and they were thankful for our business in the down season.
Family owned Hotel Acropole where we stayed
The next morning we got up bright and early to explore Delphi with Anne (our Art and Lit professor). She took us to look at several works of Greek art in the Delphi Archeological Museum. After that we began our freezing treck into the mountains of Delphi. It started snowing as we made our way up and only got colder as she explained each of the ancient ruins. We weren't exactly prepared (as most of us only brought raincoats to Europe) so we were a bit chilly. It was still an amazing site though (just as long as I didn't look straight down...). I've learned that if I look out into the distance I can handle that, it's just the drops that go right down that freak me out so I was fine. Overall an excellent weekend though despite the cold!
We've done quite a few things over these past few days that I deemed to be blog worthy!
Greek Orthodox Church:
For Theology we were required to visit a Greek Orthodox church service on Sunday morning. It was a completely new experience for all of us. It was a smaller church with elaborate decorations covering every inch of wall space. The women sat on the left and the men sat on the right, and there were very few children. We were warned in advance not to cross our legs because that's deemed disrespectful in the Orthodox church. We stood in the back of the church (so as not to take anyone else's spot) for the entire service which was over an hour and a half long. It was all said in Ancient Greek too so it was all complete gibberish to us. There was so much standing up and sitting down, people making the sign of the cross, kissing icons on the walls, and just utter chaos. It was a stressful experience, but I'm glad we gained a better understanding of the Greek Orthodox faith.
Greek Parliament: We also got the opportunity to visit the Greek Parliament building here in central Athens. This was really interesting because we got to visit amidst the economic and political situations that have been all over the news lately. We got to sit in the chairs where Parliament had just voted the night before about a new government and Prime Minister. We got a chance to see where history is unfolding up close in person. Our seminar class has had several discussions about the crisis and various solutions. Any news site has top stories about Greece or Italy right now, so it's really fascinating to see how relevant all this is to the rest of the world. I'm so lucky to have been able to have lived in both these countries while all this has been going on.
Protests: Dana and I needed to go shopping the other day for new pants (my only pair of jeans ripped so it really wasn't optional...) so we decided to check out a main shopping street about 15 min from our apartment. It's a street without cars (like the Nicolet Mall of Athens) and even includes a few American stores like GAP, Levi, and H & M. As we were starting to head back there was a group of people marching with red and yellow flags. They were walking toward Parliament where there was a woman singing in Greek into a microphone. I have a feeling this was the first of many more demonstrations we'll see here in Athens (but don't worry Mom, I'm being safe!).
We made it! I have been living in Greece for a week now and it has been quite the experience. We were in for quite a few surprises that are going to take some getting use to but I think in time I'll learn to love Greece. I'll break things down so you get a better idea of what I mean.
Apartments:
They are much much smaller than our apartments in Rome were and older too. Ours reminds me of a cabin, but that could just be because of how old everything is. We played Tetris trying to arrange our living room furniture to make everything fit in the tiny space, but it worked out for the most part. The water here gets boiling hot extremely fast and tastes kinda funny. I think the hardest thing is that we can't flush ANY toilet paper, so we had to train ourselves to throw it away instead. I share a room with Dana, which worked out well because we've been roommates all through college so nothing new really.
Panathinaiko Stadium
(5 minute walk from our apartments and directly outside campus)
Classes:
The classes here are great so far. All of the professors seem to be very knowledgeable and helpful as well. We learned we only have one final test and the rest of the classes just have papers, so that will be in improvement to Rome. We've gone to a museum for art already, and we went to a Greek Orthodox church service for Theology.
Professors:
Anne Stewart: We have the same professor for Art History and Literature which is interesting. She has grey, short curly (kinda crazy) hair and is pretty laid back. She makes funny comments all the time without realizing it, but she really knows her stuff.
Lida: She teaches us Greek language and culture a few days a week. She's the best. I'd say she's probably my favorite of the professors here. She was the one who took us on our neighborhood tour and gave us a run down of campus. She's got a difficult task attempting to teach us Greek but I think with her as a teacher it won't be all that bad.
Father Stefanos Alexopalos: He is SUCH an improvement from our previous Theology professor. He is a priest with a big black beard and a calming voice. He really just genuinely wants us to learn about the Greek Orthodox church and cares less about memorizing quotes *cough cough FatherGunther cough*. I'm excited to learn about a new faith for once.
Our Classroom
Language:
The language here is probably the most difficult part of living here. We were told that most people speak English as a primary language and not to worry about anything. This was a lie. Nothing here is in English and it's only occasionally where you will run into an English speaker. We can't read any signs on the street, or in stores, or restaurants. It's frustrating because it's an entirely new alphabet so we can't even attempt to pronounce things because their letters make different sounds. We've been learning a little of the alphabet in our Greek course but not enough for it to be helpful.
I'm sure we'll adjust to all these changes soon enough, but we are all currently experiencing culture shock (and I'll admit I'm a little bit Romesick...) More to come soon but here's our school's promotional video to give you a taste of what I've been up to!
