Greece

Last week in Europe

2005-09-23T17:03:00.000+03:00

I don't know if anyone will read this, since I've been home for a while, but I thought I should at least jot down what I did in the 10 days following my last post. After leaving Ioannina, our group went on a four day bus tour of southern Greece. We first visited Delphi, then drove down to Olympia to spend the night. The next morning, we checked out ancient Olympia, where the Olympic Games were originally held, and then drove back up to Patras and across the Peloponnese to this small town on the eastern side of the peninsula, and then visited Mycenae, which was great. Later that evening, we drove the rest of the way to Athens. In Athens the following day, we visited the Parthenon/Acropolis, toured the city in a bus, then had our goodbye dinner in a cool little cafe underneath the Acropolis. The next day, I caught a ferry to Crete with June, Jake, and Aspasia. The ferry got into the port at about 9pm, and we hired a taxi driver for the hour ride to this little beach community on the other side...umm..what was it called....*looking up Crete map on Google*...Plakias! that was the name. Anyway, Plakias was amazing...great hostel, great people, great beaches. I wish I could have spent more time there...but unfortunately I had to leave after three days to catch a ferry back to Athens to catch my flight to Brussels. After flying into Brussels, I found a hostel and explored the city a little bit, which was dusty and barren compared to the olive trees and Mediterranean sea of Crete. The next day, I caught a train to London, where I checked into the International Student House and stayed two nights. It was actually kind of a feeling of relief to suddenly be around English-speaking people after three months of Greek...and London was beautiful. It was my first time there, but not my last, I'm sure. I walked around a ton, took a bus tour, and just kind of enjoyed a few days to myself after being with the same people for the previous 3 months. I loved the city, though, and I think it would be a great place to go to school or live for a while. My flight was early on the morning of the 7th, so I spent the night in the Gatwick airport and caught my flight back to Seattle.

Anyway, three months after getting back...I am so incredibly glad that I went on that trip. All of the study abroad cliches are true, and I went to a place that had never really crossed my mind as a travel destination. Now I really want to return to the Mediterranean, not just to Greece and Italy but also to Morocco, Spain, France, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, etc.. It's an amazing place. It's amazing to live somewhere for a few months where almost everyone is healthy and happy and just living their life day-to-day instead of constantly obsessing about money and the future and trying to retire by the age of 40. I really want to study abroad again...and I think doing a CHID-like program is a great way to go. You meet other cool people from UW who you get to share the incredible experience with. I realized that traveling alone kind of sucks. It has its advantages, but being with people makes it much more memorable. My favorite pictures are the ones taken of me with the friends I met on the trip, not the ones of the scenery or the ones of just myself.

Last day in Ioannina

2005-05-26T11:54:00.000+03:00

It is funny how the end of a trip like this suddenly puts the whole program into perspective. Ioannina was starting to feel a little boring, but then last night the Erasmus students had a big party for us in one of their rooms and suddenly I realized that while I am ready to leave, I am going to miss a lot of stuff not just about Ioannina, but being here at this particular place and time. I don't think I could return and it would be the same, but I guess that is how things always are, like that one guy or girl or something said...don't be sad that its over, be glad that it happened. Anyway, last night was the unofficial goodbye party, and then tonight is our "official" party at the Phigos restaurant, with wine, food, and music compliments of the University of Ioannina. Actually, since we each paid 4,000$ to come here, we're probably paying for it, but its okay, it should be great.

Today we have to pack, clean up our rooms, play one last soccer game, and then go to our dinner party. Tomorrow morning (Friday the 27th) we leave Ioannina for a long bus ride down through Patras and end up in Olympia, which is on the Peloponnese, and then we tour around the eastern area of the Peloponnese for 2-3 days after that and end up in Athens on the 30th, the 31st being our last day.

My week before I fly back to the U.S. is going to be something like this...
31st finish program, go to an island (maybe Crete, Aegina, something like that, I don't know for sure yet)
1st island
2nd island
3rd island --> Athens, flight to Brussels at around noon, stay in hostel in Brussels the night of the 3rd
4th spend part of the day in Brussels, I have no idea what is there or anything so I guess I will just walk around and take pictures/explore, then in the afternoon sometime I think I will take a train to London (through the chunnel!) and find a hostel in London
5th and 6th wander around London, possibly meet up with a few people I met a few months ago who I think live/go to school there
late night of the 6th go to London Gatwick airport, have a crappy night trying to sleep in the airport
early morning on the 7th I check in to my flight (Delta flight 11 to Atlanda, Delta flight 533 Atlanta to Seattle) and leave at 9am GMT, arrive at Seattle at 6:30 PST (total travel time of like 17 hours)

I don't know if I'll be writing anything else on here during the trip, but sometime after my trip I'll post pictures from the Greek islands, Brussels, London, etc..

2005-05-24T12:54:00.001+03:00

Another picture of the town of Parga from up by the castle.

2005-05-24T12:54:00.000+03:00

This is what I mean by a Mediterranean style port...all of the streets are made out of white-gray stones, all of the houses are painted a light color, mostly white, and the roof is always some kind of tile.

2005-05-24T12:53:00.001+03:00

A cool little restaurant above the bay.

2005-05-24T12:53:00.000+03:00

Again, I should have used color, but Emily got me stuck on B&W.

2005-05-24T12:52:00.000+03:00

This is from the beach looking back up at the castle (which is actually just out of the picture on the right) and the road that we walked down. I don't know why I took this in black and white, because the color of the sky, trees, water, and sand was beautiful...oh well.

2005-05-24T12:46:00.001+03:00

This is looking down from the castle at the other beach at Parga, which was longer and had better sand, and also not quite as crowded.

2005-05-24T12:46:00.000+03:00

In this photo I'm actually kind of balanced out on this stone wall, which was inside the Necromanterion (%$#$, I wish I could spell that right!).

2005-05-24T12:44:00.000+03:00

Descending into the chamber where people held conversations with the dead. The stairs were really steep, actually.

2005-05-24T12:43:00.000+03:00

Kaley, Conner (sporting some Euro sunglasses), June, and Morgan

2005-05-24T12:42:00.000+03:00

At Nechromanterion

2005-05-24T12:41:00.000+03:00

These were some buildings at Nechromanterion (sp?), which was where people could supposedly speak to the dead...all we heard were some construction workers shouting below us, but it was still a pretty cool place to visit.

2005-05-24T12:39:00.000+03:00

This was also at the Roman ruins, and it was actually pretty funny, because if you look behind the people in the center of the picture, there are some orangish colored stones....those are actually bricks that apparantly are being placed to "fix" the ruins. However, if they are using the same techniques to build on top of the Roman ruins as they used to build our IKEA-ish dorms, the ruins are going to outlast the fixes.

2005-05-24T12:37:00.000+03:00

Aaron, layin' down the law from an ancient stage

2005-05-24T12:36:00.000+03:00

Some Roman ruins at an ancient Christian Basilisca. I don't actually know what a basilisca is, but that is what was on the sign...

2005-05-24T12:29:00.000+03:00

A few more Greeks doing what they do best...relaxing and drinking coffee.

2005-05-24T12:28:00.000+03:00

A few of my Ioannina friends

2005-05-24T12:26:00.000+03:00

Another picture of the bay

2005-05-24T12:25:00.000+03:00

The beach is on the left side, and then that white building in the middle of the island was some kind of church/monastery thing. This was taken from the castle which sits on top of the headland between two beaches.

2005-05-24T12:24:00.001+03:00

Whoops...took this picture crooked

2005-05-24T12:24:00.000+03:00

Some Greek kids playing soccer

2005-05-24T12:23:00.001+03:00

This is the bay area which Parga is centered around. Just to the left of this picture was the beach that we swam from, and then where that boat is at the dock is just to the right of the waterfront area.

2005-05-24T12:23:00.000+03:00

Walking back down from the castle to the beach area

2005-05-24T12:22:00.000+03:00

Street in Parga

Last full week in Ioannina

2005-05-22T10:50:00.000+03:00

This was a pretty busy week here actually. We had a lot of classes and we actually have to write a paper for next week. This weekend was pretty good though...well kind of. On Friday we had to go to the Dodoni Milk Factory, which was really boring. I wasn't feeling very good and we basically just walked around and saw huge masses of cheese. Friday night some people went to the opening night of Star Wars, since it opened a few nights later here than it does in the U.S., and they all said it was pretty good. I havn't even been into downtown in like two weeks, I just realized. I'll probably go in today or something, after I write my paper. Oh, so then on Saturday, we left at 8am for Parga, which is a coastal town. On the way we went to some Roman ruins and this place where people supposedly talked to the dead. I didn't hear anyone talking, but I was pretty tired, so maybe I just wasn't listening carefully enough. After that, we went to the beach at Parga and pretty much spent the rest of the day there, which was really nice. Somehow, I get honors credit for going on a "cultural field trip" which consists of maybe an hour of cultural stuff and then 5 hours of laying around in the sun and swimming. Parga was a pretty nice town too, kind of the typical Mediterranean look with lots of white buildings, winding streets and a big castle. Nice beaches and water, too.

So this is my schedule for this week:

Monday - Greek language and Greece and the EU classes
Tuesday - Greek final
Wednesday - Greece and the EU presentation
Thursday - Goodbye Party
Friday - leave

Anyway, this post is pretty boring, so I'll relieve anyone who has read this far by not writing any more.

Update

2005-05-18T08:13:00.000+03:00

Okay, I didn't mean that I am bored here, I just meant that being on vacation for 2+ months makes you want to have a little more to do. And hey, I like science classes. Speaking of classes, I registered yesterday. Physics 121B Mechanics, Chem 152, Math 324 Advanced Multivariable Calculus, CSE 143 Advanced Java Programming. Either Math 324 or CSE 143 will probably be dropped.

Advice to anyone ever planning on going to Europe: buy a round trip ticket! I don't want to think about how much money I could have saved by planning a little bit better and just flying round trip from Seattle to Athens and back. Oh well, I won't think about it anymore.

This Friday we go to the Dodoni milk factory, and Saturday we go to another beach at Parga! I'm stoked.

2005-05-15T12:33:00.000+03:00

Some Greek graffiti in Ioannina

2005-05-15T12:32:00.000+03:00

June, Bryce, and Aaron

2005-05-15T12:31:00.001+03:00

A boat in the Lefkas harbor

2005-05-15T12:31:00.000+03:00

Jake, Bilyana from Bulgaria, and Morgan

2005-05-15T12:30:00.000+03:00

Bryce, June, me, Aaron, JJ, and two unidentifiable people

2005-05-15T12:28:00.001+03:00

Umm...

2005-05-15T12:28:00.000+03:00

Morgan, taking her ice cream cone pretty seriously

2005-05-15T12:27:00.001+03:00

Enjoying lunch at Lefkas

2005-05-15T12:27:00.000+03:00

Bryce, fresh off a deck change in front of a lot of Greek tourists

2005-05-15T12:25:00.000+03:00

The beach at Lefkas - we swam out to some of the rocks on the left and dove off them, and then swam way out to this reef that you can't see in the picture

2005-05-15T12:24:00.000+03:00

The peaceful, quiet monastery on Lefkas

2005-05-15T12:22:00.000+03:00

Lefkas Island from a monastery

2nd to last week in Ioannina

2005-05-15T11:38:00.000+03:00

Classes started on Monday again, and this week we only had language and culture classes...no EU class, which was great, but a few of our culture lectures were pretty boring too...ancient Greek clothing? I tried to be interested, but...it didn't really happen. Anyway, to the interesting stuff...Saturday was great! All of our group and probably 10-15 European students went to Lefkas Island, which is an Ionian island about 2 hours from Ioannina. It was really beautiful there, and seemed like the characteristic Greek Island scenery...nice sandy beach and beautiful blue Mediterranean water, which happened to be warm enough to swim in, too! We stayed at the beach, swimming, diving off rocks, lounging in the sun, for about three hours, and then drove to the town of Lefkas to get lunch and walk around...I didn't put on sunscreen, and so when I got back to Ioannina my back was pretty red, but by some miracle this morning it wasn't sunburned at all...I have no idea why, but I was pretty stoked. Last night at around 12 several of us went up to a birthday party of this guy from the Czech Republic, which turned out to be a blast and I stayed until like 4, I think. Morgan and June and I were going to head to a club after being there for like an hour, but the party was pretty fun so we just ended up staying. I register for fall quarter in a few days, and I changed my flight to June 7, so I'll be home in around 3 weeks! Basically, my next few weeks is someting like this:

May 16-19 we have normal classes
May 20/21 field trips
May 23-25 normal classes (that is monday, tuesday, wednesday)
May 26 goodbye party
May 27 leave for our four day excursion en route to Athens
May 31 maybe meet the president of Greece, goodbye party in Athens
okay, possible revision - instead of going to Crete, I might fly to Budapest with Bryce and JJ and then train or RyanAir to London...its up in the air right now, I'm really not sure though.
June 5 Leave Crete, ferry to Piraeus and Athens
June 6 Fly from Athens to London, somehow get to London Gatwick airport
June 7 Fly out of London at around 9 am, arrive in Seattle around 6pm
June 8-September 25 work, surf, mountain bike, climb, take math 307

I'm still enjoying myself here, but Ioannina is starting to get a little bit boring (wow, and I'm going back to Port Angeles), and it feels like I've been on vacation for like 2 months and I'd like to be back to having more stuff to do, which is why I ended up changing my flight to June 7th. Speaking of my changed flight, I hope that it actually got changed, because I did it through this Greek travel agent who is associated with STA...so hopefully it all works out. Anyway, I miss the northwest and all of my friends and family, so I'm stoked to see you all again and keep in touch with me! Spence

Easiest Week Ever

2005-05-09T11:21:00.000+03:00

Monday - "Culture class" at 12:30 for two hours
Tuesday - Language 10:00-12:00
Wednesday - No school. Apparantly they celebrate May Day pretty seriously in Greece, but since Orthodox Easter was on May 1, they changed it to this Wednesday...great, no dance class either...Thank God.
Thursday - Language 10-12
Friday - Culture 10-12, field trip
Saturday - Field Trip

quote of the weekend: "that was the first time i've thoroughly showered in like...two weeks" -Conner, 2 hours after getting back from Crete.

I miss having breakfast...last time I had a normal breakfast was a month and a half ago. I realized a few days ago that I havn't had bananas or peanut butter in the same amount of time, which is like half of what I ate during the school year. They were replaced with apples and olive oil.

The Bible is on Sparknotes.com.

Random #2

2005-05-07T10:23:00.000+03:00

I just saw a bird fall out of a tree as I was walking along...it is cloudy and cool here this morning. Two more days of break...I need to study Greek.

Random

2005-05-06T12:07:00.000+03:00

Ioannina rocks. Νεβειν και Βασιλε, two friends from Ioannina, are going to help me get a haircut today...scary. Hopefully I can trust them. Happy Birthday, Emily! Don't forget Mother's Day...Emily and I and Martha have big plans. Maybe more random thoughts later..I need to take a shower. This is kind of a girly color...I became homesick after Italy. Maybe I'll come home earlier than I thought...not sure yet.

2005-05-05T12:29:00.001+03:00

Two unknown girls on the ferry from Igoumenitsa to Bari

2005-05-05T12:29:00.000+03:00

The Pantheon, in my opinion the most amazing building in Rome, with its fountain in the foreground.

2005-05-05T12:28:00.001+03:00

I cannot remember the name of this building...Any help?

2005-05-05T12:28:00.000+03:00

The Pope's monument...is that what they call it? I have no idea, but there were quite a few people here praying and weeping...it must have been pretty amazing for Emily to be here during his death.

2005-05-05T12:27:00.000+03:00

A nun passing through the Pope John Paul II's memorial

2005-05-05T12:26:00.002+03:00

A nun leaving St. Peters

2005-05-05T12:26:00.001+03:00

St. Peters with my shadow in the foreground

2005-05-05T12:26:00.000+03:00

The Campo di Fiori through a glass of limoncello. The UW Rome Center is in the background...

2005-05-05T12:25:00.000+03:00

No, I didn't photoshop this...

2005-05-05T12:24:00.001+03:00

Balancing on a rock several hundred feet above the Mediterranean

2005-05-05T12:24:00.000+03:00

Me and Em, enjoying the Mediterranean while trying some self portraits...

2005-05-05T12:23:00.001+03:00

I was trying to take a picture of Emily covertly, but zoomed out to far I guess.

2005-05-05T12:23:00.000+03:00

The two guys ordering something were apparantly famous in Italy, though we didn't know who they were.

2005-05-05T12:22:00.001+03:00

Some more silver ocean

2005-05-05T12:22:00.000+03:00

Shimmering Mediterranean waters...no wonder everyone here smiles so much...sunlight, ocean, lemons, wine...

2005-05-05T12:21:00.001+03:00

Another cloud picture

2005-05-05T12:21:00.000+03:00

Both the beauty and the engineering of the entire coastline amazed me...driving north to south, the entire lane hangs off the cliff but they somehow managed to make it strong enough for huge tour buses to drive through

2005-05-05T12:20:00.000+03:00

Me and Em with the Amalfi in the far background

2005-05-05T12:19:00.002+03:00

Lemon trees along the Amalfi Coast...actually this is inland a bit

2005-05-05T12:19:00.001+03:00

I took so many pictures exactly like this...but I am not going to delete any of them.

2005-05-05T12:19:00.000+03:00

Me and Em with a guy in a speedo in the far background

2005-05-05T12:18:00.001+03:00

An elderly fisherman paddling along

2005-05-05T12:18:00.000+03:00

It took us two tries to get this picture...

2005-05-05T12:17:00.002+03:00

Finishing up another amazing meal

2005-05-05T12:17:00.001+03:00

Mom and Emily at our castle hotel in Palinuro

2005-05-05T12:17:00.000+03:00

ÔÝëïòöüñìáòÁñ÷ÞöüñìáòIf you click on this picture, and then zoom in to the top of that hilltop, there is a statue called "Christ the Redeemer", which faces inland and is 22 meters high.

2005-05-05T12:16:00.001+03:00

ÔÝëïòöüñìáòÁñ÷ÞöüñìáòLast sunset from this side of Italy

2005-05-05T12:16:00.000+03:00

Good note to end on

Easter Break, Part One

2005-05-05T07:26:00.000+03:00

tuesday, april 26...finished classes, packed, left Ioannina with Danielle, a girl from my group also going to Italy, at about 4 pm. 1.5 hour bus ride to Igoumenitsa, waited an hour for the ferry, got on, woke up in Bari, Italy the next morning. Found stazione centrale in Bari using repetitive dov'e la stazione..? and hoping for hand gestures, which worked fine, and got to station at 10, and had to wait until 1 for a train to Rome. Met a Yemen(ese?) Civil Engineer from Athens through a conversation in broken Greek and English, got off the train at around 6, bus to the ancient city area, got off and walked to Campo di Fiori...as soon as I walked in, looking confused and feeling tired, I see Emily walking up to me, which was a big surprise, since I had no idea where the UW Rome Center was. Had a nice dinner with mom and Em in the Campo, then checked out her apartment, which was incredibly nice. It happens to sit right on top of the Theater of Pompeii...where Julius Caesar was assasinated. I think that is right...Emily might need to check my facts, but yeah, its a pretty cool spot.
thursday, april 28...walked around Rome with mom all day, enjoyed a great lunch and gelato, went to the Pantheon, Vatican, Piazza di Spangna, etc., then back to Campo di Fiori to meet Em and sardine our way onto a bus to catch a train to Napoli... I should mention that going through Rome again was well worth it. No one was at the Pantheon when we went, unlike my first time, and I actually went inside of St. Peters at the Vatican, which was just incredible. We also walked by the new monument(or something like that) of Pope John Paul II, where there were quite a few nuns and other people weeping and praying. It must have been an incredibly intense experience for Em to have been there when half of the world was watching...Anyway, that evening, we got on a train to Napoli and checked into a hostel and went out for some real Neopolitan pizza, which is absolutly amazing. It is worth going into Napoli just for the pizza...really, really good.
friday, april 29...Decided to rent a car on a spur of the moment desire for exploration, and ended up driving to the Amalfi Coast. Emily and I agreed that this was the Italy we had always pictured...Absolutly stunning. I can't really describe it, so I'll post some pictures later...they might do it some justice...maybe.
saturday, april 30...from Almalfi Coast down to Palinuro, a tiny beach village. Another beautiful drive, beautiful coast, and a really cool place to stay up in this castle. Again, the Italy that I always had pictured...lemon trees, small tavernas alongside the winding road, bottles of wine with no label...it was great.
sunday, may 1...from Palinuro down to a small town inland of Calamia(sp?)...last night with Emily, she had to be back on Monday night. Kind of a crappy town, we had left the bell'Italia behind 20 kilometers ago, but still had a great time. I'm sorry I'm not writing more, but I have some good pictures to post later.
monday, may 2...dropped Emily off at the train station, Mom and I drove down to Reggio di Calabria...which honestly was the worst place I'd been to in Italy, but I decided to go back to Greece via a 3:00 ferry to Brindisi...which was where my trip really turned sour. Caught the 3pm train, it took 7 hours to get to Taranto, which was where I was supposed to transfer to a train to Brindisi, which had left literally minutes before I got there. So, I camped out in the train station overnight, which was hellish, since it was 11pm and I had hardly any cash and the train station was god-knows-where in an already unknown town.
tuesday, may 3...caught 6am train to Brindisi, arrived around 7, went to the ticket office, no more tickets to Greece until 7pm, but I bought one and went to a day hostel where I tooka shower and met some other travelers, and finally got on the ferry around 6:45. As I was getting on the ferry, I checked to see if it was the right one.. "Igoumenitsa?" -"No...Patra" "Yeah, but Igoumenitsa first, right?" -"No, only Patra." %^$#^!! But whatever, I'll be able to work my way to Ioannina somehow. So I got on, and read that I could take a bus to Ioannina from Patra, so I was stoked, until I found out that there was some kind of high school field trip going on and they basically converted the floor which the foot passengers kind of lounge around on all night and sleep on into a disco, complete with lights and obnoxiously loud italian dance music. fucking great.
wednesday, may 4...as I walked off the ferry, I thought to myself..."its great to be back in Greece..." and promptly stepped into a foot-deep hole in the middle of the sidewalk, literally at the end of that thought. Then, I went to the bus station to buy a ticket to Ioannina, and found out the bus had let just minutes earlier, so I was stuck for another 4 hours. Fortunately, Patras was a nice city to walk around, and I actually had a nice time there. Finally, at 12:30 I got on the bus and got into Ioannina t 4pm, really tired but glad to be back.

Andiamo!

2005-04-26T14:30:00.000+03:00

Okay, enough of this Greek-24-letter-alphabet-hard-to-pronounce-and-learn stuff, vado al'Italia!

Meeting Emily in Rome tomorrow...spend a week or so in Italy...then back to Greece a few days before the end of break to enjoy Ioannina and study Greek a lot. People are going all over...Jake to Poland, Morgan to Spain, Angela and Christina and Danielle to Italy, and lots of people to the Greek Islands.

Statistics Report

2005-04-24T10:56:00.000+03:00

Days in Europe - 35
Number of pictures taken - 670
Percent of memory card used - 42
Projected number of pictures on one card - 1600
Towns that I have fallen in love with - 3 (Napoli, Ioannina, Metzovo)
Number of Americans outside of our group I have seen since Italy - 0
Number of recognizable chains (i.e. Starbucks, McDonalds) I've seen in Ioannina - 0
Number of nationalities I have met off the top of my head - 11
Number of countries I am thinking/have thought about visiting after the program - 12
People who have said anything or acted in any way anti-American during my first month in Europe - 1
People who told me I should say I'm from Canada while in Europe - 7
Number of times I have said I'm from Canada - 0
Hours spent in class per day, on average - 3.5
Days of class left in the program - 13
Weeks until the program is done - 5
Pounds of cheese bought in Metzovo yesterday collectively - 7 (est)
Bottles of 2 euro for 1.5 liter wine Bryce and I have bought - 7
Amount of wine sold each year by the factory we visited - 1,200,000 bottles
Number of languages I can now kind of speak - 4
Nights per week international students party - 4
Length of U.S. spring break - 9 days
Length of Greek Easter break - 12 days
Number of breaks this quarter - 2
Collective break time - 24 days (since I finished finals early)
Number of times I will have a quarter like this again - 0
Amount Greek students and students on visas spend for tuition in Greece - 0
Learning Greek compared to learning Spanish and Italian - 6 times harder
Number of letters in the Greek alphabet - 24
Number of Greek letters completely mispronounced by frats/sororities in America - 24
Number of times I had ever heard of the "nominative versus accusative" sense, despite it being a component of the English language - 0
Lab classes I have to take next winter quarter - 4
Length of each lab in a lab class - 4 hours
Cost of hostels in Cairo, Egypt - 1.80 USD/night

I will keep adding to this, it is kind of fun for some reason. Seriously though, it is hard to learn Greek and I do spend a good amount of time studying, it isn't all fun and games here. Seriously. It is mostly fun and games, yes, and by mostly I mean 95%, but learning Greek does take up most of the day time hours.

2005-04-24T10:49:00.000+03:00

Bryce and some German girl walking up to the museum...I wish I could write as well as Emily because she hardly posts any pictures but still describes everything she does really clearly, unlike myself, who relies on pictures...and not even very good pictures at that. I have some studying and sleeping to do today, but I hope everyone who reads this - friends, family, and any anonymous weird blog-readers out there who are reading this - are all doing well and will continue to write me emails. -Spence

2005-04-24T10:45:00.000+03:00

An old shepard doing some, um, sheparding...

2005-04-24T10:41:00.000+03:00

Another old lady prowling the streets of Metzovo

2005-04-24T10:37:00.000+03:00

Aaron and our Greek teacher, âéêç, finishing up some Metzovian wine and cheese.

2005-04-24T10:35:00.000+03:00

Lake Ioannina and the island from the bus on the way back

2005-04-24T10:32:00.000+03:00

I was pretending to take a picture of Bryce and June, but I think this old lady knew what I was doing anyway.

2005-04-24T10:30:00.000+03:00

I don't know why this picture is so out of focus, but this is tasting wine at the wine factory.

2005-04-24T10:29:00.000+03:00

I don't actually know what they called this building (the one with the clock on it), but you could see it from everywhere in the town.

2005-04-24T10:28:00.001+03:00

Conner, spending some time with a Greek family...

2005-04-24T10:28:00.000+03:00

About half of the people we saw in Metzovo were old men just kind of roaming around with other old men, probably gossiping or discussing politics.

2005-04-24T10:26:00.000+03:00

The art gallery that we visited...a lot of the buildings used the flat stones for the roof, like in the Zagori villages

2005-04-24T10:24:00.001+03:00

Another painting that I liked

2005-04-24T10:24:00.000+03:00

This is the painting that I bought the huge poster of...

2005-04-24T10:23:00.001+03:00

A painting of the Parthenon

2005-04-24T10:23:00.000+03:00

The Metzovo Town Center

Metzovo

2005-04-23T19:10:00.000+03:00

The Zagori villages last week were cool, but they didn't turn out to be as good as I expected, so I wasn't expecting Metzovo to be very cool either...fortunately, our field trip today proved me wrong. Basically, Metzovo was originally a really beautiful self-sufficient village, but a few decades of wars and human migration turned it into kind of a dump. So, this one guy who grew up there, Baron Tositas, became a Swiss banker and convinced a fair number of wealthy Greek investors to help restore Metzovo to its orginal state, and he turned out to be quite successful. The town, which has 3500 permanant residents, is built along a hill about halfway between Ioannina and Meteora, and has the highest income per capita of any city in Europe. Tositas's intention was to restore it to a sort of artisan establishment that produced very high quality cheese and wine, and he clearly accomplished this because cheese and wine production are the economic foundation of the town. We arrived there around 10:30 or so, and went to the town's convention center, which sort of reminded me of one of those olden mountain chalets that you might find in Glacier National Park or something. The hostess of the center gave us coffee and explained the history of Metzovo and showed us some original artwork and historical items from the village. After that, we went to what I thought was the best art museum I've ever seen, called the E. Averof Gallery which consisted of only 19th and 20th century exhibits. I know nothing about artwork, but for whatever reason, I loved most of the paintings in the gallery, and bought a large poster of my favorite piece.

After the gallery, we had some free time in the center and just kind of browsed around the shops a little and had enjoyed some cheese and wine. Oh, one other thing about Metzovo...along with cheese and wine, the city subsidizes the growth of trees, and basically gives wood to any of the citizens for whatever purpose, for free. So, all of the shops sell a lot of wooden cutting boards, boxes, cooking utensils, etc.. We went to lunch at a Taverna perched above the main street and enjoyed some great food, and then had half an hour or so before we went to the wine factory, where we got a tour and were given wine to taste, which was πολυ αρειο. It was interesting to learn some stuff about wine production and to actually see the enormous containers that eventually fill the bottles. After the wine tasting, we left Metzovo and went back to Ioannina...Today is Bryce's birthday so I'm sure something will be happening tonight. Wow, two more days of class and then it's Italy!

2005-04-23T11:03:00.000+03:00

Just before I had written that last post I had gotten back from a nice morning run, the sun was shining, I was feeling stoked, and its not that hearing about stuff like that makes me feel miserable, it just reminds me that there is another world out there, called home, that isn't quite as ideal as the world that surrounds me, just as when I'm home, and I hear about genocide, and war, and poverty in other parts of the world, I feel really lucky to be home. It just angers me incredibly when I hear people praising George Bush for being humanitarian regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, and Saddam, when there are genocides going on in Darfur that have recieved veritable pennies from the U.S. compared to the billions that we spent in Iraq, where yes, there may have been human rights violations, but certainly not genocide. It is all depressing, but I guess I'll work on saving the world when I get back from Greece, and enjoy myself while I'm here. Tomorrow we go to Metsovo...wine factory and wine tasting!

Weekend Depression

2005-04-22T20:41:00.000+03:00

"The broad bill, approved by a 249-183 vote, also contains provisions to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to shield makers of a gasoline additive from water contamination lawsuits and to boost production of ethanol, a corn-distilled fuel additive. The largely Republican-crafted bill was approved after two days in which the GOP majority turned back repeated attempts by Democrats to add measures they said would reduce energy use, including a proposal for higher automobile fuel economy requirements."

...it is going to be hard to go back to the U.S.. Though the selfishness of the Republican party no longer surprises me, news like this still disgusts me. Two years ago Bush gives massive tax breaks to small business owners buying SUV's over a certain weight, and now a pristine, peaceful area in a beautiful part of the world has to pay for his fucking stupidity?

2005-04-22T15:30:00.000+03:00

Testing

2005-04-22T15:21:00.000+03:00

Just testing to see if this email feed thing works.

Stuff I miss at home: my bike, my surfboard, my skis, Whistler, my music.

Stuff I'll miss in Greece when I get home: Feta and olive oil with
everything, cafes, not having Hummers around, not having much
homework, Greek coffee, Euro coins

Don't feel bad if I didn't say that I miss you/will miss you...listing
people you miss makes things more complicated.

Καλαμερα...

2005-04-21T19:08:00.000+03:00

It's good that I'm going on vacation in a few days, living at the university is wearing me down...I was so tired from being at Exo until 4am two nights ago that I couldn't partake in Toga Night (which happened to coincide with a going away party for two girls from Belgium) last night...We have four hours of Greek today and then some people might go to Corfu, but I'm not sure if I will go with them because it is only 60 degrees there today and we'd only be able to stay one night, but on the other hand, it is Corfu...I might go to the island again tomorrow with some people, because Emily requested that I get her that huge Hooka that was in the picture below, and I thought I might get some other gifts as well...Any more silver requests? Spence

2005-04-21T09:43:00.000+03:00

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/europe/italy/italy.htm

Monday AM

2005-04-19T08:26:00.000+03:00

Καλεμερα,

It is raining here! Only one hour of class today - Greece in the EU - I'm hoping another heated discussion will bring some warmth to this rainy day. Thanks to everyone who wrote me e-mail or posted comments, and to those who didn't...umm..I was never very good at sounding threatening. Tonight we have another cooking demonstration; I now love Greek food. A few of us students hung out with the professor during Ouzo hour last night, learned about Egypt, Athens, among other things. Next Saturday is Metzovo, then two days of language class and its Corfu time! Then to Italy... I decided on Italy over the Greek Islands for the 12 day easter break because I'll be in Athens at the end of the program anyway, and might do some island hopping with a few people from the program. After that...who knows? I'm stoked though. This program is going by so quickly, this week, two days next week, then break for 12 days, then two full weeks, then we leave for our 5 day excursion that will bring us to Athens. Keep writing me e-mail!

Σπενσερ

-does anyone really have a thing for silver stuff? or for hookas? they sell a lot of that stuff in ioannina, so if anyone wants something, tell me!

More Monasteries, Baklava, Zagori Villages

2005-04-17T22:57:00.000+03:00

Another great weekend, and only one full week until break! Nothing too exciting during the week, I got kind of sick and still feel a little queasy, and we had a few heated discussions in the Greece and the EU class, which I never would have imagined in a class with that title. I am really sick of cigarette smoke...everyone smokes here, and there aren't really any non smoking places... Friday, we went to the castle in downtown Ioannina, which is called the Frourio, and houses basically an entire community. There were a few museums and art galleries in there, and a great view of the lake and the island. Ali Pasha's tomb is there, too, and and some cool old ruins. After that we went to the island in the middle of the lake on a little ferry, and spent a few hours over there. Apparantly the island specializes in making Baklava, which is like a sweet rolled up thing that vendors were sampling everywhere...its really good - I need to get some to take home. The only other thing the island seems to sell was silver, because there was silver in basically every store. There were also some huge eels in these tanks which apparantly is a culinary specialty on the island. We went to the house where Ali Pasha was shot, and also to a few monasteries and a small museum...One of the monasteries we visited was pretty amazing because of the intensity of the artwork on its interior walls. I would be stoked on going to more monasteries if we could take pictures inside, but they don't allow it, so I think people are getting a little burned out on seeing them all. On Saturday we went to the Zagori region, which is about an hour north of Ioannina, and is basically a mountainous region with a ton of little villages composed of houses made almost entirely of rock. We also visited the Vigos Gorge and spent some time there...It looks like there would be some really good hiking and stuff around there, and the region was really beautiful...We got back around 7pm, and then went to dinner at like 9 for Tien's birthday...I'm too tired to write more right now...but nothing too exciting is going on right now, but I'll write in the middle of the week maybe..

2005-04-17T10:56:00.000+03:00

...yeah, that is a houka. Angela and Kristina sizing it up.

2005-04-17T10:45:00.000+03:00

This is Bryce, "being hungry", since we didn't have time for breakfast this morning and were walking around the villages and the gorge all day and then didn't get lunch until like 2:30. On the bottom is JJ, Jake, and Kaley.