Week 6 – Helen Banta

This week we only had one meeting for Alex’s class, which we spent at the National Archaeology museum looking at vase paintings. This exhibit was closed to the public so it was super exciting to not only get the exhibit to ourselves but to also get to see artifacts we would otherwise have been unable to see. The rest of our week was cut short by Easter break which allowed some of our friends from the Vienna trip to visit! We showed them around some of the highlights of our stay in Athens, including our favorite cafes, gelato shops, bars, souvlaki, the Acropolis, and the Agora. While we are new to Athens it was super fun to get to see how much we have settled into the city. We have places that we frequent and we know our way around a fair amount without relying on google maps nearly as much as we did at the beginning. This transition has been slow but I had not realized how much I had gotten to know the neighborhood I am living in and surrounding ones until someone new to the city was here. 

They seemed to enjoy their trip here and it made me much more appreciative of the beautiful weather that we have been getting here as they compared it to the weather they’ve been experiencing in more northern Europe. I am from San Diego primarily so despite the weather at Carleton I find myself settling into this consistent sunny and 70s weather pretty easily and can forget just how special it is to get to experience this everyday. 

One of my favorite parts of their trip here was getting to take them to the Acropolis. I had been four times before their arrival and as the resident classics major of the group I gave them a little tour of the site from what I remembered in class. I am certainly no expert on the site and I should have probably reviewed my notes from my class trip, but winging it was a super fun experience. It allowed me to see what information I had retained from the previous trips and what I might want to brush up on and look into more. I remembered loads of information about the top of the Acropolis and the theater of Dionysus itself, but I struggled more to discuss the details of the multiple temples of Dionysus and some the medieval churches. Now granted, these are things we have discussed less in classes because when we discuss Dionysus we tend to focus on the theater and I study classics and not much medieval history, but I think it is important that I understand the history of the site since the classical era and not just the classical history. 

This came out with the story about the Nazi flag as well. This story is highly memorable and so it was fun to recount and discuss with my friends, especially Celia who is a German major, and it was interesting to see the way that this grabbed their attention in ways that stories about the iconography on the temples grabbed mine but was not as interesting to them. 

While I think our visit to the Acropolis went exceedingly well and I remembered most of the key information, our visit to the Agora did not go as well. We went on their last day here and had decided to go in the early afternoon but it started raining. We persevered through that and went and started our tour of the Agora, but tragically I did not remember nearly as much about the Agora as I did with the Acropolis. I think this is due to a combination of not discussing it as much in class, the tour being longer ago, and the Acropolis having more highly recognizable buildings. A lot of the Agora is in ruins more than the Acropolis is and so it can be harder for me to tell the buildings apart immediately. Ruby and I were doing our best though and giving it a good faith effort and doing a decent job when supplemented with reading signs, but tragically we forgot that it closed at 3:30pm. We only get to spend about an hour there before we had to leave, but it did make me want to brush up on my notes and go back again. 

We also took them to see our favorite view so far: the sunset behind the Acropolis at the first Olympic stadium. We have class right next to this stadium and so see it all the time, but the view from the top is beautiful. Our first time trying to watch the sunset here we were behind schedule and missed it, but on our second try we made it and even though Ruby and I have been several times the view never gets old.

While I really enjoyed my friends coming to visit just to see them, it also helped to show me some of the major benefits of study abroad and how much I am learning and experiencing without necessarily being as aware of it. It also has reminded me just how lucky I am to be in Greece right now and to try to get as much out of it as possible.