I know it has been about a month since I have written in my blog. It’s not
so much that I have been super busy, which I have been, it’s that I have
been lazy. Yes, just lazy. A LOT LOT LOT of things (both good and bad)
have happend to me since I last wrote here.
Lets start from the third week and work our way forward shall we.
The third week of school I went to classes and hung out. That week it
was my roommates 21st birthday so I went out to celebrate with her
that weekend. The first night we went out to a couple of bars, had huka
and stayed out till about 6am. The next night about 15 of us including the
birthday girl decided on going on the Athens Bar Crawl. This event takes
you to three bars in the Monasiraki, Psiri and Plaka area and you end at a
club in Syntagma. We went to a bar in the Manasiraki area first. It had
about 4 levels, each one different. One has chess, another dance music,
one a lounge area. The next bar was in Psiri and it was a live music bar. On
our way to the third bar I got electricuted. That was an interesting
experience. It was raining out and as we crossed the street my legs
spazzed a little bit. I walked a little more and then my legs spazzed again.
I though they were alseep because they had that tingling feeling as if my
legs were alseep, and I had been sitting on them for a while. I shook them
out and then went to go and lean against something. At that moment they
shook again, I reached out for something to hold on to, and lucky me, it
was a metal pole. This caused the charge to be grounded and I fell to the
sidewalk seizuring. As I lay on the ground, my fingers were tingling so I
thew off my rings. Our tour guide ran over to see if I was OK. I told him
that I was electocuted but I was OK. He helped me up and the group
walked to the next bar. There I got a free beer and sat on a bag of ice
becuase I re-broke my tailbone when I feel. The last place we went to
was a club in Syntagma where we danced the night away. Yes, I did stay
out till about 4 after I got electrocuted and re-broke my tailbone.
The next week we had only 1 day of class and then we went off to the
Peloponnese. On the trip we started off going to the Corinth Canal, then
we went to Ismea and Nemea and ended up at Napflio the first capital of
Greece. We went to the temples of Zeus and Posidon and got to walk on
the temple of Posidon. The town of Napflio was very cute and had the
best gelato outside of Italy. That night we went to a taverna and then
went to bed. The next day our group went to Mycene where we were able
to go down inside the bedrock to the underground spring. We then went
to the Argive Herion and ate lunch up there. That night was also stayed
in Napflio and had a nice pizza dinner. I then went to get a new green
nose ring and sleep.
The next day we went to ancient Sparta (where there was nothing there
but an ancient Perian agora and an Roman theatre). Our first stop was
the santuary of Artemis which was fenced off. We were there for hours
walking around in the rain and cold and only had twenty minutes to visit
Mistra right on the hillside. It was absolutly beautiful old city and
monistary. Right after we went to Kalamata (famous for their olives) and
had a delicious dinner at a taverna. I had SWORDFISH!!! It was soooo
amazing. After we went to a cute little bar and then back to bed. The
hotel was a beautiful five start hotel. The next day we went to Messene
on the hillsides. It was absoulutly beautiful and had the sanutuary of
Artemis. There, I gave a lock of my blue hair in offering. We then headed
to Olympia. That morning, there was the robbery of the Olympic museum
at Olympia as we were out that day. When we got there at night, a group
of us walked around the deserted town and went into a small Greek
Orthodox church. There we meet the priest and his wife and son. They
were extremely nice. What I found interesting about the people here in
Greece is that when you tell them you are from America they then ask
where your forefathers are from. They don’t think you are American,
they want to know what your ethnicity is. So, I have to say Ireland and
Sweden. The next day we stayed at Olympia and walked around the
museum and site which was beautiful.
The next week we started our full school schedule. It was also the last
week of Carnival. Carnival lasts for three weeks and it leads up to Greek
Easter which is a couple of days after other Easters. During this time
there are street parties, parties at clubs and bar and people dress up like
it is halloween. When we were at Sparta we saw school children dancing
the Marachrena and dressed up with decorations everywhere. For this
last Carnival weekend a group of us headed to the Dodhekanisos island of
Rhodes off the coast of Turkey.
Rhodes was so beautiful. After we took our hour plane ride we caught a
taxi to Old Town where we were staying in a hostel. When we were
dropped off by the taxi, we were standing in front of an old castle
fortress. We were unsure why we were at an site and he told us this was
Old Town. Our friends who had come a night before greeted us and told
us that we were staying IN THE FORTRESS WITH A MOTE AND
TOWERS because our hostel, tavernas, bars, clubs, shops and houses
were inside the fortress!!!!
Even though it was not tourist season and hardly anything was open and
people were confused why we were there this early in the season, it was
amazing and we had so much fun. The first day we got there we walked
around the Old and New Towns of Rhodes. In one of the squares there
were parrots which we got to hold. We played around in one of the
fortess areas and walked around New Town. We went to the beach which
had small rocks instead of sand and we went to a small aquarium to look
at the sea creatures that would be found around the island. The next day
we took a two hour bus ride to the town of Lindos which has a fantastic
Akropolis and beautiful beaches. When we got there we decided that we
were going to swim no matter how cold it was (and it was freezing) after
about 30 minutes we laied out to get warm (which didn’t work because it
was cold and windy.) By that time it was the afternoon and we were
starving. We walked around the town for about an hour, but NOTHING
WAS OPEN. Finally, I found the cutest couple and asked for their help.
They walked around with us and asked the rest of the locals for any
restaurants open. However, they were all closed so we sat on a dock,
drank some beers, and ate what little snacks from the super market we
could find. After, we caught the bus ride back to Rhodes Town and ate
at a nice taverna there. It was owned by a Greek man who had moved to
America, married an American women, had a child with her and after four
years moved back to Greece and opened a taverna. Now, his son is the
waiter and his wife is the chef. The rest of the night, we decided to go to
the bars and danced the night away for the end of Carnival. The next day
we were so tired so we just walked around New Town, and went to the
archaeological sites. We saw the arcropolis, the Temple of Apollo, the
Temple of Apollo, Sanctuary of Artemis, and the theatre and stadium.
That night we were so tired from walking around all day that we crashed.
The next day was our last and we stayed in a taverna for 5 hours, eating
delicious food and keeping out of the rain. After we hoped on our flight
back to Athens. That lovely four day weekend there was sun everyday
and the weather was mostly warm. However, arriving in Athens it was 5
degrees celcious, rainings, and windy. – So long wonderful weather.
So, it’s Thursday night, having having somewhat of an eventful week. I
didn’t have my pottery conservation class but I did have my marble
carving class. In my marble carving class I am making a mermaid with a
bow and arrow and snakes in her hair (a mermaid/Artemis/Medusa
figure). Tuesday we had a spaghetti dinner with my delicious sauce and I
got the teacher and his assitant to have interviews with me for my
capstone data collection. I also fell on my ass and hurt my tailbone again,
but I’m OK.
So, I am excited to relax and do all of my chores for this weekend.
Sorry for my lateness but, have a wonderful Lent!
-MLe
