Comme Ci, Comme Ca

Picture: Greeks walking up the street on O'hi Day.

I'm learning some interesting things in the past few days. Here are some of the highlights.

1. Amazigh is the language of the Berbers in Morocco. I'm waiting for the 'amazing' jokes to start.

2. "Comme Ci, Comme Ca" is a fun song performed by Cyprus singer Evridiki for Eurovision '07. Even though it's a fun song, it only ranked 15th in the semi-finals and didn't go on.

3. There are only two mosques in Morocco that non-Muslims may visit.

4. Eduardo Mendoza is one of the best modern Spanish novelists.

5. Greeks don't celebrate Halloween.

6. Edith Hamilton does not know everything about Greek mythology.

Midterms

So my midterms are finished, finally, but not without some hard work on my part. I guess that's what midterms are supposed to be. My main paper is now written in rough draft form, very rough. Today I'm editing it heavily, and tomorrow Prof is going to give me some good feedback on the paper. During my presentation of my midterm paper my classmates gave me some good ideas about how to make it better. I had a picture to upload for this post, but the site keeps giving me an error message. So no picture for you!

Today is October 28th, a holiday in Greece. "O'hi" Day, or "No" Day. It celebrates the Greek government's decision to not let Mussolini's forces just waltz in and take over strategic military points. The Greek dictator apparently just said "O'hi" and walked out. There were military men and women lined up at the large church in town when I walked by. I'm not sure what they were doing, and it didn't look like a time to just stand and watch.

So more hard work today! :)

Adventures in Scotland

Picture: Me and my parents overlooking Edinburgh
For Fall Break my parents, my aunt, and I went on a tour of Scotland. It was so cold! I LOVED IT! Even in late October it's still warm in Volos. The others got three nights in London. I only got one because of my school schedule [don't I just loved being ruled by class times?]. But we made good use of the afternoon, night, and next morning. We went to the British Museum [one of my life goals] and saw all sorts of really cool things. I picked up some nice pamphlets about the sculptures from the Parthenon that the British Museum houses. My Professor looked at it the other day and gave it back to me as he laughed. That night we went to see "Chicago", which is a musical I love. Mom and Dad didn't want to go see "Spamalot". I wonder why... Oh, well. I'm going to London in about a year and a half when I graduate anyway. It will probably still be running. "Chicago" was INCREDIBLE. I've never seen the caliber of acting/singing/dancing all at the same time. Well, at least from most of the cast. Kelly Osborn brought the show down a little bit, but luckily she played Mama Morton, so she was only a supporting character. Even Dad liked the show although he said he thought it was a musical review of the band Chicago. :) The next morning Mom and I went to the Victoria and Edward museum. In the afternoon we took the train to Edinburgh. On Sunday Mom, Dad, and I attended a service at St. Giles' Cathedral [not really a Cathedral, but it's really BIG]. The organ is very impressive.
The tour itself was really fun. We saw all sorts of cool things like the ruins of St. Andrews and St. Andrews Golf Course [which golf was invented or something], castles, sheep, Highland cows, men in kilts, took a boat ride on Loch Lamond, searched Loch Ness for Nessie, helped shear a sheep, cuddled a 10-day old puppy [see picture], went to a whiskey distillery, drank some locally brewed ales, tasted really good fish and chips, had lunch on the Isle of Skye, saw a Boarders inside a Grecian temple, did some sketching inside Glasgow Cathedral [and I wasn't the only one!!], heard a Gaelic a capella group, sent some postcards, and most importantly got to spend time with my parents and my aunt. I also bought peanut butter [thank God]. It's a lot easier to spend money in a country where you can read the labels of food.

Skiathos

We went to Skiathos on October 4th. We went by water plane which was interesting. The island was beautiful. Just beautiful. I couldn't take a bad picture. It was very relaxing. I'm just going to show you some pictures because no words can describe how pretty the island is.

Thessaloniki II

Picture: Me in St. James' crypt
Ok, on to Thessaloniki. We spent the first full day [Oct 2] walking around the old city. We saw a whole lot. We went to Agios Demetrios [St. James Church] which was built above the Roman baths where James was tortured and killed. Then we went to some Turkish baths which were a lot like the Roman baths. Then we went to Agia Sofia, the main church of the old city. Then we saw all the ruins left by the Emperor Galerius. The arch, the palace, the Rotunda of St. George, etc. Then to the Archaeological Museum and then the Museum of Byzantine Culture. The second day was less stressful. Everything we wanted to go see was closed, so some of us went shopping! It's not how we were supposed to spend the day, but I had a great time in the Greek culture.

Thessaloniki

Picture: Kyle and Hilary contemplating Dion

My group went to Thessaloniki on October 1st. It seems like a long time ago. First we went to the sites of Dion and Vergina [pronounced Ver-ee-na]. Dion is a famous Hellenistic city that is in the shadow of Mt. Olympus. Both Phillip II and Alexander the Great held great festivals at Dion to praise the gods for the great military victories they had. Dion is the first city to be built on a grid system with a central road down the middle of the town. The layout of the town is fairly well preserved along with some floor mosaics. Vergina is the final resting place of King Phillip II. No pictures were allowed in side the museum/site. I loved the fact that the tombs were surrounded by the museum. It was incredible. Phillip was cremated, so it wasn't even built to house his body. Just his urn. Alexander IV also has a tomb there. He's Alexander the Great's son. I was fairly impressed.

Honestly

Honestly, I have had internet almost all day today; but I am so tired from traveling that I decided not to update. There's just so much stuff that I haven't been able to update. I slept from about 8:30 last night to 10 am this morning. Luckily, I didn't have any classes today because our professors had to change their flights back. I've done some work on my projects today. Tomorrow our real schedule kicks back into place. It's only 6:40, but I think I'm going to head home.

Rundown

1. There is no internet at my school building. I'm at a bookstore on a time limit.
2. Thessaloniki/Skiathos was great.
3. Got back safely.
4. I am going down to Athens tomorrow night to catch a flight to London Friday morning.
5. I am meeting my parents in London for a vacation.
6. Grandparents and Aunt coming too.
7. We had to move apartments [more details later]
8. No pictutes because I'm on a public computer. Very sorry.
9. Might get internet tomorrow before I leave, but this is doubtful.
10. Schoolwork going well.