Munchkinland In Greece  
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January 9, 2003     Well it's Thursday, a week and a half before I leave for Greece. I've just begun putting this page together, and in a little bit I'll be putting it up on the web. I talked to Mrs. Daughety today in the International Studies office, and my airline information is in the mail (which is a big relief) so I'm all set to be leaving on the 20th. I haven't really started packing yet, but I will. Well I just wanted to get this started so...here I go! Enjoy! January 13, 2003     Exactly a week before I leave, and I am so incredibly bored. My manager forgot to put me on the schedule for this week, so the only hours I have are on Thursday because someone can't work in the morning. Yay. The rest of the week is at my leisure, and I'm already bored to death. My mom started classes today to get her nursing license again, leaving me alone in the house until 3. I'll be by myself again on Wednesday. I suppose I could be doing constructive things, like packing...but I'll get to it later.     I got my plane ticket and information in the mail the other day. Big relief there. And I'm not the only Harding student flying out of Houston, which is good too. I'll be flying from here to Atlanta, then to JFK, then straight to Athens from there, about a nine-and-a-half hour flight. Yay. So yeah. Basically I'm bored. I hope this week goes by fast...and then at the same time I don't...sigh. Until next time. January 21, 2003     We're here! It's so amazing, I'm finally here! And what an ordeal it was to get here, let me tell you. I woke up at 6:00 Monday morning, got ready, and we were at the airport by 8 am. My flight was scheduled to leave Houston at 10. After saying goodbye to my parents at the terminal, I went to the gate and sat around for a while. Cynthia is also from Houston, so after we introduced ourselves we sat and talked about this semester. Around 10:00 we realized our plane was supposed to be leaving in 15 minutes, and they hadn't started boarding yet. Yeah, it was delayed, by about 30-45 minutes before we finally got off the ground. This wouldn't have been such a problem had it not been for the fact that it left us with only 15 minutes to get from Atlanta's Terminal C to Terminal 3 and meet the rest of the group on the flight to JFK. They were doing the final boarding calls as we ran up to the gate. But from there on it was smooth sailing. Both the JFK flight and the flight to Athens were on the same kind of plane, the big ones with three rows (2 3 2) and tv screens. We watched Ocean's Eleven. Good movie, I'd never seen it before. I didn't really sleep, I can't sleep on planes. So that's probably why I'm so incredibly exhausted now (my body's trying to tell me that it's like 8 am and I've had only 1 hour of sleep in 24 hours).     Tomorrow we take our tour of Athens (at 8 am!). We get to go to the Acropolis and Mars Hill and all those neat places. By tomorrow evening or the day after I hope to have some pictures up with the digital camera Gina gave me (cross your fingers). More interesting stuff to come! January 22, 2003     So no digital pictures. Sadness. But I can still keep you posted, and who knows, I may be able to get some pictures yet. It's day 2, and I am loving it. I'm getting to know my fellow HUGgers and having a good time. I'm even branching out and trying Greek food! *Gasp* I had a gyro today (pronounded like hero), and it was pretty good.     Well today was our trip to the Acropolis. After the 2 hour drive in rush hour traffic in Athens (it was insane), we arrived at the Acropolis. We went to Mars Hill first. It was amazing. Dr. Edwards read us Paul's speech from Acts 17. It was just...amazing. To look down on the Agora and the Temple of Vulcan and up at the Propylia and the Acropolis...it was just incredible. And then we went up through the Propylia and into the main Acropolis. It was almost surreal. Me and my vivid imagination were having a heyday. I could just picture the Parthenon and the Erecthion in their original glory, with toga clad people milling around worshipping Athena and Poseidon. The Temple of Athena Nike had been taken down for restoration, and the other buildings are all being restored. There were scaffoldings and stuff everywhere, but for me it didn't really take away from the beauty of the structures. Our guide was really nice, and she told us a lot of neat facts about the Parthenon and the other structures, many that were a repeat for me thanks to Anchient to Medievil Art Survey last semester. We were there for a while, then we ate lunch in a neat little restaurant near the foot of the Acropolis. It was pretty good. Then we drove around Athens for a while. We stopped at the big track (I don't remember the name) where the Marathon ends every year, and where the big marathon race will end at the 2004 Summer Olympics (it will also be the home for the archery event). We drove around, saw a few more places, then came home and crashed. Tomorrow we start classes. I don't have any 8:00 (yay!) but we do still have chapel at 9am. Other than that, that's pretty much the news for today. January 24,2003     Well I didn't have a chance to get to a computer yesterday so here's yesterday's update today. Yesterday was the first day of classes. Chapel was at 9, and I'm really going to enjoy sitting in the lounge just singing and worshipping with everyone. I had 2 classes yesterday, Humanities and Greek. Greek's going to be fun. Incidently, all those Greek clubs, yeah, they all pronounce them wrong. Today I had my bible class, Paul. I have Film as Lit tonight and I don't know what they're doing about Conditioning and those classe. But I think I'm really going to enjoy the courses I'm taking. The professors are all nice, and the material isn't too hard.     It's raining today, so I don't get to do anything exciting. I'll probably just sit around and do homework (yes, it's the second day of classes and I have homework. Why am I not suprised?). January 26, 2003     Today was supposed to be the tour of the Agora, but it was raining so we did the museum only. Next Sunday we'll go back and see the rest of the Agora. We did get to hang out in the Plaka, which was fun. We went to all sorts of shops and stuff that sold everything from reproductions of famous sculpture and pottery to clothing, shoes, jewelry., you name it. It looked like Chinatown in San Fransico without the street in the middle. Rachel and I hung out together, and walked up and down most of the area. We can go back every Sunday we have worship in Athens, so we really were just kinda scouting. But we were there for four whole hours, which is a long time to scout. We saw a lot of things that we'll probably come back to though, like a shop that sold the most beautiful paintings of the Greek Islands, mostly done with knife (which just amazed me because knife painting is hard!). The only thing I bought was a neat little chess set with gold and silver figures representing the Gods and Goddesses, and the pawns are little sphinxes. It's really pretty. We ate at another gyro place, which was much better than the one we ate at in Porto Rafti (though much more expensive also). We had fun. Then we went to the church in downtown Athens. It was small, we made up probably about 2/3rd of the congregation. And most of the rest of them were wearing headsets that a guy in a booth was translating the service into Bulgarian. But we sang good old hymns and some newer ones and had a good time, and the lesson was good. Dino Roussos, who is also one of our Greek teachers, was the preacher today, and he was really good. We left the hotel at 10 am and got back here at around 8:30. I was SO tired. I am still. So that was today. Tomorrow's just more classes. In fact, the whole week is just more classes until Friday when we go to Delphi. I can't wait! January 29, 2003,     Sorry for the lapse in updates for those of you who have been checking. Our internet has been really slow lately, so I haven't been updating because it's too much of a pain to get on the internet. Plus there really isn't much to report. It's been classes all week, then Friday we go to Delphi. It finally stopped raining today (knock on wood) and so it's nice and sunny outside again. It's still cold, but hopefully the sun will help warm things up a bit. Lets see...what else has happened...oh yesterday this guy came to the hotel, I don't know his name but he was really cool. He comes over here every once in a while to play piano and guitar and sing with us. He's an awesome musician. He played piano and we all sang along with him for a while before dinner, then after dinner he and Dr. Edwards got out the guitars and played some classics, like Beatles and stuff. It was very cool. Classes are in full swing now, I have so much reading to do that I have hardly any time to read the books I brought (which is a good thing because I was already halfway through them). I probably won't update tomorrow unless something exciting happens, so look for more news Friday after Delphi! Hey look another entry for today! I should have waited. Well I do have something exciting to report after all. Today I went with the group to climb the mountain across from the hotel. If I had known just how much work it would be, I might not have come. I had to stop so often just to catch my breath. But it was so much fun. We were more than halfway up when my camera, which was in it's case and clipped to my belt loop, fell off and into a thorn bush. I tried to get it and almost fell, so I left it for lost and finally made it to the top. Everyone was really concerned about my camera, and offerred to go back and get it, but I didn't want anyone to risk it. We got down to the same level where I had lost it, when Jacob and Alan said they would go back and get it for me if I would just tell them where it was. So we climbed back a little ways across the mountain to the place where I had lost it and they were able to retrieve it without too much difficulty! I was so exhausted when we finally got the hotel, and I totally ruined a pair of old jeans, but I had a blast, and I'm glad I finally made it to the top. You could see all of Porto Rafti from there. It was so awesome. I probably won't go again, I had to use my inhaler twice when I got back, but I really enjoyed the experience. January 31, 2003     Well last night we had ANOTHER freak storm, and Dr. Edwards decided to cancel today's trip to Delphi. It stormed all night, and into the morning. Dr. Edwards gave us the option of going to Athens anyway, and several people did. I, on the other hand, opted to catch up on my sleep, and slept in til 11:30. It was wonderful. Around noon it cleared up and ended up being a beautiful day, which irked all of us who were really looking forward to the Delphi trip. However, we made the best of it. Dr. E gave us money for lunch, and I got some homework done, and Rachel and I walked up to the grocery store (you wouldn't believe how interesting a Greek grocery store can be - they sold Berenstein Bears and Smurf books in Greek! We're so going back for one) And then later we walked down to the beach. Man is that an awesome view. Tomorrow we're going to go back and walk to the end of the bay, and I'm taking my sketch book and pastels. It needs to be captured on paper. It's just begging to be. Other than that today has pretty much been a sit around and relax day. It's nice for a change. We have classes tomorrow AND Sunday morning, since the Delphi trip has been rescheduled for Monday. I got my pictures developed, and as soon as they get the scanner working I'll be able to put some of my own pictures up for you to see! Yay! :) February 4, 2003     Yay it's February! Well Saturday and Sunday went by pretty much normal, nothing interesting. It rained some more (big suprise) and Sunday we left at 3 to go shopping in the Plaka. Rachel and I looked around some more, but we didn't buy anything. I haven't been on the computers for a while (obviously) but sometime when there's not fifty people waiting to get online I'll try to scan some pictures in.     If I could pick any place in Greece that I've seen so far, it would be near Delphi. Even though it was raining, it was so amazingly beautiful. We drove through the mountains, and as we climbed higher it began to snow. We drove through a couple little towns that had streets so tiny the bus almost couldn't get through with cars parked on one side. We came back down from there into Delphi. Man oh man, I can understand why this placed was picked as Apollo's sanctuary. It was situated in this remote corner of the mountains, and if you follow the road down a little further you can see into the Corinthian Bay (which was SO beautiful). We spent a good while at Delphi. Once it stopped raining it was very nice, so I was able to sit down and actually get out my sketch book for the first time. Everybody praised my sketch (which I did in chalk pastels) but I'm not all that happy with it. I'd like to go back, but since it's a 3 hour trip...I'll just stick to fixing it from memory. We ate at a little restaurant just outside of Delphi, which was really good, and had a great view down to the Bay. I didn't feel that great when we got back, and I'm still a little out of it, I think it was from sitting on a cold, wet slab of marble for 45 minutes trying to draw the Temple of Apollo and losing all feeling in my fingers. Maybe. Anyway, we have 2 more days of just classes, then we go to Corinth, Epidaurous, and Mycenae. Yay! More to report soon! February 5, 2003     I have a picture page up now!! Yay!! Go to the Picture Page to look at them!     Ok so that was about all my exciting news for today. We had classes and stuff, but other than that today was boring. It rained some more. Big suprise. We all expected it because Dr. Edwards said something in class about "no more rain". Bingo. By the end of class, it was like a hurricane suddenly let loose on Porto Rafti. We keep telling him he's jinxed, but he doesn't seem to believe us...     Tomorrow we leave at 8am for Corinth and Mycenae. I'm so excited. I really do hope the weather stays good (knock on wood). This is one of the neatest trips we take. It never rains in Greece my foot. February 7, 2003     I repeat the last line of my last entry. It never rains in Greece my foot. We got rained on the WHOLE time we were out yesterday and today, up until about 10 minutes before we had to be on the bus to go to the hotel/home. Not only was it cold, it was FREEZING. It snowed on us at Epidaurous! Even our tour guide says that's never happened to her before. But still, we had an awesome time.     Our first stop on Thursday was the Corinth Canal, which was impressive, but ya know, it was a canal. Woohoo. Anyway, from there we continued on to the ruins of an early Christian Basilica on the coast of the Corinthian Bay. The gate was locked, so we climbed under the fence (can anyone say illegal?) and walked around the ruins for a while (and even picked up some scrap pieces of marble). From there we went to the ancient city of Corinth. It was a smaller site, but there were a lot of neat finds in the museum, and you got a pretty good idea of the layout of the city from what was left. The coolest part of course was the Bema, where Paul would have been chained when he went before Gallio in Corinth. We had a devo (in the rain) and walked around for a while. The rain stopped while we were having our devo, so we were able to explore the rest of the site unhindered. Then we had lunch in a restaurant by the Corinthian Canal, and got to watch the boats come out one end. Then came (to me) the coolest part of the whole day. The Acrocorinth, where the Acropolis of ancient Corinth was, and where now stands the ruins of a Venetian castle. We had about 45 minutes to climb around the castle, and let me tell you the view was incredible! Some people were able to make it to the top tower of the castle, but I was out of breath by the time I reached the main level, so I walked out to the very edge of the castle overlooking the bay. It was so awesome. It would have been better if the clouds had gone away. Of course they did, as we were filing back onto the bus. That night we stayed in Tolon, and after dinner walked down to the beach and hung around for a while.     Today we got up early and went first to the Theater at Epidauros where it SNOWED! But it was still cool. We spread out all over the theater and our tour guide stood in the middle and dropped coins onto the ground and rustled paper, and you could hear it from every point of the seating. Then about 6 of us climbed down and sang some hymns in the center, which was incredible because the sound echoed everywhere. It was really neat. From Epidaurous we went to the citadel of Tiryns, one of the Mycenaean fortified cities mentioned in the Illiad. It was really cold, and still raining. I didn't find Tiryns all that impressive, but it was neat. From there we went to Mycenae. The Lion Gate was just awesome. You can't tell from pictures the size, but it's huge. We climbed up to the palace of Agammemnon, looked down into Grave Circle A, where they thought that Agammemnon was buried (but he's not), and climbed down a really really dark tunnel that was carved out of the rock to get water from underneath the mountain. It was a neat place. Then we went to the Treasury of Atreus, a beehive-shaped tholos tomb. I'd seen pictures before, but I never knew how incredibly massive this thing is. It was SO big, and so cool to see. The sun of course came out while we were leaving Mycenae. Of course. Our last stop on the way back to Porto Rafti was Chincrea, the port that Paul sailed out of when he left Corinth for Ephesus. We sat on the ruins of another early Christian Basilica, which was halfway underwater, and had a devo and then climbed around for a few minutes before going home. And now we're all incredibly exhausted, and we talked the teachers into having afternoon classes tomorrow so we can sleep in! Yay!     Sunday we're going back to finish our tour of the Agora, and then only 8 more days until we go to Egypt!!!! :) February 9, 2003     Well today we completed our tour of the Agora. We walked past the Library of Hadrian, which wasn't open for public viewing. Then we went into the ruins of the Roman Agora, which was pretty much just a bunch of broken columns, except for one neat entry gate and a octagonal structure called the Tower of the Winds, because each side has a relief depicting one of the 8 winds. From there we went back to the ancient Agora and walked down the road past the remains of the theater and a lot of foundations of stoas and temples that are really broken up and hard to picture. The coolest part of the Agora, other than the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos that we've already seen, was the Temple of Vulcan (Hephaiestos to the Greeks), which is the best preserved temple in all of Greece. It was pretty neat, not as large as the Parthenon but still cool, with much of the inner frieze still in tact. We walked around a little more and looked at some more old foundations, then were released back into the Plaka for an incredibly long time. Rachel and I wandered around, back into shops we'd already been too, but made a few purchases. I bought a painting of the famous church in Santorini (I can't wait to visit it later) for my grandmother (and a little one for me).     The rest of this week is just classes, although we do have a free day Wednesday. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do, a bunch of people are talking about going skiing, but since I've never skied before I think I might stick around, maybe go into Athens and sketch in the Agora or something. I'd like to go back to Delphi, but I don't know if that's going to be possible, since it is 3 hours away. A week from tomorrow...we leave for EGYPT!!!! I'm very excited. So reports this week will probably be pretty boring, but just wait, they'll get better! :) February 12, 2003     Well today is one of our only free days of the whole semester, and guess what I'm doing? I'm stuck here in Porto Rafti, because I'm sick! :( About half the group went skiing today, which meant they had to leave here at 3:15 in the morning! Everyone else went to Glyfada or Athens, but there are a few people still here. I have no idea what I'm going to do today.     I had an interesting thing happen this morning. I tried to take a bath, because I didn't want to stand up in the shower, but it really didn't work, so I pulled the drain to let out the bathwater. I've discovered that the drains here don't work very well. The water I was letting out of the bathtub came back up the drain in the floor and soaked all of my clothes, a book I was borrowing from the library, and the entire bathroom, hallway, and living room area. I had to mop up all the water with every single towel we had in the room. Yeah, it wasn't fun. And now there are like 6 nasty wet towels in my bathtub, and I had to hang up 2 sweaters, my pjs, and what I was going to wear today to dry. And I had to blowdry the book so the pages wouldn't stick together, sinc it isn't mine. Sigh. It was a long morning.     So yeah, that's today, and it's only 1:00. Who knows what else could go wrong? February 14, 2003     HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! :)     In honor of today's holiday my entry will be in this wonderful lovely color. Anyway, I'm not really sick anymore. I was able to rest and sleep on Wednesday while everyone was gone, and now I'm back to my normal self, with a slight cold. I had a fever Wed. night, but I woke up in the middle of the night and was burning up because I had like 3 layers on because I had been so cold before. I'm taking care of myself now though, so I should be all better by the time we leave for Egypt.     Plans are still on the okay to leave Athens Monday night and fly to Cairo. We're still waiting for another national address...I can't remember the man's name, but Dr. Edwards says he's supposed to speak on Friday, so by Saturday we'll have either a go ahead or a nope. If we don't go to Cairo, Dr. Edwards has said he'll pretty much take us to anywhere in Europe we want to go, probably Italy. I'll be excited either way, but I still really want to go to Egypt. How many other opportunities like this am I going to have?     I updated the Picture Page again. It now has pictures from Delphi, Corinth, and Mycenae as well. Hope you like them! When I have more time, definitely before I put Egypt pictures up, I'll separate them into other pages so they won't take quite so long to load. Well I think that's all the news for now. If something new happens, I'll let you know! February 25, 2003     Well we're back from Egypt! Get ready for a long entry because I have SO MUCH to tell you about! Egypt was so incredible. Monday we still had classes, but at 5:30 we headed for the airport and hopped a plane to Cairo. We were really exhausted by the time we got there, so nobody did much of anything when we got to the hotel except crash. Our hotel was really nice too. Tuesday morning we got up early and headed first to the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo. It's more like a warehouse than a museum, with hundreds of broken stones full of heiroglyphics and statues missing body parts and other remnants of Egyptian history. The highlights of the museum by far are a few neat statues, some old mummies, and of course the things found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, which make up about a third of the upstairs of the museum. The famous mask and the gold sarcophogi are kept in a separate room, with like 100 people trying to take a picture of the same 3 things in a really tight space. It was interesting. Then we headed to lunch at a neat little restaurant with a great view of the pyramids. What you never realize from the pictures is that the pyramids are literally right on the edge of Cairo. The desert just kind of appears out of nowhere and BAM there are the pyramids. After lunch we went up a little higher than the pyramids to get a good panoramic view of all three, and after like 80 million different group photos we got back on the buses and headed for the smallest pyramid, the pyramid of King Menkaure. About 2/3rds of the group went inside the pyramid, and as much as I wanted to I decided it was not the best thing for my asthma. So me and a couple other people walked around, over to Khafre's pyramid and took more pictures. There are guards all over the place, so you can't climb them, but you can still look around. They were pretty impressive. After everyone emerged from the pyramid we went down to the sphinx, which is actually a lot smaller than you'd think, but we were still pretty far away. We took more pictures, then we got to go on a camel ride! It was fun, but the camels were really smelly. We only rode on them for like 5 minutes though. Then we went back to the hotel, ate dinner, then headed back over to the pyramids for the Sound and Light show. That might have been impressive in 1970...but now it was just kind of stupid. The lights were cool though.     Wednesday we got up at an ungodly hour and hopped a plane to Aswan. Our first stop was the Temple of Philae on an island in the Nile River. We rode a little boat out, then walked around the temple for a while. Many of the temples we saw were actually built during the Greek occupation of Egypt, during the time of the Ptolemies. After Philae we went to see the Unfinished Obelisk, then to lunch on the cruise ship. We had a little time to rest, then we took a falluca ride out to the botanical gardens (fallucas are little sailboats). That by far was one of the highlights of the trip, not the island but the falluca ride. Our boatsman was so fun, he played his drum and sang a bunch of Nubian songs for us and got us to dance around the boat. It was so much fun. While we slept that night the boat cruised up the Nile to Kom Ombu. We visited the temple there, which looked much like the one at Philae. After that we got back on the boat and cruised up for a little while longer to Edfu. We had about an hour before lunch to spend on the boat, so everyone put on their bathing suits and went up on deck to lay out. A few people got sunburned, but I didn't (suprisingly). We went to see the temple of Edfu, which is the best preserved temple in all of antiquity. It was really neat. The roof was still in tact in the whole temple, and much of the original paint was still left. After the temple we had about 45 minutes to shop in all the little stands, to buy outfits for Egyptian night on the boat. I bought a really cute little top and pants set, and I payed to much (because I can't bargain) but I like it. After Edfu we got back on the boat and cruised the rest of the night up to Luxor. That night we had a big party and everyone dressed up in Egyptian gown things (gallabyia? i think they're called) and all the girls did their eyes like Egyptians and stuff. It was a lot of fun. We had a little dance after dinner and played games. WE PLAYED CLUMPS!!! For all my OEGEans out there, I thought of you! I didn't win, but I played with all of you there in spirit!     Friday we visited the temple of Karnak, the biggest temple of all the ones we saw. There were so many small additions to it, something extra built by almost every major Pharaoh. There was also a scarab statue, and they say that if women walk around it 3 times they'll get married, 5 they'll be wealthy, and 7 they'll get pregnant. Most of us stopped at 5 :) We ate lunch on the boat again, then went to a neat place where they make essential oils and perfumes. We visited the Temple of Luxor in the evening, which was really cool at night because everything was lit up. That was one of the neatest parts. The next day we got up early and crossed to the other side of the Nile to visit the Valley of the Kings. Of the sixty-three tombs in the valley, only 9 are opened to viewers on any given day, and you can only go in 3. We went in the second-best preserved tomb, that of Ramses III, and two others that I don't remember. They were pretty neat! The heiroglyphics and carvings on the wall were very impressive. After that we made a brief stop at Hatshepsut's temple, but didn't go in, just took pictures from the outside, then went to the Valley of the Workers, where the tombs with the best paintings are. We went in 2 very small tombs, but it was worth it for the incredible and very brilliantly colored paintings on the tomb walls. After that we went to a little shop where they make handmade alabaster jars and figures, and saw how they make them. They were really pretty. After that we went back to the boat and had a few hours of downtime, which me, Lindsay, Rachel and Linnea went to get Henna tattoos done in a little shop right outside the hotel (Jeff was with us, so we did have a guy. we were very grateful for that by the end). We all got them on our hand. They look really neat, especially Rachel's, who did her whole hand. After that we hopped a quick plane from Luxor back to Cairo, and headed back to the hotel.     Sunday we visited Sakkara and the Step Pyramid of Djoser. That was really neat too. We headed back to Cairo and visited the Coptic area, the old city, and went in a church that was built over the house that tradition says Mary and Joseph lived with baby Jesus when the hid in Egypt. Then we went to see the second highest mosque in the world in Cairo (and we had to take our shoes off). After that we had time to relax in the hotel before dinner, and Rachel and I played four mad games of ping-pong. We had a little worship service in Dr. Edward's hotel room that night (fifty people in one hotel room...that was fun). Monday we got up at yet again another very ungodly hour and got on the buses for a 2 hour drive up to the land known as Goshen, where the Isrealites lived in Egypt. We also visited the Suez Canal (we had to hide our cameras from the security guards, that was fun!) and went to Asia! Actually just the Sinai Peninsula, and we only were on the coast, but hey, we were in Asia! Then we got back on the ferry and went back to Africa. Then we drove 2 hours back the Cairo airport and headed back to Athens. We got home pretty late. We were in 3 continents in one day! Anyway, so now we're back in Athens and it's cold and rainy here, and I miss Egypt! Not really, in many ways it was a little scary. But the weather was awesome, and it is truly one of the most amazing trips I'll ever take in my life. Today was a free day, and I slept until 1:30 (I missed lunch! I didn't mean to, but I was so tired!) and tomorrow we start classes again. :P We have classes for the next week or two I think, until our trip to Northern Greece in March. February 27, 2003     Whew I managed to tell you about our entire trip in what, 4 paragraphs? Really all that babble just doesn't do it justice. Wait til you see pictures. I may not be able to put any up, but I know other people are. Check out the Links Page and see who has Egypt pictures up already. I did steal one from Cindi to put on the front page, but until I get mine developed (If I do) that's all I'll have.     No more exciting news. Just classes for a long while, until our Northern Greece trip on March 10. People's parents have started coming to visit already. I can't believe it's almost March. We've only got 2 months left here! :*(     I do have a prayer request for all of you though. My grandmother is back in the hospital, and is going to be moved into assisted living for her alzheimer's. Please just pray for that, because I know it's really stressful on Mom and Dad, and I feel bad that I can't be there to help out. Thank you! March 2, 2003     It's March! I can't believe it. The semester is half over! So far everything is going well. I've got good grades in all my classes, and although I am procrastinating a bit on a few of my projects, I'm catching up little by little. Wednesday we take a day trip over to Glyfada, then have a little less than a week before our 4-day trip to Northern Greece. After that I think we have one or two small trips before our major trip to Turkey and the cruise to the Greek Islands in April. Then we'll be done with trips and almost ready to go home! Sadness...it's gone by so fast.     Well I really don't have anything to report. We've had classes, mostly. Woohoo exciting. I'm sure you don't want to hear all about those. Lets see...what did I do yesterday...Linnea and I took a 2 hour nap (we didn't mean to sleep that long!) and I played card games all afternoon with people. Nerts is a fun card game, it's one of many new games I've learned to play since I've been here. And of course, Saturday is pizza and movie night. We actually watched two movies last night, Ice Age (hilarious movie) and The Mask of Zorro (another of my favorites!). So we had a good movie night, plus we finally got a projecter that works so we got to watch it on the big screen instead of the television. That's about all, really. Not much else exciting. But hey, I'm in Greece! :) Well time to get some food before we go to Athens! Until next time! March 3, 2003     Another Monday come and gone. I've actually been fairly productive today, which is good. I was way too lazy all weekend. I'm catching up in my journals (although I'm still WAY behind) and I started a project for my bible class that's due at the end of the semester. And I talked to my Mom and Dad on the telephone! That was the best part of my day :)     I'm excited about going to Glyfada on Wednesday. We can go to a movie and there's a mall and even an Applebees and TGIFriday's. Totally Americanized town. It'll feel like home! It'll be nice for a change too. Well I wish I could think of more to tell you...but unfortunately there isn't anything! I'm really tired, and I have a test in Paul to study for! Wish me luck! March 5, 2003     Well today we went to Glyfada. It was pretty cool, but really just like being in an American city. There were a lot of shops and stuff, but we didn't go in a lot. We ate lunch at Friday's (which was SO good)and just walked around for a while. Then we all went to see the movie Chicago. It was a great movie. I didn't like it quite as much as my parents did I think, but I did think it was really good. After that we walked around for a bit longer, then came back to Porto Rafti, went and ate some more gyros and played cards, and now I'm off to bed. The only thing I bought in Glyfada was a cd that I've been wanting, Norah Jones. It's a great cd. I think I'll listen to it here, then burn it to my comp when I get home and give it to my dad, because he'll love it too :) So dad, don't buy the Norah Jones CD because I'm going to give it to you! :)     Anyway, that's all the exciting news for tonight. Tomorrow its back to classes, then Northern Greece on Monday. Can I make it that far is the question? :) J/k, it won't be that bad. Incidently I'm getting my film developed tomorrow, so *hopefully* by the end of the week I may have some Egypt pictures up! :) We'll see. (PS - Mom (or anyone else for that matter) if you wanted to send me something *hint hint*, a few rolls of film would be really nice. Film is expensive here!) March 6, 2003    Yet another day crawled by. I did get a few things accomplished today at least. I went to the grocery store and got a few things, and I worked some more on my travel log (I'm up to Epidauros and Mycenae now! course I still have all of egypt left too...I'm so behind). What else did I do...well that was pretty much it actually. I had film class today, and we watched an old movie from the 60s called Zorba the Greek. Pretty much the whole class (and everyone else who decided to watch it with us) hated it. Except me. I actually liked it, it was definitely a wierd movie, but the characters were interesting, and I thought they were developed well and stuff. Oh well, I guess I just have odd taste in movies Anyway, that's all really. I'm getting my pictures from Egypt back tomorrow, so look for pictures soon! I'll let you know if I'm not going to get them up before we leave for Northern Greece! March 7, 2003     Ya know, I really should just wait to update until I have something interesting to report :) Another boring day gone by. We got our Paul tests back today. I didn't do all that well...but it's ok, I'll make it up with the other grades, and the last test too if I can help it. I also finally officially dropped biology, so no more worrying about that class bringing down my GPA.     Other than that my day has ust consisted of getting more work done on my travel log (I'm halfway through Mycenae) and studying for my Greek test tomorrow. We had a girls devo tonight, courtesy of Allison, and it was fun. I got to sing tenor :). The weather was beautiful today, a lot of people went and sat outside to study. If it warms up I'll probably be out there joining them. I didn't get my pictures today (because Dr. E didn't open the bank!) but I'll have them soon. I won't get them up by the time I leave for Northern Greece, so you'll have to wait a bit longer, but they'll get here, I promise! :) March 9, 2003     Well today I concetrated mostly on cleaning the room for the HUF group, who will be spending one night in the villa while we're in Northern Greece. We went to Athens today again, and explored another area of the Plaka we hadn't been to yet, and found the best gyro place I've been to yet. I'm actually starting to really like gyros. Before long I'll start craving them as much as everyone else. Anyway, I got my Egypt pictures back and scanned in! They aren't all up yet, but Day 1 and Day 2-3 are up (though Day 2-3 hasn't been fixed yet, so it may be a little stupid). Geocities decided to go junky on me and say something about me exceeding my data transfer or something so now I can edit the pages in html but I can't open them on the internet, which means I can't see what I'm doing, so I guess you'll have to wait to see the rest of Egypt. But to see Day 1 and Day 2-3, go to Day 1 and Day 2-3. Also the pictures from the rest of the Agora are up as well. Well I've got to finish getting my stuff together for our trip tomorrow! See you on Saturday! March 14, 2003     Well we're back! I swear we spent about half that trip on the bus. First we had a nice long drive to Meteora in the plain of Thessaly. Meteora was cool because in the 13th and 14th century a bunch of monks built these monastaries on these rock pinnacles that just rise out of nowhere on the edge of the plain. We visited two of the monastaries, and the girls all had to put on these one-size-fits-all skirts over our jeans (which meant of course that MY skirt was fine, but they were falling off most of the other girls!). The monastaries were pretty cool. After dinner that night we walked around Kalambaka, this little town at the foot of the Meteora and got ice cream. It was fun. The next day we drove all morning to Thessaloniki (Thessalonica), and went to the archeological museum, took a tour of the town, and visited another church. There isn't much left of ancient Thessaloniki. We did stop on the way to the city, at this neat medieval fortress with great views of the sea. We had dinner on our own in Thessalonica, and me and a bunch of people walked around down by the water and found this neat little sandwich and ice cream place. It was nice. The next day we went to Pella, birthplace of Alexander the Great, and saw some neat mosaics from the ancient houses, then we visited Vergina where they found the tomb of Philip II (Alexander's dad). The whole tomb complex has been turned into this underground museum kind of deal. It was pretty nifty. Then we went to Berea, and saw this altar thingy where they have a couple of steps that is supposedly the bema where Paul stood to talk to the Jews in Berea. It was weird. Then we went back to our hotel in Thessaloniki, and had dinner on our own again, and I ate at this awesome gyro place with Nick and Richard. The next day we went to Philippi, which was a pretty large site. We had a devo at the river where Lydia was supposedly baptized, and went in this neat little baptistry that was built at the site and sang a bunch of songs. The acoustics were amazing. I think Jeremy Glover got a good video of us singing, with sound, so when he gets it up check out his site. Then we went to the site of the city of Philippi, and saw a lot of cool things, like a neat theater and what was thought at one time to be the prison where Paul was kept in Philippi (but it's not). After Philippi we drove a few hours to Katerini, on the other side of Thessaloniki, and stayed at a hotel near the water. This morning we got up and went to Dion, at the foot of Mount Olympus, and saw the site of the sacred city built there. It was a huge site, and a lot of it was inaccessible because it was flooded from all the rain we've had. But it was still neat. We had an awesome view of Mt. Olympus too, because the clouds had cleared we could see all the way to the peak. It was awesome. Then we piled back on the bus and had a 5 hour drive back to Athens.     If that kind of sounds like I'm not saying much, that's because there's not much else to say. This trip was kind of a disappointment in some ways. I don't know what I was expecting really from Thessaloniki and Philippi, but they just didn't hit me the way the other biblical sites we've seen have, or even sites like Delphi. Most of what I got from this trip is just the knowledge of what our guide (I can't spell her name or I would try) told us, and what my imagination would let me think about the places we saw. The most memorable places were at the river where Lydia was baptized and singing in the little church, and seeing Mount Olympus from Dion.     So that's that. Now it's back to class for a week, then Mykonos and Delos next week. So don't be looking for anything too exciting until then. Oh and by the way, for any of you who might be concerned for our safety here in regards to the war that seems to be imminent, don't worry, we're in no danger here. Whatever CNN might make you think, I promise we aren't in any danger, and we won't be on any of our trips, even in Turkey. Egypt was more dangerous for us than Turkey is, and we didn't feel threatened at all there. So no worries. Anyway, hope you're all well! Keep checking for updates, I will be finishing the Egypt pictures soon and hopefully getting up some pictures from this trip as well (I only took 1 roll! Aren't you proud of me!). March 15, 2003     Well today was pretty uninteresting as usual. We had class this morning (ugh) and we were all so tired. But after class I got some more work done on my journal (I'm about to catch up!) and then I messed around downstairs until lunch. I took a nap this afternoon, which was nice. Some of the HUF people came over this afternoon to play basketball and hang out. We're meeting the whole group tomorrow in Athens, which will be fun. I'll get to see Diane and Angie tomorrow, so that will be cool. We went and got gyros before dinner, since all we had was leftover sandwiches and pasta. It was good though. And Mrs. Edwards made brownies too :) They're watching Frequency downstairs but I'm not in a movie watching mood today. Anyway, so that's all for today. Nothing exciting really. I finished uptdating the Egypt pictures, so check those out. I also organized the pages a little better so you can actually get to each of them without having to go through them all to get to the latest! By the way, if you have any suggestions on how I could make stuff more accessible let me know. When I get back I'm starting from scratch on the whole website (in case you hadn't noticed I've removed everything except the Greece sites), and I don't really know what I'm going to do just yet but it's going to be a lot better than the old one. Anyway, hope everyone has a safe Spring Break and good luck on campaigns and be safe and all that! March 16, 2003     Today was so great. We met the HUF group in Athens this morning at around noon, and I walked around the Plaka with Diane and two other girls I didn't know. It was a lot of fun though. They ate at McDonalds and I got a gyro, then we walked around for a bit more before they went back to the hotel and I jumped to another group that was going to go sit in Starbucks till it was time to walk to church. Angie was there, so we sat and talked for like an hour and a half with a bunch of other girls from both groups in Starbucks. It was fun. It was great to see some familiar faces other than the same 40 people I see every day. We had a lot of fun sharing stories about our groups and hearing all the fun stuff that goes on in both campuses.     I just wanted to take a moment to reassure some of you who may be getting worried about our safety here in relation to the world situation. Brandon said that the UN has been given 24 hours to remove Saddam Hussein from Iraq or we'll do it for him. Pretty much I guess within the next week or so we'll be at war. But I don't want anyone to worry about my safety. Athens, like all Europe, and probably most of America, has it's anti-war sentiments, but we're not in any danger here at all. And even if Athens was dangerous, we're so far removed from the city itself that I don't think anything will happen to us in Porto Rafti. If at any point it appears that we are in danger, Dr. Edwards will be informed immediately by the American Embassy. As far as trips are concerned, our remaining two trips are still on the go, and I doubt we'll cancel the Greek Islands trips anyway. Turkey I think may be in question, but I don't want any of you to worry about us if we do go to Turkey. Dr. Edwards says that Turkey is even safer for us than Egypt was, and we were so well protected in Egypt that we never felt unsafe at all. I don't think Turkey will be a problem. I'll keep you updated on how this war affects us, but please don't be worried, we're not. March 18, 2003     Ugh. The weather's back to being yucky and rainy again. Well I should say it was. The sun miraculously appeared around lunchtime today, from where I'm not really sure because it was raining like crazy yesterday. I just hope it stays long enough for our trip next week. Last night we had film again and watched a movie called A Man For All Seasons. It was an old movie from the 60s about Sir Thomas More, who resigned as chancellor of England because he couldn't support Henry IV's divorce. It was a neat movie in that More was so strong in his belief that he was willing to give up his life instead of bend to the King's will, but I didn't really enjoy it all that much.     Everyone's begun planning their free travel schedules as well as their courses for next fall, so the topic of conversations has been centered on where people are planning to go for free travel and what we're taking next semester. I've got my shedule planned out, I'm going to take 17 hours, and suprisingly they're not all art classes! Course after next semester all I'll have left to take is art...but hey that's ok. I'm going to take Christian Home, Print Advertising, Photography, 2-D design, Computer Graphic Design, and a Geography course (it's supposed to be easy, and I need another global lit credit!). So all in all it sounds like a pretty good schedule I think. I'm excited. I don't have a free travel plan, of course :) I guess you could say my free travel will be going to Searcy to see everyone during Finals Week, and to Nate and Tina's wedding in Conway! :)     Not much else to report for now. As of 3am (our time) this morning Bush has given Saddam 48 hours to get out, which means as of 3am Thursday morning we could go to war at any moment. As I said in my last update, this shouldn't in any way effect us any more than it does all of you in the states, so please don't worry about me. Keep the leaders of the countries on both sides in your prayers, as well as everyone in the armed forces, I know several of us have family or friends there. March 20, 2003     Well it's official now, I think, we're at war. All we can do now is hope and pray that the war will end soon. I don't see any other solution. Keep the nations in your prayers.     In other, less depressing, but still not cool news, we had plans to go to a symphony in Athens tonight, which would have been way cool, and only 5 euros for a student price, but because of the massive anti-war rallies going on downtown, the concert has been cancelled. So that's kinda junky. We were all really looking forward to it, it would have been something new and different for us to do. We're still going to an opera in April though, which will be interesting because it's in Italian, and the subtitles will probably be all in Greek, so we'll be totally lost, But that's ok! It'll be fun anyway.     And that's whats new. We watched Newsies last night! :) Great movie. Brings back so many memories... Other than that nothing exciting happened yesterday either. Played some cards, and take two, ate a gyro, watched Newsies. It was a good day. Hopefully the rest of the week will stay good! March 22, 2003     Well more cancellations. Now we aren't going to the Opera either, because the student tickets were sold out by the time we called. And if that wasn't enough, now we're not going to Turkey either! Dr. Burks and Dr. Hopper had a conference with Dr. Edwards and they decided it would be best if we didn't go to Turkey. But we're still doing the cruise, which means we will still get to go to Ephesus because it's a stop on the cruise, so that's good. And...     WE'RE GOING TO ITALY!!!     Dr. E's pulling some strings and hoping to replace the Turkey trip with a 5-day trip to Rome and Florence. How cool would that be! I'm so pumped about the possibility of going. Italy's one of the places I would be going if I was doing free travel, and now I get to go anyway! It's not for sure yet, but we're pretty confident that Dr. E will get things worked out.     So yeah. I just totally bombed another Paul test. So that's great...actually I just probably pulled off another B by the skin of my teeth. Nothing else interesting going on. I was looking through my Athens guide book yesterday for kicks and I found a bunch of stuff on this flea market near the plaka that supposed to be famous. We're going into Athens at 2 tomorrow, so we'll be there for like 2 hours or so before we have to be at church, so I'm definitely checking the flea market scene out. And we aren't allowed to go to McDonalds either. Gosh, I'm so sad. Do you see the sadness in my face. We probably shouldn't be going and hanging out in Starbucks either, but no one's going to stop us! (Except of course a crazed mob of anti-war protesters...but lets keep our fingers crossed on that one) March 24, 2003     In case you were wondering, nothing happened on Sunday. We didn't even have to pretend we were Canadian. Oh and the flea market...yeah, I've been through it like eighty times and just never really noticed. I felt kinda dumb.     Well time for us is really starting to wind down. Teachers are talking about finals, and we've turned in our schedules, and free travel plans are almost complete. We're not for sure on the Italy trip yet, but if we do go it will be next Monday, a week from today! I'll let you know when we get back from Mykonos what's up.     Tomorrow we leave for basically 3 days on the island of Mykonos, left entirely to our own devices. I'm so excited. We have to stay in groups, so that will make things interesting, since just about every group here I feel kind of like an extra wheel. But I'll find one I don't mind hanging with and go with them I suppose. I'm looking forward to it, even if the weather doesn't get any better. It SNOWED today. Like real honest to goodness huge flakes of snow. It didn't stick, but for goodness sakes, it's MARCH!! It's almost April! It's not supposed to be snowing!     Well time to go watch the Matrix! I'll be back Thursday night, but probably won't catch a computer until Friday. I'll tell you all about Mykonos when I get back! March 27, 2003     Well we're back from Mykonos! And let me tell you, I've decided that I'm going to buy a Greek Island. Ok, well maybe not a whole island...but if I ever have lots of money I'll buy a summer home on a Greek Island. Maybe not Mykonos, because in the summer it's kinda known for the same thing that San Fransisco is known for...*ahem*...but it was so beautiful. We took a four hour ferry over there, then we had Tuesday afternoon, all of Wednesday, and this morning free to do whatever we wanted. Tuesday I wandered around with a few people, froze my butt off because it was so windy and cold, but had a good time, then came back to the hotel and napped for like 3 hours. Then we sat in the hotel lobby, played cards, ordered pizza, and hung out. Wednesday I left the hotel around noon with Jeremy, Kendal, Alison, Kelli, Jake, Jim, and J-Gal, and we just wandered around for the whole day. We ate a gyro place by the water, then walked around some more. We sat down by the port for a while, amusing ourselves for like 2 hours by trying to knock over stones J-Gal set up in the sand with pebbles. It was pretty sad. Then we went and watched the sunset, which was amazing, ate some more gyros, wandered around forever trying to find a place that sold crepes, and never did, so we gave up and went back to the hotel. We had fun though, it was a good day. Then today I got up and just wandered around the city with Maggie. We found a decent gyro place, then got lost trying to find the ice cream place, for like half an hour, and when we finally found it we discovered it was like 2 streets away from where we started. It was pretty funny.     Seriously though, Mykonos was incredible. The whole town pretty much is these stuccoed stone buildings painted white, with colored doors and shutters (usually blue, but occasionally red or yellow or green). Even the ground was stone, with white paint to look like grout between stones. It seriously looked like a Disney theme park. It didn't look real. It was so cool. I took so many neat pictures. I can't wait to show them off.     In other news, for those of you that were wondering, the Italy trip is completely okayed and ready to go. And guess what? We leave MONDAY! Yes, like in 4 days we leave for Rome. How awesome is that? This semester just keeps getting better and better, and it's almost over! I'm so excited about going to Rome and Florence though. I cannot wait! Well that's all the update for now! March 29, 2003     Well today was a good day, in all respects. I got finished one of my journals, got another half a chapter done in Paul, and took a nap. Plus classes. And this afternoon I sat outside and painted! It was fun. I did a watercolor off of one of the pictures I took in Egypt. It looks pretty good (if I don't say so myself :) ). I also got my film developed from Northern Greece and Mykonos, so those will be up eventually. My Mykonos pictures turned out so awesome. I'm so happy with them.     I can't believe we're going to Italy the day after tomorrow. I'm so beyond excited. We'll be in Rome Monday and Tuesday, and Florence on Wednesday and Thursday. Dr. Edwards is our tour guide, which is like better than hiring a tour guide in my opinion. I mean he only grew up in Italy. I'm just thrilled to death. I'm worried now though that I'm not going to have enough money. We're getting a food allowance, basically 8 bucks per meal, but food is more expensive in Italy. But he didn't open the bank today, and I don't know if he will tomorrow, and although I should get payed tomorrow I hope that I have enough money to do what I want in Italy. Plus after that we have just the weekend then Monday we head for the cruise straight off. Just remember, I can't buy anything else for myself...I can't buy anything else...I can't buy anything... March 30, 2003     Hey I can't stay on long because I have like 3 minutes till we shut the computers down! I've got pictures from Northern Greece up on Picture Page #9 so check those out! I've scanned in the Mykonos pictures but they aren't up yet. But if you want to get an idea, check out Chora, the Beach, and April 6, 2003     Oh you will not BELIEVE what happened to me in Italy. Lets just say Florence ended up being not so much fun as I would have like, by no fault of Florence itself. But I'll tell that story when I get there. First let me start at the perfectly wonderful and happy beginning of the Italy trip.     Monday morning we woke up *early* and boarded a flight from Athens to Rome. It was a pretty pleasant flight, because I was in the 2nd to last row and only me and Becca were there so we had an empty seat to stretch into. When we got to Rome we hopped on the bus and pretty much drove past everything first. You have no idea how cool it is to drive around Rome and see the Colosseum out of the right hand windows. We went first to the Church of St. Peter-In-Chains, this whole big church built to house some chains that supposedly were what held Peter when he was imprisoned in Rome. Riiiight. But there was this really cool statue of Moses, done by Michaelangelo, inside the cathedral. Next we walked down to the Colosseum. Before we went in we stopped to look at the Arch of Constantine, which was right there beside it, and the Arch of Titus just a little ways up the hill. The Colosseum was not as big as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty darn cool. We got to go inside. We took some fun pictures in there too, including one of Maggie and Vicki (our secretary, she got to go too!) pretending to be gladiators with Jeremy's crutches (he sprained his ankle last week!). And we got to sit and eat a picnic lunch outside the Colosseum. That was fun too. Then we walked up to the Mamertime Prison, where Peter was supposedly held (again...riiiight), and then looked down on the Roman Forum. Then we walked around to this cool government building thing where there's a monument to the guy who first reunited Italy in the 1800s. From there you can see the balcony where Mussolini used to give his speeches. Then we drove out to the outskirts to go to the catacombs, where the first "popes" were buried and where the Early Christians used to bury their dead. They were creepy, but cool. We saw where a few saints had been buried and our guide, who was a monk, even let us sing a hymn and have a prayer in one of the small chapels inside the catacombs before we left. It was raining at that point so we didn't get to do anything else, but we went out that night for pizza and gelato, which is somewhere between ice cream and sherbet and a lot better than both.     The next day we got to ride on the Metro, and let me tell you THAT was an experience. Like 8 million Italians all trying to fit into these little subway thingies at the same time. It took us nearly 6 trains to get everyone to the other station, but it only took about half an hour because they were so fast. Then we walked over to the Vatican City, and went first to St. Peter's. If I ever thought any church or cathedral or mosque or whatever religious building was beautiful in my life, I take it all back. St. Peter's was the most gorgeous church I've ever seen. The outside all glistening white marble, with two huge curved colonnades like arms forming a sort of circular courtyard in front, and the inside decorated in the most beautiful different colored marbles that I've ever seen. Literally thousands of statues decorate the interior, most of them at least twice life size. It was incredible. My favorite statue was behind glass because someone tried to vandalize it a few years ago, it was the Pieta by Michaelangely, a statue of Mary holding the body of the dead Christ. It was a powerful statue. Dr. Edwards said something after he told us all about the building, which I heartily agree with, "If theology didn't matter, I'd be Catholic, because they sure know how to build a beautiful building". Then we went over to the Vatican Museum, which was totally unbelieveably cool. We got to see some of the most famous frescoes and paintings in the world, including the School of Athens by Raffael. But the coolest part, by far, was undeniably the Sistine Chapel. I just stood and stared, mouth open, for like five whole minutes, just turning around in circles so I could look at everything. Words can't even describe how cool it was. If it weren't for the fact that there were about two hundred other people standing around staring and whispering and whatnot I'd have wanted to stay in there for a whole day. After lunch Dr. Edwards took us to Piazza Navona, Square of the Artists, one of my personal favorite stops of the whole trip because I got to walk around and look at all the artists selling their stuff. I found one guy who did these neat watercolors that were really different than the boring realistic stuff everyone else did and bought three little watercolors from him. They're all of Piazza Navona. I like them a lot. We got some more gelato (the best we'd had yet) and then went to the Pantheon. The Pantheon was pretty cool, but was kinda spoiled by the fact that it had been turned into a church and insead of old Roman statues of gods and whatnot there were a bunch of saints and stuff and a big altar in the center. Then we went to the Trevi Fountain, and all threw in a coin, with our left hand over our right shoulder because some guy in a movie made it famous by saying if you did that then you'd be sure to come back to Rome. Then after more walking (we must have walked half of that side of the Tiber) we came to the Spanish Steps, which turned out to be this huge staircase that was as tall as the buildings it stood beside, and there were hundreds of people just sitting on them. We split up there, and a bunch of us just sat near the top of the stairs for like an hour talking and hanging out. Then me, Amy, Jim, Alan, Josh, Zach, Daniel, and Mackey left and went walking around. Keep this group in mind, because they will come into play later. We went back to Piazza Navona and sat around some more, and then back to St. Peters, and sat some more. Then we went and ate pizza. This is also important. Remember, we all ate at the same place. Ok, then it was dark and we went back over to St. Peter's and it was all lighted up and even cooler looking at night so we sat there and goofed around for a while.     Then on Wednesday we hopped a bus for a four hour drive to Florence. The drive was really pleasant, all things considered. I slept a little bit, but mostly just enjoyed the view. We drove through Tuscany - so beautiful, and then we were in Florence. We put our luggage in a hotel and then got ready to start off, all except Amy who was feeling really bad, so Dr. Edwards got her a room and she stayed behind while we headed into Florence. We walked down the Arnos river, and then went down a side street into a courtyard in front of a beautiful church called Church of the Holy Cross. I knew it in an instant because I'd studied in in that blasted Art History class last semester. The building is entirely Gothic, exept for the facade, which is 19th century but made to look Gothic. It was all white, green, and pink marble, and was very nifty looking. By the time we got up to the steps though, I was enjoying the view and Dr. Edward's voice a little less because my stomach was starting to hurt. We went inside, and saw the graves of Michaelangelo, Dante, Machiavelli, some other famous Italians, and just pretty much the interior of a neat Gothic Cathedral, not as pretty as St. Peter's but I still liked it. Well at least I would have liked it if it weren't for the debilitating stomach cramps, and the fact that I was starting to get dizzy, and actually starting to black out. I told Dr. E, and in a little while Brandon was leading me out of the building to get a taxi (by the way, if I haven't told you already all of the Edwards speak fluent Italian). I didn't make it far, though, about half way through the courtyard I threw up in a trash can. I felt a lot better, and had no problems in the taxi or even when we first got back to the hotel. I got in the room with Amy and lay down. Of course I knew what it was in an instant. I got food poisoning, both me and Amy had, probably from that pizza place in Rome. At the time I thought it was from these little potato things, because Amy and I had shared one and no one else seemed to have any problems. Of course, I was wrong, I found out later that by lunchtime Alan and Jim were in rooms next to us feeling just about as bad as I was, but Amy was much worse. She kept throwing up all night, worst I ever had was the cramps and a bad fever. Anyway, I won't go into all the gory details but if any of you Texas people remember when I got sick at Encounter a few years ago you'll know it was pretty much the same stuff. Only this time wasn't quite so bad, which is good because it meant I really didn't need medical attention. Dr. E did get a doctor to come see Amy, and since I was in the same room he talked to me too and got us all some antibiotics and something to calm my fever. The rest of Wednesday, all of Thursday, and Friday morning for me was spent in bed. It was pretty miserable. I was feeling better by Friday though, and dared to make the return journey to Rome to catch the plane to Athens with the rest. Amy got so bad that Friday morning she was taken to a private clinic, and she's still not back yet, although they're putting her on a plane tonight I think. Jim stayed to, but he was better yesterday morning. Vicki stayed with them. Zach, who was feeling a little under the weather now too, Alan and I braved the trip, but it was pretty miserable. Four hour bus rides aren't much fun anyway, but when your stomach hurts and you have a blinding headache they're a lot worse. And two hour plane rides aren't fun either in that condition, though I normally enjoy them. I was so wiped out by the time we got back to Athens I wanted to die. I had a really bad fever again that night, but Linnea got me some ibuprofen (at 3am bless her) and I slept well after that. The last two days have been pretty much centered around me gradually working my way up to solid foods and getting to where I can stand up and walk around for long periods of time without feeling dizzy. I'm doing much better, and I'm still going on the cruise (which is tomorrow!). The first day is Mykonos, and we've already been there, so if I have to spend that day just on the boat and not on the island it will be okay. And even if I have to spend all four days on the deck of the boat, at least I'll get a marvelous tan! :) Hey, I've already probably lost about 10 pounds this week, a tan's just the thing to go with it! :)     At least I'm laughing about this right?     Well you won't see hide nor hair of me til Friday, so look for another update when I get back from the cruise! Pray the Mediterranean air will do wonders for my health! And pray I won't eat too much on the cruise so maybe those couple pounds will stay off! :) April 11, 2003     Well we're back from the cruise! We got in early this morning back to Athens after a week in the Greek Islands. It was so awesome. I'm back to full health now, so at least that one good thing did come from the trip (I didn't even get a tan).     The first day of the cruise was Mykonos, and since we'd already been there I didn't feel bad just staying on the ship. I slept the whole day. I didn't know I could sleep that much. It felt wonderful. I still wasn't eating much at that point either. Tuesday we stopped first in Patmos, but I decided to save my energy for Ephesus so I slept in. I kinda wish I hadn't because I heard Patmos was really pretty cool. However, I was glad that I had lots of energy because Ephesus was awesome. We went to the ancient city and saw lots of neat ruins and had a really funny guide who pointed out some pretty cool things. We had a devo in the theater, the same theater that the riot in Acts took place, where Paul stood before the guildsmen of Ephesus. It was pretty awesome. Then we got to shop in the little town by the port. That was kinda scary because the people were like the ones in Egypt that practically pull you into their shops. Maggie and I walked away pretty well though, she did buy some pillowcases, and she had to drag me away from nearly buying a really pretty ring for way too much money but I was saved and we returned to the boat in tact. That night was Greek night so we all wore blue and white to dinner and they had Greek dancing after dinner but I was so tired I didn't go. The next day we went to Rhodes, which was home to the Knights of St. John during the Crusades. We walked around the Old City of Rhodos and saw lots of the Medieval walls and structures, then went to the ancient city of Lindos, which the acropolis was on top of this really high peak overlooking the water and I nearly died trying to reach the top and finally got smart and stopped. I over did myself a little that day. Anyway, we went back to the boat and had lunch then went back into Rhodes and shopped a bunch, I walked around with Becca and Bobby and Jim and Kiley. We had lots of fun. Becca and I made a sandcastle on the beach, and then we looked for fun shells before we went back to the boat. That night was Captain's Night, so we all got really dressed up and dolled up and it was fun to see everyone looking so spiffy at dinner. The faculty got to sit at the captains table! It was pretty fun. The food all week was awesome too. I ate so much. It felt good to have an appetite again. Then the last day was Crete in the morning, we visited the palace at Knossos, which wasn't as cool as I was hoping but was still pretty interesting, then the museum, which was really boring. Then in the afternoon we went to Santorini, which was so beautiful. I think Mykonos was quainter, but Santorini was certainly unique. We got to see a beautiful sunset over the water across from a dormant volcano (which was cool) and walk down a cliffside avoiding donkey poop (most of the students rode the donkeys up, I rode the cable cars). It was still neat though. And the one last night on the boat and the next morning we were back here in Athens and here we are.     You won't see much of me this week, I've got massive work to do for all of my classes before finals, plus everyone else has their journals on the computers so it's rare that I get on the computers at all. I've got my final flight plans, I've now got to fly through Paris because Delta has cancelled all flights from Athens, so I've got to fly Air France to Paris then pick up Delta from there to JFK then to Atlanta and finally Houston, which means I leave Athens at 6:50 am and arrive in Houston at 11pm and pretty much spend 24 hours in between getting from one place to the other. I have a four hour layover in JFK, but so does everyone else on my flight so I don't feel so bad. Nothing else exciting to report, just getting close to the wire! 10 days until I leave for home! April 14, 2003     Well it's only four o'clock in the afternoon and I'm over here going, "can this day possibly go any slower?!?" Why is it whenever you really want a day to get here every day before seems to go slower and slower and slower...     I suppose it's not all bad because I'm supposed to be finishing my journal. But I'm almost done, I really am. I'll be so glad to turn this thing in tomorrow. I can't believe we've got less than a week left. Everyone else will be leaving Sunday morning, except for the five of us who aren't going on free travel and we all leave Tuesday morning at 4:30 am to be at the airport. I want to know who schedules flights for these ungodly hours of the morning, really. Sigh. I think I'm really just fishing for subjects now. So...I guess I'll stop writing and work on my journal some more. Yeah, that's probably a better idea. 8 more days... April 17, 2003     It's Thursday! Just five more days until I leave! It's all so sad! We had our last day of classes today, tomorrow and Saturday are finals, and then Sunday everyone leaves. I don't know what we'll do all Monday other than pack and stuff. The four of us non-free travellers have a 5 hour layover in New York, so we might take a taxi into the city just for a couple hours so we don't have to sit in the airport and be bored. It depends on how much time we have and how close we are to the city. We'll see.     We had a "farewell banquet" last night, which was fun. We had steak and potatoes (mmmm) and Dr. Edwards and a couple other people provided entertainment then we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding which was definitely one of the best movies I've seen all semester. Waiting to see it until after I'd lived here for three months made all the difference I think, it was so hilarious because so much of it is so true. I now understand why everyone laughed in Greek class when Dino actually did give us a whole page of Greek words that have been turned into English words.     Well that's all the exciting news for now. I'll probably be back on maybe once more before I leave. I hope my journal has been helpful for y'all to know what's been going on here, it's been fun to keep. Thanks for reading! :) April 19, 2003     *Sigh*. The last day. It's about 9pm, they're getting ready to start our last movie downstairs, and tomorrow morning at 6:30AM tomorrow morning everyone is heading for a ferry to Italy and the rest of Europe. *Sigh* I don't want to be here for 2 whole days with just the five of us non-free travelers and the faculty. I'd rather just go home. I don't know what I'm going to do for two days! Pack, naturally, and clean the room, but that won't take me the whole time. *Sigh*.     We had a good day today. We had our last two finals, which weren't very hard at all, and this morning Mrs. Edwards made pancakes. Then this afternoon we had an easter egg hunt, and I lost to Kiley by 3 eggs. I was close though. They had a "golden egg" too (an egg wrapped in foil) and they "hid" it in the pool, so Jacob and Nic dove after it. Nic got it, and they both ended up soaking wet (fully clothed) and freezing to death. We watched Miss Congeniality before lunch. The rest of the day I just milled around, played some card games and Scrabble with Maggie...messed around on the computer some more. I updated the index page, check out our poster that we made to put up on the wall as our memento for future HUG groups. There's a story behind almost every picture on there. There's not with mine, I'm just being "the corner" (bottom right), but there are so many things about this semester represented in those pictures.     Well I guess that's all to report. I'll probably update again tomorrow and Monday, mostly just because I'll have n o t h i n g   e l s e   t o   d o ! Two days left until I'm home... April 20, 2003     Well everyone left this morning. It was sad. We got up at 6:15 and had breakfast and saw everyone off, then I went back to sleep until almost noon. We had leftovers for lunch then watched Runaway Bride. Kelli and Rachel and I jumped in the pool too, it was COLD! Other than that all I've really done today is pack. Exciting day, huh?     Tomorrow Celsi and Amy and J-Gal are going to Glyfada I think. I don't know if I'll go. I probably will, just because I have nothing else to do and I'm almost completely packed. We'll see. I'm just ready to be home.