so little time, so much to do...

It's been a busy week. Monday was our visit to the National Archeological Museum, it was really cool, except somehow we managed to not see the one really important thing they have there: the Mask of Agamemnon. They have a huge collection of sculpture from the Roman period and a huge collection of painted vases. It was really fun to walk around and take pictures of everything, I got some really good shots. After the museum, Sarah and I walked back with two of the guys from the other group so they could show us this really cheap restaurant they eat at pretty much every day. The walk back from the museum took forever and we ended up taking a really complicated route back to Syntagma so we were exhausted by the time we reached Plaka. The stand ended up being closed, but we got gyros at another restaurant and walked back to the apartment to eat. We ran errands and ended up taking a three hour nap, so when I woke up I still had my entire 8 page paper to write. I actually got most of it finished in about 2 hours and spent the rest of the evening talking to friends online. Tuesday morning I got up early and finished my paper, wrote my one page museum reaction paper, and went to the school to print them off. Laura and I walked over to the Starbucks on Mitropoleous street and I ended up buying several souveneirs for myself and people back home. I'm addicted to their mango citrus tea frappucinos, so I had one of those and an apple fritter which was basically my lunch. We had class at 1, which was really interesting. Even though it is a literature class, we spend most of the time learning about the history of Greece and the development of different aspects of Greek culture. After class we met with Dina and discussed our travel options for the 4th of July weekend. We went over to the travel agency nearby and found a really good deal on a 4 day 3 night trip to Santorini and made plans to come back and book it when we had discussed everything with the other group. Sarah and I decided to go to Plaka and Monastiraki to get some more souveneir shopping done since Laura had found a store with really cheap statues. Unfortunately Laura couldn't remember the name of the store or where it was located so we decided to window shop our way through Plaka to Monastiraki since I wanted to get a vase from the cheap ceramic store we found. We ran into one of the guys from the other group so he walked around with us while we shopped. We basically had no idea where we were going since none of us had tried to get to Monastiraki from Plaka and ended up walking all over that area of the city before we found the street we were looking for. It was really odd because the power had cut off in most of the stores in Monastiraki so it was dark and really hot in most of the stores, but we found the one we were looking for and I got the vase I wanted with Aphrodite on it. We walked back to Plaka through the flea market area and got mixed up trying to find the same gyro stand from Monday. It was closed that time too, so we got slushies from our gelato shop and walked back up to our street where there's a 24 hour deli that they liked to go to. We got these huge sandwiches and ate on the sidewalk-it was really fun-there was a tiny baby pigeon on the ground next to our table and the shop owner started feeding it to lure it away from the traffic. After dinner we walked back to our apartment and Sarah and Laura decided to go to the school to use the computer lab. I took a nap while they were gone and then when everybody got back I made a bowl of spaghetti with our leftover meat sauce and we watched reruns of the Nanny on one of the two english speaking channels. We started watching a really weird movie about the devil starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and then decided to go out because it was just too disturbing to watch. We were on our way out the door when some people from the other group buzzed our door so we ended up going back to their apartment and talking until after midnight. They have a view of the Acropolis from their balcony so we sat around with the doors open and listened to several people take turns playing the guitar that was left behind. For some odd reason I couldn't fall asleep last night so I was really tired when I had to get up this morning, but we had to go make our reservations with the travel agent. After that I went back to the 24/7 place with Laura because she was hungry and sat with her while she ate and then came back to the apartment and got ready for class. Sarah's class got canceled so we went back to the travel agency early and picked up our tickets and payed for everything and then walked up to a bookstore we found on our street. Books here are incredibly expensive so I ended up not buying anything even though I have nothing to read and have actually started sleeping during the day to pass the time. We came back and I took a quick 30 minute nap before class because I could barely keep my eyes open and then walked over to the university for today's lecture on the development of Greek drama. It was interesting, but I was really tired. We got back from class around 3 and found Liz and Maggie getting ready to go to the beach so I got dressed and went with them since they were only going to stay for a few hours. The tram ride this time wasn't bad, we had to stand the whole way there but it wasn't crowded so it was bearable. We got off at the first stop since it seemed to be popular and found that it was better than the other spots we had been to previously. There was actually sand at this beach and lots of space to lay out; they had a bar and restaurant, and space to play football and paddle ball, and showers so overall it was much more enjoyable. We covered our stuff up and went swimming for awhile, it was much nicer walking out on sand and not stumbling over huge slimy rocks-I would go back for that amenity alone. We lay out for about an hour and then went back in again. Maggie and I decided to swim out a little farther than we normally did, which was fun, because there are no huge rolling waves and breakers to slow you down. You can swim pretty easily and float without worrying about waves swallowing you up. We came back in after a while and rinsed all the salt off at the showers before laying out until our bathing suits were dry enough to get dressed and leave. The beach was perfect at that time of day though, because there was a really nice breeze and it wasn't too hot or crowded. We'll probably end up going back more in the afternoons than trying to go in the morning. I almost got run over by the tram on our way back because the guy I bought a coke from wouldn't stop talking to us and I had to run across the tracks-the tram was still about 50 feet away so I had plenty of time to get over. The ride back wasn't that bad, we had to stand about half of the way, but most people got off at Neos Kosmos, so we were able to sit down on the way back to Syntagma. Maggie and Liz quizzed each other on their notes and I listened to my Staind, so the time passed pretty quickly. We ate at Quick Pita for dinner and it was really good. I got a chicken gyro and a giant chocolate milk shake which was my one splurge today. Now I am sitting on my bed trying to talk myself into writing the 5 page museum reaction paper I have to do for our Odyssey class. It's a really easy assignment and it won't take very long at all to complete, I'm just not in the mood to do school work right now. Plus I'm completely exhausted from all the walking we've done this week and from swimming for an hour this afternoon. I will write more tomorrow. ~Rachel

the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

The past few days have been incredibly exhausting. Thursday night, the guys in the other group had a barbeque and invited everyone over. They grilled out on the roof of their building-it was really cool, they have an amazing view of the Acropolis and the weather was perfect. We ended up staying until midnight, even though we all had to be up incredibly early the next morning for our excursion. I ended up getting sick from something, and was nauseous the entire weekend which really put a damper on the trip because it was the only time of my whole stay in Athens that I didn't have to pay for my food. We left at 8 on Friday morning on a charter bus and drove to Delphi where we toured the ruins and visited the museum. It was really amazing to see everything there, the ruins were really cool and the information was interesting. We made the mistake of hiking up the mountainside to see the stadium there-it took forever and was a very strenuous climb, but the stadium was neat, they had carved stone seats around one side and entrances for all the competitors. After touring ancient Delphi, we went to lunch in the modern day town; the food was really good, but I was too sick to really enjoy it. The restaurant we ate at was really cool, it was located near a cliff that overlooked a valley of 1 million olive trees and we spent about half an hour standing on the outcropping because the view was incredible. We got back on the bus and drove for several hours to Olympia where we were spending the night. Our hotel was amazing, it has only been open for a year and it was gorgeous. Sarah and I got a double room so we really enjoyed that, we ate dinner on the patio by the pool and then went to bed early. Saturday morning, we got up early and toured ancient Olympia. That site was really neat because it has so much on it. It took us about 2 hours to see everything and then we went and toured the museum, which was interesting as well. After the museum, we had an hour of free time to walk around the town and do some shopping. I found a really neat ring with the symbol of Greece interlocking around the band and then bought the paperback edition of The DaVinci Code so I would have something to read on the bus. Lunch was really good, and the restaurant was really neat that time as well, the owners also run the hotel we stayed at. After lunch we got back on the bus and spent about 6 hours driving to the coast. Our driver took a wrong turn so we ended up on the scenic mountain road instead of the main highway; I have never been so car sick in my entire life. The view was incredible but in the end not worth the extra time. We stopped for a break in a small mountainside town Lagadia, where we were nearly run off the side of the cliff by a garbage truck that was trying to get past us. It was quite stressful, so it was nice to get off the bus for awhile. I found mom's birthday present and walked around with the others while they shopped. We finally made it to Tolo, where we were spending the night on the sea side but I was too sick to get in the water. We walked on the beach for awhile and then watched BBC for about an hour because the World News was the only thing in English. Sunday morning we got up early again and drove about half an hour to Epidavros, the site of the best preserved open air theatre in Greece. We are going back on the 8th of July to see a performance of Euripides's Bachae, which will be really neat because the theatre was amazing. We toured the ancient ruins of the sanctuary of Asklepios, which was the "most brilliant centre of healing in the ancient world." We drove from Epidavros to Mycenae, which was probably my favorite stop of the trip. We toured the museum and then climbed the acropolis; it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. Mycenae was the stronghold of Agamemnon, and the ruins were incredible, I could have stood on top of that mountain forever. After climbing down, we drove over to the Tomb of Agamemnon, which was basically a big underground room. It had never been buried, which explains why the entire site had been looted. After hearing about the history of the tomb and its creation, we dropped the Geneseo group in town and went to eat lunch at this really gorgeous restaurant on the outskirts of modern day Mycenae. Lunch was delicious-I got a cheese omelet and then we shared a fruit plate for desert. It was the only meal I ate all weekend that didn't make me sick, which is why it was my favorite. We picked everyone back up an hour later and drove another hour or so to the Corinth Canal. I really wanted to explore ancient Corinth, but unfortunately that was not on our agenda. The canal was really neat though, some of the group wants to go back for bungee jumping. After resting for awhile, we got back on the bus and drove back to Athens, which only took about an hour; I slept the entire way and came back to the apartment and got in bed, which is basically where I have been since then. I got up for about 2 hours yesterday to get groceries and then went back to sleep. I slept until 4 this afternoon and just got out of the shower. The group is going to climb Lykavitos hill tonight so I'm hoping that I feel better because the view is supposed to be amazing at sunset. Hopefully I'll have my pictures up on webshots sometime soon, it's going to take forever because I took a ton of them. This weekend we're going to Santorini for four days, which will be really fun: we get to swim in the Caldera. I'll write more later. ~Rachel

ahh

Being sick in a foreign country is not fun. Especially when you actually want to see parts of said foreign country and are too exhausted to explore. I actually got out of bed today relatively early and went to class-we walked through the Greek Folk Music Museum, and by the time we had finished I was so exhausted I slept for about 4 hours. We are going to try to go see War of the Worlds tonight at the rooftop movie theatre, so I am eating now in hopes that I will feel better. We leave for Santorini on Friday morning and I really don't want to be sick on this trip as well. Last night we hiked up Lykavitos Hill, the highest point in Athens. It was probably not the smartest thing I could have done, but I needed to get out of the apartment and get some fresh air, and what better spot for air than sitting atop a 910 foot hill. I'll write more later. ~Rachel

I love crazy Greek men

Santorini was AMAZING!
~Rachel

la la la la la

Going shopping and to the Gyro man, will be back later to update! ~Rachel