Well, if I told you I'm really sorry that I haven't blogged in a few days because I've been super busy, that would be a lie. Instead I have sat here after classes, talked about homework and stared at facebook. Sounds familiar, right? The difference between what I did back in Searcy and what I did here is that no one is awake on facebook. So I stare at the exact same news feed for approximately eight hours. Living the Greek life.
Apparently this is the rainy season, and also the Athens Metro workers go on strike season. So, as beautiful as Porto Rafti is, the dynamic changes when it rains for several days straight.
Okay, okay, I'm done whining, the past few days really have been good, a little bit cabin fever-inducing, but still good. I really do love everyone in my group. I have found a wonderful bakery that serves the most incredible chocolate pastry thing I've ever had in my life. I had a personal goal to try every item in the bakery, but after I ate it my personal goal changed. Now it is to eat one of those every single day that I'm here. As Kelcey said "When in Greece, gain 50 pounds." Sounds about right :). Classes have started to pick up some, I have a few goals about finishing all the assignments due at the end of the semester as soon as possible, but yet, I always find myself staring at the news feed. Maybe on trips when I don't have internet that will change and my motivation will somehow find me. It still is hard for me to process that we are here for credit so along with that comes credit. I'm sure once we get our first grades back it will start to hit.
On Friday a few girls and I went with Dr. James and Ms. Beth to the outlet mall. That was definitely a lot of fun! The things were pretty expensive still, but it was just fun to walk around and see what people here actually wear, and there were a lot of cute things! Then afterwards we went to IKEA. It was wonderful! So, that was definitely a fun afternoon :). I again said "yasas" to someone and they started spurting off in Greek. I should just learn to nod and smile and maybe they'll actually think I sort of speak it, but probably not.
Last night was a lot of fun! I again went to get another one of those pastries in the afternoon after classes (yes, classes are on Saturdays). I'm starting to get to know the woman who works there and she's been helping me learn a little bit of Greek. She always cracks up whenever I try, but in the happy I'm trying type way. My southern accent, as slight as it is, doesn't lend itself to Greek. She's super sweet though, and I'm sure that I will be seeing a lot more of her! Then last night Dr. James gave us all euros to go out to eat so six of us girls went over to the taverna we go to a lot. That was just a fun night. My favorite quote from the night is from Brook "Hey, I worked at a doggie day-care. I KNOW my dog dynamics" I don't know if I've mentioned the large amounts of dogs, but they are everywhere! They sleep outside our hotel and then just follow us wherever we go. We've named them all and have very serious conversations concerning their well being. Then after dinner we all came back and played a huge game of Sardines. Nothing better :).
Well, if you've made it to this point in my blog you're invested, so you probably want to hear about the Egypt situation. It's pretty crazy over there, I can't even really imagine being over there right now. 1000 prisoners have broken out of jail and are just running rampant over the streets. Osman, and his family have gone to Crete to stay with some family. They're trying to put in place a new government but as of now it is just pure chaos. Our trip there s still about six weeks away, so we don't really know what we're going to do as of yet. They're obviously not going to let us go there as it is now, Pepperdine already cancelled their trip for next week, but six weeks is still a long time. If we don't get to go they are probably going to try to plan another trip. We're also hopeful that the violence in Egypt doesn't move to Israel for more reasons than just we are to leave for Israel a week from today.
So, here I am, just asking you to keep that whole situation in your prayers. As much as I really want to go to Egypt and Israel, and those were really the reasons I picked Greece, a 19 year old's trip isn't what is important here. Pray for the violence to stop and for a better way of life to be worked out somehow.
I love you all so much!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Poet Sandals? Absolutely.
January 25 and 26
Hey again everyone!
I can't tell you how much I love it when people tell me that they're reading my blog! Thank you all so much for following through this incredible experience with me! Now, for the happenings of the past couple of days!
On Tuesday I only had one class, Paul, which, if I'm going to be completely honest, I could hardly stay awake during! I really need to work harder at actually getting sleep, but it's so hard to go up to my room when everyone is down here until curfew every night. I'll definitely do better though! Since I only had one class Angela and I went for a little jog down by the bay. That's when we decided that we are way more out of shape than we thought and getting back into shape is becoming a top priority! Also, maybe I ate 6 too many cheese pastries before I went, don't judge.
After class Kelcey and I pretty much passed out for 45 minutes in our room for the hardest nap I've ever taken in my life, but it was absolutely glorious! Then we had lunch and then.. the real excitement. ATHENS! Kelcey and I drove with Dr. Mike to the Koropi station with Mark and then waited for the metro. People here are just absolutely amazed that I would wear chacos in 60 degree weather so we got several stares, not to mention our American-ness and Mark's super heavy camera gear. We finally arrived in Athens with the goal of looking for the Poet shop, this incredible place where they make your sandals and then adjust them to your feet! The owner is the third generation to own this shop, he's made shoes for John Lennon and, wait for it, Bob Saget. I knew I had to have a pair! He's just a really cool guy in general, he went to underground in New York and has written several plays surrounding Greek Mythology.
Kelcey and I were the first two done with our shoes, so we headed off to find things on our own with the plan to meet everyone at our embassy (aka. Starbucks), and we explored! We initially looked for the meat market, which I don't actually believe exists, and then we just decided to carry on our way. We went into a few shops and met a few people, of course practicing the 6 words we know in Greek. One woman talked for us for awhile, she spoke really good English and walked around teaching us different words :). I would love to go back there and actually buy something from the shop, she had such great items! We explored a bit more, and went into H&M :). I smile just thinking about that store. I only bought one thing, but when I went up to the counter I said "yasas" which is hello. The guy said something super quickly and when I gave him a blank stare he said, "Oh, you don't actually speak Greek do you?" I burst out laughing and was like no, but did you think I did?! And he DID! So basically if all I say is hello I can totally pass for a Greek person. Erm.. well, at least that I speak Greek.
We met back up with everyone and went to Sabbas to get some gyros for dinner and then we had to RUN to catch the last metro. We just barely made it, but we did have to switch a few times, we were very proud of ourselves for navigating back on our own!
Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day, with one exception. We had class and then four of us went to a bistro by the bay to do some homework while most of the group climbed "the mountain." While we were there we heard this noise in the upper corner of the roof. It was an absolutely awful sound, it was a squealing cat. It sounded like it was fighting something, everyone in the restaurant kept staring at the corner. We think...it died. The reason we think that? We heard whimper after whimper after whimper, until it finally stopped. It was awful!
So, hopefully if you ever visit Greece you'll have more luck than this poor cat on the roof. Hopefully I'll have more luck than that poor cat on the roof, but I think I will :).
Hey again everyone!
I can't tell you how much I love it when people tell me that they're reading my blog! Thank you all so much for following through this incredible experience with me! Now, for the happenings of the past couple of days!
On Tuesday I only had one class, Paul, which, if I'm going to be completely honest, I could hardly stay awake during! I really need to work harder at actually getting sleep, but it's so hard to go up to my room when everyone is down here until curfew every night. I'll definitely do better though! Since I only had one class Angela and I went for a little jog down by the bay. That's when we decided that we are way more out of shape than we thought and getting back into shape is becoming a top priority! Also, maybe I ate 6 too many cheese pastries before I went, don't judge.
After class Kelcey and I pretty much passed out for 45 minutes in our room for the hardest nap I've ever taken in my life, but it was absolutely glorious! Then we had lunch and then.. the real excitement. ATHENS! Kelcey and I drove with Dr. Mike to the Koropi station with Mark and then waited for the metro. People here are just absolutely amazed that I would wear chacos in 60 degree weather so we got several stares, not to mention our American-ness and Mark's super heavy camera gear. We finally arrived in Athens with the goal of looking for the Poet shop, this incredible place where they make your sandals and then adjust them to your feet! The owner is the third generation to own this shop, he's made shoes for John Lennon and, wait for it, Bob Saget. I knew I had to have a pair! He's just a really cool guy in general, he went to underground in New York and has written several plays surrounding Greek Mythology.
Kelcey and I were the first two done with our shoes, so we headed off to find things on our own with the plan to meet everyone at our embassy (aka. Starbucks), and we explored! We initially looked for the meat market, which I don't actually believe exists, and then we just decided to carry on our way. We went into a few shops and met a few people, of course practicing the 6 words we know in Greek. One woman talked for us for awhile, she spoke really good English and walked around teaching us different words :). I would love to go back there and actually buy something from the shop, she had such great items! We explored a bit more, and went into H&M :). I smile just thinking about that store. I only bought one thing, but when I went up to the counter I said "yasas" which is hello. The guy said something super quickly and when I gave him a blank stare he said, "Oh, you don't actually speak Greek do you?" I burst out laughing and was like no, but did you think I did?! And he DID! So basically if all I say is hello I can totally pass for a Greek person. Erm.. well, at least that I speak Greek.
We met back up with everyone and went to Sabbas to get some gyros for dinner and then we had to RUN to catch the last metro. We just barely made it, but we did have to switch a few times, we were very proud of ourselves for navigating back on our own!
Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day, with one exception. We had class and then four of us went to a bistro by the bay to do some homework while most of the group climbed "the mountain." While we were there we heard this noise in the upper corner of the roof. It was an absolutely awful sound, it was a squealing cat. It sounded like it was fighting something, everyone in the restaurant kept staring at the corner. We think...it died. The reason we think that? We heard whimper after whimper after whimper, until it finally stopped. It was awful!
So, hopefully if you ever visit Greece you'll have more luck than this poor cat on the roof. Hopefully I'll have more luck than that poor cat on the roof, but I think I will :).
Monday, January 24, 2011
January 24th 2011
Hello everybody!
I really am doing my best to try and update this as much as possible! Today was a pretty chill day so I'm just sitting in the common room area with everyone! I did forget to mention something that happened yesterday. I was in Mcdonalds just getting something to drink and Nicole came in and talked to me for a few minutes. When she left this man turned around and asked where we were from so I told him I was from America and she was from Scotland. He then proceeded to tell me about how he lived in New York for ten years (without papers, of course) and how it was just an incredible experience for him. His English was not so great, but he was just so excited to be getting to use it and to be talking to someone who had also been to New York. He was just a really friendly guy.
Today was our first day of classes. I had three today and also chapel. I'm taking an ethics class that starts off my morning, and even though it's going to be hard to struggle through all of the issues, I think that it will really just help me grow into the person I want to become. Next we had chapel. It's so much more relaxed than it is at Harding and it's just really great to be with all of these people. Next was GREEK class! I absolutely love it! Our teacher is a native from Athens named Vicky and she is just the cutest woman you will ever meet in your entire life. She taught us how to say a few words, and also how to bargain, with the advice to the guys of saying "my mom is in the hospital". She is absolutely incredible and I am so excited to get to know her better! Not to mention I'm excited to actually be able to talk to people! We then had our Humanities class, it's pretty much going to be exactly the same as the one I took senior year, but it is really cool to be able to see all of the history while studying it. I'm excited about classes this semester, and I don't think I'll have any trouble with them at all! I just need to make sure that I do in fact remember that studying is very important :).
After classes Kelcey, Zach and I bought our plane tickets to BARCELONA for the long weekend we get in the middle of the semester! I am SO excited! It's so crazy to me that I just bought the tickets! I mean, I have wanted to go there for a long time, but actually buying the tickets was just so crazy! I absolutely cannot wait though! It'll be nice to actually be able to read street signs for a few days!
Then we had lunch and after lunch Kelcey and I decided to go out and explore. Oh dear, as we were walking down the street some Albanians started majorly hitting on us. They didn't speak much English, and obviously we don't speak any Albanian, so as you can imagine it was quite hilarious. They were in disbelief that we were wearing chacos and they were just absolutely freezing. We attempted to explain to them that it's actually snowing back at home so this 60 degree weather is absolutely wonderful! They then started to ask us if we could go get coffee and when I told them I have a boyfriend they were like "he's in America, he no see!" That was pretty much the point we had had enough so we left and went to the local store where we tried to explain that I needed to buy a straightener. They didn't end up having any, so we headed back, but stopped at a local bakery. While we were there we met this older woman names Lelia who spoke perfect English and is very very proud to be Greek. She followed the teachings of Pathagoros and believes in the 12 gods. She talked to us for a good thirty minutes and told us that she'd love to get to know us better and that we should stop by the bakery all the time. Kelcey and I are really excited and we're really hoping we can hear more about what she believes and share Christ with her. Not in a pushy way by any means, but God can work through a simple idea. So if you could all be praying for the two of us and also for Lelia that would be wonderful!
Sorry that this post is so long! I just had ample time tonight while we're all sitting in the common room to type absolutely everything that happened.
I love you all :).
I really am doing my best to try and update this as much as possible! Today was a pretty chill day so I'm just sitting in the common room area with everyone! I did forget to mention something that happened yesterday. I was in Mcdonalds just getting something to drink and Nicole came in and talked to me for a few minutes. When she left this man turned around and asked where we were from so I told him I was from America and she was from Scotland. He then proceeded to tell me about how he lived in New York for ten years (without papers, of course) and how it was just an incredible experience for him. His English was not so great, but he was just so excited to be getting to use it and to be talking to someone who had also been to New York. He was just a really friendly guy.
Today was our first day of classes. I had three today and also chapel. I'm taking an ethics class that starts off my morning, and even though it's going to be hard to struggle through all of the issues, I think that it will really just help me grow into the person I want to become. Next we had chapel. It's so much more relaxed than it is at Harding and it's just really great to be with all of these people. Next was GREEK class! I absolutely love it! Our teacher is a native from Athens named Vicky and she is just the cutest woman you will ever meet in your entire life. She taught us how to say a few words, and also how to bargain, with the advice to the guys of saying "my mom is in the hospital". She is absolutely incredible and I am so excited to get to know her better! Not to mention I'm excited to actually be able to talk to people! We then had our Humanities class, it's pretty much going to be exactly the same as the one I took senior year, but it is really cool to be able to see all of the history while studying it. I'm excited about classes this semester, and I don't think I'll have any trouble with them at all! I just need to make sure that I do in fact remember that studying is very important :).
After classes Kelcey, Zach and I bought our plane tickets to BARCELONA for the long weekend we get in the middle of the semester! I am SO excited! It's so crazy to me that I just bought the tickets! I mean, I have wanted to go there for a long time, but actually buying the tickets was just so crazy! I absolutely cannot wait though! It'll be nice to actually be able to read street signs for a few days!
Then we had lunch and after lunch Kelcey and I decided to go out and explore. Oh dear, as we were walking down the street some Albanians started majorly hitting on us. They didn't speak much English, and obviously we don't speak any Albanian, so as you can imagine it was quite hilarious. They were in disbelief that we were wearing chacos and they were just absolutely freezing. We attempted to explain to them that it's actually snowing back at home so this 60 degree weather is absolutely wonderful! They then started to ask us if we could go get coffee and when I told them I have a boyfriend they were like "he's in America, he no see!" That was pretty much the point we had had enough so we left and went to the local store where we tried to explain that I needed to buy a straightener. They didn't end up having any, so we headed back, but stopped at a local bakery. While we were there we met this older woman names Lelia who spoke perfect English and is very very proud to be Greek. She followed the teachings of Pathagoros and believes in the 12 gods. She talked to us for a good thirty minutes and told us that she'd love to get to know us better and that we should stop by the bakery all the time. Kelcey and I are really excited and we're really hoping we can hear more about what she believes and share Christ with her. Not in a pushy way by any means, but God can work through a simple idea. So if you could all be praying for the two of us and also for Lelia that would be wonderful!
Sorry that this post is so long! I just had ample time tonight while we're all sitting in the common room to type absolutely everything that happened.
I love you all :).
Sunday, January 23, 2011
January 21-23
Well hey everybody!
Oh dear, I sure have missed a few days, I'll try and fill in everything that happened though right now!
On Friday we got to sleep in a little bit to try and compensate for how exhausted we were! I woke up around 7 though still because of jet lag and just it's so loud here! There are dogs absolutely everywhere! It's kind of funny because as soon as you leave the hotel they just follow you. They don't get up in your face, they don't bark (except at five in the morning), they just like to follow after you. So after I woke up I went downstairs to get breakfast and they have the most amazing fresh pastries that the breakfast crew gets from a local bakery. Seriously, the food here is just awesome, I should probably start another blog simply to describe it. Then a few people and I went around Porto Rafti to kind of explore. Sean was just dying to go visit this mansion we could see from across the way but Angela Nicole and I simply refused. It would have been another couple of miles and lunch was only about thirty minutes away! Later that night they took us to Athens on the bus and the Metro to show us how to get there and back. It was really cool to see everything, but I am just dying to stop and shop somewhere! We keep walking past all of these great stores and there just isn't anything I can do about it! I think on Tuesday a few of us are going to go back to actually explore and spend some money!
On Saturday we left bright and early at 8 am to go into Athens, but it was well worth it! We went to the Acropolis and saw the PARTHENON! It was absolutely incredible to see all of the history behind that and oh-so many other buildings. I'll have pictures up on facebook and hopefully I'll be able to remember which one is which! It's just so incredible to see these buildings and to hear stories of things that even predate Christ. If you really think of how hard it would have been to build these things it can just blow your mind. Another incredible mind blowing thing is we went on top of Mars Hill. It was so incredible to just think that Paul was there. We sat on top of it and sang a few songs and Dr. James read Acts 17 to us. It was just so surreal and just really almost brought the Bible to life. This trip is just so incredible, and I know that I'm already growing so much from it and it hasn't even been a week yet! We then had lunch, and this should probably go in my food blog (I'm kidding), but we had an incredible salad with FETA cheese on it and amazing chicken and the best ice cream I've ever had in my life. I capitalize feta because I have learned over the past few days that I absolutely love it, but more on that in a second. Afterwards we went to another museum where we saw so many incredible things. Our tour guide is so funny! He keeps talking about how the British Museum stole everything and how they ruined everything. He really is so knowledgable about everything! Saturday night we went to the James' favortie "taverna" aka restaurant. It was so good! Again, I just have to mention that I love the food. Bethany and I got a huge chunck of feta and just ate it on bread and olive oil and pepper (Macaroni Grill thaaaaank you!). We've decided we're going to go there for many feta dates! Also, theres a girl named Christine who's around our age that speaks English so we're really excited about trying to get to know her better!
And today! Today was a pretty chill day! I slept in accidentally but we didn't have anything really. I slept through breakfast but luckily my wonderful roommate is on breakfast crew and she got me a bowl of cereal :). This afternoon we left at three to go to church near Athens. It was an english service but they still translated it over to Greek. They have people from everywhere in the world there! It was really great to be able to meet some more people and I'm really excited to grow some relationships!
Basically I'm having an incredible time. I love it here so much, it's just so incredible! I am struggling a little bit with missing everyone at home, but I know it is incredibly worth it. I just wish I could show everything to all of the people I love.
I love you all!
Oh dear, I sure have missed a few days, I'll try and fill in everything that happened though right now!
On Friday we got to sleep in a little bit to try and compensate for how exhausted we were! I woke up around 7 though still because of jet lag and just it's so loud here! There are dogs absolutely everywhere! It's kind of funny because as soon as you leave the hotel they just follow you. They don't get up in your face, they don't bark (except at five in the morning), they just like to follow after you. So after I woke up I went downstairs to get breakfast and they have the most amazing fresh pastries that the breakfast crew gets from a local bakery. Seriously, the food here is just awesome, I should probably start another blog simply to describe it. Then a few people and I went around Porto Rafti to kind of explore. Sean was just dying to go visit this mansion we could see from across the way but Angela Nicole and I simply refused. It would have been another couple of miles and lunch was only about thirty minutes away! Later that night they took us to Athens on the bus and the Metro to show us how to get there and back. It was really cool to see everything, but I am just dying to stop and shop somewhere! We keep walking past all of these great stores and there just isn't anything I can do about it! I think on Tuesday a few of us are going to go back to actually explore and spend some money!
On Saturday we left bright and early at 8 am to go into Athens, but it was well worth it! We went to the Acropolis and saw the PARTHENON! It was absolutely incredible to see all of the history behind that and oh-so many other buildings. I'll have pictures up on facebook and hopefully I'll be able to remember which one is which! It's just so incredible to see these buildings and to hear stories of things that even predate Christ. If you really think of how hard it would have been to build these things it can just blow your mind. Another incredible mind blowing thing is we went on top of Mars Hill. It was so incredible to just think that Paul was there. We sat on top of it and sang a few songs and Dr. James read Acts 17 to us. It was just so surreal and just really almost brought the Bible to life. This trip is just so incredible, and I know that I'm already growing so much from it and it hasn't even been a week yet! We then had lunch, and this should probably go in my food blog (I'm kidding), but we had an incredible salad with FETA cheese on it and amazing chicken and the best ice cream I've ever had in my life. I capitalize feta because I have learned over the past few days that I absolutely love it, but more on that in a second. Afterwards we went to another museum where we saw so many incredible things. Our tour guide is so funny! He keeps talking about how the British Museum stole everything and how they ruined everything. He really is so knowledgable about everything! Saturday night we went to the James' favortie "taverna" aka restaurant. It was so good! Again, I just have to mention that I love the food. Bethany and I got a huge chunck of feta and just ate it on bread and olive oil and pepper (Macaroni Grill thaaaaank you!). We've decided we're going to go there for many feta dates! Also, theres a girl named Christine who's around our age that speaks English so we're really excited about trying to get to know her better!
And today! Today was a pretty chill day! I slept in accidentally but we didn't have anything really. I slept through breakfast but luckily my wonderful roommate is on breakfast crew and she got me a bowl of cereal :). This afternoon we left at three to go to church near Athens. It was an english service but they still translated it over to Greek. They have people from everywhere in the world there! It was really great to be able to meet some more people and I'm really excited to grow some relationships!
Basically I'm having an incredible time. I love it here so much, it's just so incredible! I am struggling a little bit with missing everyone at home, but I know it is incredibly worth it. I just wish I could show everything to all of the people I love.
I love you all!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
We've arrived!
Hey Everyone!
I don't actually know if anyone will be reading this, but if you are I hope that it won't disappoint! We got here yesterday at 10:15 local time ( aka 2:15 am for us). Needless to say, all we wanted to do was come back and sleep, but the James' were determined to make us overcome jetlag! So we came to the Artemis (the campus basically) and had a very mini orientation, after that we ate lunch. Food has never tasted so good! I don't know if it was just especially good food, or if we were just all so hungry! We then went on a walking tour of Porto Rafti. I wish that I could express how incredible this place is. I am absolutely in awe of how gorgeous it is, the view from my window is just breathtaking. I'll be sure to put pictures up on facebook soon!
We were out pretty much all day until dinner and then I came upstairs and unpacked because they wouldn't let us go to bed yet! Finally I did get some sleep. I woke up this morning around 7:30 and it's so crazy to me that everyone I love at home hasn't even gone to bed yet! I think I am mostly over the jetlag though, so that's a definite positive!
I hope that you're all doing well!
I don't actually know if anyone will be reading this, but if you are I hope that it won't disappoint! We got here yesterday at 10:15 local time ( aka 2:15 am for us). Needless to say, all we wanted to do was come back and sleep, but the James' were determined to make us overcome jetlag! So we came to the Artemis (the campus basically) and had a very mini orientation, after that we ate lunch. Food has never tasted so good! I don't know if it was just especially good food, or if we were just all so hungry! We then went on a walking tour of Porto Rafti. I wish that I could express how incredible this place is. I am absolutely in awe of how gorgeous it is, the view from my window is just breathtaking. I'll be sure to put pictures up on facebook soon!
We were out pretty much all day until dinner and then I came upstairs and unpacked because they wouldn't let us go to bed yet! Finally I did get some sleep. I woke up this morning around 7:30 and it's so crazy to me that everyone I love at home hasn't even gone to bed yet! I think I am mostly over the jetlag though, so that's a definite positive!
I hope that you're all doing well!
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