FirstI have to say I'm terribly sorry!! I had emailed in a couple of my blogs and apparently they never made it in... so :) Today will be Greece. I believe tomorrow is Bulgaria, and hopefully soon after will be Morocco (if I'm not too overwhelmed by the end of the semester :)!!!
July 17-21, 2011 :)
So in out cultural pre-port we were informed that we would have the opportunity to see the changing of the guards in Athens. It happens every 2 hours but because we were there on a Sunday we would see the weekly ceremonial change with the band and march... Sooo we did :) it was so neat! We got there by cab (the driver was great because we reminded him of his daughters) and got there before the crowd did. Of course we had to take a picture with the guards in their traditional dress! They had hats with tassels that hung next to their cheek and on to their shoulder. They had white under shirts with long sleeves that matched their skirts that were like ruffled dresses that flowed when they marched. They also had vests, and long white socks with shoes that had poof balls on the top :) Once in place, they are not allowed to move and I thought it was sweet to see a couple of officers wipe their faces of sweat and unruffled their outfits before the ceremony started. All the spectators were herded over to the sides and across the street to make room for the band and marchers! It was great so see them march and switch places :)
Continuing on, we had a mission of doing the first thing on most's to do list: acropolis and the Parthenon :) of course it was lunch by this time and we had to find some lunch... And to our great surprise we found gyros for only 2.2€... And oh my goodness, they were AMAZING!!! They cut the meat off the rotating roaster thing right in front of us and it was hot and delicious! From there we made out way up to see the amazing Acropolis and Parthenon :) it was really neat! We saw the place where Zeus and Athena fought over the land. He chose a horse and she chose an olive tree :) she won because the horse died and the tree lived on! I loved hearing all the Greek myths and stories :) we hung out there and melted in the sun as we soaked in the history and moments with memories and photos :) then Caitlin, Ashley and I were ready for our next mission: Harry potter!
So as we were very dedicated to finding it and watching the midnight showing 2 days before those in the US... But we have no control over these countries and found out that Dubrovnik only had 3 theaters which had no midnight showing... and the showing that did go in didn't start until 7pm... When we were leaving Croatia :( thus the first day in Greece was meant to watch Harry potter :) we made our way to the theater and met some high school kids from Greece. We were excited to talk to them about their culture... And of course Harry Potter :) we got to our assigned seats (yip here they do that in movies) and were so excited!!! We loved it! If course we were sad to see it end but it was wicked awesome!!!
Day 2 had a very interesting start. We were scheduled to visit the university of Indiana but there was a massive taxi strike. Not only were the taxi drivers not offering rides, but they were blocking all of the roads in all high tourist areas (air and ship ports). It was crazy to see all the roads backed up! We had heard that the metro wasn't working either but no one had been to check. So our group walked 30 min to the station and, yes, they were running :) once we got to the university of Indiana we got to hear about their system and how this American school worked in Greece. Of course we also got to hear how this recession has been affecting the school as well but for the most part it seemed like a usual American school... Except in Greece and with more Greek students than American.
The third day I found myself low on cash but as I walked passed the field office desk I peaked in the magic box and found a free ticket to the Greek cooing class!!! I was so excited! I had my plans for the day… and they were free!!! Loading up the bus I found one of my residents, Carolina, who had also found a free ticket! We headed to our cooking class which was a short ride over and ended up in a little bit of a shady block before we walked into our restaurant. Wow! Such a change! It was a very quaint restaurant decorated in what looked like traditional Greek décor. There was a gorgeous court yard from the entrance to the actual “classroom.” Outside of the “classroom” doors was a very amusing chef mime who welcomed us in! We walked in and found our table with all the things we would need to prepare our plates! We would watch the main chef make the dish then return back to our tables and recreate it! This class was wonderful compared to the Spain class because we were able to actually cut up and do all the measuring for ourselves and I didn’t cut off any fingers! We made 6 dishes: Prassaia Salad, Horiatiki, Dakos, Tzatziki, Taramosalata, Fakes, and at the end we made Greek Frappes. The Tzatziki was one that was very simple and easy to remember. It was Greek yogurt, salt, grated cucumbers garlic, and of course olive oil! There was at least 5 scoops of olive in each of the plates they love it… and it’s good for you!!! After cooking our dishes we, of course got to enjoy it! Afterwards, Carolina and I enjoyed the decorations around us. You know how they used to feed people grapes in bed?? Well there were little beds surrounding the tables so she and I took turns pretending to be Greek and feeding each other grapes. At the end of the class we were awarded diplomas for accomplishing the cooking class. They also allowed us to keep our little aprons! When we left we all smelled like the food we had just prepared and I was very happy with it!
Day 4 my trip to Olympus! We headed out to Argolis with a quick stop at the cannal that connects the gulf of Croatia to the Aegean sea :) apparently there is an opportunity to bungee jump off of the bridge... But I did not! Our next stop was lunch at some fancy wedding hall and it was also very good... I'm loving all the olive oil! So different than the kinds back home! Oh and I don't know how they make their sausage here but it's so juicy and delicious!! Afterwards we had a shirt ride to Epidaurus which is a small city known for it's theater performances and healing treatments. We stopped at the theater Mycenae we got to go explore the treasures of Atreus.high was amazing! It was so big and yet, when we were sitting at the very top row, we were able to hear our tour guide who was on stage talking in her normal voice! I would love o have been able to watch a play there :)
A group of us were very interested in seeing the medical facilities that were known well by the Hellenic world :) Julia (our tour guide) took us down to the ruins of the sanctuary of Asclepius. We got to see where so many people came to be healed... To come talk to Asclepius who would give them herbs and such and they would check into the dormitory (you know the place where you sleep) to have a healing dream and wake up cured! I decided to take a quick nap in an official dormitory basically Its a slab of rock in a room (I took a picture so you'll see it latter :) I didn't have a miraculous dream but I wasn't broken so I was ok with that :) After all that we headed over to Olympia where we relaxed at our hotel for the evening. It was a very cute little hotel with a gorgeous balcony view of the little Greek garden outside and the beautiful mountain scene of Greece :). We actually got to watch a little tv this day! We stopped a little while on what looked like a Greek soap opera… it was interesting but of course we couldn’t follow it, 1) because it was in Greek and 2) because it was a soap opera :). Then we flipped the channels and found House :) in English :)...then it went to commercials, which lasted more than 5 min so we continued flipping channels. We finally came across a CNN in ENGLISH!!! This was basically our first time to catch the news since we left for this amazing trip so we were excited!!! After a great dinner in the hotel’s lounge, we went back up and got ready for bed and since we had free wifi I logged on and actually got to talk to my sister, Alice, over Skype!! I was sooo happy to hear from her :) :) :) Then we fell asleep watching tv!
The next day I woke up excited! We were going to visit the ancient Olympic stadiums of Greece!! One thing that slowed us down was a girl on our trip who lost her passport. I would never suggest doing that!!! It’s a hassle! But when we actually got to the site it was so exciting! We were in the presence of such rich history :)! The site was a sanctuary of buildings associated with the games and was also an area to worship the Gods. Our guide gave us a great run down of the history and a few more myths :) then we headed in! Our first site was the ruins of the wrestling arena followed by the “hotels” of the time. We walked along the Sanctuary of Zeus and, of course, the Olympic stadium!!! It was basically a large field surrounded by stones. There was a starting line for runners and a number of us lined up to compete in an “official” Olympic race :) …I got 3rd runner up… I thought it was pretty good in a competition against boys :) After we were awarded and had taken our Olympic photos, we headed to the Archaeological Museum of Olympia where all the artifacts and statues were preserved :) it was fantastic!!!!! That basically wrapped up our amazing visit to Olympia as we headed back to Athens to board the ship. This was a fantastic country! I loved Greece!! Our next country is Bulgaria, the replacement of Egypt… I have optimistic thoughts about Bulgaria. I think it will be better than what everyone is expecting. Ok then, I'm out!
Sea yah latter,
Jenni Kraft
Continuing on, we had a mission of doing the first thing on most's to do list: acropolis and the Parthenon :) of course it was lunch by this time and we had to find some lunch... And to our great surprise we found gyros for only 2.2€... And oh my goodness, they were AMAZING!!! They cut the meat off the rotating roaster thing right in front of us and it was hot and delicious! From there we made out way up to see the amazing Acropolis and Parthenon :) it was really neat! We saw the place where Zeus and Athena fought over the land. He chose a horse and she chose an olive tree :) she won because the horse died and the tree lived on! I loved hearing all the Greek myths and stories :) we hung out there and melted in the sun as we soaked in the history and moments with memories and photos :) then Caitlin, Ashley and I were ready for our next mission: Harry potter!
So as we were very dedicated to finding it and watching the midnight showing 2 days before those in the US... But we have no control over these countries and found out that Dubrovnik only had 3 theaters which had no midnight showing... and the showing that did go in didn't start until 7pm... When we were leaving Croatia :( thus the first day in Greece was meant to watch Harry potter :) we made our way to the theater and met some high school kids from Greece. We were excited to talk to them about their culture... And of course Harry Potter :) we got to our assigned seats (yip here they do that in movies) and were so excited!!! We loved it! If course we were sad to see it end but it was wicked awesome!!!
Day 2 had a very interesting start. We were scheduled to visit the university of Indiana but there was a massive taxi strike. Not only were the taxi drivers not offering rides, but they were blocking all of the roads in all high tourist areas (air and ship ports). It was crazy to see all the roads backed up! We had heard that the metro wasn't working either but no one had been to check. So our group walked 30 min to the station and, yes, they were running :) once we got to the university of Indiana we got to hear about their system and how this American school worked in Greece. Of course we also got to hear how this recession has been affecting the school as well but for the most part it seemed like a usual American school... Except in Greece and with more Greek students than American.
The third day I found myself low on cash but as I walked passed the field office desk I peaked in the magic box and found a free ticket to the Greek cooing class!!! I was so excited! I had my plans for the day… and they were free!!! Loading up the bus I found one of my residents, Carolina, who had also found a free ticket! We headed to our cooking class which was a short ride over and ended up in a little bit of a shady block before we walked into our restaurant. Wow! Such a change! It was a very quaint restaurant decorated in what looked like traditional Greek décor. There was a gorgeous court yard from the entrance to the actual “classroom.” Outside of the “classroom” doors was a very amusing chef mime who welcomed us in! We walked in and found our table with all the things we would need to prepare our plates! We would watch the main chef make the dish then return back to our tables and recreate it! This class was wonderful compared to the Spain class because we were able to actually cut up and do all the measuring for ourselves and I didn’t cut off any fingers! We made 6 dishes: Prassaia Salad, Horiatiki, Dakos, Tzatziki, Taramosalata, Fakes, and at the end we made Greek Frappes. The Tzatziki was one that was very simple and easy to remember. It was Greek yogurt, salt, grated cucumbers garlic, and of course olive oil! There was at least 5 scoops of olive in each of the plates they love it… and it’s good for you!!! After cooking our dishes we, of course got to enjoy it! Afterwards, Carolina and I enjoyed the decorations around us. You know how they used to feed people grapes in bed?? Well there were little beds surrounding the tables so she and I took turns pretending to be Greek and feeding each other grapes. At the end of the class we were awarded diplomas for accomplishing the cooking class. They also allowed us to keep our little aprons! When we left we all smelled like the food we had just prepared and I was very happy with it!
Day 4 my trip to Olympus! We headed out to Argolis with a quick stop at the cannal that connects the gulf of Croatia to the Aegean sea :) apparently there is an opportunity to bungee jump off of the bridge... But I did not! Our next stop was lunch at some fancy wedding hall and it was also very good... I'm loving all the olive oil! So different than the kinds back home! Oh and I don't know how they make their sausage here but it's so juicy and delicious!! Afterwards we had a shirt ride to Epidaurus which is a small city known for it's theater performances and healing treatments. We stopped at the theater Mycenae we got to go explore the treasures of Atreus.high was amazing! It was so big and yet, when we were sitting at the very top row, we were able to hear our tour guide who was on stage talking in her normal voice! I would love o have been able to watch a play there :)
A group of us were very interested in seeing the medical facilities that were known well by the Hellenic world :) Julia (our tour guide) took us down to the ruins of the sanctuary of Asclepius. We got to see where so many people came to be healed... To come talk to Asclepius who would give them herbs and such and they would check into the dormitory (you know the place where you sleep) to have a healing dream and wake up cured! I decided to take a quick nap in an official dormitory basically Its a slab of rock in a room (I took a picture so you'll see it latter :) I didn't have a miraculous dream but I wasn't broken so I was ok with that :) After all that we headed over to Olympia where we relaxed at our hotel for the evening. It was a very cute little hotel with a gorgeous balcony view of the little Greek garden outside and the beautiful mountain scene of Greece :). We actually got to watch a little tv this day! We stopped a little while on what looked like a Greek soap opera… it was interesting but of course we couldn’t follow it, 1) because it was in Greek and 2) because it was a soap opera :). Then we flipped the channels and found House :) in English :)...then it went to commercials, which lasted more than 5 min so we continued flipping channels. We finally came across a CNN in ENGLISH!!! This was basically our first time to catch the news since we left for this amazing trip so we were excited!!! After a great dinner in the hotel’s lounge, we went back up and got ready for bed and since we had free wifi I logged on and actually got to talk to my sister, Alice, over Skype!! I was sooo happy to hear from her :) :) :) Then we fell asleep watching tv!
The next day I woke up excited! We were going to visit the ancient Olympic stadiums of Greece!! One thing that slowed us down was a girl on our trip who lost her passport. I would never suggest doing that!!! It’s a hassle! But when we actually got to the site it was so exciting! We were in the presence of such rich history :)! The site was a sanctuary of buildings associated with the games and was also an area to worship the Gods. Our guide gave us a great run down of the history and a few more myths :) then we headed in! Our first site was the ruins of the wrestling arena followed by the “hotels” of the time. We walked along the Sanctuary of Zeus and, of course, the Olympic stadium!!! It was basically a large field surrounded by stones. There was a starting line for runners and a number of us lined up to compete in an “official” Olympic race :) …I got 3rd runner up… I thought it was pretty good in a competition against boys :) After we were awarded and had taken our Olympic photos, we headed to the Archaeological Museum of Olympia where all the artifacts and statues were preserved :) it was fantastic!!!!! That basically wrapped up our amazing visit to Olympia as we headed back to Athens to board the ship. This was a fantastic country! I loved Greece!! Our next country is Bulgaria, the replacement of Egypt… I have optimistic thoughts about Bulgaria. I think it will be better than what everyone is expecting. Ok then, I'm out!
Sea yah latter,
Jenni Kraft
Typed on my iTouch
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