Dear Global Parents,
Following an intermittently rainy week in Switzerland, the Global
cohort was quite ready to trade fondue for fried calamari and Lake Geneva for the Aegean Sea. Therefore, on August 31st, we were all happy to pack up all 44 pounds of our possessions and abandon the rugged mountains of Geneva for the rolling hills of Greece.
After posing for posterity pictures in front of the John Knox Center, we boarded an Olympic Airlines jet. With the aid of ipods and paperback novels, we were seemingly whisked in no time to Greece's rocky coast. As we descended down the plane's tinny metal stairs and firmly stood on Greek soil for the first time, waves of heat hit our sweater-clad bodies full-force. Wrinkled tank-tops and shorts were to be dug out of suitcases and hastily thrown on upon arrival at the Phillopos Hotel several hours later.
Everything in Greece is blue, from the sky to the mountains to the
incredibly clear (and salty) Aegean sea. The cerulean sunlight is blinding, even when shrouded by the layers of smog and pollution that hovers above the Athenian cityscape. Our first night in Greece, the sun's glare had already begun to taper as we strolled from the hotel to a local taverna. Glancing upwards to admire a Grecian sunset, we were all astonished to see the gleaming white silhouette of the Acropolis, looming high above the city on its cliffside perch. Our hotel, which was only two or so blocks away, also had a wonderful view of the country's most famed archeological site.
The next morning, we were scheduled to climb the bluff and see the Temples of Athena and Nike up-close and personal. Until then, we were content to admire its facade while catching up on last-minute Theology reading on our outdoor balconies.
The week quickly became a whirlwind of fluted marble columns, museums, bus rides, and the occasional white sandy beach. Our first full day in Athens consisted of examining the Acropolis ruins with our
ever-so-knowledgeable tour guide, Gabriella. The rest of the afternoon was spent learning about the Greek kouros (Definition: A nude marble statue of a physically fit male youth) at the Archeological Museum. Other visual highlights of the museum were the supposed funeral mask of the Mycenean King Agamemnon and a large bronze statue of Poseidon that was found in a shipwreck several decades ago.
Our second full day in Greece, beginning with a Greek Orthodox worship ceremony and ending with a trip to the beach, proved to us that the Greek sun was warm and the people were warmer. We arrived slightly tardily to the ceremony, and sheepishly sat down in our reserved front row section to observe the ongoing ceremony. After witnessing a sing-song reading of the Gospel, the receiving of the Eucharist, and myriad other question-provoking rituals, we were received by the church's officials with a brunch and Q & A session. The hospitality of the Orthodox Church was immeasurable. After feeding us until we could eat no more (Greeks love to offer second and third helpings), the mayor of Heliopolis welcomed us with presents of ancient Greek coin replicas. The Church also gave us each Orthodox worship CDs and books detailing the mission work of St. Paul. As we departed, we all received iron hugs and cheek-kisses from the Church's elderly Greek women. We all missed our grandmothers a little less afterwards.
Stuffed and slightly sleepy from our early morning wake-up calls, we
napped on the bus to the coastal Temple of Poseidon. The temple's ruined
columns stand on a bluff rising far over the Aegean Sea, its marble pillars a stark white against the turquoise water. After taking many pictures, we went for a rejuvenating swim at a nearby beach, wincing afterwards from the water's high salt content.
Despite our thorough exploration of Greek's main land, the group
nevertheless wished to see the sun-dappled villages and beaches of the
country's islands. One such island, Aegina, was only two hours away by
ferry. A day trip was taken to explore the island's coastal towns, swim
off its shores, and explore an ancient temple dedicated to one of Zeus's
nymph daughters.
One of the most recognizable images of Greeks is perhaps Delphi, the
excavated religious center of Greece. Following a meandering bus ride
through mountain passes, we toured Delphi the next day and learned of the oracle rituals of ancient Greece. Priestesses of Apollo once sat in an underground room and breathed gaseous fumes through a crevice in the earth. They would then go into prophetic ecstasy, as their shrieks or mumbles would be readily recorded by a nearby scribe and handed to awaiting inquirers.
Napuhilon, a tiny town near the ruins of Corinth, was the site of a
cozy overnight. The small stretch of village spread throughout a mountain bluff, allowing for leisurely night walks with stunning views before our full day at Corinth the next day.
Corinth was the last site of Global's Greek adventure. Once a large commercial metropolis, the ruins of Corinth are ironically small by today's city standards. An on-site museum showed us remnants of the
city's splendor, including large-scale mosaics, marble statues, and a
burial tomb. Following our tour of the museum, we walked through Corinth
and wondered how such a famed city had once become lost, both visually and mentally, under years of sediment accumulation and forgetfulness. Would Minneapolis, New York, or Washington D.C share a similar fate in the next thousand years? The transience of civilization had never seemed so palpable.
That night, our last Greek dinner was made memorable by traditional Greek circle dancing. After much urging, several male group members rose from their seats and engaged in imitating the restaurant owner's leaps, shoe slaps, and twirls. While these three may believe that “What happens in Greece stays in Greece,” various group members captured the exotic moves via digital media. Thus, Minnesota will soon possess documented evidence that proves Paul, Wrick and Thomas to be surprisingly agile dancers ?
We departed from Greece the very next day, taking time before our
departure to hastily finish last minute assignments, haggle with jewelry
vendors at the Plaka outdoor market, and repack already crammed suitcases. Tanned and rejuvenated from Greek sea air, we were ready to trade in the crumbling monuments of Greece for the stone pyramids of Egypt.
As this email is written from an internet café in Cairo, I am
eavesdropping on various groups of classmates scattered throughout the
room. While dining, they converse about their days, their lives back home, and life in general. I enjoy listening to them, getting to know each other, watching new friendships forming only three weeks into our five-month program. We're all making Cairo our home. Luckily for us, we'll have the chance to make four more countries our homes as well.
Sincerely,
Kirstin Fawcett (along with Calista Anderson, Sarah Dorman, Siri "Linnea" Peterson, and Beth Linn)
Following an intermittently rainy week in Switzerland, the Global
cohort was quite ready to trade fondue for fried calamari and Lake Geneva for the Aegean Sea. Therefore, on August 31st, we were all happy to pack up all 44 pounds of our possessions and abandon the rugged mountains of Geneva for the rolling hills of Greece.
After posing for posterity pictures in front of the John Knox Center, we boarded an Olympic Airlines jet. With the aid of ipods and paperback novels, we were seemingly whisked in no time to Greece's rocky coast. As we descended down the plane's tinny metal stairs and firmly stood on Greek soil for the first time, waves of heat hit our sweater-clad bodies full-force. Wrinkled tank-tops and shorts were to be dug out of suitcases and hastily thrown on upon arrival at the Phillopos Hotel several hours later.
Everything in Greece is blue, from the sky to the mountains to the
incredibly clear (and salty) Aegean sea. The cerulean sunlight is blinding, even when shrouded by the layers of smog and pollution that hovers above the Athenian cityscape. Our first night in Greece, the sun's glare had already begun to taper as we strolled from the hotel to a local taverna. Glancing upwards to admire a Grecian sunset, we were all astonished to see the gleaming white silhouette of the Acropolis, looming high above the city on its cliffside perch. Our hotel, which was only two or so blocks away, also had a wonderful view of the country's most famed archeological site.
The next morning, we were scheduled to climb the bluff and see the Temples of Athena and Nike up-close and personal. Until then, we were content to admire its facade while catching up on last-minute Theology reading on our outdoor balconies.
The week quickly became a whirlwind of fluted marble columns, museums, bus rides, and the occasional white sandy beach. Our first full day in Athens consisted of examining the Acropolis ruins with our
ever-so-knowledgeable tour guide, Gabriella. The rest of the afternoon was spent learning about the Greek kouros (Definition: A nude marble statue of a physically fit male youth) at the Archeological Museum. Other visual highlights of the museum were the supposed funeral mask of the Mycenean King Agamemnon and a large bronze statue of Poseidon that was found in a shipwreck several decades ago.
Our second full day in Greece, beginning with a Greek Orthodox worship ceremony and ending with a trip to the beach, proved to us that the Greek sun was warm and the people were warmer. We arrived slightly tardily to the ceremony, and sheepishly sat down in our reserved front row section to observe the ongoing ceremony. After witnessing a sing-song reading of the Gospel, the receiving of the Eucharist, and myriad other question-provoking rituals, we were received by the church's officials with a brunch and Q & A session. The hospitality of the Orthodox Church was immeasurable. After feeding us until we could eat no more (Greeks love to offer second and third helpings), the mayor of Heliopolis welcomed us with presents of ancient Greek coin replicas. The Church also gave us each Orthodox worship CDs and books detailing the mission work of St. Paul. As we departed, we all received iron hugs and cheek-kisses from the Church's elderly Greek women. We all missed our grandmothers a little less afterwards.
Stuffed and slightly sleepy from our early morning wake-up calls, we
napped on the bus to the coastal Temple of Poseidon. The temple's ruined
columns stand on a bluff rising far over the Aegean Sea, its marble pillars a stark white against the turquoise water. After taking many pictures, we went for a rejuvenating swim at a nearby beach, wincing afterwards from the water's high salt content.
Despite our thorough exploration of Greek's main land, the group
nevertheless wished to see the sun-dappled villages and beaches of the
country's islands. One such island, Aegina, was only two hours away by
ferry. A day trip was taken to explore the island's coastal towns, swim
off its shores, and explore an ancient temple dedicated to one of Zeus's
nymph daughters.
One of the most recognizable images of Greeks is perhaps Delphi, the
excavated religious center of Greece. Following a meandering bus ride
through mountain passes, we toured Delphi the next day and learned of the oracle rituals of ancient Greece. Priestesses of Apollo once sat in an underground room and breathed gaseous fumes through a crevice in the earth. They would then go into prophetic ecstasy, as their shrieks or mumbles would be readily recorded by a nearby scribe and handed to awaiting inquirers.
Napuhilon, a tiny town near the ruins of Corinth, was the site of a
cozy overnight. The small stretch of village spread throughout a mountain bluff, allowing for leisurely night walks with stunning views before our full day at Corinth the next day.
Corinth was the last site of Global's Greek adventure. Once a large commercial metropolis, the ruins of Corinth are ironically small by today's city standards. An on-site museum showed us remnants of the
city's splendor, including large-scale mosaics, marble statues, and a
burial tomb. Following our tour of the museum, we walked through Corinth
and wondered how such a famed city had once become lost, both visually and mentally, under years of sediment accumulation and forgetfulness. Would Minneapolis, New York, or Washington D.C share a similar fate in the next thousand years? The transience of civilization had never seemed so palpable.
That night, our last Greek dinner was made memorable by traditional Greek circle dancing. After much urging, several male group members rose from their seats and engaged in imitating the restaurant owner's leaps, shoe slaps, and twirls. While these three may believe that “What happens in Greece stays in Greece,” various group members captured the exotic moves via digital media. Thus, Minnesota will soon possess documented evidence that proves Paul, Wrick and Thomas to be surprisingly agile dancers ?
We departed from Greece the very next day, taking time before our
departure to hastily finish last minute assignments, haggle with jewelry
vendors at the Plaka outdoor market, and repack already crammed suitcases. Tanned and rejuvenated from Greek sea air, we were ready to trade in the crumbling monuments of Greece for the stone pyramids of Egypt.
As this email is written from an internet café in Cairo, I am
eavesdropping on various groups of classmates scattered throughout the
room. While dining, they converse about their days, their lives back home, and life in general. I enjoy listening to them, getting to know each other, watching new friendships forming only three weeks into our five-month program. We're all making Cairo our home. Luckily for us, we'll have the chance to make four more countries our homes as well.
Sincerely,
Kirstin Fawcett (along with Calista Anderson, Sarah Dorman, Siri "Linnea" Peterson, and Beth Linn)