Photos

I tried uploading photos, but am still working out the kinks... soon to come.

Catching up on the last few days

The lack of posts has only been due to exhaustion. The days have been filling. Wednesday the class took a trip starting bright and early (7:45am) to hit three cities: Marathon, Brauron, and Sounion. Marathon (as the name implies) was the origin of the marathon race, which was run from Marathon to Athens after the Battle of Marathon in which the Greeks surprisingly beat the Persians with fewer numbers and no cavalry. We got to see the tumulus of the Athenian soldiers that died in that battle. Brauron held the Temple of Artemis. This was an awesome place. We discussed the rites and rituals young women would go through in this temple on their way to becoming adult women. Some of the students held a footrace, many of which were held in the temple courtyard. I also got to wash my hands and feet in the sacred spring there (which felt so good and cold compared to the 99 degrees it was outside that day!). At Sounion, we climbed up to the Temple of Poseidon, which apparently has the most beautiful sunset in Greece. My tan on my arms and shoulders has gotten much deeper at this point.
Yesterday, we back tracked to the Kerameikos (that we saw on Tuesday) to the museum. We also went up to the Pnyx, the meeting place of the democratic Athenian assembly. This site had at three major building stages. We had a guest lecturer who led us around the site and showed us the different points of building and talked about the orators we might have heard from during each time period.
Today was a long day. Up at 6:30am to be at a bus (which showed late) to Delphi. A three hour trip both ways, we got a few hours at Delphi and the museum. Delphi was a fun site to explore, though a really steep hill, making it a difficult climb. I touched the navel of the world (the point at which two Eagles of Zeus met, indicating the center of the universe). It is said that if you touch the navel you'll be sure you return to that point again. It's also said to have strong fertility powers. My prof, Nicola Wardle, told us that she was taking a class on a tour once and touched the statue, telling them about this strange power, and 9 months later, she had her first child. On another tour she gave, she was telling that funny story, when she touched it again, and 9 months later her second child was born. Let's just say she didn't touch it on this trip :) . After a day at Delphi, we stopped in a little mountain town called Arahova. It was very quaint. We walked down through the city, stopping at shops, and then made the three hours back to Athens. We didn't get back until about 7:30pm, so it really was a full day.

Day 2 in Athens

I didn't post last night because it got too late. Yesterday morning, my class had lecture followed by a tour of some of Athens all before lunch. We saw one of the statues of Byron and a few little dig sites that have been left undeveloped that were uncovered during the digging of the Athens metros. I didn't take a camera on that trip, but it'll be places that I see quite often in transit, so I'm sure I'll get some eventually. The group had lunch at the school cafeteria, and the some of us headed back to the apartments. I ended up sleeping for about 4 hours.
At 7:45 our class met up and walked to a restaurant at which we all had our "taverna dinner". The dinner was at the expense of the school and there was lots of good wine! I enjoyed myself, meeting some of the other students in the class and getting to socialize a bit. After dinner and at about 11 o'clock, three of the girls and I headed back to our apartment (there are six total in our apartment) and found that a friend of Haley's (one of my flat mates) had been locked in for three hours without food, so the two of us walked a mile and a half across town (all uphill) to get her home and food. The walk back was much more pleasant, being all downhill.
This morning the class met up in front of the Parliament building at Syntagma (the center of the city) and walked down to the ancient city. We got to see the remains of the dipylon gate, which was the main entrance to the ancient city, with its fountain house for water. We also got to see the remains of the sacred gate and sacred way, which led down to the academic road that wemt to Plato's academy. It was lined with burials. We also got to walk the street of the tombs that had replicas of the old monuments that are now in the museum there. I should be uploading a few pictures of this soon.
We then walked to the agora, but did not actually see as much of it as we eventually will. We just got a bit of a lecture in the shade there. Lunch was a nice pasta and salad, and now I'm back to the room for a bit of napping and homework before some evening fun. My roommate Christina's birthday is today and so I think we might go out a bit tonight with some of the flat mates and have dinner or some such.

The Arrival.....

.....which took 48 hours. I flew from RDU to Atlanta Friday night and then Atlanta to London Gatwick overnight, and arrived in London at 7:30 in the morning of Saturday. The flight was good. I sat next to an Indian woman named Alice, who took my window seat, was diabetic, and talked for several hours about arranging her daughter's marriage. It sounds worse than it was though. She made good conversation and was pleased to sit next to someone who understood why she was giving herself injections and who asked the flight attendants to get her wheelchair assistance off of the plane (her legs were swelling).
London was fun. Even though I was tired (I hadn't slept much on the plane), I stowed my luggage and took a 30 minute train into London and walked much of Winchester. I took tour through the Royal Mews, seeing some of the horses and historical carriages. followed by a walk in front of Buckiungham Palace and down to Picadilly Circus. After so much walking I was tired and took the metro and train back to Gatwick. I napped on and off until 8pm and, checking my luggage early, eating dinner and making conversation with a British man named James.
My flight this morning was bright and early, getting me to Athens at around noon. I took a bus into central Athens and then dragged my luggage through the National Gardens to the Athenian Marble Stadium, which is right next to the CYA Academic Center.
My roommate, Christina, and I got a ride to our apartment, and found that the other girls were already here. We got a joint room that's nice and open, with a lovely little balcony and double wide doors so that we can let the breeze in.
At orientation I found that the two other UNC students are in my class (the course is split into two classes) and we all had dinner together.
Tonight I make up for the jet lag!