Today we took the two hour ride to Delphi, I know I told you that was later but the Greek schedule is a little more that "lenient."
But to recap on last night: we watched the soccer game (futbol) Greece v. Germany - it is such an awesome feeling to be among the locals. When they cheer you can feel the pride that they have for their country. I know it is like this in all places with major sports teams but I am an emotional person and being in the atmosphere I feel like I'm one of them because I am in their country, at their cafe watching them score a goal. wooo! But Greece didn't win.
Before that we visited the campus - it is so pretty! There are a lot of hills, so with all the stairs we climb here and hills and not to mention just the walk to campus -yep I'll either maintain my weight while here ( because I am a lover of food) or lose some! On that note I swam laps which is outside by the way so I am glad I brought my two piece speedo so I can get more tan! But anyway it was great and I forgot to mention that Michael Phelps trained in this pool for the Summer Olympics 2004!
SO we went to Delphi and visited the Temple of Athena and then climbed to mountain to the top of Delphi. Somewhere in there we talked to the Oracle about life's discoveries, well some of my classmates did for fun. But then abruptly the guard lady sitting in a booth on the next platform of rocks above (sorry ancient rocks,) whistled loudly and yelled at them to stop their "play, theatrical act" as if their "pretending" was mocking the ancient times.
In a way I can see where she was coming from but also it could be just a superstition. Reenacting the sacred times isn't going to hurt anything but maybe because she thought they were doing it wrong, in a joking way, she had to intervene. In America I feel like we wouldn't care about something like this from tourist unless something was being vandalized. Here the site is more than just history, it's their heritage and something they are proud of and believe in, so respect should follow.
"You gotta know the rooster."
So we then attempted to visit the museum on site, we were told by George our college headmaster that students get in free. But when the lady at the entrance we just so happen to go through had no idea what the American College of Greece even was, she wouldn't let us in. Even when our professor told her what was expected. It's funny because our other professor got in just fine with other students. It's all about who you know or the right person at that time.
In Greek culture there is a story when eggs are sold at the market and someone asks, "How do you know if these eggs are good?" the typical scape goat answer from the Greek is, "You gotta know the rooster." Doesn't really have an answer. So in this case you gotta know the right person - the lady at the door wasn't the right person.
We got in for half price.
We then had lunch in the little ski town which was quaint and quite. Can't get enough of the Greek salad and tzatziki sauce.
Our last stop of the day was to the Holy Monastery of Osiou Louka. Wow was it beautiful, surrounded by absolutely nothing but the peaceful mountainous countryside.
When I entered the Virgin Mary Church which seemed to be the main chapel, I suddenly got "heavy boots" something heavy in my heart, I don't know why exactly, it was unexpected. This quotation is from one of my favorite books "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" which is now a movie (and it is actually good like the book which is rare) but he says he has heavy boots, a heavy heart and he doesn't know why either. It is a little boy genius who is autistic and has an answer for everything.
Anyway. Maybe this feeling came from capturing all the events in my life at that moment and the self realization of how far I have come and the feeling of not knowing what is next. A feeling of nostalgia for some reason, the fear of change. I was brought back to my faith and was reminded of my time spent in the Monastery of Taize, France where I learned how the monks live. Self discovery is supposed to happen on these kinds of trips right?
I lit my candles like my mom and I always have and went out to take in very drop of the serenity.
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