Day 5: The Whole History of Greece

This is a picture of the Acropolis from a rooftop garden where we were having our lecture:
Today I attended a lecture on the history of Greece and Athens and then visited the Archeological Museum. At the museum I saw artifacts from over 10000 BC! There were quite a few statues of Athena and Poseidon.

The most interesting part of the history of Greece though, was that Athens was never really the capital of Greece. Way back in Greek Mythology times the country didn't exist. Instead there were city-states (one of which was Athens). The the Ottoman Empire took over Greece and the capital was Constantinople (Istanbul). When Greece gained their independence around 1821, the capital was Aegina, a city near the mainland. This was only the capital for a year though since it was so remote and hard to get to. The capital was then moved to Nafplion (the city I will be visiting starting on Thursday). But when Otto became King of Greece he moved the capital to Athens because the Acropolis was there and he felt like the capital should be near one of the greatest monuments in Greece.

The hotel I am staying at is very close to the acropolis. I can see it above on the hill (Acropolis means "City on a Hill"). I'm staying in the Plaka neighborhood, which is the oldest part of the city. I'll be walking around the streets and turn a corner and BOOM! there's an ancient greek column in the middle of the street. It's pretty cool.

Answers to Questions:

Ana, Anna, Jade, Amalia, and Dahlia -- The most beautiful sites in Greece so far are the acropolis and the islands. I would recommend making sure you see the Acropolis when you come to Greece...there's too much history in it not to see it.

Keisha -- The weather is very warm and muggy. It was in the 90s today and very humid. I think I got a little bit of a sun tan :)

Ryan -- Gas stations are very expensive. It's twelve euros (I think maybe that's liters???). But people are lined up around the street and corners to fill up their cars and mopeds.

 

P.S. Feel free to comment in the comment boxes. I have been answering your questions or responding to your comments when you post them.

Day 4: Sleep-Walking Through Athens

Me on the airplane and down a street in Athens:

Yay! I'm in Athens. I'm sitting in the hotel's restaurant eating breakfast at the moment...you all are sleeping though (it's the middle of the night for you). I'm about to go to the Archeological Museum today :) First, though, let me say that I miss you all. I hope you're all set for your Romeo and Juliet essays!

So I have a question to ask you all first: What are some of your pre-conceived notions of Greece? (Think: what are some stereotypes you have of Greece?). Tranny, Jerrod, and Alan (my regular readers and commenters), tell the other students to log on and comment on this question. Then in a couple of days I will post on the topic.

Well it has been a VERY long time since I got to sleep. The last time I blogged I was in the airport and since then I didn't get to sleep for 34 hours. I was soooo tired :) Have you ever been up for 34 hours? I was crazy tired. I felt like a walking zombie through Athens.

The airplane food was pretty good though AND the airplane was so huge that when you needed to go to the bathroom, you had to go downstairs. (It felt very Jodi Foster movie-ish with the stairs). We ended up stopping in Germany and it was beautiful -- so green. It was fun to have everything said in German and then English.

We got to Athens at 11:30 AM (the middle of the night Chicago time). It is beautiful here. The city is quite ancient and the streets are tiny and curvy. All the buildings are very close to the street. We're staying in the heart of the city, called Plaka. We went on a walking tour of the ancient part of the city last night. We saw an old cathedral from 1000s and the old Parliament building. Oh, and there are stray dogs here everywhere. I took pictures of one of them that was following us around for a while. (I'll post it when I'm able to get a better internet connection).

I also have some answers for some of your questions:

DeMichael -- The best time to come to Greece is May because it's not quite so hot. Now that it's June it's in the upper 90s. I'm warm and have to wear lots of sunscreen so I don't burn :)

Sylwia and Christian -- I have some pictures of my dinners uploaded in the Photo Essay.

David -- YES! Greeks do eat McDonalds. I ended up passing one and everyone was eating McDonalds outside on the picnic tables. I went into the restaurant to take a picture of part of the menu (which is in Greek) for you!

Kimionne -- My FAVORITE new Greek food is fried zucchini! YUM :) It's soooo good. You'll have to try it some time. (I took a picture of it).

Jacob -- Yes, people drink a lot of coffee, but there is always wine available at lunch and dinner (not that YOU could drink it yet). Also Ouzo is a great drink that I have yet to try, but have heard a lot about. I'll try it soon and let you know what I think.

Jorge -- The Euro is about one and a half dollars for the U.S. Dollars. So something that is $10 in the U.S. is a little over $15 in Greece. Everything is expensive.

Take a look at my Photo Essay (an essay of photographs...kind of like your _Romeo and Juliet_ essay, but with pictures).

Cheers,

Ms. G

P.S. All the other Fulbright teachers here with me say hi to you all!

P.P.S. I can't upload pictures...my internet isn't working well. I will upload later.

Day 3: We're Off!

Hi All,

Just a quick note to let you know I'm at the airport and we'll be flying off in about half an hour. We fly to Munich, Germany and from there go to Athens. I will get to Athens at 11:30 AM on Sunday (that is about 3:30 AM your time).

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 2: Say What?

Hi Everyone!

So yesterday (Friday) we learned how to Speak Greek. Wow! It happens to be a complicated language because I have to learn a whole new alphabet (the Cyrillic alphabet). I do know how to say hello: Kilamera and Sorry: signomi.

Frank -- So many Greek last names end with "s" because the names are for males. All males in Greece have last names ending in "s" because that's the masculine form of the verb. Interesting hum? Female last names end in "A". So a brother and sister would have slightly different last names.

Michael and Sandy -- Both of you asked about holidays in Greece and I found out about an interesting one already: Name Day. Instead of celebrating birthdays, the people celebrate the day of their name. All Greeks are named after a patron Saint, so whatever the Saint's Day is, that's their name day. Cool, right :)

Rafal -- Our Greek tour guide has already talked about Soccer. I guess there is a big world event going on when we're in Greece, so I'll tell you all about it when I get there.

The picture above is from the Hellenic Museum we went to yesterday. The art is very expressive, colorful, and we looked at a lot of religious art.

Anyway, wish me a good flight!

Ms. G

Day 1: Put on your Dancing Shoes...Here we Go!

Today has been a super busy day. I learned how to dance traditional Greek and Bulgarian dances, the whole history of Bulgaria (yes, it was a long lecture...but informative!), and TRIED to learn the Cyrillic Alphabet (I'm not very good at it). Govyrete anglhski means Do you speak English? That one I have learned...it will be VERY useful!

Val -- You had asked a question about Gypsies and I have an answer for you already. There are gypsies in Bulgaria, but the word "gypsy" is inappropriate. (It's like calling someone the n-word). The proper name for these people are "Roma" which means "humans". They originated in India but most of the Roma in Bulgaria have been settled and are not transient.

Go through the pictures to see what I was up to today!

Night,

Ms. G

It's All About Greece!

Hi Students!

So I finally got my itinerary for Greece! I will be arriving June 1st in Athens and that same day will get to see the Acropolis! :) I'm very excited. It also looks like I'll be going to many different types of restaurants in Greece, so for all of you who asked about the food in Greece...I'll make sure I post pictures so you can see what authentic Greek food looks like.

Besides walking around Athens, it sounds like our trip is going to focus on the archeology and history of the country, which is wonderful because I'll be able to pass on a lot of mythology information to you (the student experts!).

In my last post I said that I would be going to Olympia and it looks like I will not only be traveling to the home of the Olympics, but stay for several days in the city: visiting musuems and sites. Maybe I'll see some of the colleseums for Joseph??? :)

I will be out in the country as well and see some traditional villages and dress, so I'll make sure to post pictures when I get there around June 10th!

While I'm excited, I'm also really nervous though. I've never been away from home for more than a month at a time and this is about five and a half weeks. My packing list includes a swim suit, though, so I'm hoping I'll get to swim in the Mediterreanean Sea (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly...I'll check back). I will also need to switch my money over to Euros. It seems like I have so much to do before I leave and that gets me nervous! Wish me safe travels and good luck. I hope you write and look up on this blog to see how I'm doing as well...keep me company as I travel around the countries.

Cheers,
Ms. Gartland

Are the Girls Pretty?

Students --

So I finally was able to look through all of your Global Experiences worksheets and some of them really made me laugh! For example, Tevin was very interested in the types of girls there are in Greece and Bulgaria. He asked me to see if they were pretty or not (I'll make sure I take some pictures of the townspeople in Greece for you, Tevin). Ryan asked about gas prices in Greece, which is a great question...I will look forward to finding out the answer to that question. I do know that traffic is absolutely awful in Athens though (the capital of Greece). I also just got my Greece and Bulgarian travel guide books and phrase books and saw that, yes Miguel, there is a Mount Olympus. It is in the north somewhat near Thessaloniki, which is one city I will be traveling to. If I get a chance and see the mountain, I will post a picture of it on the blog!

Other random things I've been learning include:

- Olympia (a place I will be traveling to) is the home of the Olympic Games

- For me to say: I'm sorry, but I don't speak Greek well, I have to learn to say: "Lipoume, alla then milao ellinika kala" 

- In Bulgaria the river just north of the country is the Danube (I love the Danube River song...have you heard it?)

- The climate will be warm: I'm supposed to bring sunscreen! Yay :)

Stay tuned....I'll tell you what more I learn soon. I actually leave on the plan for Athens on the 29th of May, so I will start posting pictures after that!

-- Ms. Gartland