The Last Day of Class

Hello everyone. I know I havent written since my groups outbreak of the flu. So here is what happened with that....

After having 20 people in the hospital with IV's to regain their fluids, and a news camera in our face almost the entire time, we went to a hotel in Tripoli for the night. All of the group made it back to the hotel before nightfall, so noone had to be in the hospital overnight. Us 12 healthy people didnt stay too healthy for long however. 4 of the 12 of us got really sick the next day, but my immune system held up just fine. Even today (the 27th, 4 days after the first symptoms) people are not eating real food, or feeling 100 percent.

When we got back to Athens on Thursday, it was a relief to be "home" and out of the germy bus. I guess it was a good thing this happened now though, instead of when we are on our 13 day expedition next class session. Then there really would be no turning back.

Thursday was a lazy, get rested day. Friday was also a free day, so me and my roommate Tina decided to go check out the shopping on Pereias (the ship port) and then went to Monestiraki, the flea market, to get some last minute souviners for Tina's family.

Today, was our last full class day. We started at 8:30 and drove to Marathon, the battle site of the 1st Persian invasion. There also is a museum we visited dedicated to the remains of all the Marathon settlements. In the middle of the battlefield and in the shed of the musuem we saw 2 different kinds of tombs used to bury prehistoric and classical people. The famous huge artificial mounds and a smaller circular set of mounds that have spiral entrances. Its interesting how much you can tell about the time period, customs, and religion of a culture just based on how they bury the dead.

After this we drove to Lavrion, and saw the oldest theatre in Greece. From there we went to a classical silver mine, where a famous slave revolt happened during the peloponnesian war. We spent a ton of time on the bus. After the silver mine, we drove to the peninsula of Souvn, and took a swim break at the local beach. Hiking down to the beach for about 10 minutes, we were greatful, but kind of dreaded the hike back up. By this time it was also 2:30, and even though we brought snacks for the bus, we were starving and ate at a little beach taverna. After catching some sun, we packed up, and hiked back up the hill, but even higher, to the temples of Athena and Poseidon. After a brief last lecture, we took a group photo and reveled in the sights. After being on top of gorgeous mountains for 2 and 1/2 weeks I still cant get over the scenery here. Im glad too, I would never want to take any of this experience for granted. The best part of the way home was getting to drive the coast all the way back to Athens (about 1 and 1/2 hours).

After getting home, we had a "family dinner and movie" evening and just hung out and caught up on some down time after an exhausting day. This is a link to a map showing the route we took today.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=athens,+greece&daddr=Marathon,+Greece+to:lavrio,+greece+to:Sounio,+greece&geocode=%3BFe0_RgIdo5NtASFdFk_ScgVWIA%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=37.91704,23.876375&sspn=0.547107,1.231842&ie=UTF8&ll=37.927951,23.984528&spn=0.547027,1.231842&z=10
Tomorrow I am going to the Island of Agistri. A popular close island to Athens, that locals frequent, is cheap to get to, and full of beaches and little cafe's. Then we are holding a large group dinner for everyone before people either stay, go home, or go to Italy for a different class. Then I should study a little for the final monday morning (just a 500 word essay on a topic we already have. I think Stav feels bad that he and everyone else got sick, so he's taking it easy on us) And then Im off to Santorini.

Hope you are all great! I probably wont have time to write until I get to Santorini.
Wish you could see what Im seeing.

Love ya

Oh no!

First things first...Im ok. Now that's been said, I'm at the hospital in Tripoli with the rest of my class. This morning almost everyone woke up sick, including our professor (again I wasnt sick) and that put us about 2 hours behind schedule. After riding for about an hour, more and more people kept getting sick on the bus, we had to stop 2 times so people could get off and puke. Swine flu has just been declared a pandemic in Greece so we were required to go to the hospital and get checked out. About 12 of us are ok, outside waiting for results. The other 15 people are inside getting iv's and getting blood work done. A greek news crew is sitting here filming this process. We are staying the night in Tripoli, eating bland food and getting some sleep. Only one person has to stay the night and that is mainly because of dehydration.

Ill keep you updated.

Hello from Sparta. This is definitely the low point in our trip to the Peloponnese so far. It’s dirty, kinda smelly and the ruins are not very well maintained. Even worse is the fact that since Spartan civilization did not believe in theatres, stadiums, or any real public buildings, there are only 2 ancient ruins even interesting enough to stop at. But let’s rewind to Sunday, when we left on our 5 day 4 night trip…I get terrible internet in all of the places we stop so I haven’t been able to talk to any of you in a long time.

Sunday we left bright and early (8 am, haha maybe not that early) on our coach bus for Korinth. (Hey Morgan, remember in The Boondock Saints when the cop dresses like a woman and lures that mafia guy into the bathroom and then shoots him? Tony our bus driver is an exact look alike to that guy) Anyway, Corinth, aka the place I went Bungy Jumping at on Saturday, was one of the first power houses of Greece. Its home to the Acrocorinth (please google earth it to see how high we had to climb up this mountain ) which was once an ancient sanctuary to Aphrodite. Anyway, it’s like 600 meters tall and Stavros (my prof) just climbed straight to the top, no hesitation what so ever. After the 15 minutes it took for the rest of us to climb it, we finally saw what made this place so special. You can see almost every important mountain from the Acrocorinth, so it was used in later times as a palace and then again as a military vantage point several times. In the 1940’s Germans took over the Acrocorinth as a huge advantage over the Greek/English soldiers, because you can see for miles and miles and also both the Corinthian Gulf, canal and then to the Aegean Sea. It was worth the climb but all part of my rising suspicion that this program is secretly a fat camp. There honestly hasn’t been a day when we haven’t either walked 10-15 minutes to a destination, or climbed a mountain to get to our lecture site. But more on that later….

After the Acrocorinth we went to the ancient Agora (market/meeting place) of Corinth, and its museum where my prof. Stavros used to be the curator. The special thing about Corinth, is after the burning of the city by the Romans, and then the rebuilding of it a century later, it was one of the first places in Greece where Paul preached the Gospel. After seeing the podium he preached at, we took some time for lunch, and then got back on the bus to drive ½ hour to our hotel in Loutraki. Loutraki was beautiful. Our entire group went to the pebble beach and swam for a couple hours before dinner by the beach.

The next morning, we left Loutraki and went to the Peninsula of Perea, about a half hour away, to the sanctuary of Hera. After seeing how gorgeous the land was around it, we played in the water a bit and then took our bus to Epidauros. Epidauros is the most famous theatre in Greece, mainly for it’s beyond amazing acoustics. From the very top of the theatre, to the very last seat, you can hear a coin drop at the bottom of the stage. It also can hold about 15,000 people. Very cool.

After this we went to where we were staying for the night, Nafplion. After getting lunch, talking a long walk around the castle and then heading to the rock beach, we went had traditional smoked fish, and then went to bed.

This morning we went to 2 Mycenaean ancient palaces. The Mycenaean’s were the legendary civilization that started the Trojan war against Troy. They dated back to the 15th century BC. After seeing the city’s and the huge tomb of the royal family, we drove to Sparta and stopped at the Temple of Artemis. After a brief visit to the run down site, we went to our hotel. So here I am, sitting in Sparta, wishing I could talk to you all. When we get back to Athens on Thursday (the 25th) we have a free day on the 26th, and then a day trip to Marathon on the 27th. On the 28th, a bunch of us are going to the island of Agistri, an island close enough for a small daytrip. Then after the final on the 29th, Im off to Santorini Island for a much needed vacation .

Just kidding, but seriously. I can’t wait to get back to Athens and my Wifi so I can talk to you all and see how you’re doing. Miss you.
Oh! Another Interesting thing I just learned about the 2nd class. We are traveling to Istanbul Turkey in about 2 weeks…Istanbul!!! Im super excited!

Hope all is well at home and I'll talk to you all soon enough.

Love you All

Happy Father's Day!

Hey Dad and Grandpa,

Happy Father's Day! Currently in The Peloponnesus pennisula, in a great town called Loutraki. Wishing you a happy dad's day. Ill update this soon enough with all my great stories of how this program is secretly fat camp. But for now, Ill just leave you with that...

Alive!

I made it! lol I did not die from bungy jumping today...it was so great! This place we went to was featured on an episode of season 9 of the amazing race and is the 15 best bungy spot in the world. It was under a bridge that crossed the corinth cannal about an hour outside of Athens. I was one of only two people that made it all the way down to the water, so far down that my head and shoulders went in! I will be posting a link the video of me jumping soon.

Tomorrow I leave for a 4 night trip to the penninsula that has sparta and olympia on it. after that trip we get back, have a study day and then a day trip to Marathon, and then we take the final and the first class is over with. Then I am off to Santorini Island (booked the tickets yesterday), the island that has the famous white and blue houses and the perfect picture of what many people think all of greece looks like. Im excited! Hope y'all are great. Love you.

Until next time..

Taking a Chance

Feeling great this morning after our authentic Greek dinner, We went back to the National Archeological Museum for our first assignment. Task: to pick an artifact and describe it using what we have learned about sculpture, pottery, and their uses and relevence to history. After that we were free to either look around the museum more or go do as we pleased. Free time like this is great for exploring not only Athens but the surrounding areas. Today, in about 15 minutes actually, I am going to Corinth. What will I do there you maybe asking yourself? BUNGEE JUMPNG! Im super excited! Its always been one of those things on my to do list that I never thought I'd get to...I'll let you know how it goes!

Ps. I really really miss you all.

Beating the Heat

Much to our disappointment, the forcast for Athens last week was incorrect. Instead of being about 80 degrees, its noon and the mercury is pushing 101. After going to our center and having our professor give a very short, sweaty review session, we headed back to get out of the unmoving air..and after making a quick lunch in the apartment, we are heading to catch a bus to the beach asap. We have no plans or set activities for tonight, just hanging out and catching up on some class readings. Tomorrow we are having class at the ancient Agora, or townsquare. And then our group leader Jess is teaching us how to make a traditional greek dinner. And then I can impress all of you by making delicious food.

Delphi

After travelling by bus for 2 hours on Monday, we stopped at Thermopyle- the battle site of the movie 300 and the real place where the spartans along with few other greeks stopped the huge persian army for a whole 3 days. After seeing the extremely mountainous geography of the area it was really easy to see why the spartans picked this place to meet the persians and why they were able to hold them off.

Another hour and a half later, driving through tiny costal towns on the aegean sea and then eventually up huge mountains with steep curvy roads we reached Delphi. Delphi could quite possibly be the most beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life. With streets so small we could barely get our tour bus through, and quaint shops and cafes and looking over the mountains down to the water, I was so greatful we took the time to go. Our hotel was beautiful too, and everyroom had a large balcony overlooking the mountains. We set off to go shopping, find some lunch and get to know the town. We had a night time lecture with a great view and then we all went to various cafe's for appetizers and wine.

The first full day in Delphi we started out early in the morning, going to see the ruins of the ancient town. We first went down the mountain, looking at the ancient gymnasium, temple to athena and and sacred natural spring travelers would use for purifying rituals. Then we climbed. and climbed. and climbed some more up the mountain through the path travellers took in arcaic times to get to the oricle at Delphi to have their prophecies told. We saw the athenian treassury where Athenian's placed their offerings to Apollo, also the Omphalos (the belly button, said to be the rock Kronos swallowed instead of swallowing Zeus), the temple of Apollo, then up to the theatre. Then after a ten minute climb we reached the stadium. This stadium used to hold the most famous delphian races, a kind of olympics. Then we headed over to the museum to see the amazing remains archeologists found in the site. Huge columns and statues made of bronze and marble along with smaller offerings and stone reliefs. After the most tiring and interesting day yet, most of the afternoon was reserved for naps and dinner and reading.

This morning (wednesday) our bus driver decided to be an hour late, and that was the start to a frustrating day. After an hour we stopped at a famous monestary dedicated to St. Loukas, which was built on top of the ruins of the Temple to Demeter, after the christians destroyed most pagean buildings in the 4th century AD to make way for christianity. We only spent about 45 minutes there, but I almost got stung by a bee 2 times (they make their own delicious honey at the monestary) and then the bathrooms there were closed and our bus finally started after 45 minutes of trying to get it to turn over. On the up side, the monestary was gorgeous. So after being an hour and a half behind schedule and not having a bathroom break for about 4 hours while sitting in the extremely hot sun and drinking lots of water to not get sun stroke, we finally stopped at a food stand outside of athens to get lunch and take a break. Then when we got to our apartment we found that our shower, which had broke on friday, was not fixed even though someone was supposedly here to fix it on monday. So we do not have a shower either, so we will have to continue walking at least 4 blocks to take a shower at another girls apartment.

But even with the set backs, it was a great trip to Delphi and is a great time here in Athens. Many of the people are helpful if you try and speak greek to them first instead of going right to english, and also if you sit for a long time and talk to them, and ask them questions about whatever they are doing. So far I havent bought anything for myself, just gifts that I see fit people perfectly. There is a sandal maker here that is famous for his greek style sandals and I am heading to his shop after the designated nap period (from 2-5pm) to take a look. Miss you all and call you sometime soon as I realize I havent even called home yet.

I will try and send links for my pictures out asap when I load them on my computer. I will try and label everything so you know what you are looking at.

Talk to you soon!

The National Treasures of Greece

Thanks for the emails mom and dad. Ill be calling home like wednesday or thursday when we get back from our trip to Delphi. I will try and send you a new link to all my pictures in case you didnt get them...

Yesterday started off with a 20 minute walk to the Acropolis square where we shopped and bought crossants for breakfast while waiting for our professor. When Stavros arrived, we hiked up the Acropolis (Its super high) and had lecture in one of the ancient theatres on the southern slope. After that mini lecture, we went straight to the top and sat on the wall that holds up the hill (super, super high), right next to the Parthanon and had a second mini lecture there. The ruins here are so beautiful, and they are working really hard to clean and presserve them and restore them even to their natural state.

After finishing class and getting some pictures, some girls and I went shopping on Eurmu (er-mu) st. in Syntagma square by the national gardens and the parliment building. Eurmu is the main shopping street with lots of real stores, not touristy stores really and lots of mini cafes. We took the Metro (subway) to Syntagma from Acropoli and it was extremely clean and really nice.
After shopping and eating, Sam (she's actually from Augsberg) and I walked through the National Gardens which were really pretty and then walked by the 2004 Olympic stadium and then back to our apartments. I love Athens, and its really cool knowing my way around a city that doesnt even use the same alphabet as we do (even though its really similar and we are all getting used to it).

Yesterday night we also went to the Temple of Zeus and from there out for traditional greek coffee.

Today we took a trolly to the National Archeological Museum where Stavros met us and lectured for an extremely long time about the importance and difference of the different stages and time periods of sculpture. It was really interesting and I got to see some statues that I had learned about at the U of M which was really cool. Stavros and I had a long conversation after class about the conservative Greek nature when it comes to sculpture, and we talked about a couple of different plays I had also learned about at the U of M. Even though he can get a bit wordy and way to thourough, I really like Stavros and the entire class. Also we do not have any other homework other than to do about 50 pages of reading for the entire class period. We just have to show up and preticipate, take notes and then take a final at the end.

After the Museum some of us went to a district called Monasteraki by train. Its a flea market of sorts located on the old Roman Agora. So there are lots of ruins but even more shops. They have everything from clothes to old pieces of furniture, and there is alot of bartering and street vendors.

Tonight we are taking a walk up Filopappou hill, even higher than the Acropolis (seriously great workout) to watch the sunset.

Tomorrow we are getting on a bus for Delphi and Thermopoli to see the real battle sight of Lionytus and 300 and the Oricle. We will be spending 2 nights in Delphi at a nice hotel.

I am really getting used to the fact that everyone sleeps from 2-5. and then coffee at 8 and dinner at 10 or 11. Its very little work here and alot of time spent lounging around.

Ill tell you all about Delphi when I get back...

Until then....

Beach Day

This morning we decided to get some fresh breakfast, so we walked to the farmers market and got some delicous fresh fruit. They also had fresh fish, olives, artisan rugs, the works. Then we made our way to our first class, which was just orientation and meeting our professor. Then after a quick pita, my roommates and I decided to try the transit system and make our way to the beach. The transit system of Athens is one of the best. They have buses, trollies, trams and Metros. After the hour bus ride to the coast, we reached the beach which was beautiful. It was super crowded and there was loud american music playing and lots and lots of games. They even had inflatable slides and things in the water.

After a long day of sun, and salt water, Im ready to take a really cold shower. Btw Zach if your reading this I saw the largest spider crawl out of our shower drain today...just thought you should know.

Tonight we are going to a Saturday night special at a local bar. With all you can eat gyros fruit cheesepies and wine. Then tomorrow is our first day trip to the acropolis. Monday is going to be our first overnight trip to Delphi, which Im really excited to get out of the city and see the real towns of Greece.

Incase you have forgotten, lubbe025@umn.edu

Talk to you soon

Finally!

Sooo.....after a 2 and 1/2 hr delay getting into New Wark and a 10 hr flight to Athens, I finally made it! I met lots of kids in my program in the airport and they are all pretty cool so we will have a great time. Our program directers met us at the airport and took us by coach bus to our apartments. Each of our apartments are scattered all thoughout a neighborhood in Athens called Pagrati. Pagrati has tons of shops, out door restaurants that spray you with mist instead of air conditioning, and is also home to the Arcadia Center for Education in Athens which is where Im taking my classes at.

So far I have used almost all of the Greek that I know, going to the super market for some fruit, and talking to our friendly neighbor who didnt understand english. My roommates, who do not know greek either, are all really friendly so far.
Later tonight we have a Welcome dinner at the center, and then a bunch of us are going out to explore the scene around town. Then we start at 930 am tomorrow with our first lecture and a trip to the Acropolis.

As for right now, its 3:30, 92 degrees, and Im going to try and get rid of some of this jet lag.

Update ya soon!

Also, thanks for everyone that talked to me when i was doing absolutly nothing at either of the airports. You helped cure my boredom.

Getting Ready to Go!

Hello All! I decided instead of answering every email I get from you guys asking me things like what I'm doing, how is my trip and whatnot, I would just start a blog. I will try to update it at least every other day or so, letting you guys know whats up with beautiful GREECE.

I'm so excited! I found this great site to help me with me Greek..it even sounds it out for you so you can pronounce it correctly. http://www.greece.org/gr-lessons/gr-english/expressions.html

Today is exactly 9 days before I leave and I still have a ton of things to do. My next post will most likely come from some airport that Im waiting in on my way to Athens. Here are some details of my trip that everyone is asking me about.....

Departing June 10th
Arriving Home July 23rd
Taking 2 classes that are 3 weeks each:

Class 1)
GREA HIAN 332S “Of Gods and the City:”
History, Art, and Architecture in Archaic and Classical Greece
Syllubus: http://www.arcadia.edu/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=15366

Class 2)
GREA HIAN 333S: On the Trail of Alexander the Great
Greek History, Art, and Architecture in the Hellenistic Age
Syllubus: http://www.arcadia.edu/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=15348

Anything else you want to know? Leave a comment and I'll get back to ya...

Until then........