Quick catch-up post...

We started classes today. I had Greek (which was insanely tough) and Ancient Greek History (taught in English). It looks like the semester is going to be the easiest one I’ve ever had and ever could imagine. I have photography tomorrow and another session of Greek on Thursday, and then a nice 4 day weekend for the next 9 weeks. It’s awesome not having class on Monday or Friday. I’m actually finding City University to be somewhat of a joke. They’re insanely disorganized and really dysfunctional when it comes to planning. I realize part of that is the carefree Greek culture, but I think it may have something to do with the school too. I mean, what school decides which classes to offer only after the students sign up for classes. A lot of my American classmates are starting to get really frustrated with the school and their lack of concern for our need to graduate in 4 years, not 8 like most Greek college kids…Despite all the frustrating things that have happened in the past week or so, things here are still awesome. I'm loving every second and couldn't ask for a better experience.

Overall though, things are going well here. Like I said, the trips were awesome and an absolutely amazing experience. I definitely saw and experienced Greece in a way that the vast majority of visitors or tourists do not. I’m getting a little homesick. The newness of Greece is starting to wear off. The ruins seem a little less impressive, the gyros seem a little less tasty, and my desire for a Philly cheesesteak or New York style pizza is increasing. I am kinda glad of one thing though. I still enjoy city life. I thought about living in Philly or something when I graduate and this seemed like a good test to that thought process. So far, so good on that.

I’m starting to have to adjust on my own, too. This week I’ve gone grocery shopping, dropped (and picked up) my laundry at the cleaners (10 bucks seems like a lot for wash, dry, and fold but once you’ve tried to do the laundry in the tub, it’s well worth it) and gone to the pharmacy on top of my normal duties such as class, etc. It’s definitely been a big adjustment to learn to do these things, especially when everything is in Greek. Try finding day-quil when the letters on the box look like the drawings of a 5-year-old kid. Not easy. Anyway, I am still loving it here, despite the slight twinge of homesick-ness and the nasty cold I am fighting off. We’re planning on going to Santorini this weekend, but apparently it’s supposed to rain. We’ll see. It sucks that the only rain in the forecast for the next few weeks is the one weekend we all decide to go to a world-famous island. We went to Aegina, an island about an hour away from Athens, and that was amazingly beautiful and lived up to any and every expectation about Greek islands. I can’t wait to see what Santorini has in store.

Oh! And before I wrap up, how could I forget...I met up with our family friend, Mr. Bauer yesterday for a traditional Greek lunch. It was hands-down the best meal I have had here. It included squid, whole fish (you ate the head, eyes, tail...everything. About the size of a sardine, maybe bigger...I ate a dozen) octopus with the suction cups still on, and tons of other delicious foods. The one that I had a hard time with, however, was the surprise of the meal. Goat testicles. I didn't know until after I'd swallowed what I had eaten. Definitely an experience to remember. Goat testicles aside, the food was unbelievable and the 4-hour lunch seemed to fly by and I had an awesome time.

Alright I need to catch some z’s. I have a Photojournalism class tomorrow at 10, and the toughest task will not be to learn, but to stay awake during the 3 hours.

Later,

Ryan

Monevasia Trip, etc....

It’s been a while since I posted on here so I figure I should keep up…it’s starting to get increasingly more difficult to remind myself to keep blogging. That may have something to do with a schedule that is picking up, or maybe because what used to seem so worthy of a paragraph now seems ordinary and repetitive (walking out of the subway and seeing the Acropolis, for example).

There has been a ton going on here since I last blogged….I don’t even know where to begin.

Well, we had a trip to the Peleponnese region of Greece. Talk about a beautiful place. I neglected to write about the actual driving part of the previous trips, but basically, once you leave the city of Athens, it’s like a different world altogether. Immediately you have to drive through the mountains to get out of the city and the surrounding suburbs, and for most trips, the drive is absolutely breathtaking. There have been several times where I’ve woken up from a nap on our (Mercedes-Benz) luxury bus to open my eyes and see the Mediterranean Sea and an olive grove out the window on one side and a huge mountain range on another. This country really is beautiful. Anyway, the drive was again really spectacular on this trip, just like the others, but also very long. The first day we went 3 or 4 hours to Monemvasia. It’s a little town on the Aegean Sea that is known for having this huge rock jutting out of the water with an ancient castle on top. First, though, we stopped in Corinth. This was a pretty cool town, much like the others that we saw (Delphi, Meteora, etc.) in the fact that it’s full of ruins and remains of ancient civilizations. Corinth, however was a little more significant because of what it meant biblically. It was really interesting to see the city Paul wrote his epistles to and places he referenced. Our director, Aphrodite, broke her leg, so we had a substitute, Stella. Stella knew a ton about biblical history and seemed to be a pretty strong Christian, so she really loved talking about Paul and his journeys. One of the highlights of Corinth was seeing the judgment seat that Paul had to sit on when he was in Corinth. Still though, the ruins seem to melt together into one big heap of rocks, pebbles, and pillars. It sounds bad, but at this point we were all ready to get to the hotel and relax on the Mediterranean.

Little did we all know what a great surprise Monemvasia would be…It may have been the best part of the orientation course next to the Meteora trip. We got there and found a little Venetian-style town situated under this mountain that was pretty much in the middle of the water.

After walking around the town a little, some of us decided to climb to the top of the rock/mountain/whatever you want to call it to check out the ancient castle at the top. This was the best part. The climb was a little tough and we were definitely sweating, but it was so worth it. I wound up alone at the top of the ruins and on one side of me was a thousand-foot cliff that dropped off into water that was probably deeper than I realized, but still clear enough to see to the bottom of. The other looked like a field, but with remains from 3000 year old castles and even a church that seemed to be in decent shape considering its age. This was definitely one of the best afternoons I’d had since coming here.

We spent the next few days seeing other stuff like that, ancient castles, monasteries, ruins, etc…Like I said, it seems to melt together in your memory as a bunch of rocks and stuff. The next-best part of that trip was ancient Olympia. The museum was worse than going to the dentist, but once we got to walk through the ruins, it was awesome. I mean, to think that athletic competition kind of got its start in that place was pretty significant. I even got to run in the area that was used for races 3000 years ago in the first Olympics. It all seemed a little unreal. You could tell Olympia has kind of been looked after because the ruins were preserved pretty well and the original stadium (the patch of dirt that we got to run on) was in good shape.

What happened when we left, though was one of the highlights of the trip not related to ruins, castles, or ancient Greece. We were walking out of the stadium, and I noticed a very nice van with a group of people surrounding it. I had heard the Prime Minister was in Olympia that day, so I walked over to the crowd and right up the Prime Minister and introduced myself. I got to shake his hand and when I greeted him in Greek, he responded in English, which was a little surprising. Turns out, he’s American educated and speaks perfect English. He was just elected last week, so it was cool to actually meet the ruler of the country I’m studying in…I’m thinking not many college kids studying abroad can say that.

Alright, I’m gonna wrap up, but, I figured since I’ve seemed to work a theme into most of these blog posts, I might as well throw another one out there. Basically, it’s a bit similar to the last one, but it’s something that struck me as I was sitting atop the ruins of a castle in Sparta. I really kinda felt like God was saying: All this stuff passes away. The tough times, the good times, everything. Your life ends. Even the kingdoms of rulers throughout history. Even their supposedly perfect castles and strong city walls. All that stuff is going to go away. God is the only thing that lasts. God was there when King Leonidas died fighting the Persians. He was there when Paul was preaching to the various regions of Greece. He was there when the Acropolis was built, torn down, and built back up over and over again. And He’s here now and He’s always going to be here, unlike any castles that break down or any emperors, tyrants, or rulers that claim to have a powerful kingdom. God’s kingdom is the only one that will ever stand the test of time. It was pretty mind-numbing to think that as I was sitting in a place that was once reserved for the ruler of all of Sparta. Mind-numbing, but also freeing at the same time.