A Quick Wrap-Up

Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy! Since it’s been a week or so, I will give you a recap of what’s been going on here in Greece.

Two weekends ago, I went on a school trip to Kastoria, Greece. Kastoria is built around a lake, and is absolutely beautiful! The first day we were there we visited a reconstructed neolithic settlement, where we saw artifacts that were thousands of years old. It was pretty cool. After that we toured an old house in the town that had been turned into a museum. The house was in its glory days during the Ottoman empire, and even had secret spots for the Greeks to hide their children so they wouldn’t be taken by the Turkish army.

Kastoria is known for their amazing furs and leather products. So of course, we all bought some amazing, comfy slippers to take home as souvenirs. It worked out well because I had been meaning to buy some any ways to wear around our dorms.

On Sunday, we went to a Byzantine art museum and a small church in the city. The church that we went to was really quaint, but had beautiful artwork. One of the paintings depicts the holy trinity with God being the outermost, Jesus and then the Holy Spirit. Supposedly this painting is really unique, because it is one of the only pieces of art that actually depicts God as a subject.

Since our trip to Kastoria, I’ve mostly been hanging out and preparing for our spring break trip! Of course I can’t forget to mention that almost all of us study abroad students went out to celebrate St. Patty’s day. Even though the holiday is not big in Greece, we found a bar downtown that had a celebration. Us “Americans” basically took over the whole bar, but we definitely had a blast. (We also had some shiny leprechaun hats to show for it the next day )

But now I am off to study for my Psychology midterm that I have tomorrow… wish me luck! Although with spring break right around the corner, I might need some extra motivation to keep my mind on homework. Hope all is well back in the states!

The restored cavemen dwellings

The lake in Kastoria

One of the formal rooms in the museum/house

Our comfy slippers!

The church we visited in Kastoria

The unique painting of the holy trinity

The inside of the church in Kastoria

A bunch of us out on St. Patrick’s Day

Miss You Much

Well… I’ve been here for about a month and a half now, and I absolutely love living Greece. However, as time goes on there are a few certain comforts from home that I am really beginning to miss.

The list: (drum roll please)

1. Being the constant connector I am, the absolute thing I miss the most is the convenience of  Wireless internet (Actually at this point I’d even settle for working internet. ). Oh the days when I could roam around my house without any cords tying me down!

2. In a very close second comes… my blackberry. Even though I really don’t enjoy texting that much, I really miss having e-mail access at the tip of my fingers, and being able to send the occasional tweet from my phone.

3. Steak. Don’t get me wrong, the food here is incredibly delicious, and I enjoy eating it so very much. However, there is not much variety in Greek food, and you tend to always eat the same thing: Greek salad, Souvlaki, Gyros, etc. Nothing really beats sinking your teeth into a giant pice of meat.

4. One thing that I think a lot of us take for granted in the States is plain old stability and reliability. As many of you are aware, Greece managed to dig its way into one giant financial mess. As a result, almost every other day people in the public sector are on strike for something. Usually it’s the busses or the taxis, but that always leaves you wondering how you’re ever going to get home.

5. My car. This one comes mostly as a result of number four, but it takes a lot planning ahead in order to go anywhere here. Although, I would never even consider driving in this city… yikes! People park in the middle of road, on the sidewalks, and there are always people on scooters zooming by you.

6. Something that might surprise you– Peanut Butter. I must admit that I’m a little surprised at this one too. I was even forewarned to bring my own jar of peanut butter, but I thought it would be relatively easy to live without it. Unfortunately, I think I gave myself a little too much credit. (But Nutella does come in as a close second.)

7. And of course, last, but not least… all of my friends and family back home. I can’t wait to see you all when I get back!  ♥♥♥

Go Aris!

This week I went to a professional basketball game to watch one of the local teams, Aris. I’m the first to admit that I’m not the biggest basketball fan there is, but I had so much fun at this game! The biggest difference between basketball in America and basketball in Greece is easily the atmosphere. The fans were so energetic and boisterous, and there was never a dull moment. There were tons of Greek men jumping around, some shirtless, chanting, singing and playing drums the whole entire game. Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand what they were cheering because it was all in Greek, but I still managed to jump around with the crowd and pretended like I knew the words. I wish I could’ve taken you all with me, but since I couldn’t, I took a very short video to hopefully give you some idea of what it was like. (Please excuse the shakiness and the low-quality video.:-) ) Enjoy!

Laura, David and I at the game

Go Aris!

Aris is the team in gold and black

The crowd

With David and Michelle at the basketball game

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Caves, Castles and Cliffs

Yasas! This weekend I went on a school-organized field trip with about 50 other study abroad students to the towns of Ioannina and Meteora in Greece. We departed early Saturday morning, and reached Ioannina sometime in the early afternoon. The first item on our agenda was Perama cave, which is Greece’s largest cave network. We took a guided tour, where we learned about the formation of the cave, stalagmites and stalactites. After touring the cave, we went on walking tour of the upper city of Ioannina with our art history teacher. During the Byzantine era, the city was fortified by walls to protect it from invasions. The part that is within the walls is known as the castle. We even saw the grave of Ali Pasha, who was a great ruler in Ioannina. When the Turkish ruler of the empire began to feel threatened by his success, he ordered his men to kill Ali Pasha and bring back his head as proof. So, in the grave only his headless body remains. After our tour of the city, we went out to a taverna on the lake for supper, and then sat at a cafe on the water where us girls chatted and sipped on some sangria. yummm…

On Sunday morning we left Ioannina for the monasteries of Meteora. Meteora is an exceptional place because it is a series of sandstone pillars that tower above the ground. Millions of years ago, the are used to be covered by an ocean where the pillars were formed and developed their soft, rounded appearance. In the fourteenth century, a number of Greek Orthodox monks wanted a very isolated and inspiring location to lead their simple lives, so they chose to build their monastic communities on top of the cliffs of Meteora. The originally built 24 monasteries on the top of the pillars, but now only six of the monasteries remain in use.

Our group toured two of the monasteries on the trip. All women are required to wear cover their shoulders and they must wear a skirt while they are in the monasteries. The girls who didn’t have skirts, were given some lovely wrap-around skirts with some very stylish patterns (not.) to wear over their clothes. The churches we saw were beautiful with amazing artwork. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside them. In the apse, which is the entrance of a church, the artwork was surprisingly very violent. It depicted almost every way imaginable that martyrs would be killed. They  had scenes of decapitation, people being boiled, crucified, etc. Inside the church, there were beautiful domes that are always painted with an image of Christ. On the level below that you would see paintings of the Resurrection of Christ, the Assumption of Mary, and other biblical scenes. Finally, on the walls there were numerous paintings of saints and martyrs.

Not only did the monasteries have churches, but they were like small communities. They even had an ossuary for skeletal remains. Since there is little room for cemeteries on the cliffs, the monks are only buried for seven years. After seven years, the human body has fully decomposed and their remains are removed and cleaned with wine. Then, their bones are placed in the ossuary where they are kept neatly in stacked piles. It was kind of creepy to look in and see all of the skulls staring back at you.

Being at the monasteries was such a unique experience. The buildings were built to the edges of the cliffs, and just sat on top of these stone pillars. It’s hard to imagine living in such an isolated place, but being on top of the cliffs and looking out onto the mountains was definitely inspiring.

**Fun Fact: I also learned that Linkin Park’s album, Meteora is actually named after this place. Supposedly, when they toured in Europe they visited the town, and found it so beautiful and amazing that they wanted to make their music just as inspirational. (Whether or not you actually find their music inspirational is debatable.)

Well, I think that’s it for now. I wish I could take you all on these trips with me because there is so much to share and recall, that it’s hard to fit it all in one blog post. For more pictures, take a look at my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjo33/.

Jenna and I in the cave

Part of the upper city in Ioannina

Ali Pasha’s grave

One of the monasteries on the cliffs

The ossuary in the monastery

Classes at ACT

Well my internet is finally back from random long-periods of outages, so hopefully it stays with me for awhile! Right now I am currently in my third week of classes at the American College of Thessaloniki, and to be honest it’s kind of hard to get back into the groove of school again. But on the bright side, I have a really great schedule because I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and my classes are actually really enjoyable.

I am taking a Psychology class about Personality Theories. Right now we are just covering the basics, which is nice for me because I haven’t taken a psychology class since my junior year of high school, but it’s all starting to come back.

Surprisingly my favorite class that I’m taking is Art History of the Early Christian and Byzantine Eras. I never really thought I would be much of an art history person, but it’s really fascinating because we are learning a lot about art in Greece and other surrounding areas. It’s really neat to learn about something in class and be able to see forms of it in my city every day. There is also a lot of history about Greece mixed in so it’s been really beneficial for me.

In addition, I’m also taking two political science classes, Politics of the European Union and Politics of Southeastern Europe. These two classes are my most challenging classes, but are still incredibly interesting. I have a number of international students in these classes from Greece, Russia, the Balkans and many other places. Since I am not European sometimes I don’t have much to contribute to class discussions, but the different dynamics between the other students in fascinating. In my political science classes at home, we studied American politics in relation to our governmental institutions which have been set in stone for hundreds of years. In Europe, especially in the Balkans, not only are their political parties constantly changing, but so is the basic structure of their governments. Instead of my classes being based on established history, it’s recent history or even current events. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around.

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This weekend a bunch of us are doing a school organized trip to Meteora. Meteora is in Central Greece and is known for it’s amazing rock towers, caves and monasteries. Check back in next week for details and pictures from the trip!

Delphi: ancient ruins, prophecies and Pan the flute man

Hello all! I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to update this sooner. It’s challenging when you are traveling since I typically don’t have access to the internet… but here it goes…

This past weekend a group of us study abroad students took a trip to Delphi. Check out Google Maps to give you an idea of where it is. It was about a seven-hour bus ride along the coast and the mountains. The scenery was gorgeous, but I was more than a little nervous about riding in a giant bus on some of the mountain roads. We arrived late on Friday night, and went out to a taverna that was close to our hotel for supper, and then we went to a bar that was also nearby. A lot of Greeks were still celebrating Carnival, which is a combination of our Mardi Gras and Halloween.  They had streamers and confetti, and some were even dressed in costumes as a way to celebrate before they begin fasting for the Easter holiday.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to an amazing view from our hotel balcony of the sun shining over the sea and the mountains. We spent our day visiting a museum and touring the different ancient sites in Delphi. According to Greek mythology, Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the world. Their paths crossed above Delphi, where they impaled each other with their beaks and fell from the sky marking the center of the world. Delphi is also known as the home of the Oracle and the Temple of Apollo, god of the sun. People would travel from all over Greece to seek advice from the Oracle of Delphi because she was able to channel the spirit of Apollo. The Oracle would go into a trance-like state where monks would observe and translate her prophecies. Supposedly, some archeologists believe that her trances were actually induced by gaseous vapors rising from a crack in the ground below the Oracles location. We also visited the sanctuary for Athena, and an ancient stadium where athletes gathered for the Pythian track and field events that took place every four years. The stadium could hold up to 7,000 spectators, and is one of the best preserved in Greece.

On Sunday morning, the boys “dragged” us girls on a four-hour hike up a mountain. While we were all pretty nervous at first, it turns out that we are a lot more rugged than we thought.  Our goal: reach the Corcycian Cave towards the top of the mountain in four hours. The challenges: rain, mud, scrambling and random bulls on our hiking path. The first part of our hike was pretty steep, although our path was pretty laid out for us, which made it a lot easier. We had a nice break for the middle of our hike where we actually just walked along a windy, gravel road for quite a while. After awhile, we began the hardest part up to the cave. It was really steep and muddy so it was hard to find good footing, but FINALLY we made it!  The Corcyian Cave is a sacred place for Greeks, because it was the home of Pan, the flute-playing god who is half man and half goat. The cave was really cool, but unfortunately we couldn’t spend much time up there because we had to get back down the mountain before dark. The climb down took about three hours, and at one point we were moving down so fast that whenever we looked at the mountains they would move and become really blurry. I guess it is kind of similar to watching Guitar Hero for too long. Once we made it down, we all went out to celebrate our incredible achievement, and to put off thinking about bus ride back on Monday.

Overall, Delphi is one of the most beautiful and amazing places that I have ever been. The beauty of the mountainous landscape coupled with the fact that you were standing among ancient ruins from thousands of years of ago, was truly breathtaking. Even climbing up the mountain and looking out onto the sea, the town, the valleys and the smaller villages was very awe-inspiring. If you ever have a chance to visit Greece, I would definitely recommend visiting Delphi.

Thanks again to everyone who has visited my blog! I cannot wait to add new posts, and more frequently, so keep in touch.

Chrissie showing off our cute little hotel room

The view from hotel balcony

Our group by the ancient ruins in Delphi

Elyse, Michelle, Me and Dave by the Oracle

The Oracle

Elyse, Michelle and Me on our hike

The girls still on our hike, you can see the mountains in the background