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

Jet lag sucks, and free drinking water rocks!

The 10.5-hour flight was better than the 4-hour one. I managed to speak a few last Greek words to the people sitting next to me, and I bounced down the aisles to get some movement (until the "fasten seat belt" sign turned on again and the flight attendants laughed at me), and by the time we landed I was feeling kind of good, actually. But after going through customs at JFK and finding my gate, I felt like it was 11:00 at night, but the sun was out. I have been dazed and confused ever since. That was Sunday, and now it's Wednesday.

There have already been some moments of weirdness. One thing I had missed about America was the abundant presence of drinking fountains, which has been one positive re-entry occurrence. And I felt almost guilty for flushing the toilet paper instead of throwing it in the wastebasket. I also have had to feel around for the light switch because they're a lot smaller here, and I had to think about how to plug my computer in because the outlets have different sockets. When I walked into the grocery store in Phoenix I felt like I was in a metropolis of food...the size of the grocery store in Agia Paraskevi was the size of, like, two aisles in Safeway. And everyone speaks English. And taking the Greyhound from Phoenix to Flagstaff was, don't freak out when I say this, paradise. The bus driver talked to us to let us know what was going on, where we were, and made us feel comfortable. He said the bus would be stopping in Flagstaff, but go on through cities like Gallup, New Mexico, Oklahoma City...it gave me a feeling of wanting to go on a road trip around America...I've never been to the midwest or the southern states besides New Mexico.

In Robert's house in Phoenix I played so much piano, making up for four months of not doing it, that I actually hurt my hand a little. I also ate cereal like Fruit Loops and Rice Krispies, and some Reeses cups, things I hadn't so much as laid eyes on in Greece.

Now I am in Flagstaff. Fortunately the weather has not put me through any hell yet. My roommates are doing great, and they acquired some more furniture in our apartment, so it's very cozy and homey now. I have yet to get my stuff out of storage so that I can really unpack and use my room again, but I haven't found anyone with a truck yet, so it's slow going. I took a trip to Safeway today. I used to always use the self check out there, but now I don't want to. It felt good to have someone checking out my items and not yelling at me in a foreign language. I didn't go near the oranges in Safeway. I wonder how long it will take me to eat an American orange again. I'm also going to go on a massive search for feta cheese soon at the organic store downtown so I can make Greek salad for my roommates.

Someone asked me if it felt weird to be back. Yes, it does, I admit. I have figured out that I can't wear a watch right now. The first two mornings here I woke up too early and feeling like I was dying, even though I've been sleeping well. Every time I look at my watch I automatically add 10 hours and subsequently get headaches. So no watches until after the jet lag.

It is definitely weird to think that just a few days ago I was walking down the street outside my apartment in Greece...and now I'm halfway around the globe from that street. Upon pulling into Flagstaff on the Greyhound I was hit by memories of Robert, of shopping at Safeway, of riding my bike downtown for the art walks...it's strange to be back in this familiar place after such a trip.

For the next couple of weeks I plan on taking it slow, settling back in, unpacking, and living in more luxury than I've lived in for four months. I'll be writing one more time in the next week, so keep reading. Like I said, I'm still a little dazed and confused, so I'll want to have a more clear-headed reflection about Greece when my strength is back up.

Goodnight, Athens

I can hardly believe that the room I'm now stuffing into my suitcase is the same room I collapsed in when I stepped off the plane in February. Because I began the semester in winter and am ending in summer, two very very different seasons in Greece, it feels like I have been here for much longer than four months. Thinking about the first time we walked around Agia Paraskevi getting to know our surroundings is like thinking about a memory from at least a few years ago...it's been so long. Over four months I reached the point where I felt almost like a resident of Athens: I went to the grocery store all the time, I learned the shortcuts out of the metro stations, I was speaking casually with my professors, and I even learned to say a few words. On that note, for my very first entry, didn't I make a list of goals? Let's look over that now and see what actually happened.

1. I WANT TO GO TO SPAIN FOR SPRING BREAK. Done. I may have a few small regrets about my time in Greece...but I don't have ANY about Spain! It was everything I could have hoped for and more! Without having gone for two weeks, I don't know how my time in Greece would have been different.

2. I WANT MY SPANISH DRESS. It's green and patterned. It ties sort of strangely, but I wasn't passing up the pattern for that little trifle. Having this dress is really good closure, after not getting it last summer.

3. I WANT AT LEAST ONE LASTING RELATIONSHIP. Well, I already told two Americans I met here outside school I'd be in touch. I told the girl from Egypt I would visit her one day. And I told the guy I met up with in Barcelona that we'd recreate the moment on the rooftop having great conversation, but in another country. I want to try to be in touch with some of the people I lived with, plus at least one of the Greek friends I made. I'm normally not very good at keeping in touch...but I might never see them again unless I stay in touch, and wouldn't it be great to meet up with them in some other part of the world? This is a true benefit from study abroad.

4. I WANT TO SPEAK GREEK AS WELL AS I CURRENTLY SPEAK SPANISH. Um...I thought I was worse at Spanish than I actually am :). I think, when I got to Spain, I was so excited to be speaking a language I sort of knew rather than didn't know at all, that I spoke it a lot better. My Spreek got a little too good ("esta al aerothromio"...Rosie, that's two different languages).  My Greek did get to a good level, though. I think my speech is okay, but it's hard to hold a conversation with a Greek because they talk ludicrously fast. You can hear the difference when they revert from English to Greek. This has got to be how they make up for Greek time. I don't know when I'll get to practice Greek anymore, but I definitely don't want to forget it.

5. I WANT TO GO ALL OVER GREECE AND ALL OVER SPAIN. Done! Let me even say this: you can TOTALLY get away with coming to Greece and NOT going to Athens.

6. I WANT TO BE LESS STRESSED ABOUT FINANCES WHEN I RETURN. Um...done! I hope. I did relax a lot about it. I think I was just worked up over it because this year has been the first time I've ever been on my own, having my own apartment and paying my own rent and having a job. So hopefully this one has manifested.

7. I WANT A GOOD PART OF MY TOURING TO BE BASED ON SITES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY. Done...but what kind of a goal was that? Am I supposed to say, "I don't want to go here because Athena never came here?" I'm a more open-minded tourist now. As said earlier, I like to see what the place has to offer me...and sometimes it doesn't offer mythology. I might as well mention that Greece in terms of mythology and ancient times turned out to be not what I expected. The Greeks preserve it, but they don't really care about it. They prefer to move forward. At their own pace :).


8. I WANT TO ENGAGE IN PHILOSOPHY CLASS DISCUSSIONS. Okay, so I could have done better, but at least my philosophy professor was happy to have me in his class. He's even been to Flagstaff before. He says the best hamburger he ever had was in Flagstaff.

9. I WANT TO BE ATHLETIC. I was. The gym was like my second home there. Plus the only place to run in that suburb was up a mountain...so running was never easy, it was always a workout. I had to keep working out, because I kept gaining weight somehow (who knew souvlaki and pastries and gelato caused weight gain?).

10. I DON'T WANT TO PARTY. Done. But I don't really want to get into how difficult it was to avoid it.

My goals were generally accomplished at least to some degree. So I'm happy. There are a few pangs of sadness that hit me sometimes now that I'm making my last rounds in Athens, for sure. But overall, I feel good about finally coming home, like it's finally time.

Note: keep reading. I'll make at least two more posts about re-entry to the States.

And then it was the last week.

I'm writing now, partly because I need a study break, also because I feel obligated to now that it's the last week.

I'm getting down to the wire. Finals week looms, and our flights home. Everyone is studying like they have nothing to lose. It would have been nice to do something fun for my final full weekend, but alas, no one is making time for it. Plus the weather in Greece is trying to pull a Flagstaff and change every once in a while. That's something I don't look forward to upon my return.

There is a psychological side to studying abroad: there is a proposed cycle of emotion that I was warned about at the orientation (along with all the other freakish things I was warned about that never happened). It starts with excitement, drops down to culture shock, levels out at surface adjustment, and then overshadows re-entry shock. Did I go through these phases? Sure did.

I was so excited to get here that I was irritated by the other students for not being as excited. It took some people for EVER to go downtown and see the Acropolis, and even longer to check out Monastiraki. I disadvise against this completely. Yes, it is true that we got here knowing that we had four full months to do what we wanted, and we were exposed to "Greek time" almost right away, so the slow start was expected. And it's true that I say myself, I'm not in any hurry to see places...now that the excitement phase is over! I was itching to go out, not through a sense of obligation, but because I was freaking excited. So when you first get to a place, I advise you to do stuff! You can settle down later. Of course, there has been excitement throughout my entire stay, too, and it's going to feel strange getting back to America and experiencing less excitement due to less being new.

Culture shock was a fun one. Not. I will not discuss this on the blog, I'm happy to answer questions through email or conversation, but I'll only mention it here: there was a dark side to this study abroad experience. There was one particular experience I had one weekend within the first month of being here that really brought on the culture shock, and after that I constantly thought about it for a week or so. Culture shock is defined as discomfort while living in an unfamiliar culture, which consists of physical symptoms like over-eating or sleeplessness or headaches, but which mostly consists of negative attitudes toward the unfamiliar cultural practices plus ethnocentrism towards your home culture. For me personally, I will say outright without worrying about whether it's ethnocentric or not, that some aspects of Greek culture are displeasing to human society. As in, humans who live amongst other humans in society shouldn't act the way the Greeks do. By getting over the culture shock, I didn't exactly accept their activities so much as went out of my way to ignore them. But you know what? I survived them, and now they will make good stories to tell people. Plus, it should never be expected that travel plans will go perfectly...they won't. They absolutely won't. I'm not disappointed in my experience with culture shock, I just include it in my stories.

Moving on to surface adjustment, which is, in fact, adjustment to the culture and your comfort zones to the point where the strange things don't impede your daily life. This is where Spain came in and saved my sanity, giving me two weeks to be by myself in a country I was already slightly familiar with and could therefore relate to a little better. Once I returned from Spain knowing I did all that alone and survived it, I was ready to be back in Greece and appreciate more that it has to offer. It did feel slightly strange to be leaving the country I'd wanted to come to for so long, so I decided it would be the only time I left Greece (unlike other study abroad students, who were on a mission to knock as many countries off their list as they could in four months. One girls knocked off at least nine). No use wondering what would have happened if I'd stayed in Greece over spring break. What happened was that I got a short leave from it so that my sanity could be retained and I would be more ready to tackle my time here. And May turned out to be excellent!

Now. Re-entry shock. This is supposed to be like reverse culture shock, missing your host country's customs, trying to combine the new with the old, and feeling regret for not having done enough. I'll let you know how the first two go when I return, but as for the last point, I can say something now. I'd started feeling some regret, after turning down Santorini, and thinking about how I missed out on a trip near the beginning. The regret morphed into something like, "It's been four months, and I didn't do enough." The regret lasted about an hour. After an hour, I said to myself, "STOP FEELING REGRET." I wrote down in one long sentence all the cities I went to, sites I visited, places I explored, cultural habits I'd partaken in, and experiences I couldn't have had anywhere else in the world. Anyone who has spent enough time with me knows I have small handwriting. It took eight lines of notebook paper. Okay, so there were some things I regretted not doing, but overall? Ha! I did plenty! I'm not going to let myself feel bad about the overall experience ever again, and if you catch me doing it, put me in my place! Even the freakier experiences were worth it to me, and the less than perfect ones.

I think the biggest lesson I learned from being here was that things aren't always as they seem. For example, last week I learned that there was a protest downtown. Usually the study abroad program sends us emails when those happen saying to stay away from downtown that day. But last week I decided to go anyway. I had to see at least one protest, right? I was expecting something more like a public speaker, signs, maybe a riot, maybe something burning...I got there...and there were people dancing to drums, gyro stands, tents on the grass, banners saying "We Want Revolution," basically. Really? Study abroad has been sending us emails this whole time telling us to stay away from a festival of hippies?

Things are not always as they seem. Greece does not look entirely like the ancient agora, nor does it look like Santorini, nor do people run around restaurants breaking dishes and shouting "Opa!" Expecting the unexpected was an important lesson for me, and also to take things as they come. I'm happy that I came and that I took the bad with the good, and now I have a great story to tell. I'll write more when my flight home draws nearer.

Alert! Only two weeks left!

I have two things to say right now. Please don't get mad at me when I tell you :)

1. I turned down a trip to Santorini. WHAT? Rosie, how could you! If you don't already know, Santorini is the Greek island with the steep-sloping cliff on the edge of crystal water, with the round, white buildings with the blue rooftops that looked like they are stacked on top of each other. I know you've seen pictures. Even people from Greece say that Santorini is the most beautiful place in the whole world. And guess what? I could have gone, but I didn't. About seven girls from my program decided to go on their own, and they actually took the time to invite me for once. Man, did I dig myself into a hole by telling you I didn't go.

Saturday was my dad's last day here, and I wanted to see him one more time. My classmates took the ferry on Friday, and on Friday I had a presentation to give in my philosophy class. On that note, I missed a lot of school last week as is. I didn't want to endure two different eight-hour ferry rides and then only be there for two days. The weather was not promising. And lastly, I'm not in any hurry to see new places. That's six legitimate reasons I turned down the most beautiful vacation of my life.

I did say in a previous entry that I wasn't even all that excited to see Santorini because I'd already looked at a million photos. And it's true, but I will keep in mind that if I were picked up and dropped on Santorini, I would more than likely discover that the pictures don't do it justice. I would count myself lucky if I ever make it to that rumoured wonderful island. Living for four months on "Greek time" really calmed me down about this subject, though. I already know that this is not the only time in my life that I will visit Greece, so I am completely at ease with waiting for a better time in my life to go to Santorini. I discussed this with my study-abroad-mate (classmate? roommate?...let's call him my study-abroad-mate), and he told me to just go there for my honeymoon. And tell my future husband it was my study-abroad-mate's idea. So I'll just wait, rather than hurt myself trying to get there amidst multiple uncomfortable circumstances.

Here's the second infuriating topic: school here sucks, and I miss NAU. I was talking to another study-abroad-mate about this today, and she's more knowledgeable than I am about it, but here's what I interpreted, partly from what she said, and partly from what I experienced: my school here is using the UK grading system, which means that instead of focusing on tests and quizzes, like the US does (generally speaking), the teachers assign one group project, or in my case midterms, and then a final. And that's...pretty much all the criteria they have to grade you on. Not very fair, I think. Not to mention that the letter grade scales themselves are different, too, but I can't remember how at the moment.

In my experience, I have already failed a midterm and gotten low B's on two others. In all three cases, I had thought I'd done way better. I tried to ask the teachers what they'd wanted from me, but they didn't seem to want to talk about it, as if I should have already known. I have also experienced the teachers yelling at students about things that were not their fault, saying things like, "do as I say, not as I do," and telling students that their opinions are wrong.

I'm supposed to graduate next semester, so if my classes transfer back as not passing, I have to take more classes and work really really hard to graduate in time. I feel like this isn't really my fault.

I reported this because I feel it is a necessary piece of advice to give to someone who wants to study abroad. It was a worthwhile experience to be in school here, I will not deny that at all. It's just something to remember, that all cultures are different and require patience and research! Part of it is my fault, I guess, for not having asked first, but then again, I had no reason to ask, I was a good student before I came here :)

So! Two weeks left, and I am ready to return to NAU. And also sad that I have to leave Greece! More on that some other time.

Family

It's been almost four months now, and it feels like such a long time. You know how when you think back on the last year and remember small details that have been pushed to the back of your head because they happened so long ago? That's how I feel about when I first got here. I really can't believe I've spent so much time in Europe.

Last week, the moment I was waiting for became a reality. My dad arrived. Before I'd come, he'd said he wanted to visit me in Greece, and I sort of didn't count on it...it was just one of those things people say they'll plan, but you know they never will...but come February or March, he'd bought his ticket. And up until they got here, he and Judy learned so much about the history and culture of Greece that they made me feel like I'm living a lie.

It was almost indescribably exciting to see them here. The part that I loved most was having people out here who truly care about me and remind me that I'm loved, which I don't feel much here because my roommate situation failed. I'd met a few other family members of the study abroad students when they visited them, and even a few friends who just wanted to see their good buddies, and in all the situations, the study abroad students took to holing up with their families and ditching out on social activities. And why wouldn't I, too? I just wanted Dad and Judy to love Greece and understand how it works at least a little bit. I was in a sort of giving mood that rarely happens in this time of my life.

Not to mention that Judy is so psyched to uncover ancient history that it was impossible to go touring with her without reading all the information stands. Learning history before or while I'm at a place is something I really suck at. As stated previously, I like seeing what the place has to offer me when I'm there, instead of planning what to do without experiencing the atmosphere first. In fact, I'm in the process of reading up on the histories of the places I've seen in Greece and Spain. But I learned that it's nice to read history while you're there, if only so that you feel smarter. With Dad I went back to the agora and acropolis in Athens, to Hydra, down south to Mycenae, and over west to the theatre of Epidauros. Those two had the fortunate experience that I missed of climbing off the metro into downtown Athens straight from the airport, and the first thing they saw was the Parthenon. They didn't even appear jet lagged to me, even though they said they were. Judy, who has never been anywhere, didn't seem blissfully out of sorts like I still get sometimes. And they love the food!

Besides the archaeological sites, which I'll get to in a second, they were equally interested in modern life here, in a different sense than I was, probably because they did their homework. We went all over the "anarchist" area of Athens looking for rembetiko music. It was fun to have a theme for a day that isn't simply touring. I also managed to pull strings with study abroad so that they could come with us on our planned excursion to the island of Hydra. Even though they didn't eat as much as I wanted them to, and I went swimming without them, I'm happy that they got to fit at least one island into their plans.

Mycenae hosts the former castle of Agamemnon, so we got to see the remains of tiny rooms on yet another hilltop that looks like it was put there for the purpose. We marvelled at the Lion's Gate and how it could possibly have gotten there, along with the beehive tomb. And Dad and I went on a small adventure and climbed down a roped-off tunnel, formerly used for water retrieval. I took a picture with the flash so we could see just how far down we had to walk, but really, it was pitch black in there. It was awesome.

We continued to Nafplio, which I've already seen, which is pretty and full of life. We got some of the best ice cream I will ever have in my life and watched the main square at night, of which the floor is made of marble. It was a beautiful setting, fit for a painting.

Then we went on to the amphitheatre of Epidauros, so that father and daughter musicians could test out the rumored phenomenal natural acoustics. They evidently heard me shaking my water bottle from the other end of the stairs. Dad performed a brief show of hitting empty water bottles against the side, and when I ran all around the floor taking pictures of him, I could here the echoing of the bottles in different spots around the place.

By the way, as we discovered, you're not allowed to do that...

I was put on the bus for the typical disorganized drive from Corinth back to Athens while those two continue their exploration of the Peloponnese without me. I cried on the bus ride. I know I'll see them again when they come back to Athens on Saturday for their flight home, but I was still sad. I am so happy that they came so that we could have this experience together, and to make it more real for my dad that his daughter is living in Greece. If it weren't for me, they never would have come to this place, so I feel proud, too.

I myself applaud my photography skill right there.

But moreover, I reflect on a sense of fun and adventure accomplished this weekend, because this city...This!!! Is!!! SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was another school-organized trip (no way am I going on excursions by myself anymore!), to not just the city of glorious Sparta, but to the surrounding area of equally historical Laconia. The first thing I noticed was how naturally beautiful the land is, despite its bloody, all-conquering history. It was hard to imagine armies marching in deadly intent over the foreboding mountains, up these majestic hills to construct immortalized monuments, burying their worthy or unworthy dead, on this green and flowery landscape.

Indeed. Beautiful Sparta. Two words I hadn't previously lumped together.

I didn't really philosophize at all on this excursion. I have exhausted my current philosophizing ability. The rest has to be put into my schoolwork where it belongs. For this one, I relished the fun I was capable of having with a few other study abroad students and other new faces, the pretty 2-hour-ish drive to Laconia, getting to put my feet in ocean water for a minute, and the fact that I was in the land of some of the hardest-core warriors this planet will ever see. Upon my return, I've been wanting to reread the Greek mythology I know, and learn more about the epic that Spartan history is. It's undeniable that Greece is also the land of warfare in addition to philosophy and art, so it was interesting to imagine myself in it. We visited Mystras, this castle overlooking EVERYTHING, including the exit of Spartans (nearly impossible due to the terrain, but they were the Spartans, after all) ; the acropolis, which mostly houses the overgrown remains of a theatre now; Vapheio, a tomb of epic proportions; and the beach town where Paris once whisked away Helen of Troy.

We found the actual modern city of Sparta to be...well...quaint. I think we were expecting the tourism to be as kick-ass as its history required it to be, but from what I saw, Sparta doesn't even have a nightlife. We all had fun, though, looking at the sites and talking about the manpower of the Spartans. I know it was bloody warfare, but hey, we're still kids at heart.

We all stood on top of this structure and took pictures of ourselves being Spartans.

By the way, I still have not seen the movie "300" all the way through.