One week!!!

One week left of the program and I can't believe how quickly it has gone... and yet, I feel like I've been in Greece for years now. I miss home so much, but I can't wait to experience Athens, Santorini, and Barcelona with Jason. These past few days have been fantastic both in the great things we have been able to experience and also in the pace of the program. I think our Professor has realized that some of us have already checked out and are ready to go home, so he's slowed the intensity of the sites we've been visiting and has given us plenty more breaks and free time to enjoy the city at our own leisure. It has been wonderful!

The last time I wrote, I mentioned the hiking up to the Korikian Cave. I obviously had no idea what I was getting myself into, because it had to have been one of the most intense hikes of my life. I took the hike up the mountain at a faster pace than I should have, but I was afraid that if I stopped or slowed down, that I would never make it to the top. But once I got there, it was all worth it! The moment you entered the cave, you could feel the temperature drop by at least ten degrees. It was cool and dark. There was a large cavern near the opening and as you stepped farther back into the cave, you needed a flashlight to walk around (which we luckily had). There were several side chambers on the right of the cave and neat stalagmites and stalactites. We poked around these areas and then found an upper chamber to the cave. The only way to get there was to climb the smooth and slippery cave surface which a couple of guys did with the help of a rope that was anchored there. The guys made it look so easy, so I decided to put my rock climbing skills to the test and follow suite, but as I got halfway up the climb, I couldn't find any good foot or hand holds and my tennis shoes kept slipping on the smooth surface of the rocks, so I realized that if I climbed any farther, I wouldn't be able to get down (rope or not). So I turned around and scooted down on my butt. Sometimes you just have to know when to give up. :) As the guys were exploring the upper caverns, we discovered down below some niches where other people had left votive figurines (including a clay human, snake, and a cobra). It was super neat. The ancient author, Pausanius, said that (back then) this cave had 40+ rooms and was filled with offerings to the deities there. I'm sure it was an amazing sight to see back then, but it was incredibly fun to explore for us. After our caving adventure, our professor took our small group out to dinner and paid for us all. It was a fabulous and delicious meal and I really enjoyed the conversation. I had a great time!

The next day we left Delphi and headed for Themopylae. It was a neat site to visit and it helped to picture the military strategy that occurred back then between the Spartans and the Persians. There was even a large statue of Leonidas there to commemorate the location. We visited several other places these next few days, but one of the great highlights was the Archaeological Park of Dion. It was like visiting a theme park made specifically for archaeologists. :) It's a large area excavated by the students of the University of Thessaloniki, so there are several buildings to see. It covers a vast area of land and you can wander around for hours looking at city buildings/houses, theaters, and temples. It was super fun! We were also in the shadow of Mount Olympus, so there was a spectacular aura to the entire site.

Today we visited Pella, the capital of Macedonia and the home town of Alexander the Great. We were able to see some neat mosaics, but some of them were recently lifted and taken to a different museum, so part of our group was disappointed. We also visited the site of Vergina (pronounced: "where-ge-na") which houses the supposed tomb of Philip the II and the royal Macedonian family. It was a neat site because you got to walk underground and they had all of the different tomb complexes lit up. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to take any photographs, so I can't really convey how neat this site was. One of our stops in the middle of the day was to this town known as Edessa, which has several waterfalls and other neat places to see. We spent an hour there and I had so much fun exploring the town.

Our trip to Northern Greece is quicly wrapping up and we'll head back to Athens in two days. Tomorrow I give my site report on Olynthus: houses and households, so I hope it turns out well. I'm enjoying this trip, but I also can't wait to hurry back to Athens. I'll be home soon!

I love you all.

The final countdown...

Ten days until Jason comes to visit and I am so excited. This portion of the trip has been filled with exhausting days, but much adventure. We celebrated our first day here with Shelley's birthday and spent it at boring Gla. But the day picked up when we stopped at the beach in Mitrou after we visited the island excavation. It was a fun time of swimming and collecting shells on the sandy beach. Some of my classmates even swam around the small island! The next day the first thing we did in the morning was hike up this ridiculous mountain known as the acropolis at Orchomenos. It was intense, but once we got to the top I couldn't believe we had climbed so far! I placed a picture on the side that will make you nervous, Mom! :) The weather has been scorching hot and even though it was early in the morning, I sweated more than ever before in all my life. It ended up being a long day of several sites but one of the coolest places we went to was a little town known as Livadia. In the center of the city was a water mill and the water from the mill traversed different areas of the town. It was a nice stop and we used part of our lunch break to stand around in the cool stream. Josh gave his site report on the area and did a good job. We also traveled to a monastary and visited a war memorial. A long day, but capped off the evening with a delicious gyro dinner and a game night of taboo!

We visited the site of Delphi today, which is one of my all time favorites. The sanctuary is so amazingly beautiful that it is no wonder that the ancients considered this a sacred place. In the morning as we were walking around the site, there was an eerie sound of the wind blowing through the trees which was extremely neat. Our first stop at the sanctuary was the stadium where we were supposed to hold our final athletic race, but the area was sadly roped off and without access. The guards closed off the area in case there was an earthquake and falling rocks. It was extremely disappointing. :( We stopped at several buildings along the way and some of my classmates, including Chris, gave their site reports. One of the exciting parts of this site was when Chris found this opening near the base of the temple and we crawled in and walked under the foundations of the Temple of Apollo. It was super neat! I have it all on video!

All in all it's been a great trip up North so far and this evening a few of us are going to hike up a hill to a cave sanctuary. It should be fun! We will have a nice dinner at the next town over and tomorrow we'll make a short stop at Thermopylae (so all you 300 fans, get excited!).

Having a great time, but missing you all. I love you, family! See you soon, Jason! <3

Winding down...

I can't believe that we have less than two weeks left of the program. It seems to have gone by in a blur. I can't even remember half of what we did while we were in Athens this time around. Here are the highlights: We made our fourth and final visit to the National Museum and saw this amazing new gallery that just opened this week on Women and Ritual practice in Ancient Greece. Our tour was led by the curator of the exhibit, Alan Shapiro. It was extremely interesting! We also took a day trip out to Marathon and even got a chance to go to the beach afterward. It was a nice and sandy beach that was still shallow (waist high) 100 yards out. Another place we got to visit was the new excavation going on at the Agora, where my classmate from UW, Kris, is an acting supervisor at the dig. And finally today, we got to head out to Piraeus, the port of Athens, and see the ancient ship sheds and a life size reconstruction of an Athenian trireme (an ancient boat with three levels of oars). All in all it's been pretty fun and I've enjoyed being back home with internet, shower, delicious meals, and privacy. Our group has spent countless hours playing games and hanging out, and I have even managed to get in a little research time at the library.

Tomorrow we leave for our final trip up North to places such as Delphi, Thessaloniki, and Olynthus (where I'll give my site report). I am extremely excited about this part of the trip because I have only been to Delphi before, so every other place we visit will be all brand new to me. We even get to pick our own roommates for the trip, so it will be fun times with Suzy, Christine, and Kristen. Which reminds me that I should tell you a little more about Christine who is the resident Canadian in our group and is made fun of mercilessly because of it. She has the funniest way of saying "sorry" and responds to just about everything with "hi". :) She is super smart so she has a lot to say and is always the most enthusiastic of us all. I don't know where she gets her energy because I think she may sleep the least of us all. She will be a fun roommate to have on the trip.

So hopefully, I will be able to keep you updated on my adventures up north and all the new places I'll be experiencing. I can't wait...

ready, set, had to go...

Today I went to the bathroom on a bush on the side of a mountain in Marathon... victory!

The best day ever!!!

Before I tell you about the best day ever, I will say that we ended our trip through the Peloponnese well. We held our athletic race at the Olympic stadium and I am sad to say that I did not win. I did, however, reach my goal of beating one of the guys, so I think that's saying something! (Sorry, Ibuken. I just had to immortalize the moment by expressing it in writing :) Chris has been our winner of both races, but what was even more impressive was that he ran this race while being injured and he still beat us all (we are all hanging our heads in shame)... and as the ancients Greeks believed: it doesn't matter what you place. If it's not first, then it doesn't matter.
Despite all of the swarms of tourists, I really enjoyed our stay in Olympia. Our ride back to Athens was basically a day of sleeping on the bus with intermittent stops to a medieval castle (Chlemoutsi), back to Isthmia, and along the Corinthian canal. I was also frequently awakened by the downpour on my head... and by that I mean the leaking air conditioner on the bus. I always managed to get the seat on the bus where the leakage was the greatest. At one point, I set up a "window curtain contraption" to block the water, but eventually the water even soaked through that. Just another adventurous aspect of the trip, I suppose. :)

Returning to Athens is always a spectacular treat because I feel so excited to be "home". I realize that any space I can claim as my own little private sanctuary is enough to make me happy. Here I have my own room, regular meals, and clean clothes. What more could I want? So, Sunday ended up being the best day ever not only because I was home, but because our Professor had given us the entire day off! Finally a day of rest... and it was spectacular! I slept in later than usual and I woke up to go shopping! (Get excited, family! I bought you some gifts!) I had a leisurely afternoon reading and hanging out at a coffee shop just chatting with some of my classmates. I hate to admit it, but we went to Starbucks and it was delicious! I did my laundry (clean clothes is such a luxury!) and then a group of us decided to get Indian food for dinner. This was the start of a super adventure! We decided to go to the Indian neighborhood in Psiri to this Indian restaurant that had great reviews online. I read that it was in a very shady part of town, but was still safe. So as the four of us got off the metro to this area and started wandering around the streets, within the span of one block it went from being normal to extremely sketchy. There were crowds of Indian and Pakistani groups all over the streets just huddled together. Other parts had a mass of Asians, others Africans. I must say, I tried not to show it, but I was kinda scared. We Americans stuck out like a sore thumb in that area. I'm not sure how the guys felt who were with us, but I think it's in my nature to be super cautious. We found the restaurant, but it was so expensive that (despite the adventure of getting there) we decided to go somewhere else. We took a different route back and needless to say, we made it through safe and sound. Not that there was anything to be worried about, but it's in my nature to worry (I get that from you, dad!). We ended up eating at this Asian/Thai/Indian restaurant that my friend, Kris, had recommended (in a completely different area of town) and the food was pretty great! We ended our great day with a game night and today we went back to work as usual! :)

I have to make a correction about my description of my classmate, Josh, from my last posting. He complained that I misrepresented him by calling him 'goofy', so I'd like to take back this comment. Sorry, Josh. You aren't goofy. :) But he is loud and reminds me of my little brother because of his funny sarcastic comments. One of my other favorite people is Alex S. because he's also from Florida and reminds me of my friends from UF. For some reason everyone loves to make fun of Alex the most, but it may be because he takes it so well. He's pretty fun and is the epitome of everything I associate with Florida... right down to the subtle southern accent which he refuses to admit that he has. So, as you can see, I'm making good friends and having a good time, even though I do still miss you all.

I really like this city and I can't believe I've been here for a month now! The program is ending in a couple of weeks and I can't wait for Jason to come visit so I can show him the highlights of everything I've enjoyed the most! The weather here is depressingly hot, and rumor has it that there will be a heat wave this weekend. But the good news is that we'll be traveling up north then on our final trip, so hopefully we'll escape the scorching weather.

Hope you all are doing well also. I miss you and would love to hear from you!

I'm on a boat!... or I was...

These past couple of days have been a roller coaster of exciting activities as well as near mutinies. :) Sometimes, I think the ASCSA is a little too hard core for my taste, but no matter what we end up doing, I have to admit it has all been worth it. On Wednesday, we visited the Palace of Nestor at Pylos, which is one of the best preserved archaeological sites. Part of our museum tour was led by Jack Davis, the director of the American school. It was a fun site. However, the afternoon was filled with plenty of grumbling when we took an unexpected hike up a mountain to a closed site filled with spiders. What was worse was that it overlooked a fabulous beach at which we could only look longingly. What a tease! :) I guess it's just about that point in our trip where many of us are exhausted and homesick... and it didn't help matters that we hadn't had any breaks or lunch in hours! But the afternoon took a turn for the better when we took a boat ride to Sphacteria. (If you know the Activia commercial, it was the running joke amongst our group to sing the song, "Sphacteria!" or to call it "Bacteria!":) This is an island off the coast of Pylos where a major naval battle took place between the Athenians and Spartans resulting in a victory for Athens. It was also important during the fight for Greek Independence where a fleet of British, French, and Russians fought the Ottomans to help Greece obtain its freedom. It was very fun to stop off at the island and get a feel for the history of the place. It's one of those places where you can teach the history in a classroom setting, but it doesn't come alive until you see the terrain and you experience the place for yourself. I really enjoyed this venture!

Today was a slow-paced day. Glorious, in fact, because we had a lovely break at a beautiful cafe along the way. I think it was mostly to give us a chance to get off of the bus because of all the riding we had done on all the twisty mountian roads. :) If I hadn't been sleeping most of the time, I'm sure I would have been sick! But I must say, our bus driver, Iannis, is an impressive driver. He's also quite funny! Today, as we were leaving the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, we saw him behind one of the gates and he shouted out at the group, "I am Sparta!" This from a gray-haired Greek man who hardly speaks any English. :)

One of the most memorable moments of these past few days came from my classmate, Josh. Josh can be pretty loud and goofy, but he is one of the most entertaining people in our group. He always has something funny to say. I met Josh the first night I was in Greece because we stayed at the same hostel, so I've known him longest of anyone here. He's pretty fun and he has enough energy for all of us combined. He's honest and sometimes sweet, but he always says what he thinks... and yesterday was one of them. Here's the set up: normally before we leave to drive somewhere, our professor does a count to make sure we are all there and then he says in Greek, "endaxi, pome!" which means, "okay, let's go!". So yesterday, after we had just been on that long grueling hike and everyone was back on the bus ready to go... (all except our professor and the bus driver), Josh stands up and shouts out at the top of his lungs, "endaxi, pome!" which was out of the blue and pretty hilarious... but what was even funnier, was that Iannis shouts back, "no pome!" :) (I guess it's one of those stories, where you had to be there, but I thought it was funny.)

We'll be Olympia for the next couple of days and tomorrow we'll have a racing rematch at the ancient Olympic stadium. It should be fun! I'll keep you posted on the results!

my life among ruins...

We had a short stint in Sparta... just enough time to see the "highlights". And by that, I mean a few rocks and foundations mostly from the Roman period. When our professor brought us to the top of the Spartan acropolis, he jokingly said, "this is Sparta?" We had started our day off right with our customary hiking and even made a trip to the Olive Museum, but the best part of our stay in Sparta was celebrating Kristen's birthday and staying at a fabulous hotel. It even had a tub! Now that's luxury! :) In celebration (of Kristen's bday, not the tub), we had a free lovely dinner at the hotel complete with yummy cake! The food was great and the conversation was even better! All of us teachers sat at the same table and gabbed away late into the evening. That's about all I can say about Sparta because there isn't/wasn't much there.

Today was a fantastic day. My favorite days are when we go to a fun site and then our professor lets us loose to explore on our own. We did that at our two main sites: Mistra and Methoni. We hiked up to Mistra and then spent two hours wandering down the mountain to explore the different ruins along the way. There were several monastaries and old buildings along the way until we reached the bottom. I had so much fun. We also got to explore the Venetian fortress of Methoni, which translates to 'drunken ass' in reference to the great wine that is made in that region... it's so good, the fumes cause the donkeys to get intoxicated by the fumes?? :) I capped off my day by playing frisbee and enjoying the beach (despite the body numbing cold water!). We will be in Pylos for the next couple of days, so it should be a fun stay!

My roommate here is Suzy, who is one of the funniest girls I've ever met. She's the other asian girl in the group, and the running joke is that because we're both asian, you can't tell us apart... this is only because one of the other girls mistakenly called us by the wrong name a couple of weeks ago. Suzy's pretty funny and she makes some of the less interesting things that we do on this trip more exciting because of her comments. She's pretty fun!

Well, here's hoping for another exciting day tomorrow! We'll be taking a boat ride to Sphacteria, so that should be quite an adventure! Until next time...

i scream you scream we all scream for more gelato!

Wow! I apologize that I haven't kept you all updated as much as I would like. We've had a whirlwind tour around the Peloponnese so far that has left me extremely excited and tired! Our first stop on this trip was to Isthmia (one of the cities on the athletic circuit... just like Olympia where we get our Olympic games) where we saw a really great Roman bath complex with some cool mosaics... it made me crave a spa day! We also spent that evening climbing AcroCorinth, a ginormous hill with a fortification at the top and an amazing view of Greece. It was quite a hike, but it was optional, so I have only myself to blame for putting myself through the fantastic torture of climbing to the top. But the view was well worth it.

Another exciting place we've gone is to Nemea (another city on the athletic circuit) where in ancient times they used to hold the Nemean games. At the museum, we got to see this amazing video about how they think the race course starting gates were set up in ancient times. Then we got to head to the stadium where a large number of us had our own competitive race. We didn't run barefoot and naked in ancient style, but I must say, I did pretty well running in flip flops. Fun times. :)

The best part of this trip around the Peloponnese so far is the fact that we have been staying in Nauplion the past three days. It has got to be one of my favorite Greek cities. It's right on the beach and has spectacular views. Kristen, Alex, and I have been to the beach twice and I wish we had time to go more. The city is pretty quiet and laid back, but in the evening it comes alive on the main square and there are all of these families there just chatting and having an extremely late dinner while their kids are running around wild. It is so fun. We've had great gyro dinners and the most AMAZING gelato. There is this Italian gelato shop just down the street from our hotel and I am proud to admit that I've had gelato every day! Yum! There is also a Venetian fortress at the top of one of the large hills called the Palamidi or Fortress of a thousand steps. It doesn't really have a thousand steps, but pretty close (we lost track counting, but it was still short of 1,000). Our bus took us to the top of the citadel and then after we explored, we walked down back into the city. One of the really cool things we found at the citadel was what we thought was a cistern. But as we climbed down the spiraling staircase into the semi-darkness inside one of the fortresses (there are three on this hill), we found this underground room that had plaster falling off the walls and under some of the grafitti we could see canvas decorated with images of Christ and the apostles. There were pictures everywhere! This room must have been converted into a church. We felt like we had stumbled upon something absolutely amazing. It was pretty fun. (That was this afternoon.) Later I spent hours at the beach tossing the frisbee around with one of my friends. It was super fun.

Yesterday I gave my site report on Asklepios at Epidauros. He is a greek god who had a healing sanctuary nearby the city of Epidauros. I think my presentation went well and I had some of my classmates volunteer to read inscriptions of some of the 'cures' that people claimed happened at the site. It was all pretty funny. But the best part was that after we visited the site, we got to watch a modern play (Racine's Phaedra) in the ancient theater of Epidauros!!! This theater is one of the best preserved classical Greek theaters and we were sitting there right inside it watching a play! One of the leading actresses was Helen Miran! It was really great and the acoustics were incredible. The theater was set up to reflect nature through perfect mathmatical ratios/proportions and the end result is seating that allows for perfect distribution of sound. Usually, if you take a tour here, every tour guide will have you sit at the very last seat at the end of the theater and drop a coin down at the front of the stage and you can still hear it. Well, we got great acoustics last night. I was thoroughly impressed. It was a fun night for all.

I think I promised in my last entry that I would start introducing some of my classmates because I want you to get to know some of the fun people I've been hanging out with and who are keeping me from feeling too home sick. I think I'll start off with Kristen because I know her parents are also reading this blog. :) Kristen is super fun because she asks a lot of great questions and is always pretty excited about the places we are going to and the things we are doing. She hardly ever complains about anything and she's so friendly to everyone. She makes me laugh and I am thoroughly impressed by how fast she can fall asleep on the bus. We all pile in and the next moment I look over, Kristen is fast asleep. :) She adds spunk to the group and she's always willing to go swimming at the beach with me, so I'm glad she's around. She's one of my favorite people.

Well, I hope I haven't bombarded you with too much of an update. We've been doing so much, I can only hit the highlights, but I'm feeling at home here and loving almost every moment of this trip. Tonight I'll say farewell to Nauplion, but I will meet you all again when I'm in Sparta!

playin' at la playa (or since I'm in Greece: πλαζ)

My stay in Athens has been short but sweet and we're off tomorrow on our next trip down to the Peloponnese. I am super excited about this leg of the journey. We are going to some aMAZing places, including Epidauros (where I'm giving my site report ), Mycenae, and Olympia. One of the best parts is that we will be staying in the town of Nauplion, which is one of my all time favorite places in Greece. There is this great Venetian fortress and a cafe situated on the water. The beaches are beautiful and there is this fabulous gelato place... hands down the best I've ever had. :) I sometimes crave gelato from this very shop, so I can't wait to finally taste some yummy gelato again!

This past week in Athens has been filled with fun travels and lots of walking and standing in the sun. I must say, I don't think I will ever fully catch up on my sleep. Yesterday we went on a day trip to Eleusis (and other sites) which was pretty fun. In Ancient times, the Athenians would walk to this city, but now that the city is built up, it ended up being a little over an hour by bus. There was plenty of napping! :) The sites were really cool, but the real treat was being able to go to the beach on the way back! The water was fantastic after such a long, hot day and a few of us even managed to bring along a good frisbee to toss around. It reminded me of how much I miss Madison (I hope you're winning games, frisbee team!).

I must admit, despite how much we're run ragged with all of the traveling we do, it has been nice coming home every night to a late dinner (8:30PM) and the rest of the evening free. I'm sure gonna miss that while we go on this next trip. But since I've gotten to know a group of the students pretty well, we've been using the free evenings to have some pretty competitive game nights. It's made this trip even more fun. It gets pretty crazy. New time I'll have to give you the inside scoop on my fun new friends.

Well, I'm off to the Peloponnese for the next ten days and I'm not sure how much access I'll have to the internet, but hopefully I'll be able to keep you updated on all of the excitement! :)

And I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more...

I am exhausted! This trip has been great so far and I've done so many things, but I feel like I'm on a forced march to see all Greece has to offer... which has it's advantages and disadvantages. Advantage 1: my sweet calves on my legs are growing stronger by the minute! 2: museum privileges - I flash a badge and a smile and get right in for free! :) and 3. (oh, yes.) I get to meet and learn from so many prominent scholars in my field and see so many amazing sites. I have to admit, despite the exhaustion, it has been a great trip so far.

Our group spent the fourth of July in style with a garden party at the American School. Even without the fireworks, we all managed to have a pretty good time. There's nothing like hot dogs and beer to remind you of home. :)

Now that we've been in Athens for a few days, I am beginning to realize how much I've missed our bus rides on Crete. Bus-time was optimal time for sleeping. We would drive and arrive at a site, hike up a steep trail, and then stand around the site or museum. Fabulous. Now that we are back in Athens and pretty familiar with the city, we've been walking 30-45 minutes every day just to travel to our destination. That makes for some tired legs! But I must say, I've gotten pretty good with the navigation (Jason, you would be sooo proud!). And with map in hand, I can get just about anywhere in Athens on my own (and surprisingly, groups of people trust me enough to follow my lead). I feel lazy if I use the metro, but on some days, it's just either too hot or I'm too tired! But walking around gives you such a feel for the vibrance of the city. Guaranteed there's a little kiosk on every corner and when you pass by any restaurant, there's always someone there to try to entice you to sit down at their place. It's noisy and dirty and crowded, but I would be lying if I didn't say that I love it!

These past few days we've been to three different museums (and some of them more than twice) and they have been pretty neat! The new Acropolis Museum is designed to mimic aspects of the Acropolis itself. The lay out is nice and there are so many galleries. Surprisingly, it rained the other day and a few of us managed to make it to the museum before the downpour (but an hour earlier than our appointment) and so we ended up spending that entire time in only one gallery. I had a good time, but I realized that my tolerance for standing in a museum maxes out at two hours.

Tomorrow we head out on a day trip to Eleusis and other fun places and I heard rumor of an amazing beach along the way. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some relaxing beach time!

Until next time...

Home sweet home...

I couldn't believe how excited I was to return to Athens and back to my sweet little dorm room in Loring Hall. I did a little dance in front of my door. :) It's funny how quickly you establish a little home and a community of friends around you. I've only been in Greece for a little over ten days now and I feel like I've been here for a lifetime. I've learned so much and have made such good friends here.

Being in Crete for the past week was lovely. It was every bit as beautiful as I remembered it to be. I will admit that all of the intense hiking and standing in the sun was a bit more than I bargained for, but I got to eat some AMAZING food and explore more of the cities than I had before. Apparently, there was also something in the news about a large earthquake near Iraklion, the city we were in, but it was out in the ocean and we didn't even know it happened. So sad. :)

One of my favorite experiences of these past couple of days was visiting the site of Phaistos. It was day six of our time on Crete, so by now we had seen enough (ruins or foundations of) Minoan Palaces to satisfy even the most enthusiastic among us. So, our Professor divided us into groups and we were to explore the site and report back to the group what we observed based on our different topic (construction materials and building, topography, economy, public spaces, etc.). Being a teacher, I LOVED the new teaching method and it was much more fun to explore the site based on our knowledge than to walk around and try very hard to pay attention. :) I had a great time. I'm quickly training to become a little archaeologist (Judy, I know I'm a nerd, you don't have to comment on it after every blog ;).

Now I'm back in Athens for another week and tonight we head to the National Museum. It will be so exciting because it just opened to the public (finally!). The funny thing about the museum is that there are only part of the Parthenon Marbles there because (a long time ago) Lord Elgin took some of the Parthenon Marbles back with him to England and now they are housed in the British Museum. So, at the new National Museum, they blatantly placed up the portion they have and left the area of the "stolen" marbles empty. :) What's even funnier is that I've even seen grafitti on the street that says the marbles should be returned. Oh, Athens...

**Correction: I thought we were going to the New Acropolis Museum which is what I described above. We went to the National Museum today which has galleries and galleries of AMAZING ancient artifacts. It was a long visit, but fantastic. We'll actually go to the museum I described above in a couple of days...