Greece

I swear, I'm not a complete slacker. I haven't been updating for a few reasons: I was really sick last week so I was barely functioning at all, and then I had all kinds of projects and papers due and then I went to Ireland. Being sick in Rome sucks because theres no easy way to get soup, and I live in a dorm with everyone that I go to school with, so if I look like a hot mess, everyone knows about it. i missed a class last week and everyone in the class vouched that I was really sick and I didn't see more than half of them. Anyway, I'm better now after much vitamin C and lots of sleep and water. My friends here were really good and made me food for two days so I didn't have to go out into the cold. It was really nice. I wasn't feeling 100 percent before I went to Greece, and I didn't really hold back while I was there, so when I got back I got bad.

Anyway, on to more important things. Our Athens trip was really last minute because we'd been searching for cheap airfare all semester and nothing was below 300 euro, which is above our price rage. Then,, finally we saw that some fares went down for Thanksgiving (we noticed the Sunday before, so there were three of us that literally looked at each other and went, "just book it. We'll think about it later") so we ended up paying about two hundred euro with taxes, and it was on a real airline instead of RyanAir. There were supposed to be four of us but one girl had to back out because her sister was coming and had a strange schedule.

We flew Swiss Air, the nicest airline I've ever flown with. Our flight was a little ridiculous because we flew north to Zurich, and then south east to Athens, but it was cheap. I'm getting really good at sleeping on planes, because the last couple I've been on I've passed out about five minutes after take-off.

We stayed in a hotel in Athens because it ended up being cheaper than a hostel and it was great. It was really close to a metro stop and pretty walkable from the acropolis. The guy that traveled with us, Travis, had to take an earlier flight so he got there first, and Kate and I got in around 7, so it was already dark when we started exploring. We just headed towards the acropolis because you could see it in the distance and found this cute little restaurant (there was a guy standing outside, and he said, "You're hungry? I feed you." It was great. The restaurant was obviously for tourists, but it wasn't too over-priced. There was live music, and about half way through our meal, the singer got a bunch of women out in the middle of the restaurant and made us dance (she narrowed in on Kate and I because we were the youngest people there). It was really funny. That was our Thanksgiving dinner.

After dinner, we explored around that area a little. It was right by the Roman forum, so we got to see a few of the ruins. We couldn't get up close, but we took some pictures anyway. It was pretty late by then, so we walked home. One of the great things (I think) about Athens is that there are packs of dogs roaming the streets at all times. They're really relaxed dogs that don't bother you, unless you show them attention or give them food. A lot of them had collars, but were still hanging around the streets. We saw them a lot over the course of our trip.

Friday we did the tour of the acropolis and the theaters, and we climbed this huge hill looking for something called the "Tower of the Winds" (which we found out later we had seen the first night at the Roman forum--felt stupid) and found a mausoleum to a Spanish guy. I hadn't realized it, but seeing the Parthenon was definitely on my life goal list because I felt such a sense of contentment once I'd seen it. I studied Greek mythology and history IN DEPTH in middle school, so I know the significance of all of those buildings and it just kind of hit me that I was doing something that I'd unknowingly dreamed about since sixth grade when Dr Landes filled my head with Greek gods and the freaking Greek alphabet that I can still recite. The whole Greece trip was like that for me--Athens was a place that I needed to go at least once in my life so I could see where these ancient people used to live. I kind of get the same in Rome, except that I'm learning the history as I live here. I didn't have a Roman history background, but I have a Greek one. I want to go back again later and hit all the museums and really learn what everything was about.

The Agora was pretty nice too, where we saw the temple of Hephaestus and a statue of Hadrian (a Roman emperor that is freaking EVERYWHERE I go) and then we had lunch at a nice tourist cafe. I couldn't get enough of the Greek food. I've rarely met something Greek I didn't like. After lunch we climbed the hill of the muses to discover that the tower of the winds was not there, found a flea market (I bought a Greek dress that I will be wearing for New Years) and then it got cold so we went back to the hotel.

That night we had a pretty Greek dinner and then went to another restaurant by the acropolis and drank Ouzo while some Greek people watched soccer. Ouzo is really strange--its licoricey but when you put it over ice it turns cloudy. I didn't really like it, but then again, I really don't like drinking liquor straight. I preferred the Greek beer, which was really good.

Saturday we took a bus from Athens to Delphi, to see the ruins of the ancient oracle there. It took three and a half hours to get there when it was only supposed to take two, but the ride was pretty incredible. It rained for the first two hours, but the last was when we were getting up into the mountains, and the rain started to clear up and I saw the most spectacular views. I kind of got good pictures, but they don't do it justice. At one point there was a full on rainbow in the sky. So pretty.

Delphi is up in the mountains (we passed a couple skiing towns) and by the time we got there we were starving, so we ate at this really good taberna that overlooked the mountains and had homemade everything. Turns out it was kind of a bad idea because when we got the ruins at 300, we saw that they had closed down at 245, because Greece doesn't really operate in the off-season. I was really bummed, but then I realized I could kind of see the ruins from where we were, so we got an idea of what they were like. There was also other stuff to see, like the gymnasium and a temple to Athena. I still really liked Delphi, and would love to go back. The town itself is tiny, and really cute. Lots of stairs though.

Sunday we had just enough time to see Parliament and the ruins of the temple of the Olympian Zeus (massive), and eat lunch before we had to be off to the airport. We also got lured into a restaurant for lunch--there was a man standing outside who was like, "You eat here. It's been here 50 years, and we never change the recipes. I would never lie to you, I hate liars, and I don't work on commission. You know car salesmen? Liars that work on commission. Terrible. You eat here." It was actually really good and not expensive. One of the greatest things about Greece was that everyone was nice and hospitable. Our hotel concierge man kept teaching us Greek words and telling us what buses to take. Everyone was very helpful.

Our flight home is when I noticed my downfall, because I slept through both plane rides so deeply that I woke up feeling like crap both times and when I woke up Monday morning I felt like someone had sucked all the liquid out of my body and deposited it in my head. I think it was worth it though, because I felt fine most of the weekend, and I had two really sick days before I went to Ireland, and now I feel pretty good. I think Guinness really must be good for you, because I don't feel sick anymore.

I'll try to update this thing again tomorrow night, but I have to go to bed. I have errands to do before the end of the week (I have to start packing for home and I'm so not ready for that at all) and send off Steve's birthday/Christmas package. I'm completely done with two of my classes, and have one final tomorrow and one on Thursday. I can't wait to be done with my religions class and never see Father Murray ever again. Even the Catholics in the class hate him because he doesn't teach the tenants of Catholicism right, and he only teaches other religions in the terms of "what's wrong with them" or as he said "Islam is attractive to terrorists because it differs from Christianity for a, b, and c reasons" and "Jews will never have peace because they won't accept Jesus as their savior" I know I live five minutes from the Vatican, but I've never had such exposure to clergy before. I think I wasn't ready for it. Although, every nun I've ever met has been perfectly nice. I don't know, but I am going to a papal audience on Thursday because its directly for University students. I'm going to get my friend's rosary blessed, I think? We'll see. I'll report back. Now I'm off to bed.