Week Three - It's History.

Okay, I've said it before and I will yet again. I am a total nerd. A total history nerd, in fact.

Given that, where better to be than in Greece? Ancient Greeks, the Macedonians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Armenians. Oh Thessaloniki, you do not disappoint!

This weekend, ACT (the college) snagged us a free, guided trip to the Thessaloniki Archeological Museum which houses all the regional artifacts from as early as 1500 BC (don't quote exactly on that one) to about 300-400 AD when Christianity started to spread through the region in a big way.

The collection houses items that cover a wide array of Greek lives during this period. These include:





All kinds of ceramics including these receptacles that were used for burials...









These various cosmetic items (a bit shy of Mary Kay sophistication)...















This marble slab, though resembling a tombstone, is actually the deed to a house. Others displayed announced slave ownership and the free of slaves, as well as announcements of new laws, etc. Though the Greeks have used the same alphabet from ancient times to the present, the ancient Greeks apparently didn't believe in using spaces between words or any forms of punctuation. MAKESITALITTLEHARDER
FORTHEMTOFIGURE
OUTWHATTHEPURPOSEOF
THESTONEISIWOULDGUESS










Numerous statues of goddesses, gods, emperors, nobility. This one is a now-head-and-arm-less statue of Aphrodite - thus the wet toga contest winning garb...












Tile mosaics like this one that used to grace a dining room floor. The biggest of any of these pieces is about the size of a thumbnail.






And shiny things.
Bronze, silver and gold jewelry and adornments, like this super, super intricate gold foil wreath
used in burying royalty. Can you imagine what a piece of work like this would cost you at Kay's Jeweler's these days?


A Note on Preservation in Thessaloniki: This city has been an important one for succeeding empires in this region for thousands of years. Each of the ones I listed above had their hands on Thessaloniki for extended periods and left their marks. BUT, each successive had a tendency to destroy the previous one's landmarks and other such artifacts that would be materially important. Additionally, up until the mid-1900s, the Greek government was fairly quick to give away building permits without regard to the historical relevance of the site. This of course, caused the loss of an unknowable amount of artifacts and landmarks. C'est la vie.

One thing the Greeks have preserved from their ancient past and molded into their Christianized calendar, is the period before Lent know in many parts of the world as Carnival. The three weeks prior to lent are cause to give in to excesses in celebration before the somber, restrictive season of lent. Without giving in to too much excess ourselves, we did go to a Carnival celebration this week in Thessaloniki. These last few "photos of the week" are of the dancers and bands that performed....

Week Two - 10 Adjustments to Living the Greek Life

10. The earliest schedule class at school is 11am while "night life" activities last until 4 and 5 am. Apparently. I have an easy enough time "coping" with the late morning start piece of this, but have still only managed to stay out until about 2am. (I blame it all on the jet lag...right?)

9. Our college is at the cutting edge of technology with its wireless internet connection. Our studio has two jacks for the LAN connection, but only one of them works - the network couldn't handle it if we both plugged in.

8. Dinner time is not until 9 or so. I know this sounds like a regular meal time for our family vacations, but our late night meals don't usually last until midnight or so like the Greeks' do.

7. Smiling at strangers who you pass on the street, meet eyes with at a restaurant, or who tries to converse with you in Greek is not the norm. In fact, doing so to elders may be seen as disrespectful and doing so to peers may be mistaken as an invitation...

6. The equivalent of about 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit is characterized as "polar" and "arctic." Those who brave the insufferable "winter" weather do so with knee-length coats, gloves, and heavy scarves. I hope that no Greek ever has to suffer the weather to see polar bears or penguins in their natural habitat - they would have no words to describe the severity of the weather!

5. Despite the current "arctic" weather conditions, the preferred form of caffeine intake for most Greeks is a "frappe" a whipped, iced coffee. Go figure.

4. When you are unable to communicate verbally with someone, you resort to hand gestures, right? An open hand up, palm facing away from you indicates anything from stop to no, thank you to enough to I'm not interested or even asking for a high five - depending on the context. In Greece, this gesture, while moving your hand forward is a grave insult. Try silently ordering food without lifting your hand - I dare you!

3. Smoking is everywhere. Despite a current ban on smoking in taxis and an upcoming ban on smoking in all public places (set for June or July this year) - Greeks show no signs of discontinuing this practice. This may not be so weird for many of you, but after living in Boston for a few years, it's all Greek to me :)

2. This is a bigger city with less homeless people than Boston. They must've got something right. On this vein, restaurant owners openly allow some less fortunate people to walk into their establishments to sell flowers, cds, or play a bit of music for spare change.

1. Different alphabet where H, n, Y and u all make "i" sounds and v sounds like "n."

0. Don't flush your toilet paper. Apparently the pipe systems are too narrow to handle this.

(Okay - so it turned out to be 11 adjustments to live the Greek life. Whoops!)

Photos of the week:

Valentines Treats!
































Umbrella sculpture by the water front. No, I don't know why.

















Sunday Stroll.












PS - Charlie, I know what you're thinking - Where are the FOOD pictures?! I'm working on it, I promise. Only problem is that anytime we eat out, the food looks and smells sooooo good that no matter my resolutions before hand to be sure to take pictures of it, I'm always elbow deep in tzatziki and before I even think about pictures! I still have a few months to get better at this, though! :)

Week One - Are we there yet? (9/2/2009)

Between having a journal requirement for Northeastern, everyone's urge to know the details of the trip, and Sarah's suggestion to start a blog, I decided to do just that.

If you've been waiting on the edge of your seat to wondrous details of strange lands far away, I'm sorry to disappoint. There's not much to tell at this point. Mostly just waiting...

Waiting on and for planes (9 hour layover in Frankfurt has been the worst of this trip so far)...

Waiting for information overload at orientation to be done so that I could go back to sleep (jet lag. JET LAG.)

Waiting to break away from this group of 80+ Americans so that we'll blend in some more...

Waiting for classes to start so that we'll make some friends who know the area better. Waiting for classes to start so that I know what to expect....

Waiting for it to hit me that I'm in Greece. In Greece for four months. I still haven't absorbed this.

Best photos from week one:
The view from Thessaloniki's old castle walls. The "castle" was originally built as a sort of military post for the protection of the city. Now it's a beautiful spot to sit and take in the city. Because the castle is hundreds of years old, the walls show the wear of the years.
















This is the "White Tower" - creative, right? Apparently this was used as a site for capitol punishment when Thessaloniki (and the rest of Greece) was part of the Ottoman Empire. I guess the tower was so stained with blood they decided to paint it white to cover that up. Gives you a nice warm, fuzzy feeling, right?



A sunset view of the "beach" road. This road lines the waters of the Thermaic Gulf, which is technically the body of water the city touches. The Gulf leads out to the Aegean, and then that to the Mediterranean. A common place to meet and spend some leisure time - you can see why.







This is in the town of Vergina. We took a 1/2 day trip to this small, quaint village because it just so happens to be the place where Alexander the Great's father and son are buried. Lots of really cool artifacts and ruins - all in an underground museum in a random hill in the middle of the town. Apparently the hill was originally created to cover the tombs, and they wanted to leave the ruins underground when they made it into a public museum.