Anyways. Greece. Last days. Sadness. Excitement. Walking up a lot of hills.
Class. Putting the study in study abroad. Two weeks goes by a lot faster than you might think (unless you are five years old and waiting for Christmas morning... time slows down then I'm pretty sure) and low and behold, the exam is upon us quicker than I would like to acknowledge. Is it wrong I'm not horribly concerned? I've been to every class, took notes, paid attention during excursions... I'm optimistic. I know my stuff. I've still taken it upon myself to study, but only for an hour or so a day these last couple days before the test. I guess we'll see how the exam goes... (side note: it went fine, I think - we'll see what the grade is though)
Thursday (September 25th) we went on an excursion to Delphi. Big oracle for the Ancient Greeks. Huge temple to Apollon. It wasn't picturesque at all.
Just kidding. It was beautiful. Temple of Apollon at Delphi.
Delphi was such a sacred place for the Ancient Greek people, and it was so surreal to walk around and see all the ruins. They erected these huge buildings so meticulously to ensure perfection, and they such limited building tools compared to today. It blows my mind every time I think about it.
Not only was the oracle of Delphi a cool site to visit, the drive there was amazing. Greek mountains are gorgeous, and apparently there is some good skiing in the winter. Greek and skiing are two things I do not typically associate, so I was surprised to drive through a small village and see ski shops and signs for various ski resorts. Guess I'll have to go back to this area for a ski trip someday...
Speaking of traveling back to Greece, I have to go back someday because of the food. Oh, I could write an entire 500 page ode to the food of Greece. Everything is fresh, there's olive oil on just about everything, and the wine is superb. One of my personal favorites was the tzatziki. For those who have never had tzatziki, it's a dip made from yogurt (Greek yogurt, obviously - "regular" yogurt in Greece is not considered real yogurt) and small chunks of cucumber, with plenty of garlic, and other spices depending on the recipe - cumin, anise, dill, etc. For those who have tzatziki in America, it is roughly 10,000 times better in Greece. The Greek salads are delicious as well - no lettuce; just red onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers in olive oil and spices with a big slab of feta cheese on top. Depending on where you get it, sometimes olives will be included. Olives always have the pit in them, which creates the need for awkwardly spitting the pit out in your hand when no one's looking and placing it on your plate.
And the gyros. My goodness, the gyros. By our apartment in Varnava Square, there is the best gyro place in probably the world. I always got the chicken with everything on it, everything being the meat, tzatziki, red onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and fries. The best part? These gyros were only €2. I had to control myself around these gyros, otherwise I could have honestly eaten them for every meal. There are a couple of boys studying abroad in the same program as me who might have actually eaten there every meal and every snack - I think one averaged 2 gyros a day.
The wine deserves a shout out as well, because it was ubiquitous in Greece. Every restaurant brought out wine for the table, and bottles of decent wine were very inexpensive everywhere you went. To make a long story short, if you consider yourself a "foodie" or a gastronomy expert and need a destination for your next travel expedition, go to Greece. You won't be disappointed.
Anyways, we have a limited time left in Greece. It seems like only yesterday I was landing here, but it also feels like I've been here for five months. Covering an entire four credits in two weeks time was a little hectic - our schedule was packed! It was worth it though. I'm glad I got to see so much of Greece. I'm very excited to travel to Italy, so leaving Greece will be bittersweet!
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