Time is flying by here and we all can't believe we only have one month left in wonderful Athens!
This week we started our art history course. For that class we have one class a week as lecture and the other we spend in a museum. Our professor acts as our guide through the museum and we stop at the different pieces of artwork and quickly jot down notes while she tells us everything about the piece. It is really interesting but so much information to process.
For our language and culture class this week we got to take a walking tour of the city and then toured the Parliment building. While at the Parliment building a guide explained their government system in Greece and some of the history of Greece's government.
We met our ancient history professor this week and he is British which makes everything better. He has a very dry sense of humor which I enjoy. For his class part is lecture in the classroom and the rest is visiting the different monuments combined with lecture. We hiked to the top of a "small hill" which was much higher than we thought because we could see all of Athens from it including some islands. It was a beautiful view that I would love to go back and see because unfortunately, I didn't have my camera.
On Thursday evening this week we went to a play of Odysseus. Luckily the play was in English so we were able to understand it!
After a long week we spent the weekend on a greek island named Aegina, which is known for it's pistachios. It is a beautiful island only an hour and 20 minutes from Athens. After getting up extra early to make it to the farmers market we caught the metro to the port and then caught a ferry to Aegina. Once we arrived on the island we found our hotel which was right along the water and across from some great restaurants. The first day for lunch I got a wonderful greek salad with fresh feta cheese and some bread. We got to watch the ocean and enjoy our lunch. After lunch we split up and went to a couple different beaches. My group found a great free beach with a wonderful view of a smaller uninhabited island. A little greek girl who was 4 years old and swimming with her mom came up to us and started trying to talk to us. She was adorable and luckily her mom spoke some English so we were able to communicate. She talked about some of the prettier places on the island to visit and about her other favorite places in Greece. The little girl did learn how to say "Bye", so she had a lot of fun waving and saying goodbye to us. After a long afternoon lounging at the beach we went back to the hotel to clean up and then out to find some dinner. We found a great little restaurant with comfy chairs and a large menu. I ordered the chicken souvlaki but some people got great omelets and crepes. The owner even gave us free watermelon which was some of the best watermelon I have ever had! From there we walked to a little gelato cafe and tried some Ferrero chocolate gelato.
For our second day on the island we headed up to the Temple of Aphaia which is one of the coolest ruins I have seen so far with an amazing view. We took lots of pictures and walked through the museum before catching the bumpy bus ride back down the mountain. On the way we passed either the largest church in Greece or the second largest. After touring the Temple we went to lunch. I ordered seafood risotto and it was the best meal I have had yet! From there we toured the other much more ruined ruins and the wind really picked up. It was storming in Athens and you could see the dark clouds rolling in so we headed back to the hotel. We were told that the ferries were having problems docking and that we may be stranded on the island for a bit longer so we chose to kill some time and go get gelato. I tried the pistachio and it was the best pistachio flavored gelato I have ever had!
Luckily, the ferry was able to land but the water was so high and the waves crashing over the dock that we were walking through water to get onto the ferry and they were all herding us trying to make us get on faster so they could leave without getting stuck! The boat ride was a little rocky but luckily we made it safely back to Athens.
After an exhausting day we all tried to recover a little bit before meeting up to listen to the Tommie/Johnnie game. It was a lot of fun and we couldn't miss out on the football game! We even had our own halftime show performed by some of the mens chorus members singing the johnnie fight song!
This morning we attended Greek Orthodox mass for theology class. It was the first time I have seen rain in Athens. It down poured on and off today and the thunder was so loud it shook the apartment.
Luckily, it cleared up by tonight so we could have a girls night out! We all went to an outdoor cinema that had an amazing view of the acropolis. I got to eat popcorn and we watched To Rome with Love! It was a great way to end the week!
This week we started our art history course. For that class we have one class a week as lecture and the other we spend in a museum. Our professor acts as our guide through the museum and we stop at the different pieces of artwork and quickly jot down notes while she tells us everything about the piece. It is really interesting but so much information to process.
For our language and culture class this week we got to take a walking tour of the city and then toured the Parliment building. While at the Parliment building a guide explained their government system in Greece and some of the history of Greece's government.
We met our ancient history professor this week and he is British which makes everything better. He has a very dry sense of humor which I enjoy. For his class part is lecture in the classroom and the rest is visiting the different monuments combined with lecture. We hiked to the top of a "small hill" which was much higher than we thought because we could see all of Athens from it including some islands. It was a beautiful view that I would love to go back and see because unfortunately, I didn't have my camera.
On Thursday evening this week we went to a play of Odysseus. Luckily the play was in English so we were able to understand it!
After a long week we spent the weekend on a greek island named Aegina, which is known for it's pistachios. It is a beautiful island only an hour and 20 minutes from Athens. After getting up extra early to make it to the farmers market we caught the metro to the port and then caught a ferry to Aegina. Once we arrived on the island we found our hotel which was right along the water and across from some great restaurants. The first day for lunch I got a wonderful greek salad with fresh feta cheese and some bread. We got to watch the ocean and enjoy our lunch. After lunch we split up and went to a couple different beaches. My group found a great free beach with a wonderful view of a smaller uninhabited island. A little greek girl who was 4 years old and swimming with her mom came up to us and started trying to talk to us. She was adorable and luckily her mom spoke some English so we were able to communicate. She talked about some of the prettier places on the island to visit and about her other favorite places in Greece. The little girl did learn how to say "Bye", so she had a lot of fun waving and saying goodbye to us. After a long afternoon lounging at the beach we went back to the hotel to clean up and then out to find some dinner. We found a great little restaurant with comfy chairs and a large menu. I ordered the chicken souvlaki but some people got great omelets and crepes. The owner even gave us free watermelon which was some of the best watermelon I have ever had! From there we walked to a little gelato cafe and tried some Ferrero chocolate gelato.
For our second day on the island we headed up to the Temple of Aphaia which is one of the coolest ruins I have seen so far with an amazing view. We took lots of pictures and walked through the museum before catching the bumpy bus ride back down the mountain. On the way we passed either the largest church in Greece or the second largest. After touring the Temple we went to lunch. I ordered seafood risotto and it was the best meal I have had yet! From there we toured the other much more ruined ruins and the wind really picked up. It was storming in Athens and you could see the dark clouds rolling in so we headed back to the hotel. We were told that the ferries were having problems docking and that we may be stranded on the island for a bit longer so we chose to kill some time and go get gelato. I tried the pistachio and it was the best pistachio flavored gelato I have ever had!
Luckily, the ferry was able to land but the water was so high and the waves crashing over the dock that we were walking through water to get onto the ferry and they were all herding us trying to make us get on faster so they could leave without getting stuck! The boat ride was a little rocky but luckily we made it safely back to Athens.
After an exhausting day we all tried to recover a little bit before meeting up to listen to the Tommie/Johnnie game. It was a lot of fun and we couldn't miss out on the football game! We even had our own halftime show performed by some of the mens chorus members singing the johnnie fight song!
This morning we attended Greek Orthodox mass for theology class. It was the first time I have seen rain in Athens. It down poured on and off today and the thunder was so loud it shook the apartment.
Luckily, it cleared up by tonight so we could have a girls night out! We all went to an outdoor cinema that had an amazing view of the acropolis. I got to eat popcorn and we watched To Rome with Love! It was a great way to end the week!
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