Our first week in Athens was a blast! I arrived on Tuesday 3/26, unpacked, and attended the fun welcome dinner that night. The dinner was delicious and it was really great to meet everyone on the trip. The following day we visited the Acropolis, which was such an incredible experience. I had already been to the Acropolis about two years ago and thought it was magnificent, but this second visit was even more fun since I got to learn so much about its history and importance. There is too much to share in one short blog post, but some highlights include that the monuments are diachronic, the main cult center was the Erectheon, not the Parthenon, and the Parthenon was actually substantially damaged in 1687 by a cannonball. Additionally, Alex wanted us to think about three main themes on our visit, namely identity, memory, and empire. I want to briefly touch on those ideas in this blog post. The Acropolis was a key societal area for ancient Athenians and appears to have played, and continues to play, a role in the Athenian identity. Furthermore, many aspects of the Acropolis such as the Parthenon were a demonstration of the wealth and power of Athens. Accordingly, the Acropolis demonstrates how great the Athenian empire was and still is. The Acropolis and its monuments allow Athens’ rich history to live on in the memories of students, citizens, and tourists alike. It is such a cool place to visit. I learned so much at the Acropolis and am really grateful for the opportunity to do so. Finally, another fun piece of information that I learned is that one of the theaters in the Acropolis is actually still in use! I definitely plan to try and see something at one of the theaters because it is truly beautiful. See the below picture for a decent photo I took of that theater as well as some other nice photos.
Thursday was also very fun. I started the day off with my first CYA class, Digital Archaeology. The professor is a friend of Alex’s and the class should be super interesting! We then had a class with Alex and finished up the day with our Survival Greek class. It was an early night for me on Thursday since we had an 8:00 am bus departure to head for the Mazi Plain on Friday.
While on our trip to the Mazi Plain we stopped at Oinoe, Eleutherai, and Agiosthena. All three of those places contained military forts and we spent a good amount of time at each. As someone who has never had a particular interest in wars and/or the military, this was a really cool opportunity to learn about some Greek forts of the past. One main question I had going into the visit to the Mazi Plain was why were there so many military forts in the area. While there, I learned that there were forts in Oinoe, Eleutherai, and Agiosthena due to their strategic locations. The Mazi Plain itself is a common way to cross to get to Peloponnese and the fort at Agiosthena controlled an important port in the Corinthian Gulf. I was also especially struck by how easy it was to find pottery sherds and tiles at Oinoe. It seemed like just about everyone picked up something interesting that led to a quick lesson from Alex! While in Eleutherai we had to do a bit of hiking and traversal which was pretty fun, and we learned about the different arguments pertaining to who built the fort. From everything we heard, it seems like it was the Boitians who built it. Then, after visiting the town of Eleutherai, we stopped in Villia for a delicious lunch and finished up the day at Aigosthena. Everywhere we visited was beautiful, but the view from Agiosthena was particularly incredible. While at the fort we got to learn about the restoration efforts taking place there after an earthquake in 1981 destroyed much of the well-preserved buildings and walls. We actually got to learn about the restorations from the person leading the efforts herself, which was a very special experience. We were a bit pressed for time at Aigosthena so we did not get to spend as much time there as we wanted, but after a long day in the Greece sun and a lot of fun, I was ready to head home. It was awesome visiting and learning about a place that I never would have if I was not on this OCS! See the photos below for a picture from each of the forts.
After a big first week in Athens, the weekend itself has been very restful. I have had a lot of fun exploring the city and getting situated here. I have especially enjoyed the delicious Greek food that I have had for every meal. See the below photo for a great picture of some gyros that I had! It was a great first week and I am really looking forward to all that is to come!
