Today, we went to the Temple of Poseidon for a day trip with my school. It took an hour and a half to get there. On the way, we stopped at some museum that had no relevance to anything and no one knew we were going to. It was an abandoned mine but after that I stopped listening. It was kind of like Batavia's Depot Museum. No one cares. Of course I am joking...
Anyway, the Temple was pretty impressive. It wasn't that imposing, like the Parthenon, but rather the location was ideal. It is on top a high hill overlooking the Mediterranean for miles. The view was absolutely breath-taking. Afterwards, we went down to a beach nearby and swam for awhile. Me and few others discovered a cave almost directly under the Temple and explored for awhile. It was incredible, though there were sea urchins everywhere. I got very nervous because I nearly stepped on one, and those things are very sharp and poisonous. They won't kill, but it will make your foot sting for awhile. Anyway, that was the extent of my day.
However, yesterday I went to the top of the acropolis for the first time for my archaeology class. The Parthenon is huge. And it is so far up, you can see far beyond the city limits and well into the Sea as well. My heart skipped a few beats when I saw it along with the Erecthion and the surrounding view. Unfortunately, they had disassembled the Temple of Nike in order to clean the marble from the acid rain that falls in the city due to massive pollution. Athens is just like Los Angeles in smog levels.
Anyway, my camera is still not fixed so I have no pictures of the Parthenon but my friends took some of the Temple of Poseidon so I will post those. Καλυνιχτα!
Sorry for the lack of posting. Last week was very unimportant and uneventful other than me starting school. I am taking Athens archaeology, Byzantine history, modern Greek history, intermediate Greek, and my last class involves me volunteering somewhere in Athens. I think I am going to volunteer with the Greek NGO, a group that helps immigrants and people seeking asylum in Greece (though I don't know who would want to). It is more political and is better than me volunteering to save the turtles.
Other than that, the big news is my trip to Santorini. Let me start at the beginning of my Odyssey.
We never have school on friday, so we booked a ferry to leave Athens Friday morning. We had booked ourselves as students of Athens and got a discount. However, since we aren't a member of a public school, they decided to take away our discount right as we got on the boat. So, we dealt with a cranky Greek guy as 10 of us tried to pay the difference separately. The ATMs like to give a lot of 50 euro bills, which does us no good. The difference was 8 euros. Needless to say he was very angry with us. One girl had her change thrown at her.
After the 8 hour ferry ride, we arrived in Santorini. The first sight you see when the landing comes down is a wall of rock that goes up seemingly endlessly. The cliffs are higher than skyscrapers, and the cities are built on top of the cliffs all the way to the edge. It is a almost funny sight to see. Oia and Fira are the two cities with white washed buildings with some blue roofs that everyone thinks about in connection with Greece.
Santorini was once a normal island until the volcano blew away most of it, forming it into a crescent shaped island. Many people believe that it is connected to the myth of Atlantis and even one scientist connected the eruption with the biblical plagues in Egypt, since they did happen at the exact same time. It was apparently the strongest eruption of the last few thousand years, more than Pompeii or Mt. Saint Helens. The beaches are black from the lava and ash, and there are hot springs that I swam in. The volcano is still active and reeks of sulfur, but hasn't blown since 1950. I took a tour on top of it as well as to the hot springs which were yellow but very warm.
On the second day however, it began to rain. And a lot. Since Santorini is so high and always sloping, the streets became rivers, and everything began to flood. We were staying on the far side of the island, but got stuck in Fira for hours since the rain caused a massive mudslide, forcing the roads closed. We were wet, cold and angry when we got back to the hostel. The last day was a much more relaxing day spent on the beaches and small towns around the island.
After another 8 hours of a ferry, this time much more rough due to the storm, we arrived back in Athens around midnight. Taxi's are ridiculous here. They will only take people where they want to go as well. For example, we live in Pagrati, but none of the taxis wanted to go there for whatever reason. Or if they were going to be forced over there, it was going to cost 40 euros. They think that since we are American they can rip us off. After an hour we finally found a cab driver willing to take us home and not rob us.
So that was my adventure this weekend. Next weekend I am staying in Athens as well as going to the Temple of Poseidon with the school for a day. I will post more often, I promise!
I will post some pictures once my friends finally upload them, since again I have no camera. It should be fixed this weekend though!
So, I apologize for making this blog so late. It has been hard to transition into this culture, which truly is completely different from anything I know in Chicago. Let me start at the beginning of my journey.
My school organized a group flight coming into Athens that we could take if we choose to. Since it was from JFK in NYC, I decided to take my own flight out of Chicago and meet everyone in London. But I screwed it up and arrived in Athens completely alone with no one to meet me. I tried my luck and jumped into a ταξη taxi. He knew no English and I knew very little Greek. He eventually got so fed up with me, he dropped me off in the middle of the city. So I dragged all my luggage around for many blocks until I arrived at a hotel where luckily they spoke English and I got ahold of the school. Needless to say, my first day was stressful. But luckily there is a McDonalds nearby my apartment that tastes just like home!
It is incredibly hot here. It never rains, or is overcast. The humidity is killer too! I have never sweated so bad or smelled so bad before in my life! I try to take showers, but you have to conserve water here. You stand in a small tub that I don't fit in, wet yourself, then lather with the water off. It's strange and the water smells kind of funny as well. Nothing can go down the toliets except human waste. So all toilet paper must be thrown away which offers many awkward moments with the roommates to say the least! I haven't even begun to figure out the washing machine which looks intimidating! In order to have hot water, you need to turn the water heater on at least 30 minutes before, and then turn it off afterwards. I don't have air conditioning and I am trying to forget about it.
This week consisted of general orientation stuff that I usually don't pay any attention to. We have explored the city a lot though by ourselves. You can see the Parthenon from the roof of my building and we tried to visit it at night, but found out that it was closed. Apparently Greeks like to graffiti, cause it is everywhere, and no one thinks twice about it or cares. It makes the city look pretty crappy though. Greeks also never work. They are always sitting in a restaurant for hours, eating, drinking and talking. Normal dinner takes Greeks about three hours to complete. They are in no rush to do anything. There is also a quiet period from 2 till 5, which is enforced by law. I have had a few Greeks yell at me for being too loud.
This past weekend we went to Kea/Tzia on a group trip. It was a barren island that no one goes to. I'm not even sure why we did. But the beaches were nice, and the motel had air condition and TVs that had American shows from the 80s. Our school threw us a beach party as well. Sorry mom and dad, but I took advantage of the no drinking limit here. In moderation of course! Greeks don't get drunk, they just drink slowly all day. The κρασι (wine) is very good here!
My camera broke and it is going to be probably €80 to fix. So, I will post pictures that I steal from everyone else! Classes started today and I go tomorrow from 9.30am till 8.30pm. I am not pleased at all, but I will be taking archaeology and traveling for my classes as well!
I have to go now, since I haven't taken a bath today and I am completley sweaty and disgusting. Υεια σας!
Note, all those pictures are not mine since I don't have a camera!
So here it is everyone! My blog to keep everyone posted on my doings in Ελλας or Greece. I just got back from Tzia/Kea and I am incredibly tired and exhausted, but I will post here starting tomorrow about my first week. Hope everyone in the States is doing well, though I have heard it has been raining in Chicago a lot. Here, the sun always shines and there is rarely a cloud in the sky, though that is bad for me since I have burned in every place possible. My new camera also broke, but I just realized I can still take pictures with it, so starting tomorrow, I will be taking a lot more. Αντιο!
