My Latest Exploits

Let me give you a rough synopsis of Greece. I spent 2 days in Athens, 5 days on a small and beautiful island called Santorini, and then another 2 days in Greece. The weather was very nice, even though it was starting to get into their "winter time." It wasn't hot, and the tourist season was on the decline for the year, making it a very enjoyable time on the island.

Athens was great. I loved the ruins and the history around it, particulary the museums I was able to frequent. The plaka, which was a busy district full of food, shopping, and tourist stands was always interesting to walk around, though it wasn't really representative of the rest of the city. Of course, the Acropolis and all of its ancient remains were quite amazing to look at. After seeing decaying Israelite ruins the whole semester, it was a nice break to see some pretty well-preserved Greek ruins.

Santorini is one of those picturesque small Greek islands with the white villages. Though it was a very tourist island, it had a small or almost personal feel to it. I suppose if the Midwest were a Greek island, it would be Santorini. It was also very beautiful, with the sea and its beaches of black and red sand. We were able to rent 4-wheelers and go explore the island one day. Also, we met a couple from Orange County who we affectionately called the T's and another lady from Australia on the island. We had a good time getting to know them and hanging out.

Here are some pictures from my latest exploits.

The Acropolis in all its glory.

After 2300 years, they are still not finished building the Parthenon, as you can clearly see from the scaffolding.

Me standing atop Mars Hill.

One of the great views on Santorini.

The black beach.

I have no idea what this place was supposed to be, but it was cool.

The village of Ia on the northern point of Santorini.

The sunset from Ia.

Sharing a communal dinner with our new friends.

I had a complicated relationship with the pigeons of Athens.

I'm Not Dead

No, I'm just back from Greece. It was a delightful trip: all in all it was pretty relaxing and somewhat low key. Not too many exciting stories. I'll fill you in later, but I'm tired from the past 10 days. I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive and in relatively good condition.

Greeced Lightning

I'm going to Greece today. Well, actually, tonight. Actually, if you want to be technical, I'm leaving tomorrow morning. Its that late night/early morning crossover. I'm leaving here at 2:00 AM to go to Tel Aviv so I can fly out at 6:00 AM. It should be fun, except for the fact that I'm sick right now. I'm not sure what it is, either a bad cold or a touch of the flu. I'm doing better than I was yesterday, but I'm still not great. I'll probably hang out at the hostel until I feel better.

See you all in about 10 days (something like that). I'll probably look something like this after I get back from Greece:

I'm Back

I got back from our long trip to Galilee late yesterday afternoon. It was a great time exploring northern Israel and spending some time around the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to expound upon it right now. This is a pretty busy week for me. I've got some tests and quizzes to prep for later this week, and I'm starting to get some work done on a hefty paper due at the fast-approaching end of the semester. And on top of all that, I'm leaving for Greece in a week on Saturday. If I'm not careful, things might start getting hairy in the next month.

Going To Galilee

Tomorrow, we're going north to Galilee and won't be back for over a week. Don't think that anything bad has happened when I don't post for a week.

By the way, happy Reformation Day.

Eating Kosher

"The milk came out of the meat, so why can't we mix it?"

- Cesar Peynetti on adhering to the Jewish kosher laws.

My Lesson In Archaeology

Our past two days were spent hanging out at an archaeological dig, helping out with the excavations and doing some of the work. I must say, I was extremely disappointed. We didn't get to fight any Nazis for ancient artifacts , there were no times of high adventure, and we didn't travel around to any exotic locations.

Instead, we went to parts of Old Jerusalem and assisted with the digging. Yesterday, we sifted through dirt and large piles of materials looking for pieces of interest. Mostly, we just found pieces of old pottery and ancient building materials, though pieces of mosaic stones and Byzantine-era stained glass were pretty common as well. Today, we went to an excavation at Hezekiah's Tunnel. It was a bit more tedious and even less exciting. Pretty much all we did was line up into a bucket brigade and pass sacks of soils and rocks from the excavation site to a truck bed outside.

So if anyone ever tells you that archaeology is an exciting field to work in, I suggest you look at them somewhat cynically. It may very well be interesting, but exciting is not a correct description. Maybe if there was more action, or even some faces being melted by the Ark, it would be more exciting. I love the Indiana Jones films, but beware: they are not accurate representations of real archaeology.