Day Two
Tuesday, June 28th
Today was pretty awesome. Yesterday- our first day in Athens- was incredible, but I was so jetlagged that it didn’t entirely feel real. My eyes were so dry that I was essentially thinking, “this can’t be the Acropolis I’m casually drinking wine in front of” but today I was much more aware and humbled by my surroundings. Climbing to the top of the Acropolis was something I have only dreamed of. It reminded me of when I saw (some of) the Mayan Ruins on a family vacation in 2012; all of the history, the stories, the human beings that shaped these structures thousands of years ago is astonishing and takes my breath away just thinking about it. A few parts were my favorite: I loved having the modern connection with the Nazi/Greek flag. I love history, and hearing the pride of the Greeks in how they took back this area from the Nazis by putting up the Greek flag- where it still flies today!- was really cool. My second favorite part was seeing the part of the Parthenon involving Alexander the Great, because I am truly fascinated by him and Macedonian rule, even if his father is a lot cooler than him. However, beyond those two parts of the Acropolis, my very favorite part was seeing the Areopagus, even if we didn’t visit it (can that count as my favorite part?) The first time I truly grew to love Ancient Greece was when I took law in Ancient Athens with Ian Worthington. After that class, I dropped my old major and became a double major in history and classical humanities- without ever having taken a classics course! I am not the best student, mainly because I never learned how to study and like to look at bigger pictures rather than smaller facts, but I have not regretted my decision with taken the courses I have and studying things that many people view as pointless or “Starbucks-after-college” majors. This journal entry wasn’t filled with facts about the structures or the museum we went to (which was super cool! The British suck and need to give Greece their artifacts back!), I can do that on other days, but my main point is I truly believe this trip will be good for my soul and help me learn so much about the world around me and hopefully myself along the way.
PS- I got my nose double-pierced today, and right after torrential rain and hail forced us to come back home. I know this isn’t normal in Greece, because everyone from Professor Barnes to the locals looked confused, but hopefully this isn’t a sign from my dad that I don’t need to alter my body anymore.
Here’s some pictures from today!
A picture from the Acropolis Museum and a picture from the Parthenon!
