Good Night, Everybody!

Just so you all know, this will more than likely be my last blog entry. Seeing as how today was the last full day in Greece and I don't there will be too much to say about my time flying back to the States, I'm just going to see if I'm able to leave it. Maybe comment on here to let you all know that I made back alive or something...

But yesterday was a fairly usual day. I think I did pretty well on my project presentation and spent most of the afternoon hanging out at the hotel and things like that. After getting dinner, I felt like going to the flea market to get more music only to find out that it was closed after about 7:30. Before going to bed, I also found out that the Acropolis would be closed the next day due to the strikes that are/were occurring in the city. Fortunately I had already gone but it would've cool to go out there again. Maybe next time?

Today was a little more eventful as I took an exam for another one of my classes, went out and found another awesome record stores (One of the things that I'll miss most about this country), hung out in the hotel and took a little siesta, went out on a group dinner for one last time, and have been hanging out on the rooftop garden since then. THought it'd be good to make a good entry before I was too gone...

Sorry to cut this a little short. Looking forward to being back in the States though I will definitely be missing this place for quite some time! I can't believe it's already time to go. I'll be feeling it tonight...

I Am The Truth And I Walk Alone

The first part of the day largely dealt with the last day of mandatory sightseeing (Still taking that one in, really) as the group left Nauphlion and saw the sites of Corinth and Eleusis before making our way back to Athens for the third and final time. The second half of the day has revolved around getting used to being back in Athens though the adjustments have always been fairly easy in my opinion. I've mostly spent the afternoon/evening enjoying the use of reliable internet while chatting with Heather for the first time in a few days, grabbing dinner at the McDonald's (Last time, I promise!), attempting to find a fruit stand though finding them all to be closed, and going between working on my project and the usual procrastination...

I am currently on the hotel's rooftop garden going between surfing the net and continuing to work on this project. At this current time, I have about 5 1/2 pages written and am a little over halfway through my work. Seeing as how it's due for both classes tomorrow morning, I'll be sure to finish everything before I go to bed.

When You Leave, I Go Insane

Almost forgot to make an update. Probably would be a good idea to do that while I'm still thinking about it. Especially since this is our last night at Nauphlion...

Well today was a pretty eventful day with it beginning with breakfast followed by a few presentations in my Ancient City class (I'll be going on Monday, though I still need to work on it. Damn introductory paragraphs...). After that, we had another afternoon of expeditions as we went to check out various ruins at Argos and Mycenae about 45 minutes or so away. All in all, another great round of sights with Mycenae in particular being interesting for the tombs that I managed to look at while we were there. Granted they were completely empty but you gotta love the feelings associated with them...

After that, I spent some time hanging out at the hotel before deciding to go take another one of my walks along the shore. I managed to bring my camera along this time and took some interesting shots of the path down to the beach (Some of the graffiti was rather amusing...). I also randomly got dinner with a few group members at one of the pizzerias and ended up scaling the fortress that stands on the hill above the city. Needless to say, it was a pretty straining climb though the sights were pretty awesome.

Following my return to the hotel and a quick shower, I decided that it would be good to check my email and possibly work on this project. Of course, I still haven't gotten much work done though I have everything in my head and have gotten the green lights to use the same project for both classes. I wonder if I will ever learn...

Anyone Wanna Learn Elvish?

On the day after I comment on Facebook about how there hasn't been any violent activity since we've been in this country, I learn about an assassination attempt on one of the Ministers of Security that ended up killing an advisor by mistake. I only learned a few details about the matter this morning, but I can assure anyone that has heard about this that our group is still doing fine. With us still being in Nauphlion and the attack occurring in Athens, we missed that and shouldn't be in any danger when we return to the capital in 2 days. Just wanted to throw that out there and let you know that we're still alive...

So today was another typical sort of day as we had a few classes, a few bus rides, ventured to another archaeological site (Complete with some singing on the local theater to test out the acoustics. Yours truly did a rousing rendition of Bruce Dickinson's "Tears Of The Dragon"), and got off for a late lunch around 3. After that, we've had another clear day so I ended up hanging around the hotel, wandering along the shoreline again (I'll probably bring my camera next time I go check out. It is a nice little path), and just got back from a late dinner at a nearby cafe. I gotta tell you, pear juice is some interesting stuff. Actually, all the juices that I've had here have been pretty interesting and go beyond the standard orange/apple/grape that we see on the other side of the Atlantic. The peach and strawberry juices are particularly interesting...

Also worth interesting is that there are only about 5 more days left of the trip. While the trip has had some slow pacing at times, there are still some feelings of it going by quickly. Of course, I'm still anxious to make my way back to the States to see everyone that I've missed here and to plot where my next cross-country adventure should be. I do have a slight yearning leftover from the Ireland incident...

It's the Dopemine

After another fit of getting up and going back to bed (Makes me wonder if I'll be having these strange fits in the States...), I got up around 9:15 in order to make it to breakfast on time. The breakfast here is actually pretty decent and probably the best I've had next to Athens. After that and taking some time to check my email, I had my two classes and found out a little more about the projects we have to work on before the journey ends. I have a good idea of what I'll be doing though I still need to get the green light from Dr. Shea for the City class. I also found out how I did on the midterms and actually did a lot better than I had anticipated. Yay for having such merciful graders...

Following a trip to a small museum that apparently built from a barracks, I spent the afternoon with a smaller version of the usual group getting lunch and checking out a few more stores. In addition to some sausage and gelato, I got a little something more to add on to previous gift ideas. Hopefully you all like what I got you.

Aside from the usual relaxing, the big highlight of the evening was going out and exploring more of the area with my iPod in tow. I took the opposite path of what I had yesterday and decided to follow the shoreline in hopes of seeing a beach to walk along. While I didn't really find the standard beach, it was a pretty incredible sight to walk along and I got some exercise in while the areas closest to the ocean. For some reason, doom metal makes for good rock climbing music...

And now I'm back in the hotel working with the computer and contemplating the final project once more. It's still as slow as before though it isn't as tedious when I distract myself with other things. Might be a good time to grab a bowl and spoon for more cereal...

It Knows I'm Addicted...

With today being another one of our free days, it's safe to say that it was pretty laid back and relatively lazy. After waking up and going back to bed several times, I started my day around 9:30 and ended up missing breakfast by a few minutes. Thus my first adventure of the day began as I walked around the port and into the town looking for a supermarket. One of the group members suggested getting cereal and milk from a market a few weeks ago and I thought it'd be a good idea to try out now that we're in a place for more than a full day. With my iPod in hand, I ended up wandering about the town before finding a market and also bought some stuff at a bakery and two record stores along the way. I definitely didn't expect the latter places to pop up here. How did they find me? Whatever the case, I ended up getting 4 more CD's for about 48 euro...

The rest of the day was pretty much hanging out online (Continuing to deal with the less-than-favorable connection), listening to music, seeing what other people are up to, doing some writing/drawing, and random things along the way. I also grabbed dinner at another pizzeria that was probably about as good as the one I went to. Not too much else to add other than that. Got classes to think about for tomorrow morning. Thankfully there's nothing too early to worry about...

You Have To Learn The Hard Way

Our group started off the day with another trip to an archaeological site before going out on another long round of driving, this time to the site at Olympia as promised the day before. It was a pretty nifty site though I can only imagine how much more impressive it was when the statue of Olympian Zeus was still there. Unfortunately, the day before probably would've been a better day to go for the site was packed with tourists. It may sound hypocritical of me to cite that as a criticism, but at least our group isn't getting in the way of other people's photos and posing on top of the stones. When taking my faith into consideration, it's borderline desecration! How would you like it if I took a picture of me with my arm around a statue of Christ? Not exactly respectful...

But the drive was another 3-4 hour trek as we journeyed from Olympia to Naflion (Another one of those regions that gets me with the spelling. Like Siphnos before it, Spell Check doesn't recognize it...). Highlights include the usual iPod listening, stopping to briefly grab lunch, brief lectures after the stops, and stopping by another set of ruins at Tiryns. While these were not as elaborate as some on past sites, it was still pretty cool to check out.

We arrived at Naflion around the same time we arrived at the last few destinations and have largely had a free day since then. Thus my evening has been spent working with the internet (The signal is terrible...), wandering about the streets, grabbing dinner at a pizzeria after learning that one that I was thinking of checking out was closed, doing some reading for a class, writing an entry for my personal journal, and listening to some music all the while. I kinda feel like going out to get a snack at some point soon. Maybe I'll look for a decent internet cafe while I'm out...