MERRY CHRISTMAS!

yup, this means i made it safely home- and nate too.
i got home yesterday, MN time, about 230pm in the afternoon. just in time to finish decorating the tree, eat some snacks, and then eat dinner and open presents w/family. it was my parents, my 2 brothers, my grampa (mom's dad), and nate and adam (nate's older brother who lives in st paul). it was really nice to see everyone and make it home in time for all the xmas eve festivities. we do it the scandanavian way, so we have all the activity on the eve of xmas, instead of xmas day. so getting home just in time made me really happy, to say the very least.

so, now im relaxing and enjoying the sNOW (!!) and delights of christmas day: food, fireplace fire, lounging in pj's, quiet, family, etc etc...... verrrrrrrrry nice.

it's good to be home and good to be back. merry christmas everyone.

"i'll be home for christmas....you can count on me......"

i lied...one more....THEN many goodbyes and much traveling.....

Well, i just finished my very-last-final.... ugh!! i DID it! it's all done and turned in and everything. i made it. end of story.
thanks for the support everybody! i have loved hearing lil emails or posts here and there :)

This morning at the center, it has been pretty dead up til about a few minutes ago, but i think because many ppl are done, theyre sleeping in and gonna come at the last minute (noon) for the last provided lunch in the cafeteria. it looks good from what i can see. theyre treating us pretty well this morning: esp w/REAL oj and lil cookie things too!

well, i just found out i got an 'A+' on my final and as a final grade for one class, so that's good. too bad the + doesnt transfer....HAHA!!
pretty sure i did fine on everything else, just need to contest one of my 4 final exam grades whenever the prof gets here. so not too bad for being away every weekend and dealing with and being absorbed into so MANY other things while studying and living abroad. there's so much more than just academics and it's been a struggle to do all that i wanted in both.

it's almost time for my last CYA lunch....

i think the rest of the day after lunch is going to be spent w/tessa shopping and wandering around town in our last few days here. and then maybe some big communal CYA dinner somewhere. it sounds like many lil groups of kids are planning things here and there and it should be a good relaxing and social time b4 everyone goes home.... and many of us never see each other again..... :(

i have gotten many email addresses and made plans to keep in touch w/many ppl, but it will never be the same....

i think THIS is finally it ppl. sorry for the tease yesterday. i may keep up a less often entered journal when i get back to keep in touch, but we'll see. it's not gonna be for a while. i think im gonna relax for a LONG time b4 i get going on any major projects again. i think making photo albums and reading non-text books is going to be the extent of personal projects over break.

so, take care, see ya soon, and best of luck to those of you whom im leaving for good....

-chris :)

'....no more 3 X 5's...............'

one more LEFT!!!...then many goodbyes...

well, i have finished all three of my exams, plus 2 other final papers. i have ONE PAPER LEFT TO FINISH!!! yaaaaaaay! im almost done, so that's good. as im sure youre all dying to hear about the academic ends to my experience here, ill save you from any more info, except that ill be done tomorrow.... [yay!!!]

well, ppl are starting to leave, esp. starting tomorrow after all the finals must be done and turned in. it's starting to get SAD!!!!..... many ppl, including my roomies leave this weekend, and a few next week.... and then i leave w/nate next thursday. ill prolly wake up singing the beatles again on my last day.

i think im struggling now to decide whether i should make a more reflective entry or what. so you get what you get ppl.
i am honestly ready to be done here and move on to a period of processing all this at home and spending time w/family and close friends from home. i am really gonna miss the ppl here and feel like (as always in experiences like this) that i have just gotten to know them and have become ever more close just in the last few weeks. i think i have been dwelling on these thoughts alot and have expressed some of them on here already, so i dont really feel like saying more right now.

dont know if i'll be making more entries before i come back, cuz my internet access is cut off at the end of the day tomorrow....so:
ill just say merry christmas, ho ho ho, and see ya soon!
if you wanna see pictures, gotta find me!
signing off for a while,
ciao, au revoir, yassu.


..yesterday...all our troubles seemed so far away....why'd she have to go? i dont know, she wouldnt say......oh, i believe in yesterday......

one down...

well, just took my first final for my Ancient Greek Athletics course. ive had a stomach ache since last night from stress, and now im starving since some of that stress has been released- hehe...that's gooooood. i think it went well, even if it was one of the hardest tests as far as studying goes, ever. we had to study alot of things, but only know a fraction on the test- sounds typical i know, but still. i prolly just stress too much, and it went really well i think, so should be no worries- but im not jinxin myself just yet. well, 5 finals to go.... (for 3 classes, mulitiple parts).... i can do it... must...keep...going.....
i think a bunch of us are gonna have pizza for lunch to celebrate our victory over the first hurdle...heh... mmmmmm....pizzzzza......

just an update on those law violators: they confessed and the innocent are legally acquitted, and the guilty must pay stiff fines + lawyers' fees, etc. no fun, but we're pretty much all back to normal now. life goes on. justice is served.

sometimes after looking at nate's blog i get all sad and jealous that i cant put pics up due to lack of digital camera...again- i apologize for the last few months, but oh well. you have nate's to look at and keep u occupied for the time being. when i get back im planning on making an album or 2 or 3...... come find me and ill share them w/you!

victoria- i found u something yesterday at the supermarket....something u cant get in the states!!!..... :)

well, the rest of the weekend, plus most of the rest of the week is going to be devoted to studying for finals, taking finals, writing finals (take-home exam parts), and finishing off term papers. everthing will be done by noon on friday the 17th---- hooooray! but til then, it's cram and crunch time! sounds like some name of a cheesy cereal......'cram and crunch' ...hmmm....

other than that, i havent lost my health yet, but i am sneezin a bit more- prolly from not gettin outside and gettin sunshine from all my indoor studyin. hopefully ill retain my health during this last week so i can finish up strong. that would most certainly be nice :)

well, this'll remain more of a short entry for today. who knows when ill write next, but just know that most likely ill prolly b reading or studying or taking tests, or trying to sleep here and there......

time 4 pizza

not so boring news.....!

well, today my horoscope from the onion is:
'Cancer: (June 22—July 22)Legends have it that the statue of Lincoln on the National Mall will stand up for an honest man, but they give no clue as to why it would show up in your driveway and take a nine-iron to your car.'
oh , the onion, you crack me up, make me swoon, and sometimes... just make me shake my head.

as of yesterday evening as i was gleefully walking AWAY from the premises of school with Tessa, she asked me if i "heard about saturday night". i said, no, and then she proceeded to tell an unjust tale of 5 CYA kids getting arrested by the Athens police, for none other than public drunkenness and FLIPPING A CAR. seriously, how do 5 scrawny kids, (she told me the names), EVEN DO that??? not to mention lack of coordination & judgement when drunk. plus, these kids are the studious kids that ppl LIKE. not the ones you'd expect to get in trouble- AT ALL. they spent BOTH saturday night AND sunday night in JAIL (!!!), and were released yesterday late afternoon. tessa and i actually ran into them coming towards school and asked them if they were alright. they were going to meet the CYA admin. ppl. this is only PART 1.

Part 2
so these totally unexpected dilinquent and publicly destructive kids told us, as other kids were saying, that they were framed, wrongfully accused, and seriously pissed off. as they should justifiably be provided this is true!!! so word got around later that night and this morning that a few other kids, who did NOT get arrested and jailed, were ACTUALLY responsible and not fessing up and letting the other kids take the rap.---which has generally agreed upon, except for those who partied w/the guilty all the time this semester, that this is completely cruel, low, and just downright wrong and mean. who wouldnt agree to that??
so, all the kids involved, presumed innocent and guilty, had to meet w/the CYA staff to sort it out and get the guilty to confess. if you knew the kids who are said to actually be responsible, you would still of course be disappointed, but honestly, NOT surprised. theyre the loud, arrogant partiers that many of us wonder about their reasons for being here in Athens and on study abroad. so yeah. in the end, apparently they finally fessed up after being severely pressured and all the backlash and post-confess dealings must be sorted out. there is no end of the story yet, just that those boys are in severe trouble and gonna have to pay serious fines and damage reparations. i mean, they trashed some random Athenian's car!!! and they made 5 innocent kids go to a foreign jail, (2 were girls, which i think is even more horrible- sorry feminists), deal w/not really ever knowing what's going on or what ppl are saying in Greek, same clothes, lost study time before finals, missed classes all day yesterday, TRAUMA and anger, etc etc etc. wow. so we'll see what develops, but i hope that those kids pay their just dues.
all i really know to say is that it made for interesting conversation between us students over the last 24 hours. just thought i'd share the story.... SHEESH!!!!!!!

on a lighter note, i saw the movie ALEXANDER last night. HAHAHAAHHAHA!!!! good god, it was horrible, despite the modest entertainment value. i wont even say anything about historicity cuz it's not worth my time or brain power. it's a fiction story, so i just dont care- im not toooo caught up in that type of thing ya know. it was hard not to laugh so much when collin farrel sucked through the whole thing & you just couldnt take him seriously cuz he didnt fit his character very well, and angelina jolie kept making evil faces and flaunting her massive mouth and playing w/snakes. anthony hopkins as Ptolomey was interesting as story-teller and his make up was cool, but he had no major part except the narration, i.e. his voice mostly. val kilmer: stick to batman and your batmobile. at least he had both eyes.
so there's my movie review. my suggestion: wait til the cheap theatres- it'll cost less than renting. HA!

so that's the update for now, except that the CYA farewell party for student, profs, and admin. is tonight. *sigh............

other than that, my 2nd to last philosophy class period. i must libate to the gods for this one.

ta ta

i was such a bore this weekend :(

This past weekend all i did was study. study. and more...yup, you guessed it,... studying. However, i must say that ACTUALLY having a weekend to catch up for a change, was nice- even if it's not the same as a wonderful field trip to some new greek place. seriously, all i did was study, and read, and work on a term paper- oh yeah & munch on 'Digestive' crackers which Kellie and i have grown to love. and NO theyre not really for digesting, just a stupid name. HA! i think the active highlight of my weekend was going for a walk around Kolonaki, my neighborhood, on saturday just to get some air and exercise... oh yeah, and get groceries. why do liesurely activities always end up turning into some practical and productive activity? oh well. i even went into Starbucks up the street for the first time since i got to Athens. once, i even referred to it absentmindedly as 'that american coffee shop' to my other roomie Simone. i just didnt care to remember the name! eh well, guess that's acculturation for ya.

as i told Katie, my other roomie, on sat. night, 'i think im turning into a vegetarian, but involuntarily!!! what the heck???!!' i think the fact that meat isnt offered everyday at the center for lunch and that meat is expensive to buy in the markets (or you have to go to a far away one for it to be packaged like at home in the states), i simply dont eat as much meat. AHHHH!!! it gets really annoying sometimes, but i have learned to work w/what i have and be a bit more creative. i cook veggie stir-frys ALOT w/the veggies from the friday street market. i put them on rice, or mix them into lentil soup. it does get really boring after a while and more than many things i miss from home, it's the variety of food. i think i really miss muffins. HAhaha...

i was, in fact, realllllly productive, school-wise, this weekend which was really good. i had so much reading to catch up on (and im sure youre all on the edge of your seats reading this). but seriously- i feel so much better about finals andwhatnot now. so thats GOOD.

well, i only have this week left of classes, 2 more sessions of each of my 4 classes (minus one cuz i had class already today). this is insane. i feel like it was just yesterday that i started and there were so many weeks ahead in the semester. i think semester has gone by faster than any other single semester of college yet. at times it may have felt the opposite and going slow, but mostly i feel like i just got here.

sarah- i started getting Beatles in my head again..... hey, jude....dont pass me by......

our freaking 'farewell dinner' is TOMORROW night!!!! things are starting to get sad... :( but i must say happy in ways too about coming home.

i might be going to see the movie 'Alexander' w/one of my profs tonight at 7; it just came out in greece last friday, as compared to november sometime for the US. of course, there are many of us ancient studies nerds that wanna go mock it...... hehhehehe..... i hear it's worse than Troy.... and Collin Farell plays a flaming gay-portrayed Alex. should be interesting from reviews ive had. anyone else seen it? post me comments!!!!!

ok, that's enuf 4 now. gtg do work--- it's finals time ya know!!!

hooray for internet & week almost over

so all day i have been surfing the internet and re-looking at the U of M housing website and found a lil link that brought me into a whoooooole new world! i got registered for this site and now am able to look at more postings for roommate possibilities and i may have even found one. it's preliminary, but another senior girl named emily who is currently studying in france for the semester has a place/apt for the spring/summer and needs a roomie. i'd have my own room & rent's not bad, and other features are not bad as well. this will have to be thought out and figured out, but so far one of the things i was stressed out the most about in regards to moving back home may soon be solved- or at least close to. there are many posts and that's only my first response (and even the one i liked the most!), so here's hopin.....
that's the good news.
more good news is that i had philosophy class today and generally i leave feeling utterly exhausted and have a huge headache. today, for some reason, the class including Elly our prof was just giggly and silly and off-topic alot talking about fat pigeons, Ned (smart mouth but funny kid), PEEPS (yes, the easter candy!!), and other such things. hahaha... we tried desperately to incorporate them into our talks regarding the philosopy of Aristotle and Parmenides, so class was entertaining to say the least. you folks who are helping me get this 'education', have no fear- this is not normal. but good god, it was a fun fluke!!!
also, at the end of class, Elly and i had planned to discuss my 1st midterm cuz i had questions. i even got my grade raised and she told me that is was a better grade to begin with than i had thought. i guess she grades not normally based on %s, or at least, not to normal US grading. so that was good.
3 good things so far--- wheeew! wow! :)
1 sad one is that nate is no longer in Athens and left yesterday evening to go back to Istanbul. he msg'd me via cell and now i know he's safe and sound back in his dorm. hopefully sleeping after that long bus ride!! it's good he's back to his daily routine and working again, but im still sad he's gone. only a few weeks tho, so i guess it's ok. the visit was so nice tho and we had alot of fun.
1 sad, but good at the same time thing is that i only have one week and one class left of school, not counting finals. of course there is still MUCH to be done, it only seems like a lil bit after sooo many weeks here already. for me, it's already been over 3 months since ive been home, having left end of august to travel b4 school. so in alot of ways im missing home pretty bad, but at the same time im thinking about having to leave ppl here- which is sad. ppl have already started talking about their fly-out dates and times and what theyre doing after the semester is over. so indeed departing is in the air. i think, as any departure from a place/experience like this, will be bitter-sweet.
classes are generaly going well so far, so that's good; but i guess we'll how it all ends up.
well, i guess it's time to leave the center and go home and study for all those papers, finals, etc......goody.
ciao

wow

wow- seriously. it's monday of my second to last week of classes, then finals week. that's the update on time...
nate got here last week and since then it's been really crazy and fun :) we've hung out w/some of my friends here and there, baked some monkey balls, watched kill bill vol. 2, walked around town, ate indian food (mmmmmmmmmmmmm) for thanksgiving w/8 other kids (waay fun), and generally gotten some good time to hang out. i have, of course had to still attend classes in between, do homework, and whatnot too. but nate knew that- so i set him to reading nerdy (but interesting!!!) books, or fixing my laptop, or watching movies while i work. sometimes he even makes me dinner and does the dishes when im working too.... what a nice boy........
i think that im really starting to miss aspects of home more and more as it gets closer to the end of the semester. for example,, last night when i was wondering around w/nate and we stopped at a kiosk and i looked at a TIME magazine for a few mins, i spaced out into american culture'ness, and when i snapped out of it and looked around- i think i almost had a mild heartattack from looking out at Athens again. it was weeeeird. it was like i changed countries really fast!! i cant believe how absorbed i got into that mag for just a few minutes; it's so american that i just got sucked in like into a vaccuum. i guess you get surprised at what lil things you miss....like english in print on the street. hehe...
i think that this weekend i wanna go find a monastery to visit because i havent been to one yet since being in Greece and this weekend is my last free weekend before finals, which start the following saturday. it'll be like my last horaah for an excursion out of athens. we'll see what interesting place i find. :)
well, i think it's time for dinner

post me a message if you love me!!!! i love posts!! :) :) :)

back in athens

so i made it through the weekend. wheeew.
we had a marathon day of 9 hours (!!!) on saturday at the site of Olympia, and w/o eating!!! it was very very crazy, and our prof's a field trip nazi. but hey, im here now. im very tired and have many things to do this week, esp since it's only a half week due to thanksgiving. maybe ill get it all done, maybe not. either way- indian food in substitute for turkey on thursday is going to be wonderful.
has everyone gotten their lovely postcards??? i hope so. mom & dad- u have another one coming, but i think i mentioned it. eh..
mary- i am so jealous of you going down to Schmidt's. BUT my bro and dad got 2 deer up north a weekend ago and hopefully therell still b some left when i get back!
i dont have much time today, but wanted everyone to know that im alive and NO more weekend field trips! this is good and bad of course, but mostly im glad to have my last few weekends free for whatever i want. thank god!
also, i wore an t-shirt, fleece hoodie, and a fleece jacket to class today- but it's sunny nevertheless. so yeah- it's cold now. the heat in our apt.s is minimal compared w/heating systems at home, so generally our apt is about 64-65 degrees F, or less if someone leaves a window open or theres a draft. boooooooooooo.
but yeah, gtg work now.
more later this week :)

maybe less of a book than usual today...hehe...

frikin hand that i have problems which is not being nice today, so this is gona b a shorter one. plus i figured that i better since i will b on a field trip all this weekend (FRI SAT and SUN) to Nemea, Isthmia, and Olympia for my Ancient Greek Athletics class. only this class of all of CYA is going, so no free weekend for us. i am really excited to go, but at the same time i am going to be fighting major fatigue and the need to write 3 papers in the next 2 weeks. so yeah, it's gonna be a long haul for the next few weeks. BUT it seems to be the last push before finals...and then leaving.... *tear & smile*.
Probably by the timeyou hear from me next, (prolly next mon-wed), Nate will be here! he's coming next Tuesday and staying for a week over my 4-day weekend for Thanksgiving!! yay!! good times, i say. i have to write 1.5papers while he's here tho, which is NOT going to be fun. oh well, he'll have to just have to go out into the city for a while w/o me or just read something while i work. either way, it's a nice vacation for him, i'd assume.

well, Athens has finally been officially biten by what i would call 'Duck Opener' weather. seriously, today i was FINALLY able to put on a sweater and not be too warm by 10am in the sun. it's finally what we Minnesotans call 'chilly,' and the Athenians call 'cooooold.' HA! it's pretty funny seeing some of the other kids from aroudn the US dressing differently too. one girl was wearing a long skirt, prolly too chilly for those southern girls, so i gave her my props. plus, those flip-flops man!; theyre good any time of year. and no, not all the time... NATE!!!

in other news (um, this is getting long isnt it?) Catherine (best friend girly) has perhaps found her niche in the psychological world of deaf culture and is applying to a school in D.C. for next year. go Cat!!!!!!!!! oh yeah, and she's still alive, contrary to popular assumption in my brain in which i feel like i have no idea sometimes..... hehe... love you!

ok, need to study and get goin on those papers. perhaps go get a philosophy headache too, and this aint no ice cream headache!! it's much, MUCH worse!!!
ok ciao

hum dee dum

just another day in Athens it seems... yes i know, that may seem wierd to some of you, but this place has become 'that place where i live, sleep, breathe' etc etc. you learn to adapt.
the weekend's saturday field trip to Brauron and Sounion, as mentioned in the previous entry, was truly wonderful. Sounion was more than amazing and honestly- i just didnt wanna leave. shudda just stayed there and chilled for the rest of the day. eh- they dont need me on the bus!! i cudda got my own! oh well, i followed protocol; cattle mentality i say! mooooooooo!
anyone know who Lord Byron was? well, in short, he mocked Lord Elgin when he took/stole/(whatever you wanna call it) the parthenon marbles and MANY other things that did not legally belong to him back to England (and now in the British Museum) out of Greece. Byron was a fan of Sounion and i saw his name/grafiti on an inner pillar of the temple of Poisidon there! neat huh?

when i got back that evening, which was about 4-5ish (actually pretty early for a field trip!!) i just crashed...and burned... completely and utterly out-of-gas. i think 2 months of non-stop go-go-go and not much of the weekends free finally caught up w/me...funny thing. ha. not. i slept from 5p-9p. got up did hw til 1ish. then back to bed and slept til 1030am the next morning. i felt sooo groggy the next day! almost toooo much sleep! bet nate is thinking- "how could that be??" haha..... so i stayed in and caught up on more hw, esp since it poured down rain all afternoon and into the evening. man, i dont think i have ever taken so much down time since i got here. truly, truly- it was amazing; perhaps even a gift of the gods.

so- later that evening was the celebration of 'great-granny's', er... i mean, Tessa's 22nd bday. we went out to eat, then cake (batter mostly-- THEO! haha..... damn greek ovens), then to the Red Lion pub. downed the carbomb, got tessa smashed, then went home and slept some more. man- this was quite the restful last weekend! now that im wrting about it, i cant believe how much i just slept! man- my dad would prolly say somehting like, "youre sleeping your life away!!! get out and DO something!!" well, sometimes i guess we all need a break, even if just once. dont suppose ill get another one til christmas, so then was my chance if ever.

so far, yesterday and today have been really a rollercoaster ride. i think sometimes issues that you think have become latent in your mind, or seem irrelevent to your life at the moment can unexpectedly blind-side you, really hard. it's not like life stops moving, or you think you cant get past it, but you DO indeed have to deal w/it nevertheless. i think living in such an enviroment that you didnt live in for 20years of your life and had become accustomed to, you learn that things can catch up to you- there is no getting away. geographical space has no relation to yourself, and that's a very important lesson to learn. i know this is vague, but more than anything, the jist of it is most important. lesson of the week: deal with issues as they arise; do not put them off. you will learn more, move on faster, be happier, and perhaps grow closer to those around you.
cheers to that.
im out.

bad jokes and silly ancient dialogues at the theatre

so, ya know how i said "tut tut looks like rain"?? well, it's been raining alot on and off all week! mostly downpours at night, but nice amounts occassionally during the days. it usually lets up pretty quick though- thank goodness. reminds me alot of MN though with all the humidity; i cant say that im too thankful for that however.... :/~

SO- this morning was soooooooooooooooo much fun!!! i had a presentation on the Asklepieion on the south slope of the acropolis here in Athens for my Sites and Monuments of Athens/Attica class. i was actually pretty excited about it cuz ive learned to really like doing on-site presentations. i feel like theyre just so much easier and i like being in that outdoor and more REAL setting. i think perhaps i glow a bit more too when ppl listen- in all modesty. when youre more interested in something, i think it shows in how much work you put into it and when you have more enthusiasm in what youre doing. so yeah, needless to say much more- i was really excited actually.
ok- my class moved up to the site where my monument was and i got going on the presentation. i think i did really well too! yay! :) here's the best part: so, since i started work on my pres' n i had known this joke that i told James at Epidauros (a field trip site w/another sanctuary to Asklepios, like my monument). when we were there, we got to go to a room w/unpublished finds. these finds were clay or stone figures of legs, arms, eyes, torsos, genitalia, heads, hands, etc. the reason is because Asklepios was the god of healing and in his sanctuaries he did just that: heal. often ppl, before they left, made and dedicated these figures to the sanctuary and god in thanks for that part healed, or something like that. this was a very common find also at my monument in Athens, so i got the idea to tell the joke that i told james at Epidauros in my presentation..... and i found the balls to do it too.......... it goes as follows, and bear with me on this one: 'it seems to me that the Asklepios cult was one of many members.....'
HA!
yup, it's bad, but i grabbed ppl's attention back mid-presentation; and honestly, i love crappy jokes. so forgive me. hahahaha........
i think the joke went over well cuz i got alot of sheepish grins, laughs, and head shakes of shame.... go me... ;)

another funny thing that happened on the Athens farm today:
so my bestest roomie Kellie, the crazy stanford girl and my only bedroommate..., was the other person up for her presentation in that class today. hers was on the Theatre of Dionysos, which is right next to the Asklepieion. She presented following my pres'n on the slope above the theatre seating area (much of the lower tier and the orchestra are still in tact!! and very pretty view out over the city!!). it really was the nerdiest class ever... honestly.
this morning before class kellie slyly asked me, "chriiiiis.... do you have your Nalgene around....? and can i borrow it....?" i said of course, cuz i thought id heard about her plan for class this morning... hehe... we brought her Nalgene and mine [1 liter/32oz sturdy water bottles] into the kitchen and...out comes a 2 liter bottle of red wine!!! yeaaaaaaah!! for those of you who dont know who the god Dionysos was, he was strongly associated with the performing arts, esp. theatre, and also tremendously with wine (Roman equivolent = god Bacchus). so kellie felt it highly appropriate that we entertain our classmates at 930am with a lil somethin. might as well get started early right? it iiisss friday... ha...
anyway, so she gave her presentation and pulled out the wine at the end which was fun to split up 23 ways and just have a nice sip. it felt so classics nerdy, but it was spectacular.
BUT WAIT! just before she whipped out the wine, she asked for a couple volunteers to do a short performance from some ancient Greek playwrights' plays she'd brought along. Tessa and I happily volunteered, despite having no idea what we were doing. we chose a section from Aristophones a part about women being the saving graces of 'Hellas', i.e. Greece. yaaaaay! we leapt from our seats in kellie's crowd and enthusiastically put on a short performance there in the stone bleachers. i think we thoroughly amused ourselves and the class, as well as perhaps slight embarrassment, but who cares??? it's for Dionysos and the sake of archaeology and classics!! plus, i think i already thoroughly amused myself with my joke in my own pres'n......hahaha..... also- Aristophanes was meant to be PERFORMED and READ ALOUD!!!! not just read silently in a book!!! so, it was quite fitting.
*wheew. * it was quite a morning, i must say. god, i love this place!!!

other thrills from today was prolly the outdoor friday market 2 streets up from me where i bought some mysterious fruit to try and other good veggies and pink flowers. plus, i registered for my last (hopefully and should be) semester of college!!!! aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!! i did this online since ive been at the center (school). god, i dont wanna move into the real world and graduate!! how do ppl do this?? this is all ive known for how many years of my life?? well, for those of you wondering, i am certainly taking a year off of school after i graduate from the UofMN. then for the next year will be applying for graduate schools, most likely. i can never say definitely cuz you never know what life will throw your way, but that's the plan.

alright, i think that's enough fun for today! wish me fun tomorrow on my field trip to Brauron and Sounion! going to see temples or Artemis and Poseidon, respectively!!!!! yaaaaay!!

alright, im outta here..........!!!!!!!!........ it's Napolean Dynomite and Monty Python night at my place!!

tut tut looks like rain

well folks- looks like my superstar computer science boyfriend has taught me to do some elementary programming. see that nice lil link over there on the right side -----> that i just added called 'some photos by nate', yup, I DID THAT!!!! go me. check it out! now you dont have to change windows to nate's blog to see them. it should open into a new window and my blog page should remain separate. hooray!!!
anywho, yesterday i turned in my first REAL philosophy assignment ever, and certainly my first midtem for anything of the sort. i think i put alot of effort into that sucker! damn philosophy is hard! but at least it seems to be the study of common sense, only talked about in really big complicated terms like: ontologically, transcendentally, epistemologically, instantationally, etc etc. not to mention tryin to get a grasp on the differences between subjectivism and relativism, based on that dude Socrates. thank god im not a phil. major. all those ppl are crazy and unsatisfied creatures looking for some greater light, ... or something.
so i think we have officially hit Athenian 'winter'. it's more cloudy these days and rains a bit more, but mostly it's been overnight. i dont know about today though...looks like a cab ride home from school due to no umbrella might be in the near future. hopefully not. i know many of you back home might be thinking, "WHATTTTT????" when i say that i miss snow and i hope xmas brings some for the day i get home. maybe after my folks get me at the airport.... ha...
bring it on!
i have a presentation on friday morning on the south slope of the acropolis on the Asklepeion. perhaps you know what that is, perhaps not; either way, im doing another on site presentation guys! crazy! im pretty excited. if i can stay awake through friday that is. we have another field trip this weekend to Brauron and Marathon. looks like Sounion, on the southern cape of Attica is canceled due to lack of time. maybe over thanksgiving. then the following weekend we go all fri-sun. to Olympia, Nemea, and Isthmia for my Ancient Greek Athletics course. THAT is gonna be awesome! for those who arent familiar, these are 3 sites of the ancient panhellenic games, for example the ancient Olympics. way cool.
today we had this thing for lunch called 'spinacopita', or at least that's how it sounds when you write it out. it's this flaky bake w/spinach inside. it's not that great, so yeah, im still kinda hungry after lunch. in all honesty, id much prefer just plain, fresh spinach. some of this Greek food is great, but just as any american food- ya win some, ya lose some. jenn brought me dark chocolate milko last night though........ what a sweetheart.... <3 :)
so, some of us have already been talking about Thanksgiving plans. Nate is coming to visit too, so this time he will get to meet my friends, as i met his in Istanbul. im mostly excited for that part of his visit. it's so much fun to share your friends and see who the other person interacts with on a daily basis. sounds like Indian food is on the menu for Thanksgiving dinner!! not turkey pizza like i told auntie Jen.... haha. if anyone has ever had Indian food, you know exactly why we're going!! if not- you NEED to get out to an Indian restaurant and TRY IT!!! it's the most flavorful and wonderful food ever! very suitable for vegetarians also. :) catherine...alison... i miss mango lassies!!! Nate and i went to an Indian restarant, (as he shares my love for this food), i think in almost all of the cities we visited in Europe....HAHA! those Indians really know how to spread the love! Next stop- Bankok....or whatever cites are over there.... plus- Kellie my roomie has gotten me hooked on Bollywood. it's like the Indian productions of way awesome musical films, like Hollywood is to the States. check it out if you ever are board and want to browse Blockbuster for it!
i think my books are beckoning me to read about the heavy events of greek athletics and the Mycenaean citadels........
that's all for now folks! :)

wow...it's been a while...oops..!!

ok everyone, i would first like to apologize for not writing in about a week! i have been terribly busy and also for some reason more excusable- my blog site has not wanted to let me sign in and enter a new entry!! stupid blog... regardless- sorry for no update recently!! :(
well, ill start out by saying that Nate's entry about my trip to Istanbul is a much better narrative than mine and also he has PICTURES which are extremely funa nd hilarious in some instances, so i would suggest checking it out. his link is over there on the right.... --->
also, i dont think i have recooperated from istanbul; i think as the semester moves further and further forward, i get less an less sleep. this past week has been extremely busy and tough in different ways, but always a good surprise here and there :)

this past monday and tuesday i got back all my midterms and it turned out that i did well on everything, which made me sooooo happy. we all pretty much had no idea how we would do w/all the random profs from everywhere, so that was a big relief- esp. since all my grades are being transferred in on the A-F scale and not Pass-Fail. wheeew! so one good thing from last week.

between all the studying and business of school last week i managed to spend alot of time w/tessa, jenn, james, anthony, and mike. i feel like i am getting so close to some ppl and i am realizing that i have really made some good friends here that i am really going to miss later. i am really thankful for them is all i can really say. of course it isnt just those guys i mentioned, but so many other ppl as well.

also, i got a package from home! it had a couple essentials i needed and also some nice goodies!! thanks mom and dad!!

this weekend was really awesome too, but i must be completely honest- i really had to gather the last amounts of energy i had to get through it. last week was incredibly fun and full, but also very sleepless. yesterday was a class field trip to the site at Delphi, famous for the Pythian games, its oracles, and countless important remains and monuments from throughout antiquity. it really was the most amazing place.
all of the scenery reminded me of the hills in Crete, which made it pretty nostalgic of the summer, and also very Rockies-like in some ways. the site is essentially on the side of a hill which makes the view out from the site very beautiful. it looks out to the SW towards the Corinthian Gulf and to the SE towards more hills and valleys shrowded w/tales from Greek mythology. here there is a stadium, theatre, a few treasuries, evidence of thousands of dedications and statuary, a gymnasium, temple of apollo, tem. of athena, a mysterious tholos, and countless other awesome things to see. i think for a mainland site this was probably my favorite so far, and we still have Olympia, Marathon, Brauron, Sounion, etc to go! i think the wonderful weather we had helped as well; nice clear views and perfect hiking conditions.

one really funny story from the site is this MASSIVE BOULDER that appeared just a couple years ago....
so down near the Tholos and Temple of Athena on one of the lower slopes there is this humungus rock, prolly a few tons in weight and maybe if it were more circular would be 8-10feet in diameter. so this thing is huge- massive- a 'monumental' rock, so to speak. because of the extremely high cliffs and earthquakes in greece,, the surrounding roads along the ridges have 'attention falling rocks' signs here and there. well, this is one of them. this thing fell after an earthquake or tremor in the last decade after 'bouncing' off some lower cliff and gettin projected at least 20-30 yards out from the face. yup, it missed the base of the face, and the road, and the land on the other side of the road ( and then some) and plumeted down right into the middle of a temple or stoa, (now in ruins), and damaging nearly nothing, but still scaring the hell out of the greek workers at the time!! it just amazes me how out of place this rock looks. and it also makes me laugh to think how much mroe comical the situation could ahve been,, from an archaeological point of view. the boulder could have landed on the last standing remains of the tholos, or if the temple it landed on was still standing, one could not have helped to think, "this blasted thing lasted throughout the AGES, and now some random ROCK lands....NOW to destroy it????" ah yes, the historical mind at work. either way, it was funny to me. sorry if that story was not as fun to you....haha....

after leaving athens at 730am that day, we finally got back home at 730pmish. of course we got up about 6am, ate about 650am, ate lunch waaaaaaaaay after schedule to to site time restrictions at 245pm, then got back so late. needless to say we were a tired, hungry bunch most of the day. but i think most of us enjoyed it nevertheless. it's always a stuggle to enjoy these places while we have a chance to be there and also fighting our daily needs. i think it's reallya mental game every time.
so after this, a couple of us got a gyro (greek buritto type thing, super cheap) to fill us up and then parted to go crash gracefully in the confort of our beds. god i was tired. i was in bed and hit the lights by 930. i also didnt get up til 10am. (even if i was woken up twice by my noisy roommate kellie...but at least she's note like last year's....ha)

i dont think i would have even gotten out of bed til after noon this morning if it werent for something to do...as usual. today was the annual Athens Marathon!!! as i have come to start running more and more myself, and also tomorrow i have a presentation in my Ancient Greek Athletics class on 'the origin and history of the marathon race', i felt it more than appropriate that i go and watch the runners. they finish in the ancient stadium, which is conveniently located 30feet from the front door of our school. HA! yay for that, just to start.
so i got there about noon, just as the runners were coming into town and coming towards the finish line. the whole street they were running on, from the east into the city, was blocked off to the stadium. there are buildings all along the sides up until the street my school is on, which is the last corner that blocks the view of the stadium. i clapped and cheered and watched from the median of the road right at this corner. i think i picked the best place cuz it was right where all the runners got their first sight of the stadium: the sign of near completion of their 26.2 mile journey. once they got to this point, there was prolly less or about a 1/4 mile left. i at first was by myself, amonst other cheerers of course, by no other CYA'ers until about an hour later. i got to watch ppl's faces smile and beam as they hit this point of the course; i saw in their faces that look of, "oh my god i made it. im almost there. i can do this. thank god. i am so proud of myself. i simply cannot believe this." i also saw ppl get out their national flags and wave them, or point to their screen-printed t-shirt w/a picture of perhaps a lost friend or family member, or take pictures of fellow runners in their group. it really was the most moving thing ive seen in a while, primarily because of the first thing- the look on the runners' faces. i totally hadnt expected that feeling to come over me, but it did and did strong for about the first hour while i was there watching and cheerin them on. there's just something really moving and touching about ppl finishing a marathon and also seeing all the fans cheering on EVERYONE as they came in to the last leg....i cheered for italians, japanese, romanians, swedes, americans, germans, greeks, aussies, mexicans, etc etc etc even though i didnt know them. it's such a great experience and eviroment to be around. it is undeniably incredibly inspiring. if you ever get a chance to watch a marathon finishing, i would suggest going. maybe next year ill go watch the twin cities or gramma's. perhaps one day it could be me- only time will tell.

so later in the day i went over the acropolis to do some work for school, and also to take some pictures of the area, cuz the last couple times i was there i didnt bring my camera. pretty sure i used more than a whole roll just in that area... crazy.
then i headed home after buying some pistachios off an old greek guy w/a lil stand.

now, here i am typing to you guys out there somewhere and getting ready to so some hw.

so that's all for now. hope everyone else out there is having some awesome adventures like me.

hey mary- how are the gophers and badgers doing? any butting of heads yet??

l8r kids

a lil lovin from istanbul and the kal'zoo kiddies...

'hey jenn!!!
ya cant park yer van by the pool!!!
oh wait!!
that's just yer ass!!!
hey fatty, fatty fatty
wannanother dunkin donut?
fatty fatty?
dunkin donuts???'
-james

did i mention that i saw the movies Dodgeball and The Terminal this last week in Turkey??? well, i did, and they had TURKISH subtitles!!! ahhh!! it was crazy, but i learned some more turkish!! i mean how do the turks translate a pirate's 'yaaaaaaaaaaar maties!!!' anyway???

sometimes i feel like i just cant type enough in these things. so i think today ill stick w/this and wait till inspiration strikes tomorrow.
ta ta

nct: h 1 10 a! ilysm

i was in ISTANBUL!!! yeah!!!!

geeeeeeez it's been a while since i last wrote! i am soooo sorry!!
well here i am now. so arent you glad?????? of course you are!!!

MERHABA!!! (hello in Turkish)
it all started last saturday...........

i got on the bus w/jenn and james at 6pm in athens, turkey- bound. yeah!! the bus ride, we were told was 20-22 hours long. at first you think, 'man that is one long-ass ride!!!'. but then you remember how much time you have been spending on buses to and from sites and hotels on field trips w/school and decide that it's not going to be that bad. plus, we have each other to keep us company.
the company we took was a turkish co., so the moment we met the driver and assistants we KNEW we were going to turkey; they spoke NO english and were speaking to us about our tickets in turkish. i knew i was in for a ride now. so we were off on our adventure.
we stopped every few hours to pee and stretch and get food, or pick up/drop off more passengers, so that was nice. one of the bus driver guys was really funny and kept showing us his britney spears album and telling us 'disco! disco!' and pointing at us like we were supposed to just start dancing right there. he was really funny. he even came and sat right next to us, in the open seat next to james and started looking at my British Cosmo mag w/him. he asked our names and when he heard Jenn's he kept saying, ' Jennifer Lopez????' and then he would point at the models in the mag and then point to us w/a funny look in his eye. i know he was just trying to have funa nd communicate, but still, it's funny what foreigners will associated w/americans. please god, make britney go away!!!!
so, we didnt really sleep much that night on the bus and got to Istanbul about noon-1ish, and finally got off the bus around 130 or 145p last sunday. it was the most wonderful feeling in the world to get off that bus...... streeeeeeeetch!!!
that morning was pretty aweseom though, as we were rolling into the city. jenn and james had claimed a couple other seats (our bus wasnt very full) and had been sleeping for a few hours and out cold, or at least trying to be. i was laid back in my seat trying to sleep too, when i must have broken my dozing for some reason and my eyes cracked open a bit to what seemed like daylight. i woke up just in time to see the sun coming up all nice and bright orange/pink over the city. i dont really remember where we were or what time it was, but it was sooo beautiful. i could see sea, town, and a skyline dotted w/the many, many minarettes of the mosques that seemed to start popping up everywhere once we got into turkey. minarettes are like tall, thin, steeples/poles- looking things, which is part of the architecture of the mosques; most seem to have 4 of them. back to the view though, it was like i was still in a dream, or a movie or something; you never expect to see views this beautiful when you travel, they just kinda happen. all i could do was just sit back and appreciate it. there are so many times when i want to take a picture, but i know no silver film, or digital pixels could ever replace what the human eye can perceive; there's something overwhelming about just being there at the right time.
"no more 3x5's......."
after waking up to that, i was pretty psyched to get to Istanbul, but in some calm sort of way. i never felt like jumping up and down, even though i was even going to see Nate; just excited inside and ready to take in what would be thrown at me.
we got to the bus station and only waited about 30 minutes for Nate to get there, which is pretty good considering we got there a lil early and getting through town is pretty crazy. nate led us through town via the metro and tram system to the lil budget hotel we were staying at. its entrance was covered in scaffolding and was in an 'alley' right off one of the main huge roads of our area. it was across from a club and bar, which got kinda loud at night, but that was not too bad, really. the main street was called 'Istiklal' and we musta wandered up and down this street soooooo many times, just shopping, eating, and ppl-watching, which was in fact pretty fun. the men there did not stare at us, me and jenn, NEARLY as much as the greek men in athens do. this certainly was a nice change. i know they did it still, but maybe i just didnt notice as much, or something. i dunno.
one of the first things us american-athenians did was withdraw the local currency: the Turkish lire..... it comes in millions!!! or rather, 'milyons'. i took out 200 milyon!!!!!!!!!!!! which is about 136 american dollars... hahahahha...... plus, turkish stuff is pretty cheap, so that, plus 20milyon more is all i spent pretty much the whole time, including paying for the hotel. and then my 96 euro (aobut 130- some USD) bus ticket- so yeah, i did pretty good! it's strange to see gasoline prices listed in milyons/liter, let me tell ya!!!
much of the week was spent shopping, wandering around, eating at different greek places, wallowing in the graces that a foreign Dunkin Donuts can offer to a weary American tired of weird foods/coffee, hanging out w/Nate's dormmates from all over the world, etc etc. one day, i think tuesday, i (jen and james stayed and slept and did their own thing) went w/Nate to his work! that was really cool. it took us 2 buses to get there, but only about 30 min.s in traffic. it was definitely an experience in riding in the craziness of Istanbul streets, crazier than say Rome and even Athens. im never really scared of riding in the manic streets anymore; it's just kinda normal. i think sometimes im going to be more scared of american roads again cuz ppl in the states just dont pay attention. here, they just push and shove, but at least everyone is alert. seriously, who knows which is the 'worser' evil. ha....
Nate works at a very nice university building w/a nice cafeteria and office. he doesnt have any windows which is sad and dreary, but at least 2 other ppl have their desks there, if they ever show up. it seems nice to me, but too cubicle-like for my tastes, but i guess computer nerds kinda have to get used to that stuff. it's not like big comp. projects can really be done tiny portable laptops. i went to work w/Nate!!! :)
one night we all cooked 'american' food for a bunch of Nate's roomies and co. apparently it's tradition for visitors of the AEISEC kids (that's nate and friends) to make a dinner for the AEISEC'ers with food from their home country. being that we were 3 american kids, but coming from Athens, we decided to make burgers and coke and make a Greek sauce to put on the burgers called 'tziki'. it's very common in greece, and realllllllly good, so we just combined the 2. i think everyone liked it and we fed about 15 ppl or so for 44milyon!!!! that's about 1.5-2 USD/person. pretty good ay???!!!! that was fun cuz nate's dorm has this huge kitchen made of steel and big pots and pans...and a few cockroaches here and there. did you know that cockroaches are an animal (if not the only one) that can suvive nuclear blasts??? you can chop their heads off and theyll survive for over 2 weeks until they die of starvation. and it takes an exorbatant amount of force to crack their shells. yup, this is what i learned over making dinner in turkey.
god i love boys and their knowledgable selves. woohoo.... not.
another day later in the week we all went down across the bridge to another part of town to see the big mosques: the hagia sophia and the blue mosuqe. we took our pictures and then went on to the HUGE bazaar. it was like a labrynth of tunnels and archways lined to the ceilings w/magic carpets, bags, bejewled clothing, shoes, dancing symbols, jewelry, and most of all turks trying to sell you absolutely everything. 'hey america! come over here!' 'hey lady! come spend your money on my rug!' 'pretty shirt for a pretty lady!' yup, this is what they said. and seriously, i wish i could get away from looking so american sometimes. i try and it just doesnt work. damn these blue eyes sometimes. well, actually i like them. so nevermind. ill just wear my sunglasses in dark places. that's all i really can do. oh yeah, skip the shorts and tank-tops kids- you are sure to be red-flagged for those, no doubt. guys, grow a beard and other facial hair, esp if it's dark....unless of course you are genetically deficient like James..... ;) hehe.....
anyway, the bazaar was incredible, but after a while you can only take so much hassling and run out of money, so we had to leave... hehe.
we watched a few rip off dvds on nate's laptop during the evenings that jenn got from a street vender for 2 mil a piece, which is about 1.36/dvd. they werent all highest quality, but mostly all of them worked fine. but hey! that's about a 15th of the US price!!! at least!!
by the way, do not EVER buy guinness (which i didnt) in Turkey. it has an extremely high import cost attached to it. one can ( and the small ones! not the pint size!!) cost 20 mil!!! which is about 12 USD!!!! no way man!!!!! but the irish stew i had was spectacular. mmmmm.... they kept playing U2 in the bar the whole time.....haha.....
i got some nice souvenirs and had some fun, and then it was time to go home on friday morning, 10am. got home the next day at 530am. slept 6a-1p. first time i really slept since i left. mmmmm....my own bed........flannel sheets............
nate went off w/some family friends (sorta) to the Black Sea right after i left! lucky boy! it's his dad's friend's sister and family who basically adopted him for the weekend. i wish i'd been able to stay for that! oh well.
well, i think ive written quite alot, so ill leave some more for later.
oh yeah, i had the best baby powder fight ever this past week too. pictures to be posted by nate soon........ check out nate's blog this week and his link to his pics for more picture fun.. ;)
take care, l8r

random clipping

regardless of which presidential candidate you want to win, would you honestly like Teresa Heinz Kerry, as depicted in this article, to be your next first lady???:
teresadisseslaura
what a big mouth bee-atch


ok,back to work


*Goldy doesnt cry. and besides: it takes courage for a man to cry, but it takes more for another man to laugh at him. tell THAT to Bucky.......Mary...........

'what'er we gonna do to-day brain?

'do what we do everyday, pinky....take over the world!!!!'

alright, so im not conquering the world, but i hear the films about Alexander (the Great) are coming out soon. oh god help us...... at least they have 2 completely differnt actors , shud b weird comparing leo decap, and colin farrel, or however u spell that. ha hopefully the action will b good, but doubtful theyll 'live up to' Troy,.......hahahah... 'live up to'...that's not much.... for a classics nerd who would criticize the accuracy the whole time anyway. i want the Aeneid to come out. so there. come on, i can like crappy rip-offs of classic epics and epic heroes!

yes mary, there are replica of the boars tusk helmets somewhere
sarah- u could even go the CYA in the spring- it's mostly juniors anyway, just a thought

i heard the twins lost in their games a while ago, but that the Red Sox are gonna kick serious Yankee ass since their 3 game come back has never been done b4!!! (i listen to the new england boys talk all day long... heh...)

oh yeah, MARY: gophers will always kiick serious badger butt. hands down. mwahahahah... wait for the hockey season to take full force........u just wait......

as for me, between telling myself to thrive on chaos and live for the moment (primarily so i dont get stressed out...) i am trying to get midterms done and do well on tests and stuff. im slowly getting better from my bad cold, which is good too. i found out the wonderfulness of pears today! never liked them fresh/whole b4, until lunch was bad today from the cafeteria....haha..... so yeah, lil discoveries......i tell ya.
bought my bus ticket to Istanbul earlier this morning!!!! i feel so much bertter now that i have it and know where to catch it too, so that's one less stress off my mind. Tessa's not going w/me.... :( but im still gonna have a rockin time. nate is looking into the activites for the week for me/us. im even prolly gonna go to one of his 3 hour Turkish language classes! ooo! ooo! another language to try to get me interested in learning! im really gettin into this language thing,a nd really enjoy learning them all. i guess it's not something u ccan clearly decide u like and/or are good at until youve traveled around, even if a lil bit. so yeah, i again think im on the right discipline of study track.

so it's like in the mid to upper 70's here today w/clear blue skies and i can still wear a tank top and shorts....how bout that you minnesotans!!!! the state guards by the parliment buildings ALREADY changed to their winter garments!!! theyre insane! whatever, ppl wear jackets in 60 degree weather here. i dont get it. guess it's the MN blood. id better retain some of just that if im coming home in mid-December. the change is gona be WEEEEIRD.
i finally talked to catherine on the phone (best friend)!!!! sooooooooo happpy! i miss you girly, love you! that made me soo happy yesterday when a voice was finally there when i tried to call!
well, i had better go, i have a test in 20min and need to skim my notes
take care

a supplication to the midterms:
'trouble get behind me now, trouble let me be'

post-argolid stress syndrome, but trudging along just grandly

wow- i am so sick, you guys! i am coughing and sniffing, and blowing my nose, and sinus headaches.....yup the works. some bug was going around last week, and mhm, you guessed it- this past weeekend was the acme of it going around and ppl getting sick. we all eat, sleep, study, live, etc pretty much all in the same place all the time- so it's easy to pass a virus. in any case, at least it's a communal problem and we're trying to all take care of each by rotating the filling of Nalgene bottles, buying cough drops, and making lemon teas for each other.....oh yeah........ and having coughing fits in classes amidst the lectures of profs. that's kinda funny, but we cant help it!!!
this weekend was really fun, including the COMPLETE AND TOTAL RAINOUT at Mycenae. we were walking out of a hidden well tunnel and wham! down came the rain and washed the students out........ we pretty much all ran back to the bus sopping wet and laughing (well, the light-hearted of us), and ended that stop early, and ate on the bus, which the busdriver wasnt too happy about and wanted to crucify our director for.... eh well, what can ya do? the humidity dropped away so that was AWESOME, and we were all in it together, so being wet and laughing about it was about all we could do. besides, everyone needs a good run in a downpour once in a while :) just try to forget the jeans kids.....
the weather got better and we moved on, and finally went back to the hotel in Nauplion, the first official capital of Greece, ie. before Athens. we stayed there both friday and saturday nights. Friday, a bunch of us just goofed around in the hotel rooms and watched the boys wrestle and sing long loud ballads of stupid songs, and on saturday night i crashed at about 645pm, woke up at 8 to brush my teeth and pee, and went right back to bed; i was so sick then and was sooo happy i just passed out. the next morning i thanked myself after feeling a lil bit better and not so exhausted. apparently ppl wondered where i went and laughed when they heard i was in bed by 7pm, but then kicked themselves the next day when their sorry, sick selves were completely wasted w/fatigue. HA! i win!
i got something for you Catherine...........
other than this, gettin to know ppl was awesome as usualy, including a particular prof that i dont have but was a leader on my bus for the weekend. he's canadian, but lives all over and has family all over n. america and europe. taught at many prestigious places and very fun to talk to. i knew he reminded me of someone in how he talks, and i finally pinned it down to Uncle Doug. he has that dry whit, but intelligence right along w/it that just cracks me up. apparently this guy's sister (he has like 9 siblings) is the writer for the HBO series 'Six Feet Under' about the mortuary family and has done many other hit things. craaaaaaaazy i tell you. man, i tell ya, just talking to a new person for 30-45mins is fun, not to mention selfish reason such as getting your foot in the door or getting ideas for your future.
anywho- i have sooooooo much hw this week it's insane, not to mention trying to get visa and travel stuff in order for this next week to Turkey!!!!! trying to keep myself grounded and on the ball day to day, but it gets hard when your excited to take a break...everyone knows this....

'peace and lovin, man' -stefany w/the sprained ankle

striking greeks, stray dogs, and the Arrrrgolid

so this morning my Sites and Monuments of Athens class had to be altered quite a bit due to nagging, striking Greeks who work at all the museums and sites of Athens. apparently they strike in turns or rotation between the places they work and so today: the Agora was closed, which our class was supposed to go into. boo on them! so we had to climb an extraordinary hill to get a view over the fence. hey, we always need some exercise, right?
class proceeded as normal, until this one Alpha Male stray dog followed us and tried to guard us like a shepard, like it did last time we were at the Agora. yep, it BIT 2 different guys as they were walking though our group!!! crazy!! it was really hard to get through class worrying about this dog, having class on some random street where cars kept coming through but was supposed to be a pedestrian walkway- stupid cars... stupid dogs.... stupid striking Greeks. all i can say is: my poor teacher who had to deal and manage through it all, and i would say, fairly successfully taught a little class in between. 3 cheers for her. really!

this weekend is the class trip to the Argolid, the peninsula across the lil sea from Athens/Piraeus, before the Pelopenessos (going West from Athens, Attica region). check out a map! We're going through Corinth, and to Tyrins, and Argos, etc etc.!!! gonna be awesome!! we may even get to go swimming sometime too, which is always nice- even if the weather all of a sudden turned into 'almost sweatshirt' weather pretty much overnight this week. it thunderstormed 2 nights ago and downpoured rain all night; the the humidity was gone, and somehow the wonderful athens warmth decided to follow suit. boo.... :(
i will be rooming w/ppl i know this time: tessa and jen. so it should be fun and rowdy as usual, with lots of activity...and sites and museums.....etc etc. always fine by me- i LOVE this stuff.
should be alot less bus riding than in Crete, (which is FINE by me!- hopefully NO half-backs! ahhhh!!!), so the travel will be less tiring too, with more site-seeing instead. i mean, it's only a weekend, not a whole week. it's Mycenaean citidel weekend kids!!!! (hahahaha....) :) :) :)

in other news around here, there have been some protests in front of public and official buildings of town, some even with music that's not old greek nastiness style- but modern and rockish; so i cant say that i would complain toooo much. the protests have been very peaceful and the Greeks are so lazy, that often times ppl dont notice them when they walk by cuz all their signs are plastered to the rails and sometiems fall down, and the Greeks dont hold them like in the States. they sit around drinking Frappe and wonder if their benefits will go up.

i often walk by the prime minister's house and the parliment building, cuz it's either that street or one other to go home from school: so i figure, if any interesting will go on, it'll prolly be by the DC of Greece, not Rizari Street. all the funny national guard guys (kinda like the British Royal Guards in red suits and tall black fuzzy hats), are fun to watch too: they have beige baggy shirts with decorations and beige matching skirts and tall black stalkings, with HUGE black shoes with tap-dancer soles, and a black bunny tail ball on the tip like a demonic BOBO the clown. oh, yeah, they carry some type of rifle w/a dagger on the end. they look at you when you walk by but they never move, except when moving from post to post or marching or whatever. it gets really annoying when these HUGE mobs of old American grannies or hords of Japanese tourists get dropped by the busloads in front of the long street to stare and take pictures of these guys. it's weird cuz this is my road to school, but whatever. sometimes i stop and watch the guards' special movements when theyre showing off for the tourists. it's just funny and/or annoying when some some grannie jumps in front of you and screams with camera in hand, "THAT'S THE SHOT! GOOD JOB GERTRUDE!!" hehehehhe..........

well, i must go do hw b4 the weekend and pack for tomorrow.
take care till monday kids :)

xrays at the greek hospital...

so this morning i had to be up bright and early and down to school by 815am, earliest ive been so far. the reason: meeting w/CYA staff and other kids to trek down to one of the Greek hospitals for us all to get chest xrays which are required for the extention of our student visas.
Because we, the students, are all here for more than 3 months (only by 5-6 days for semester students!! which IS INDEED a ripoff....) we all have to pay an extra 147euro (approx. 160 USD), and get a chest xray to satisfy the req's for the Greeks to allow us to stay in their country. none of the other Schengen states of the EU require this xray, that i know of, and therefore we all are annoyed, but relent to it nevertheless.
ANYWAY...
this morning about 15 of us went down to the hospital like a herd of cattle (moooooooo....) and followed the directions of Maria, our Greek helper. basically we were taken from room to room and showed and were handed different papers for about 2 hours. after stripping topless for the (female, at least) technician in the xray room and then proceeding to the exam room to look at the xrays and some other stuff- we were done and wasnt that bad. BUT, every other freakin doctor was smoking at their desk! INSIDE THE HOSPITAL!!! WTF?!? what are they thinking? well, theyre Greek, so yeah, they dont really. Greeks smoke all the time and everyplace; it gets really uncomfortable and there is no such thing as 'smoking etiquette' as in the states, so yeah. just accept and move on. o hyeah, and run away!
i just wanted to share this to all the friends and fam at home who live in America and are so highly protected by all our wonderful laws about everything. we take for granted our health care systems and clean everything, and the like. so yeah, dont have a heart attack in Greece- your health care will be MUCH different. if any of you followed my adventures this past summer you'll know that i was in another hospital on Crete for a piece of pot sherd in my eye and that was just as 'fun'.
not to mention, i used the bathroom at the hospital this morning- felt like i was at an old gas station. most unsanitzed, dirty bathroom at a health facility ever. again, another thing we take for granted at home. from my experience, public bathrooms in the US are generally easier to find and cleaner, despite what we might usually call 'dirty.' :/~
so anyway, that was my 'cultural experience' for the day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH! yay for 22....whoo....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE CAROLYN! yay 50!....wow......

alright kids, off to work and lunch i go
isnt that what i usually do? how boring....
i still havent gotten any mail from you guys yet....
:(
ok, no more complaining........... bye


link of the day:
lookoutforgrannie!

long weekend, even longer monday & tuesday

i dont think ive really slept much and/or gotten caught up on just that since before crete. been gone every weekend it seems like, and this weekend is the argolid trip, then the holiday- seriously, i cannot wait.
this week and next is midterms and stuff before the break and is going to be very stressful, especially with a whole weekend taken up by a field trip in which little to no hw will get done. i mean, i am reallllly looking forward to going to the Argolid, but still, doesnt mean i cant have conflicting interests! so yeah, sorry for so little update this last week or so.
this past weekend i went to Santorini and saw a truly pink sunset, whic was absolutely fantastic. the pictures are just like the postcards....i swear, cross my heart! i went to dark sand beaches in these red rocks, which made the 2 colorado kids think of the Red Rocks ampitheatre in their homestate. it was very beautiful too, and relaxing as usual. the field trip was optional, so it came out of my pocket, which was an interesting experience in realizing why my tuition is so high for the semester. it must seriously be all the field trips that sucks our tuition money dry. quite honestly, though, this program would not be so awesome without them.
anywho- went w/7 kids from class and my prehistory prof, Mimika (Kriga). she's greek and has worked at the main big site of Akrotiri on Santorini, so we got ALOT of special priviledges on our trip. any other prof. even would not have gotten in to where we did. first of all, the site is under some major maintenance progress so it's closed to the public- but WE got in! we also toured the labs and storerooms. then later we went to the town of Fira/Thira, north of Akrotiri, and wen to the museum. there we AGAIN got special treatment and visited the basement storerooms, labs, and saw new acquistions such as some of the rare frescos and newly found daedalic statue under conservation before its study and display. way cool!
so yeah, it was a very educational experience; despite the price it waas soo worth it. :)
plus, getting to know kids in a small group was really a big highlight of the weekend. i got to know this girl Tessa, who lives in my building too, but 1st floor, more. i met her on the Crete trip, and have gotten to know her and i think she's a wonderful person. also i got to know 2 other kids, Stephany and Mike. Stephany is surely a southern california girl: "peace and loving man!" "zot zot zot!"

yesterday, i realized how far behind i actually am in classes after not having the weekend to play catch up. ooops.... Like i said, this week and next are gonna be killer as far as academic load. but ill manage; i always do- somehow. then this morning, after last night not feeling good and being extremely tired, i managed to get the stomach flu for the day. ahh great. still a bit sketchy now and only eatn a banana and 2 pieces of bread and it's 4 in the afternoon. but hey, it's better than going back to the porcelain throne. these things go away as long as youre nice to your system and just follow what it wants. let me catch up on sleep a lil this morning, while missing one class (despite not having slept at all last night), and forced me to slow down adn take care of myself better. i thought i was doing a decent job until... WHAM! nature yells at you and tells you otherwise. well, 'que sera sera'.

well, as you have read, im not feeling well and have much to catch up on- so i am off to take care of just that.

love,
chris

thristy for santorini thursday

ok kids- goin to santorini at 345p tonight- gonna see an archaeology lab and a site on the island in the cyclades. so gonna b educational, esp since i go w/class. apparently theres a weather advisory for the ferries and sailing in the aegean, but sounds like it's letting up and we're good to go- so wish us fair sailing! we will b back on sunday evening and maybe a lil tanner again... ;)
hopefully it's not too chilly this weekend. this week after crete the weather has changed into autumn actually, w/weather generally down about 10 degrees from the week before crete. it prolly gets into the 50's at night, so it IS in fact getting chilly! i wore fleece socks last night to bed! ahhhh!
my roomie kellie is from southern california and she keeps saying, 'man, i love this cold weather!' and i just grumble, 'you havent been to minnesota'... hehe i love the warm weather, esp since it IS certainly NOT cold weather when it hits 70 and the peak of the day. some ppl just dont get it...hehe.... she wore a scarf this morning! crazy cali girl!
well, off to philosophy class,....which i am struggling to enjoy and understand all the random big words that make no sense with their accompanying circular arguments....man.... gonna b a long semester for this class. :(
off into the wild blue yonder and blue seas later........ mmmm......
ya

it's winnnnnnnnddsday owl!!

forever pooh, i say

ok- 15 min till class...

check out nate's blog!!! tons of pics up from europe backpacking! : www.itsbacon.blogspot.com

yesterday, did no homework for the first time since i got here (excluding crete trip)....ooops.. but i needed a day off and i had an awesome time w/the Kala-zoo kids. free spaghetti dinner by james, cards, then english pub called the 'red lion'...looked like a coat of arms on the sign. went w/jen, james, and aaron, who's like half chinese, half jewish, half cuban, and half everything else.....and no i dont care if that doesnt work!!! ha! he's way cool and a real lil dude, but sharp kid. james and i- 2 guinnesses to satisfy the hunger, and humor and other lil things all around. i think aaron still has a chip on his shoulder about the nazis.
today was 1030am class at the Goulandris Museum for Aegean Prehistory and that was awesome. some good pics finally and i even talked w/the curator. he gave me some ideas linking arthistory/museology/archaeology with computer technology....verrrrrry interesting! very nice man too, that nikolas.
also, as i was leaving the apt this morning to rush off the the museum a man from the apt held the door for me and then started a conversation.. man- do not get into a convo w/a greek man unless u expect to talk forever. i couldnt really help it cuz he talked first and i felt bad not chatting, but i was late already. eh. he was realllly nice and he lives on the 1st floor and is a good english speaker.. he is a doctor, name's Yannis, and studied in Chicago for 2 years too- so when i told him i was from teh twin cities he asked if i thought it was cold here, half kidding and i told him- 'absolultely not!'...hehe.... it's really good to get to know the greeks, esp. when they live in the same building. they can be so helpful sometimes. :)
on the way to the center after the museum i took some pics finally of the city and some friends- jen and anthony. we can see the acropolis out our lounge/cafeteria windows...so yeah- got that shot for SURE! ha!
alright- off to ancient greek atheltics
yassu

no case of the mondays

ok kids, got one more postcard on it's way out: molly and melissa- watch yer mail for the next few weeks! ADAM THERNEAU i neeeeeeeeeeed your address! i have a postcard waiting to be sent! all the rest of you...still coming- gonna get some athens or greek postcards instead of crappy ones from a bunch i bought for a euro in bulk in rome. hahaha.....
it was a really nice monday so far; lotsa chatting and hangin out, mixed w/some reading and classes. i think crete boosted my social assertiveness.

tonight, gonna prolly chill w/roomie kellie and downstairs girls for a 'impromptu' dinner- who knows what we'll cook- but im starving now!! i mean, it's 530pm! i should prolly go find out what's goin on, or at least go on a food hunt. growl.......... that's my stomach calling....

sometime this week im going w/some kalamazoo kids to find the irish pub in my neighborhood! yeah- guinness!! shud be grrrrrrrrreat.... crappy amstel and heineken is all these greeks drink. blah. i dont like drinking that much, but i like my guinness. so there. guess it's in the blood or something. or something... plus, it's fun to watch jen, james, and athony.........duh.

this weekend is prolly a trip to beautiful SANTORINI! THEE coveted greek island spot to be. going either w/a class, or w/the folks just mentioned- the kalamazoo crowd. depends on which is cheaper, because this class field trip is optional. but yeah- black sand beaches (volcanic!), the best sunset in greece, white w/blue housing architecture....awesome.... cannnnnnnnnnnot wait.

ok, im off to find dinner.
l8r kids

back from crete...again...heh...

hey everyone- the week in crete was wonderful! started out a lil rough, but got gradually better and better and only much more better!! (more better,,...kinda like... 'more tender', right stevie??) anyway, we went to alot of sites and went to 2 beaches- both awwwwwesomely beautiful! we were so lucky. one was on a south-central coast called Matala, near the site of Phaistos, and the other on the SW coast, just at the opening of the Samaria gorge.
we took a ferry to Heraklion the first night and arrived early in the morning, after not having slept much on the 8 hour sail and started our day at Knossos, the largest palatial site on Crete. it was an extremely hot day, but i felt like it was still very nice compared to the heat when i went there this summer; it was prolly about 15-20degrees cooler this past week, and it was about 80-85....so...yeah.
cool part: we toured the area around Sir Arthur Evans' (the excavator and 'reconstitutor' of Knossos) personal home and also the first dept. house of the British School at Athens, on Crete. it has a long history- like having been occupied by the Nazis as a commanding point during WWII. there's even a plaque that commemorated some important Nazi guy signing his life and the Nazis away to the good guys, marking some ending point in the war. i was in the room they signed in! we saw an old copper bathtub heater in this building too..crazy.
i wont drone on about all the archaeological stuff and sites, but i will say one thing to a couple of you: mary, erin, and sarah---- our group found that part of Gortyn that we couldnt find! we saw an Egyptian temple, and a roman villa, and other such things. i have pics that ill put up on snapfish for u guys to browse through in Dec. or Jan. ;) awesome huh? bet yer jealous...

at Knossos and Mallia i gave presentations comparing their West Courts. i did awesome is all i can really say...... for real though, my prof said it was more than sufficient and said i did well, so i was reallllly happy that my reading and work paid off. plus i think a bad job would have been a big blow. so yeah, way happy about that. :)

i started gettin really nostalgic when we were bussing towards Mallia and started remembering something about shouts out the window of, "God save the Queen!!!!".............. (hahahaha.....)

spending alot of time w/about 1/4 or 1/2 (depending on day or evening) of the total kids here at CYA during the trip really was great for getting to know ppl and being social. meeting ppl on a smaller scale was much more fun and easier to do becuz you could talk to them all the time and were riding on the same bus or sharing hotel rooms everyday and night.

one night at this town called Zaros in the hills of no-where north (??) somewhere of Phaistos and Ayia Triadha, etc. we stayed at this realllllly awesome hotel where we stayed in bungalos, which we tropical feeling. there were trellesses and archways over the sidewalks with vines and flowers woven in. it was really a restful haven for the last couple days worth of heat and trekking around sites relentlessly. there was a pool and a fish farm (!hehe!) and a nice restaurant. so after showering and changing after we all arrived there, i went down to dinner and just sat w/some ppl. these kids were just the right ppl and were really funny and awesome to talk to. we laughed all night, especially w/this indianapolan guy named Theo who mocked and mimiked my accent all evening. i know i have one, but sheeeeeesh! never heard it so exaggerated before that it was even hi-larious for me!!! i couldnt open my mouth w/o sounding goofy after a while. guess it pays to discover....cool ppl that is.

sorry this is so long, but ive gotta catch ya up on the field trip week!!

ill try to wrap it up w/the hilight of the trip: the 12 mile trek through the Samaria Gorge (a nat'l park). this was 15 k of down and some up hill of mountainous, rocky terrain sprinkled with giant fur trees, boulder'y natural springs, and massive walls of rock up either side of you. reminded me alot of the coloradan rockies at the top with all the awesome views out above everything and the trees and as we descended both Glacier and Yosemite nat'l parks. it was absolutely beautiful. the hike was of course extraordinary, but soooooo worth the work. i even got to borrow this greek guide's 2 hiking poles, (like the hardcore Germans use) and they helped so much w/the knees and ankles. i could tell before even starting that years of gymnastics would get to my joints if i hadnt of had any help and ease for them. the trek turned out to be wonderful and very challenging, but yet empowering at the same time. i forget sometimes how the outdoors can do this to you, and always feel so lucky when i get to do it again. getting out of the athenian smog and into fresh air was worth all the money and work and i couldnt have been more thankful during the hike. it was sooooooo nice!!!! i got to know a couple more ppl better and listen to ppl's attitudes about what we were doing. some were all about getting through the gorge (blah) and some just enjoying it (me), and then others who complained alot about the work and exercise (blah). i tried to steer clear of the complainers- no fun. but all in all, after the 4hr+ hike, there was a really nice tropical beach to walk out onto.... so yeah- very rewarding! :) i think the sea is less or more salty at some beaches! im slowly learning about these things!

one thought that wont spur delight in the hearts of 2 ppl, namely mom and dad... is that the more i think about it, the more i want to do graduate school and/or live by the sea or ocean- you know, at least have it w/in proximity of where i live. prolly the thought about continuing my education is good, but perhaps not the living far from them...but hey- there's always retirement...and moving close to your kids.... benefits ya know... OR just visiting them alot and having a nice warm place to stay..... hehe..... problem is, i like the mountains too, so ive got to find a happy medium. only places i can think of is the carolinas, but there are so many damn southerners and funny accents!!! ;) we'll see about this.
laura: there's always south C, right?

well, im back in athens and was only awake about 9 hours of yesterday, having arrived back in athens around 8am after another overnight ferry ride. i think im recooperated but im still a bit sore from the hike (a run today helped), and ive gotten some work done. it'll not be as cool to be in classrooms rather than spending everyday at sites and museums like this last week, but still, many of my class sessions ARE at sites and museums here, so what am i saying?? alright, enough bragging about my hands-on education at great times.

im sure ill have loads more to ramble on about later, as they come to me.

hey yo smell ya later

it WAS an earthquake!

so about an hour ago at lunch i ended up talking to 2 of the greek ladies who work in and around CYA; we were all eating lunch and i really wanted to ask a greek person about yesterday morning, esp to figure out if i was dreaming or crazy or not!
so i asked the one lady, peggy, one of the greek administrative staff, if there was a tremor or earthquake or something early yesterday morning and she said, yes of course! i wasnt going crazy! she told me that it was centered somewhere in SE athens and it measured to about 4.7 on the richter scale. wow! another lady said she felt it too and thought maybe she was going crazy at 6am, even though she's a native athenian. so i guess not all bodies ever get used to it. apparently the quake was a small one and most ppl just brush them off. then peggy told us about a few different quakes she's been in over the last 10years or so. seems most of the time ppl get scared and shooken up, but no big damages to buildings and stuff. she said that she's seen COLUMNS in buildings do WAVES but not a single scratch of damage or rubble. they have strict building codes around here for just this reason- earthquake proofing up to a certain level on the richter scale. pretty crazy!
so anyway- yesterday was my first experience ever w/an earthquake! closest ever ive come b4 this was when my family and i were in san francisco and there was one like a few days after we left- so that doesnt even count. hehe...
thought i'd just update everyone on my sanity. ;)
i have postcards on the way out to the following folks, so watch your mail!:
liz, mikey, cat, victoria
i WILL get more out soon! i promise! just takes a lil time...

mom: Happy 51st on Friday!!!! eat some cake, wear some black, and do something fun! :)
love you :)

alright kids, back to hanging around the center till 630pm when our buses leave for the port to crete!!!

later!

here's the site of the day:
http://www.theonion.org/news/index.php?issue=4038
take it with a grain of salt people!
and dont forget the second page!

schunday=lazyday

well everyone, i think i may have experienced my first 'tremor' of the earth this morning at 6am. i woke up this morning at 6 becuz i heard everything rattling and making noise, but it wasnt alot- but seems to have been enough to wake me up. kellie, my roomie, wasnt at our apt last night but out at a friends' place, so i was in the bedroom alone and kinda startled at what was going on. i mean, im from freakin MN; all we have is tornadoes and severe thunderstorms for nat.' disasters. i immediately started looking around, not really knowing what was going on, not to mention wondering if i dreamed the whole thing. but im sure it was something becuz my metal bedside lamp was still buzzing a lil, shaking off the vibrations im sure.
in my daze i stared around the room waiting for something to happen, or something, ya know? nothing. for about 5-10mins i lay in bed just being kinda alert to waht was going on. it's early sunday morning so it's really quiet, more so than normal at 6am. eventually i got up and walked around, went to the bathroom, and just tried to shake off the alarm in my head. one funny thing i kept thinking was, 'to the bathtub!', but then remembering that's for tornadoes....hehe... our 'earthquake awareness' sheet in our apt says to get into a doorway and hang on, or else go outside to the class meeting point if we can. so yeah, im an amateur earthquake player... weird experience altogether tho! niether of m roomies woke up, so who knows. ive been searching online to see if a geological survey site says anything, but no such luck yet.
i know from my basic geology knowledge that tremors happen all the time around the world often, and it's normal, so who know. for example, last week i think, there was a random tremor in either ohio or indiana, so whatever. there's my story.

yesterday i went and got lost on the tram w/stefany and jeff along the coast looking for somewehre to get out of the city and swim. took forever, but we found a really awesome (and CHEAP!!) place to eat; prolly the best meal ive had since i got here. we found a rocky beach after lots of coastal walking and just hung around, spaced out at the sea, listened to music, and the like. it was a nice saturday get-away. it was also our first (partial) overcast day since getting here, so it was ok that we didnt really swim. it was a nice exploring day :)
gettin back to athens however, took forever. 2-3 wrong trams and 2.5 hours later after leaving the coast we made it back to athens,...about 10km or less away....oooops..... by then it was about 10pm and we split and hit the hay.
talked to nate a bit last night; he's sick and says he's the sickest he's been in years- and he is never sick, just one of those lucky types. so that makes being away a lil harder, but i think it's getting easier as we both get into our new surroundings and make friends. all in all, it's good for us...i think....

today, mostly overcast again, but the sun pokes through every few hours. it's cooling off day to day, but the other day i really started to miss the fall colors of home. there's alot more tropical plants, olive trees, etc around here- so that means less deciduous tree colors to watch. :( it may be warm, but not as pretty a transition to fall and winter. you feel it, but dont see it as much. are there colors yet in MN? someone should post me and let me know!

as for today, im feeling lazy. just havent felt like doing much. maybe im worn out from the last 2-4 weeks of travel and change adn whatnot. just need a day off. ive already dived right in to all my school work and projects, and study alot- so this last school week actually took some effort....
i did some hw anyway today, and gonna do some more after emailing/blogging. perhaps the overcast'ness outside has something to do w/the lazy feeling.
tonight and tomorrow (my group) everyone leaves for crete until friday and saturday, respectively. i miss that lovable island, but it is going to be different w/o the ppl and laid-back experiences of the summer. this time is definitely going to be a new deal and certainly more academically informative at all the sites. im pretty excited tho!

sorry im writing so much, but i prolly wont get to a comp again till next sat. when i return from the field trip. so yeah, read up. :)
alright folks, it's time for more studying and prep for the trip! adios

20min.s till lunch....

alright ppl, here it is
it's friday and this morning for CLASS i went to the acropolis...talk about coooooooolness ;) 830am classes are not so cool, but temperature-wise, i wouldnt have it any other time w/all the hiking. plus crowds are less.
that was my ony class today, becuz my philosophy class cant hold mtngs on fridays...normally we dont have class on fri., but we needed to make up for lost class time here and there during the semester from fields trips and such. so yeah- freeeeeeeee afternoon, free as a bird.
after class i went up the the friday market, which i missed last week. there's a whole long street full of fruit stands, flowers, clothes, souvlaki grill, household products- you can get everything from blue flowers to the greek version of Mr Clean. (which they have! haha! cant pronounce the name tho...) i got a bouquet of blue flowers, cuz theyre my favorite of course, and our apt is drab. i put them in a cleaning bucket cuz i coulndt find a vase anywhere. oh well- it looks more rustic.... (or just cheap and poor..and lazy....)
today, i get to eat my great cya lunch and then study for the afternoon so i can havae a social life on next week's field trip to CRETE! (we will be gone all week, my group: mon. evening to sat evening, i think). then a trip down the street to the embassy w/a fellow student so we can get our absentee ballot for november stuff figured out and prepped. first presidential election for me, so it's 'important' i guess. personally i think they should both hope the other guy wins cuz they are going to inherit a literal world of problems. not that that will change ever, but still.
this evening is an unwritten page, who knows what will happen!!
my stomach is beckoning me again........

HA!

must reads for the day:
what????
aahorseisahorseofcourseofcourse
ahhhhhhmyeyeees!!!!

these should delight and tickle your funny bone, except maybe the irony of the first one......

other than that, it's been a pretty lazy adn reading filled few days here. i have more reading than i know what to do with, including research to do in a small library, but the weather is still sunny and warm and wonderful. i can't help walking around this city wondering why in hell i want to live in minnesota, if weather is all i thought about. my allergies have gotten better in the mediterranean clilmates, and i really like not having to bundle up all the time. i mean, i can walk home at 10-11pm and not need another shirt or jacket. it's sooooo nice. plus (mom, you'll love this) i dont need nearly as many blankets at night. and....i dont use air conditioning, so it's cheaper cuz it's not so hot that you absoultely need it and not cool enough at night (yet) that you need too much heat. sheesh. what can i say, im in paradise (minus the noise and air pollution of a massive city) ANNNNNd studying and being productive. crazy.
well, just some thoughts for the day.... :)
anything new going on at home that i should know about? that is, in the states or minnesota? i read ccn.com sometimes but it's not all there is and it's the media, so who knows what you'll get. leave a post if you've got a good story or link!
back to being a good lil girl and off to the library.....

happy 23rd birthday nate!!!!!! :)

hey everyone- it's nate's bday, so if you get a chance drop him an email or a post on his blog sometime today! ther0028@umn.edu or www.itsbacon.blogspot.com
yaaaaay! he will FINALLY (hopefully) be getting a cell today, so that will make both of us happy...wheeeew. plus it wont be so 'tres cher' as this summer for calling cuz we live int he same time zone and both in europe and our bills will/should be dramatically less andmore local charging rates. so that's GOOOD!
so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE! :)

in other news, this past weekend on sunday i went up the the ACROPOLIS!!!! after exploring w/a new found friend jeff, i came back and wrote an email to a couple ppl about it and realized, 'i was on the freaking acropolis!!!!' this is something that ive been studying, among other surrounding sites and monuments, out of books and slides for the last 3 years and i FINALLY and fortunately got to acutally BEEEEE there! i was in awe during and after the whole thing and kept rambling on and on to jeff (philosphy and english major) about the features. guess im more knowledgable than i thought once i actually see the stuff! im so surprised w/myself that i got to notice all the lil details that normal tourists just pass up. soooooo exciting is all i can say! enough of that nerdiness for now. let's just say it was a good meadering and site-seeing day.
Mary- you are going to just die here next semester. iknow you visited a lil, but after you wander the city i think youll just be overcome!
sarah and erin- youve GOT to get here!
the last few days i have beenn slowly falling into the academic lifestyle that is my life these days and that us students somehow get addicted to in more crazy ways than we think. i started circling and posting my syllabi on the tackboard....and taking actual notes from the second and thrid meetings of classes.....keeping my nose to the books.....and of course- sleeping less and less. these things arent negative in any way, just the lifestyle that we fall into and you miss over the summer and winter breaks, but hate when youre in it, but somehow just keep coming back for more. man, there's gonna be deadlines and duedate and tests now! oh yeah......
I GOT MY LUGGAGE FINALLY yesterday!!! it took about 5 hours all total, but it was hella worth it even if i dont think i shudda had to deal w/it. NEVER again will i ship luggage abroad; if it doesnt come w/me, it doesnt come. so there. oh yeah, never go through greek customs...oh my god............... let's just leave this experience out of the story for now.
tonight there's a meeting for all 133 students here at my school about our first (and biggest!, longest!) field trip of the semester. we're going to Crete!!!! that is, im going back. we are actually going to alot of the sites i was just at this summer, but some new ones too. this time when visiting the 'deja vu' sites ill at least have a guide from a prof. plus, im giving one of my presentationns for class ON SITE at Mallia and Knossos, so that'll be cool. nerve-racking too! first on site commentary for me ever! i guess im on the right track to archaeological'ness.....
ok, it's time for lunch, so more soon
dont forget to send nate your best wishes! it's weird over here for bdays when you dont know anyone!
must go feeeed........