I WENT TO GREECE! Part 2

Phew! I have had a whirlwind few weeks but I finally have a day off to blog, clean, cook, and RELAX! And I apologize for the extra long wait- blogger was being buggy and would not let me upload photos :(

After Meteora came Delphi! Delphi is a tiny town, with tiny roads, and a lot of tourists! The only types of shops in town were restaurants an souvenir stores- which made it interesting to walk around in. The hotel we stayed at was a family run place. George was overly helpful and ready to help us in any way that he could. George was the classic example of the Greek tourism industry- pushy but kind and generous. We all found this hard sell style a bit awkward, but appreciated it nonetheless. In Delphi we saw the Oracle ruins, the theater on top of the ruins hill, the stadium, and the ruins of the Temple of Athena. Delphi might have been my least favorite site in Greece- but it was still beautiful! It was built on the side of a sloping valley overlooking both mountains and the water.

View of the valley from Delphi archaeological site

Temple of Athena

Theater!

The Oracle

After Delphi- we drove to ancient Olympia. Greece kept amazing me with its beautiful, scenic drives. We even pulled over to stop and take pictures at a few locations- they were just too perfect to drive by without a picture! This drive also consisted of a few hours of tiny, tiny roads with curves ever 50m. I dont think I could ever have driven in successfully- but J and the rented Prius managed somehow! This might have been my favorite stop on our mainland Greece tour- although not for the towns atmosphere. When we arrived in Olympia it became apparent that it was a ghost town- filled with empty tourist shops and desperate waiters. However, the ruins were incredible! Seeing how the arenas were layed out, the hotels that guests slept in, where wrestlers warmed up, THE OLYMPIC TRACK, and the current location of the lighting of the Olympic Torch was phenomenal. As with all the other ruins- Olympia had its own museum accompanying the archaeological site.

Athlete warm up area

Amazing untouched column ruin... dominoes anyone?

Entry to the track stadium

Start block!

After Olympia we drove South to Nafplio. When we arrived in Nafplio it was refreshing to see real shops: ones for pottery, spices, jewelery, lace, and of course the tourist shops. We arrived around sunset- and decided to walk out to the main boardwalk to watch the sun set. It was breathtaking- seeing the sun set behind the green mountains on the other side of the Mediterranean. Oh yeah- I touched the Mediterranean! Woohoo! Although... it was neither warm nor clear so that was a tad bit disappointing. We ate at a restaurant on the boardwalk- they offered free wine (which was actually pretty good!) and we took the bate. At this point in the trip we were all pretty sick of gyros, grilled meat, and strange Greek desserts. After dinner we walked around the shops and got dessert drinks at another restaurant on the water. I ordered a fantastic chocolate something- and enjoyed every second of it!

The next day we climbed about 900 steps up to the military fortress that looms over the town. It was much bigger than I had originally anticipated! The walled interior stretched for what seemed like forever! It had amazing views of the coast and the cute town we could see below us.

Adorable town streets

Sunset!

Oh you know... just the Mediterranean

:)

On the left is the military fortress!

Up at the fortress

After climbing the military fortress, we drove the Mycennae and Corinth, two more sites of ruins. Mycennae was booming a few hundred years before classic Ancient Greek sites- so it was an awesome twist to see an earlier time period within the same culture. After a while, the white columns get old ;) and it was a good change of pace!

Two lions entry gate

Burial chamber

Our final stop on Mainland Greece was Cape Sounion with the Temple of Poseidon. These ruins were about a two hour bus ride away from Athens. Figuring out the public bus transportation system in Greece was not quite as easy as the metro, but we managed to find our way onto the correct bus! The bus dropped us off on the cliff of Cape Sounion where there is a single restaurant and gift shop, the Temple Ruins, and some pretty views of the Mediterranean. It was definitely worth a half day trip!

Ruins of Zeus' Temple

Seeing flowers after a long winter is so refreshing 

Why hello there!

My Reintroduction to Heidelberg

For the entire month of April I was traveling on weekends. Wow- when I put it like that it sounds almost insane! No regrets though, all the places I saw (Greece, Munich, Prague, and Copenhagen) were worth the exhaustion! Since I have been traveling every weekend, I haven't really had to do a big grocery shopping trip. I have been eating a lot at the mensas (the German version of a dining hall) and have been surviving off of Peanut butter sandwiches with my new volkornbrot (whole wheat corn bread) obsession. This weekend I have chosen to stay in Heidelberg and re-experience the town that I live in. During April I felt like I was mostly rushing between classes (going from the Altstadt to Neuenheim in 30 minutes on public transportation has proven a bit tricky!), doing laundry, homework, and packing.

When I returned home from Copenhagen late Sunday night, I realized that for the first time in a month I would be home for more than a week straight. YAY! I can finally cook my own food and relax :) That also meant that I had to go to the grocery store...

Unfortunately, Mondays are by far my busiest days! I start at 9am in the Altstadt with Americans and War. I really have enjoyed this class so far. The professor is extremely quirky and not afraid to use his students as examples. The class is full, with about 30 students. He asked if anyone in class was American, and I of course was the only one that day. He then spent about five minutes attempting to pronounce and spell my name in front of the entire class (who knew four letters could be so difficult?!). After that, any time a question went unanswered he called on me, citing that since I am American I should know this stuff. Luckily I was able to successfully answer his questions (by some MIRACLE American history has stuck with me) and did not portray the ignorant American stereotype. After this class I MUST catch the 10:53 bus back to Neuenheim, otherwise I am late for Islamic healing. This class is a masters level class, but might so far be the least amount of work! I really enjoy comparing the traditional healing rituals to modern day mental health practices. Surprisingly, my professor (an anthropologist of healing shrines in India) is open to both accept and criticize modern scientific methods- something I have found really fascinating. After a lunch break, I head over to my favorite class of the semester: American Atheism. The professor may be the coolest and greatest professor I have ever had in my undergraduate career. He is engaging, funny, and has an extremely interesting lecture topic. After that class I run to catch the first bus I can to my German language course. My day ends at 8pm- leaving no time for grocery shopping :(

On Tuesdays I spend my day in the lab. So far I have been doing transformations, cloning (both things I have done before), and plasmid shuffling (yay! New science). Every Tuesday the entire lab eats lunch together at the mensa, which has been a really nice way to get to know all the post docs and Ph.D students. I am the only undergraduate in lab and the only native English speaker even though the only language spoken in lab (even in Germany!) is English. Funnily enough- one of the post docs is someone I recognized from UMMS! The world is always smaller than I ever thought I could imagine. I usually get out of lab around 5, making a full work day! Every Tuesday, the girls do a rotating dinner. This week, G got us all Indian food! I have been missing cuisine food SO much since coming here, but unfortunately this Indian food was quite terrible and did not satisfy my craving. Regardless- I was unable AGAIN to go to the grocery store. After Indian food we all cuddled up on her bed and watched Love Actually, and even though it was the 40th time I had seen that movie it was magical.

Wednesday (May 1st) was a holiday! Uh oh. Holidays in Germany mean NOTHING is open. Sigh... another day without groceries. On May day I decided to walk around the Neuenheim area. I found a couple of parks and beautiful houses that I didn't previously know existed! I then made my way into town and found a festival in Marktsquare! The same place that I was previously given free and delicious pretzals- I am beginning to like the square more and more :) The festival has a live band and a lot of tents, but I decided to go sit at a cafe with G and order hot chocolate outside. It was delicious! On this day I rediscovered my love of the town that I call home. Every tree was in bloom, there were colorful flowers everywhere, and the sun was shining. Heidelberg: you are fantastic! Walking along the river, listening to the sounds of birds, kayaks, children playing, and bikers changing gears will always be in my mind as Heidelberg memory triggers. This is a beautiful place- and I still cannot believe I call it home!

Thursdays are repeats of Tuesdays- all day in lab, and no desire to go anywhere but into bed after a full day on your feet!

FRIDAY! I woke up and was ready to face the day! I had ABSOLUTELY nothing to get done today except... GROCERIES! Woohoo! I even had decided to try the German way- to go to a bakery, fruit stand, vegetable stand, and cheese truck instead of my local Rewe. Newsflash: never go grocery shopping when you are in a good mood in Germany. All of my hopes for the wonderful day were shattered by the stressful fast paced environment of the grocery shopping experience. Fast talking cashiers. Not understanding of those who take a long time to make decisions. Having to throw (LITERALLY THROW) everything into your bag as fast as humanly possible. Being given annoyed and strange looks when they realize you are slow to understand their rapid German. And above all- it was more expensive than if I had just done my usual one stop shopping trip. In general, I have found adjusting to life in Heidelberg very easy and pleasant. The only German part of life (OK that is far from true... the only MAJOR German part of life) that I am still struggling with is grocery shopping. Oh well- maybe next time it will work out better!

I WENT TO GREECE! Part 1

Sorry in advance for the length of this post- but come on! I was in Greece for a week!

SPRING BREAK WOOHOO! Early (5:55am!) on Saturday March 30th I got on a bus to the Hauptbahnhof, a train to Mannheim, a train to Frankfurt Flughafen, to a flugzeug all the way to Athens. PHEW! I arrived in Athens at 1:30pm local time (12:30pm my time) and was surprisingly awake. Maybe it was the plane breakfast that helped energize me? Well from there I got on another piece of public transportation- a one hour subway ride into the center of Athens proper. After being impressed with myself for figuring out the correct subway stop, I then used my EXCELLENT sense of direction to get to my hotel. The fact that this morning went off without a hitch was a small miracle, and a huge confidence boost that my travel senses were beginning to become trustworthy. Second hump to get over: I am in a foreign city alone for the first time! Not only did I just travel thousands of miles alone, but I also have no one to go sightseeing with me until my sister and J got there later that evening.
What I learned: traveling alone is actually quite fun! I was able to let my mind go blank and not feel rushed, pressure to enjoy myself, or have any set plan for the afternoon. It was thrilling walking around without a purpose- only to see everything that I possibly could! Rather than hitting the big touristy sites that I knew I would see with my family, I decided to go into my first Greek Orthodox church, stumbled upon some great views of the Parthenon up in residential hills, and found a hidden creek complete with it's own church tucked away from the bustling city.

Restaurant Stairs- a cute outdoor seating environment

Hadrian's arch- same guy who made a wall in Northern England!

Zeus' Temple

Theater on the way to the Parthenon

D+J and the Erectheon!

THE PARTHENON!

View of Athens and the Temple of Dionysus

Acropolis- Temple of Hephaestus

After Athens, we all piled into a rented Toyota Prius and drove North to Meteora. The drive along the Greek countryside might have been the prettiest drive I have ever been on. Lush mountains with blue sky and puffy white clouds- it was honestly breath taking. But not quite as breathtaking as Meteora. This site was definitely my favorite place in Greece that we visited- it differed from many of the other sites in its natural wonder, rather than historical and architectural amazement. Meteora is filled with Hoodoos (a pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, weathered by erosion -Dictionary.com). A top these already magnificent rock formations are Byzantine Monasteries still being used today.

Not only were there Hoodoos- but also gorgeous mountain ranges

Kalambaka with the Hoodoo backdrop

Sunset

Varlaam Monastery

In the monasteries all women had to wear modest, provided skirts

Agios Stephanos Nunnery