Marble

During our meaningful talk on the rooftop in Barcelona, my friend told me about his experience in Istanbul, Turkey, at the magnificent marble cathedral, the Agia Sofia. He said his mind had been blown away by the state of the marble floors—they looked rather concave. It seemed to him that the floor represented a very slight crater, coming up at the edges and forming a bowl in the center. He considered how many people over thousands of years had been walking on this marble floor, and he shared with me his subsequent realization. We both marveled at the meaning of a marble floor that has been walked on for so many years by so many people, that it is actually indented now.

After my first visit to the acropolis, I couldn’t help but notice how naturally pretty marble is, and how nice it looks on the modern buildings, and how marble streets make the whole area look elegant. Even though I didn’t see any indented marble such as my friend saw in Turkey, I kept in mind that Athens is a city that always tries to move forward, and the streets and steps have probably been maintained a little too well. If only we could go inside the Parthenon, I’m sure I would have seen the spectacle there.

Still. If this phenomenon were really to exist, it surely exists in Greece. I’ve been looking at the histories of places I visited, and they date back to over a thousand years BC. To know that these places, and their stories, are preserved and treasured to this day…and to have lived there…

The symbolism of marble for me is with my trip. Not only did I walk over the same sites as millions of people before me (way before me) had, but I walked over what will now be a precious memory. I met some great people who impacted my life to worthy extent, I visited places that I’d only dreamed about before, I took chances I had never before taken, I pushed limits, I had fun, and I can’t ever forget it. Maybe later in my life I will do something more incredible…but I can’t imagine it right now. It doesn’t matter that I can’t imagine it. My memory, like ancient marble, has been impacted, like a meteor that leaves behind a crater.

I miss it a little bit. The places I lived in are still so fresh in my mind that I still feel as though I can just walk outside and be there. I miss knowing that I can go downtown and look at the acropolis whenever I wanted to see something incredible. I didn’t think I would miss the neighborhood of Agia Paraskevi. I kind of miss the kiosks selling chocolate and the graffiti on the walls next to the gyro place. Little things are starting to make it more real for me now that I’m no longer there.

I recommend study abroad to every student. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t settled on a country yet, because it would have been impossible for me or anyone I studied abroad with to live in one foreign country without hearing and getting excited about and perhaps visiting so many other countries. Take my side trip during spring break. At the end, I was in Spain talking about Turkey with someone I met in Greece and someone he met up with from Italy, all of us originally from America. That’s five countries in one night.

May you indent many marble surfaces in your life,

-Rosie