http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Dena/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Dena en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:35:54 +0000 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:35:54 +0000 After returning from Barcelona I met up with my friend Whitney and she and I went to Santorini for two days. It was short but it was amazingWe left on Tuesday evening and arrived in Santorini around 2 in the morning. We hadn't arranged a place to stay for Tuesday night so after we got to the port we found a place and bargained the price to something we felt was reasonable. We stayed in Fira http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-401325.html With the semester officially over many of the people in my program headed out to do some traveling before returning home. Three of my friends Hilary Tori and Maya and I went to Barcelona together for three days.Hilary and I left for the airport around midnight. Our flight left Athens around 3am and we finally got to the hostel in Barcelona around 630 or 7. The hostel people were very nice http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-401202.html Unfortunately it is true that the music was created by my singing. We all know how terrible that can be...Anyway I took my last exam of the semester on Monday morning I think it went alright and only had a paper left to worry about. So I said 'you can wait' to the paper and scampered off to Meteora with Camille.We left early on Tuesday morning though the tickets I bought which were suppos http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Thessaly/Meteora/blog-399274.html Well the end of my semester abroad is rapidly approaching.Camille came in to visit me on Sunday evening. We went to a taverna for dinner with some of my friends. I am really going to miss tavernas. I think they should be as popular in the states as they are in Greece because they are wonderful What will I do without my regular supply of delicious and amazing Greek food Anyway on Monda http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-396804.html Last night one of my roommates convinced me to come out with her and a couple of her friends. It was the first time I really have gone out all semester. It isn't exactly easy to do so in Athens or Greece in general. First there is the time thing. Don't get me wrong I love staying up late. But even for me it can be difficult to wait until midnight or 1am before even leaving the apartment. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-394137.html After an exhilarating and tiring four days in Egypt Sarah and I spent a day back in Athens mostly regrouping and then headed out to Crete for the remainder of spring breakWe arrived in Crete around 6am and waited at a passenger's center nice building with a little shop and chairs for about an hour when we decided we would be likely to find a bus. Our first destination was Rethymno a little http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Crete/blog-392423.html While in Egypt we took a day trip out of Cairo to explore Alexandria.We hit all five of the big sites the Roman amphitheater which we really just glanced at the pillar of Pompey the catacombs the library and the citadel.The citadel was a pretty ridiculous experience. The museum of the citadel had nothing to do with the fortress and instead was filled with lifesized dioramas of sea life. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Mediterranean/Alexandria/blog-390592.html On our second day in Egypt we went to see the PYRAMIDS I still can't believe I was in Egypt. Anyway we took a tour through our hostel where we had a private driver take us to all the sites. We started by going to the Pyramids of Giza then we to Dahshur and finally to Saqqara. At Giza we took a camel ride around the pyramids. We stopped at multiple excellent photo places and took a good num http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Giza/blog-390585.html We embarked on our Egyptian journey on Thursday around 9pm when we left for the airport. We made it there with plenty of time to catch our plane. The hostel people were supposed to pick us up from the airport so we figured we would have no problems. Unfortunately upon arrival we did not see anyone from our hostel. Turns out the email I sent in reply to when we got in did not go through. Sar http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-389436.html Happy PassoverI managed to find a Passover Seder held by the Chabbad of Greece in Athens. It turned out that a decent number of CYA students were heading to the Seder so I walked over with three other girls. We weren't entirely sure of where we were going. When we stopped at the metro station to look at the map a family from the States asked us if we were going to the Seder. We replied in t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-388985.html On Sunday I did perhaps the most adventurous of all the things I will do while I am living in Greece. I went to the Corinth Canal and went bungee jumping. What spurred on this need for some insane and mildly reckless behavior A combination of factors and emotions. A part of me always wanted to do it a seed planted early on that only grew in the last few weeks. First of all the Corinth Cana http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Corinth/blog-388311.html Last weekend I enjoyed my final field trip outside of Athens. My History of Macedon class went to Northern Greece to check out some Macedonian ruins. We stayed in Thessaloniki the second largest city in Greece second to Athens. On the way up we stopped at a number of battle sites including Plataea and Charonea. The first day we visited Pella the capital of Macedon under the rule of Philip I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Central-Macedonia/blog-387015.html I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I last posted I have been keeping very busy and life has certainly been pretty hectic. As usual Greece has been a lot of funOn the sixth of March my program took us on a tour of Brauron and Sounion. Brauron used to be a Temple to Artemis and Iphigenia and Sounion was a Temple to Poseidon with a smaller Temple to Athena across the way. The wea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/West-Greece/Olympia/blog-384673.html Last weekend my friends and I stayed in Athens and enjoyed some of the Carnival festivals going on here. We first attempted to partake in the Burned Meat Thursday festival but were unsuccessful in finding a taverna. We still ate meat just in the form of gyros instead. Then on Saturday night we went to a parade. After the parade we got crepes. This was a wonderful experience because the waitr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Syros/blog-378225.html Just a few brief words on one of my classesSo I am taking an archaeological drawing class here. It is both really fun and incredibly intense. My friend Anouska and I always leave feeling very tense and on edge but the class is interesting and we are learning some really neat techniquesIt is very difficult to describe what we are learning to do. We are basically learning to draw pots for now http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-374345.html Before telling everyone about the absolutely amazing trip CYA took to the Argolid I am going to fulfill a request from one of my sisters to include some more personal information about my friends and life here in AthensSo... I have five really good friends here Lynette Tori Hilary Anouska and Sarah. Lynette is from Singapore originally and goes to school in California. Tori is from the Ch http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-373697.html The last week has been a lot of fun and very busy just like nearly all of my time so far in AthensLast Monday my first class of the day Archaeology of Athens met at the Acropolis which was absolutely amazing. It was so surreal and interesting to be able to have our own private tour around the Acropolis Then in that class on Wednesday we went to the Ancient Agora for class We again got ou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-371415.html Well I have certainly had a busy last few days Friday was a study day which was nice and relaxing. A few of us went to the academic center for a few hours after to do homework. We were there as the sunset. This really was to our benefit because the view from the academic center is phenomenal see pictures Prior to studying we checked out the weekly open air market in our neighborhood. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-369771.html Today was a lovely lovely dayThe day started with a visit to the National Archaeological Museum for my Archaeology of Athens course. Hilary and I were able to enjoy our first trolley ride experience on the way there. This was a bit of an adventure in and of itself since we had to go in the middle of rush hour traffic meaning that the trolley were incredibly crowded making it very difficult to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-368165.html Classes have started and I have had the all but one of mine so far Greek ancient is a bit difficult as the four of us in the class are all coming from different places and have learned different things in our first semester. So we are starting with a review part of which is actually acting as a very quick lesson on different things I have not yet learned But the professor is really funny an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-366829.html