Hong Kong

Hello all,

This is my blog. Some of you may have read my travel posts from my excursions around the Mediterranean back in the fall of 2010. The following posts will narrate my adventures into the far East aka China etc.

My aim in this blog is not to cause offense at how I portray the things I see and experience; I will be honest with what I see and how it makes me feel. I want those at home to be able to read my adventures and experience them via my pictures and words. If you have a problem with how I say anything don't try to get into an argument because I will not reply.

Anywho, on to the good stuff!

So I just graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College--great place. The months prior to my impending graduation I was sitting around wondering what the heck I was going to do with my life. I came across an email mentioning the teaching assistant opportunity available in China. I had never ever entertained the idea of visiting China nor have I shown any particular interest in their history or culture. Therefore the spontaneous being that I am decided to apply and 8 months later here I am in Zhuhai, 
Guongdong [province name] for a year.

My family that came to see me off at the airport! <3 you, guys!

So far, the worst part about coming to China was the 15 hour flight over. YUCK. I adjusted pretty quickly from jet lag because of two things. 1). I barely slept the few nights before I left. 2). I have a music playlist that I've fallen asleep to for the past 6 years, so whenever I woke up in the night I just played that playlist and it put me right back to sleep like a baby.

My first night in China was not technically in China. I flew into Hong Kong and spent the night in a hotel there. Hong Kong is considered a separate entity from the rest of PRC (People's Republic of China), and you have to go through customs to enter and exit.

A view of Hong Kong city skyline from Victoria Harbor

That first night was spent reveling in the hotel internet (and the fact that the Great Firewall of China does not extend to HK). Me and the other TA's walked around taking photos and ate dinner. I have never seen more neon lights in my life. Hong Kong wasn't as busy as I expected, though it was a Sunday night. But nothing had prepared me for the amount of skyscrapers everywhere. Many of the buildings were headquarters for such brand names as Samsung, Phillips, Nikon, and Canon--I got super excited to see that one because of my camera.

The next day we hopped on the hour long ferry across the harbor to Zhuhai and began our year-long journey to China, of which the first impressions I will write about in my next installment.

Until then,

-melody

Climbing the Pyramids at Giza Will Get You Thrown into Egyptian Prison.

Sign that says Cairo Airport.

Γεια σας! (That's how you say hi to multiple people in modern Greek) 

So while you were evading winter storms in the warmth of your homes whilst eating turkey and mashed potatoes, I was half the world away picking sand out of my gravy along the banks of the Nile River. Yep, I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Cairo, Egypt. Best. Travel. Experience. Ever.

Travel Buddies.

My plane landed around 10:30 AM on Thanksgiving. This early flight was nice because that meant I had the whole day for experiencing the sand. Don't worry; I wasn't alone. My travel buddies were my friends, Kasey, Cynthia, and Kate. We were staying with a newly married couple, Antoine and Mellissa Mufankh, who had a mutual friend with Kate. Kate had never met them yet they graciously opened their house to us. Antoine is in the US air force and works at the US Embassy in Cairo, which got us lots of perks as I will soon disclose. 

Apartments

Anyways, back to the airport. Egyptian money is pretty cool. The American dollar is worth a lot more than the Egyptian pound, which is very nice in comparison to how it ranks next to the Euro. I don't even want to mention how bad it is next to the British pound. YUCK. So yeah, we hopped into a cab and headed towards the Mufankh residence (we got ripped off, but the fare was still only equal to 5 American dollars per person). Driving in Egypt is pretty crazy. No one pays attention to road lines. Two lane road? Don't you mean six lanes? They squish in wherever they can. The people who cross the roads are even crazier. They walk right into traffic. I was told that most of the accidents involve pedestrians. As my group was getting ready to risk our lives and cross the road one morning and Egyptian man came up to us and said, "You cross street like Egyptian? You close eyes and pray to Allah you don't die." Yep, that pretty much sums it up. So, we made it alive to the Mufankh's. 

Turkey Cake!

They have a really nice apartment. They get to buy groceries from a special military grocery store that has everything. Upon walking into their apartment my eyes immediately spotted a very delicious looking pumpkin pie. Yegads, my nose could smell delicious scents wafting from the kitchen that also suspiciously smelled like a full Thanksgiving dinner. Melissa was cooking a very complete dinner for us, including not only pumpkin pie but also a three layer cake and apple pie (homemade crust!). YUM! They had another friend visiting, Konstanine (Kos for short). 

Since the food wasn't ready yet, Kos

Yeah that's a tray of bread on his head.

and us girls decided to do a little shopping. We hopped in a taxi and headed to the Khan (shopping bizarre). The Khan was not quite as overwhelming as the Grand Bizarre in Istanbul. To the left is a picture of a boy carrying bread on his head in the Khan. I was able to buy a lot of really cool things there, like cartouches (an engraving of your name in Egyptian Heiroglyphs). I saw a lot more Egyptian women out in the open than I did of Turkish women in Turkey. They still were mostly covered head to toe, but had a lot more interaction with the world. It's kind of frustrating being objectified my the Egyptian men because I'm female, especially with my blonde hair. Men over here are not shy about openly staring at you in what they think is an appreciative manner. "Excuse me? I am not a piece of meat. Bug off." Since there were four of us girls with just Kos. The men kept saying to him: "Nice caravan; you have four wives. Means you are very strong like bull." It became the joke of the weekend. haha. If any Egyptian men got too frisky you just have to call them out on it and embarrass them. They don't know how to handle the 'spirit' of us western women. haha. After we returned and ate dinner we all went out to a special embassy bar and chilled while playing pool and darts. So my first day was quite an adventure. Lots of sights, new friends, and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. I would say it was quite a success.

Day Two in Egypt was probably one of the coolest days in my life. We started out by exploring the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. There was really high security at the museum: metal detectors and everything (as the day progressed I learned that metal detectors are normal everywhere in Egypt). They didn't allow cameras in side at all so I didn't get any pictures, which is unfortunate because there was a lot of cool stuff in the museum. Antoine was a really good tour guide around the museum. I really liked the King Tut exhibit. It was really interesting to see all the jewelry, gold, and household items that were buried with him in his tomb. It really is amazing that his tomb was found untouched by robbers. There were three huge boxes that fit inside each other in which his sarcophagus was placed. The boxes were covered in gold (they might even be solid gold) and precious stones.

Nile River

That was the biggest exhibit in the museum, but there were tons of other cool things. Of course there were lots of mummies, including those of all the famous Pharaohs. I even saw mummies of animals: cats, goat, crocodile, other small animals. It was really cool. Up until about two months ago most of the artifacts were in the open so that people could touch them if they wished. I was really bummed that I couldn't touch a mummy. 

The Rosetta Stone was housed in the museum as well. I thought the exhibit of the statues from the Temple of Karnak was quite splendid. I hope I can return to Egypt some day and visit places I didn't get to on this trip like Mt. Sinai, the Necropolis, Thebes, Alexandria, the Temple of Karnak, and many others. To the right is the Nile River. The water is extremely unhealthy and dirty, but from afar it was a beautiful sight. For lunch, we at the traditional street food of Cairo: Kushuri. I was delicious. Kushuri is rice, meat, lentils spaghetti noodles, fried onions, and garlic topped with a type of tomatoe sauce. Mmmm, I'm making my self hungry thinking about it. After my satisfying lunch I had enough energy to dedicate to afternoon to the pyramids at Giza.

Crazy Driver

My mind was absolutely blown away by the Pyramids. There are more than 93 of them in Egypt but three most famous ones are in Giza. The Pyramid of Khufu is the largest one in existence and is the only one of the "7 Wonders of the Ancient World" still in existence. It was the tallest building on earth until the French built the Eiffel tower in 1889. Khufu’s Pyramid is built entirely of limestone, and is considered an architectural masterpiece. It contains around 1,300,000 blocks ranging in weight from 2.5 tons to 15 tons and is built on a square base with sides measuring about 755ft, covering 13 acres.  Its four sides face the four cardinal points precisely and it has an angle of 52 degrees. The original height of the Pyramid was 488ft, but today it is only 455ft high, the 33ft that is missing is due to the theft of the fine quality limestone covering, or casing stones, by the Ottoman Turks in the 15 Century A.D, to build houses and Mosques in Cairo.

Nothing was found inside as it was plundered in antiquity. It cost a lot to go inside, and since there was nothing to see I didn't go in. There were bedouins everywhere trying to scam you into paying ridiculous amounts for a camel ride. What we did at night, which I will write about soon, was a lot cooler than a camel ride. Three of us girls did pay one guy 5 Egyptian pound ($1) to let all of us take an individual picture on a camel. He tried to force us to pay him more money and I thought he was gonna run us down with his camel, but Antoine whipped out his embassy card and then the police came over to check if we were okay. As soon as the police started to saunter over the angry camel owner booked it out of there. 

 

Pyramid of Khafre

The famous Sphinx was also in the same area as the pyramids. I couldn't get any closer for a better picture. The other two pyramids are that of Khafre and a smaller one for his son, Menkaure. It is mind boggling trying to think how such behemoths were constructed. I don't think man will never know the answer to that question. After the pyramids we went back to the apartment then out to eat at a really delicious Lebanese restaurant. There was so much food; I don't know the names of most of it, but my main entree was chicken with some sort of spicy sauce. 

Now, onto describing my favorite part of the whole weekend. Antoine lined it up for really cheap and I am so thankful that we stayed with them. Around ten at night we took taxi's towards the pyramids. Then I rode on a horse (I like to say it was Arabian) through the desert, at night, nearby the pyramids to where some Bedouins were camped. We then drank tea with them and chilled for awhile. On the way back, it was midnight and I galloped my horse through the desert ahead of everyone while singing 'Arabian Nights' at the top of my lungs. I have never galloped before and it was amazing. I want to ride horses more often. I was quite proud of myself for not falling off the horse. It was so exhilarating to actually smell clean air in the desert, to have the wind at my face, the stars in the night sky, and just me and the horse galloping through the desert together. Sadly it was over all to fast.

The final day of Egypt came at last, but it was a good final day. Our first stop of the day was the Cairo citadel, where we saw the beautiful Mohammed Ali Mosque. There was a lot of sand in the air so I couldn't see much of the city from up on high. We then went to Koptic Cairo (Old Cairo) which is where the Christian community mainly resided. There was a lot of security to get in because on Thursday a bunch of workers building a church were murdered. So no cameras were allowed inside. There wasn't that much to see just some shops and the church of St. George (he's the one that killed the dragon). After lunch at this delicious restaurant that fed us so much food [most delicious rice I've ever had!] we headed to Saqqara. Saqqara, [Arabic: سقارة ] is a vast, ancient burial ground that served as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. This is where the famous step pyramid of Djoser is located. You could call the step pyramids the failed first attempts at real pyramids. 

On the left is a picture of me with some con men who forced their head dress on me for a picture and then tried to charge me for it afterwards. Kos got me out of there fast. Five minutes later I looked over and they had suckered a couple girls into paying them money. I got the picture for free. :) 

Kos & I are Cacti.

After the step pyramids we drove to Memphis and looked at a small but interesting museum there. By far the coolest thing in it was the huge limestone stature of Ramses II. 

There wasn't much security and they didn't seem to care too much if you touched stuff so I got a sweet picture of me sitting on the lap of some statue of a Pharaoh. We finished the day off by eating in a really fancy Italian restaurant. Thanksgiving in Egypt was my last weekend of traveling and it was definitely my favorite experience of any place I have visited so far. I highly recommend visiting there if you are ever in the area.

An Athenian November & an Excursion to Thessaloniki

Uni-Bomber Van in front of my building.

Front of my apartment building.

So the month of November is come and gone. I can hardly believe I only have 3 weeks left before I return to the states. For the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about my experiences here in Greece. I had a lot of expectations for Greece before I left. Some of them fell short, some came true, some went far beyond, and others make me chuckle when I think about them. On my plane ride to Athens from London, the very nice Greek lady sitting next to me asked me if I thought I would fall in love while abroad. I told her I wasn't sure and that I guess I'd find out. My brothers joked that maybe I'd elope while over here and never come back. Well, I can definitely say that I am not in love with a Greek boy. However, I have been proposed to twice while over here. Haha. So I am now a pro at rejecting proposals.

My Apartment Building

After studying in Greece for 3 months I have come to appreciate the Classics (my major: Ancient Greece stuff) a lot more than I would if I had not come. As cliche as this sounds, I realize how much bigger the world is and how much I do not know. I love knowledge and learning, and that is one of the biggest things I've learned. Though, whenever I'm knee-deep in two hours of Greek translation, I regret my choice in major. :) haha.


As I have mentioned before, it's the 2500 year anniversary of the battle of the marathon. So, the Athens Classic Marathon was extra special this year. I had the really cool opportunity to volunteer for the Marathon as a part of the Green Team. My job was to collect the bottles and trash that runners discard to the sides of street so that they could be recycled, otherwise the city just throws them away. I was at the 35 kilometer station, which was the last big station before the end. There were tables set up with water bottles, Coca Cola, energy bars, and powerade. I switched off between cleaning up all the garbage runners chucked to the side and handing out snacks. It was really moving to see people running. I got goosebumps when a man ran by wearing the Greek flag like a cape flapping behind him: all the spectators shouted and cheered loudly. Some people dressed up in Ancient Athenian costumes of togas and plastic armor. There were some pretty ridiculous outfits. All in all it was a very rewarding afternoon.

I burnt my toast.

The food here in Greece is delicious, but I miss home-cooked meals. My school provides me with Greek cuisine everyday at lunch but I cook my own dinner and breakfast. I eat a lot of pasta and eggs.

Outside of Dominoes Pizza.

One of the things you have to get used to when living in Greece are the constant strikes from various departments around the city. The metro stations, buses, and trams frequently go on strike at the most annoying times. For the past two weeks the garbage workers have been on strike. Athens turned into a city of mile-high garbage piles. Garbage bins like the picture on the right were located around the city every block. Luckily they finally went back to work today before it rained tomorrow so I don't have to swim through the garbage.

The first half of my November has been spent doing research for my 20 minute presentation and 12 page paper for my Athenian Democracy class. My presentation was on ostracism and its effectiveness as a political safety valve and my paper was on The twisted gratitude of Athens in regards to the accomplishments of the generals during the Peloponnesian War. They were very interesting topics to research.

Cave

The second half of November was a little bit more exciting. Thanksgiving was spent in Cairo, Egypt [I will write about Egypt in another post] and the weekend before I traveled to Thessaloniki.

Bust of Alexander

I went to Thessaloniki as a part of a special faculty-led trip the school offered separate from the required field trips. It is quite the excursion to get to Thessaloniki: about an 8 hour bus ride. The trip was the whole weekend, starting on Friday. The first day we arrived so late that there wasn't much that we did. Me and some friends explored the nearby area to our hotel and went shopping. Thessaloniki is a huge city, though not as big as Athens. It has a different feel to it then Athens. Not so much hustle and bustle, less cats, and not as dirty. I liked it. I would rather live there than Athens. On Saturday we went to Pellas, which used to be the capital of the ancient empire of Macedon (think, Alexander the Great).We also went to Lefkadia and Mieza, where I saw some sweet tombs and also the school where Aristotle tutored Alexander for a few years. The school was pretty cool because there were a bunch of sweet caves. Sunday we headed home and stopped in Vergina and Thermopylae on the way home. Vergina is the home of Alexander the Great and his father Phillip's tombs. They are underground and there was a museum built within the hilly complex that housed many of the artifacts found within. The ivory and gold remnants of Achilles shield were there, but unfortunately they didn't allow photographs. It was dark when we finally reached Thermopylae, but I stood on the hill where the last 30 Spartans breathed their last breaths. After a brief moment of silence we checked out the memorial monuments and headed home.

 There are a lot of stray dogs in Greece. They're everywhere. One of my professors told me that before the 2004 olympics in Athens that the city was concerned with how the city looked having all these stray dogs everywhere. Their brilliant plan? They left poison out for all the dogs to eat, get sick, and die. However, a few things went wrong. First, some non-stray dogs ate the poison too-oops. Also, they didn't think about the clean up afterwards and how long it would take for all the dogs to eventually eat the poison and die. Imagine instead of the city of Athens filled with both dead and rotting dogs as well as dying ones rolling around in pain, howling. Makes one think back to ancient times when Thucydides wrote about the great plague of the Peloponnesian war that overwhelmed Athens: the city was filled with citizens rolling around in their anguish, howling in pain, and wishing for death.
Well on that cheery note, tune in next time for more musings of melody.

I am not a Spice Girl nor am I one of Charlie's Angels.

During the last week of October, my school had a week long fall break. This lengthy break gave me the chance to do traveling that required longer than a weekend. With only one day of rest after my long trip in the Peloponnese, I headed off to Istanbul, Turkey with a few friends, Eliza, Casey, and Allison.

Galata Tower

We left Monday night the 25th and returned Friday morning the 29th. I flew on Olympic Air, which is a really nice airline, but I prefer Aegean Air; it's a little nicer. I was originally planning on touring Italy over fall break, but I am glad my room mates talked me into Istanbul. Otherwise, I would probably never go there in the future. Our hostel was not to bad; it was located right next to Galata tower, which was a 20 minute walk or short tram ride from all the main tourist attractions. Since we arrived so late in the day, we only explored the street where our hostel was located. A few words I would use to express my first impressions of Turkey from that short walk are: vibrant, loud, and beautiful.

Obelisk

I did not sleep very well my first night; first, because I was so excited to be in such a strange new place, and second, because the hostel was very active and there were people going in and out the dorm-style room I was sleeping in at all hours of the night and not very quietly either. Also, during that first night I was woken up by what I later learned was the Muslim call to prayer, the Adhan; at the time I was very confused as to why some one was singing so loudly outside my window. The prayer is very beautiful to listen to during the day when you're not trying to sleep. :)

The weather in Istanbul all week was a lot colder and rainier than I was expecting. Still, I persevered through the elements and saw all the main sights there were to see. The first day was quite jam packed. My adventure buddies and I went to the ancient Hippodrome, where we saw the Serpent Column and the Obelisk of Theodosius. Then we trekked on over to the Blue Mosque.

Inside Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

        The Blue Mosque was absolutely beautiful inside. We had to take our shoes off to go inside since it was a sacred area. The inside was all lit up with candles. It was very aptly named the Blue Mosque because the inside was decorated in thousands of blue tiles arranged in classic Islamic styles. I had never been inside a mosque before this and my pictures do not do it justice. I really like how unique the architecture on the outside of their buildings looks as well.

Apple Tea

Sadly I was not very adventurous when it came to food on this trip. I did try some turkish casserole that was rather tasty; I ate a lot of Turkish pizza which is normal pizza only on Turkish pita bread. I did however drink lots of Turkey's signature tourist drink: apple tea. I am not a tea person but that stuff was absolutely delicious. I bought a lot to bring back home. YUM!

After lunch we headed over to the famous Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia is greek for Holy Wisdom and [a comparison my room mate told me] is the Greek Orthodox version of St. Peter's basilica in Rome. It was very beautiful. It no longer functions as a church but instead serves as a museum. There were many beautiful mosaic inside; I was astounded by how much gold adorned everything; even some of the mosaics had gold pieces.

Grand Bazaar

To conclude my first full day in Istanbul, I spent a good amount of time in the Grand Bazaar, which was a crazy experience. Turkish men are much more forward in their words than most European men I have met so far well at least to a group of only girls who were obviously American. Some of the things that come out of their mouths were just plain silly and hilarious. We kept getting called Spice Girls; they'd say, "Hey Spice Girls! I'm Spice Boy come over here and talk to me." Or, "Angels! You are angels! I'm Charlie! Charlie's Angels! Yes?" Umm no I think not. One guy went up to my room mate and asked her very politely and solemnly if she wanted a boyfriend. Free he insisted. Hahahaha, that one sent me into convulsions. One of my favorite lines by the shop keepers was, "Excuse me, how may I help you spend all your money." When asked where we were from we just started making up random places, because if we said America they'd be like, "ooh you're rich, come spend your money." No I am not rich; I am a poor student who is thousands of dollars in debt for my education. I did like the Bazaar even with how overwhelming it could be. The men were even more overwhelming when I got separated from my group for a little while. They'd probably sell a little more if they harassed their customers less. However, I did make some purchases I am very happy about.


Wednesday morning we started out at the Spice Bazaar. The spice bazaar was just like the Grand Bazaar only with spices, tea, and coffee and less harassment. I bought a lot of really yummy spices as well as tons of apple tea. The guy who helped us get all our spices was a really nice and helpful energetic little guy. Those are the un-ground spices hanging up above me and him.

Restaurant boat on Bosphorus.

I had to climb through the fence to cross the street.

Next, we hopped on a ferry boat and took an hour and a half tour along the Bosphorus. The Bosphorus is the Istanbul Strait, a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation. While on the tour, I met this cute old grandpa-like french man and his wife who was all excited that we had the same camera. He didn't speak a lick of English but I understood his hand signals enough to know he wanted to take a picture of me and my friends for me. It was adorable because he got into photographer mode and was getting on his knees and taking the pictures from all different angles. The tour was cool but it decided to rain cats and dogs as soon as we got off, drenching us to the bone.

Not skull of John the Baptist.

That afternoon we took part in an age-old tradition of Turkey-A Turkish Bath. In a Turkish bath, after you have cleansed yourself you lay on a hot play for 30 minutes to work up a good sweat. Then a lady came in and scrubbed more dead skin than you could believe off of me. She then proceeded to give me a foam bath and a massage. It was definitely a different experience.

Alexander Sarcophagus

Cool sculpture on side of the sarcophagus.

Our last day in Turkey had the worst weather yet; it was the coldest and did not stop raining. A good portion of the day was spent perusing through the massive palace complex. There were so many different parts that I think I would have gotten lost even if I lived there. It costs extra to go into the harem, but I definitely recommend paying the extra cash because it was one of the coolest parts of the palace. My personal favorite part of the palace was the treasury. Unfortunately I was not aloud to take pictures. All the Ottoman jewelry was on display. There was a huge 92 carat diamond, and an even bigger ruby and emerald. They were jewels that were attached to the turbans of the sultan. There were many beautiful pieces of weaponry and armor that were completely encrusted with precious jewels and inlaid gold. One room held sacred objects. Housed in that room was the wooden [wooden mind you and it wasn't petrified either] staff of Moses. Yes the wooden staff of the great man who led the Hebrew nation out of Egypt. the staff that was used in numerous miracles, including during the Nile river into blood. Oh they also had the sword of King David, I believe the one he chopped Goliath's head off with. Also they had a fully intact skull and arm bone of John the Baptist. It was pretty intense. And don't forget the numerous glass vials holding bits and pieces of the beard of Mohammed. Now the beard being legit, I maybe believe, but I'm a little more skeptical about all the other so called holy artifacts. It was still a really awesome display whether any of it was real or not. My final bit of excitement in Turkey was the national museum. There were a lot of cool things in there but by far the coolest was the Alexander Sarcophagus. It isn't really the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great, but is rather associated with him and his army. And so ends my week in Istanbul.

My Peloponnesian Excursion

To anyone out there who is searching for a study abroad program, I highly suggest you pick a program that includes class field trips in the surrounding areas of the city where the actual program is located. My study abroad school has offered so many trips enabling me to see so many historical sights that I would not otherwise had a chance to see let alone had interesting lectures on them included.

This past week I traveled throughout the Peloponnese with CYA; the trip was very rewarding yet was tiring since we were in a different hotel each night. My bus [Bus D aka bus awesome] headed to Delphi our first day. We stopped in the mountain village of Arachova on the way. There I had my first taste of rural Greek life. The village was so quiet and picturesque. Athens is nice and filled with ancient monuments, but if I were ever to move to Greece it would have to be to a small town like Arachova. Having grown up in the small suburbian town of Jordan I know small towns are where it's at.

Temple of Apoll

The belly button of the world is an outie.

Next stop was Delphi and then we spent the night in the village town five minutes away. Ancient Delphi was beautiful. There are many treasuries that were built by various countries to show off their wealth and power. Delphi was considered the center of the Ancient Greek world and was often called the ομφαλός [omphalos or navel/belly button] of the world. The museum there was pretty cool also. There were a bunch of cute kitties outside of it.

I was wearing the wrong shoes.

The next day we headed to the origin of the olympics --> Olympia. I had the opportunity to sprint on the actual ground that ancient athletes long ago ran their races on. Every ancient site has guards everywhere to make sure the visitors do not misbehave. I often got yelled at and was almost chases down because I kept climbing on wall and things I shouldn't [I needed to get the best angles for the pictures I was taking].

Got whistled at for climbing on a pillar to take this picture.

The temple of Zeus was quite impressive [see left]; it was built with massive column drums which all toppled over to one side. There were two museums in Olympia concerning athletics. They contained a lot of cool stuff-for example the supposed helmet of Miltiades [from the battle of Marathon].

 I thought this statue was kind of creepy with its ivory and jewel encrusted eyes.  There are many cool flowers in Greece. Here is an unknown specimen I found in the sanctuary of Olympia.

On day three we journeyed to the Palace of Nestor, Methone, and explored Pylos, where we spent the night. Methone was really cool there was this huge Venetian fortification that we spent a good hour exploring. My favorite part of this day was seeing Ancient Pylos and the island of Sphacteria. I am translating the section of Thucydides' Peloponnesian war that describes the battle between the Athenians and Spartans. Seeing the island and bay really made all those hours spent translating the past few months worth it and made the text come alive for me.

Fig

Figs are the weirdest looking fruit [?]. They're like small, flat, and dis-coloured pumpkins. They did not taste so good either; I definitely prefer them inside fig newton.

I hate to break to you kids, but Sparta is BORING. There is nothing there except for this statue. And a museum of the Olive. Yeah, a whole museum dedicated to the history of olives and it's by-products. It was pretty cool actually.

Lions Gate

Tomb of Atreus

We spent Friday and Saturday night in the pretty little town of Nauplion. On Saturday we went to Mycenae. Famous Lions Gate and the tomb of Atreus-what more need I say?

I'm not usually adventurous when it comes to food [I mean, I've eaten the same sandwich at Subway since I was 5], but in one of the tavernas I tried rooster, goat, & bull. They were good-I recommend.

Sunday arrived and my Peloponnese trip was coming to a close. On the way home my bus stopped in Epidaurus where there is a huge amphitheatre. The acoustics are so amazing that you can drop a nickel in the center of the stage and it can be heard hitting the stone clearly in all 12,300 seats. I sang Amazing Grace to demonstrate the acoustics at the request of my professor; amazing experience--I wish I could sing in there everyday. Corinth was the last stop, but there really wasn't much there except a mountain top fortification.

If I had to choose one thing that I got out of this trip and will carry home with me, it would be that I have acquired a love for the mountains. There are no mountains in Minnesota sadly; I think I will have to move near some one day since they are so majestic and just speak to the wonder of God's creation.