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!
Monday, September 27, 2004
Sunday, September 26, 2004
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
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
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