Athens and the delicious food of Greece

Let me start off by saying the the Parthenon is freaking epic, and I think everyone should see this amazing structure at some point. Of course, it would have been nice to see the Parthenon sans construction, but apparently they have to periodically restore the structure. Which makes sense, I suppose, since it has been around for well over two thousand years.

The view from the Acropolis was AMAZING. Absolutely amazing. I can not get over how clean everything is here. Even the dirty stuff seems clean. I never would have been able to see that much from that high in the US, because of the pollution.

The food here is fantastic, but of course we already knew it would be. The three of us have decided that olive oil is the "sweat of the gods" and I will never be able to go back to Starbucks without an internal sigh of disappointment, remembering the amazing Greek espresso.

For now, words will have to do. The internet connections have been too slow to upload pictures.

Epidarus

Today we went to Epidarus (note the title), which was pretty cool. We got to see the theater at Epidarus (quite an original name for a theater- I applaud the ancient Greeks). I thought the acoustics were pretty cool, how a person could stand at the very top of the theater and hear everything being said on the ground. Though honestly, nothing compares to the view. I love the mountains (and as I have already said, the colors). It is so beautiful here... Words and even pictures just don't do the country justice.



Having grown up in the skinny culture, I have always loved the classical depiction of women. I doubt there are any women in today's society that aren't affected in some way by the skinny culture, which is ridiculous. The Greek style of art and sculpture, even in its most perfectionistic moments, appreciates the human form for what it is and not what people think it should be. I love that.


Today was also my creeper photographer day. Though I took a TON of pictures, these two are my favorite (all of the others will end up on facebook, I promise). And can I just say how downright odd and nasty it is to have to throw away used toilet paper? Ewwwwwww -shudder-

Corinth and Mycenae (sp?)

Our first full day in Greece, and jet lag was still affecting most of us (despite the delicious coffee with breakfast). We had a bit of a drive from the hotel to the excavation site- which was perfectly fine considering the fact that we went straight by the ocean. I could not get over just how blue the water is... the only other water that I've seen is the disgusting slate-blue that is completely and totally boring to look at. I love the colors here, how the ocean is actually blue and the sky is periwinkle and the hills are green and the stone is white. Things are the colors they're supposed to be.
Our first destination was the ruins of ancient Corinth. It was kind of amazing once the reality of it all set in- to have read about the apostle Paul and realize that he very well might have stood where I was standing. The purpose of the course was to remove the fairy-tale unrealness of the Bible, and I definitely think that the veil has been lifted in a manner of speaking. It's amazing how all of these structures have survived for so long.

In both Corinth and Mycenae (sp?) our tour guide connected a bunch of the ruins and such to Greek myths and religion. The picture above (or to the left... the view shows up different on different computers) shows Apollo's temple and a fountain connected with the story of Jason and Medea. I really loved going to Mycenae (sp?) because of the connection to the Iliad, which I had read earlier this semester in my World Lit class. Once again, actually being there made it all so much more real. On the other hand, the tomb was sort of... tombish (the portrait-oriented photo)

And though all of this was awesome, the best part was the pottery shop. I was totally ready to come to the hotel and go to sleep, but I am really really glad that we went to the shop (and not just because of the gorgeous Greek man!). Basically, the people who work there do replications of famous pottery and statues. I think that would be a really cool job, especially since I can't usually come up with original kick-donkey ideas for artwork.