Olympia

Now, then, to describe the Greece trip!!! --a much more worthwhile pastime than studying for my Literary Tradition midterm tomorrow, I can tell you.

When we arrived in Olympia, most of us were pretty tired from the journey, but excited to be in Greece. We checked into our hotel--three or four to a room (Denise and I lived with Lindsay Hurt), had mass and dinner and walked around for a bit. Olympia is a pretty touristy place--there are souvenir shops left right and center. One cool thing about Greece--you can HAGGLE! It's fun--and much easier if you happen to be a girl. he he he! success.

I used the shopping opportunity to get the two things I ALWAYS get in EVERY city we have traveled to thus far--postcards and a tacky coffee mug. As of right now I have 53 postcards to ship (my apologies to those of you waiting on them) and mugs from Rome, Barcelona, Olympia, Delphi, Nafplion, and Corinth. No idea how I am going to get them home, but they have kept this far, so good luck to me.
I was originally going to collect shot glasses from my trip, but I decided coffee mugs would be more useful-- I drink a LOT more coffee than I take shots, so there you go.

Anyway, I got my stuff and made my way back to the hotel to pass out. It was dark, and there wasn't too much to see in the immediate vicinity of our hotel without straying too far and missing curfew.

That's another thing. We have a midnight curfew when we travel on group trips. It blows, but I see the point now. Over the course of the Greece trip we had plenty of people get lost and miss it. It's a good way of keeping track of all 108 of us.

The next day, we made our way to a museum (snore) and to the ancient Olympic Staduim and training grounds. This was the cool bit: we raced!
There was a boys race, a girls race, a mixed relay, and a staff race.
I got to start the boys race! Ready?! Set! GO!
I have never experienced 50 men running at me as fast as they could before, but it was a nice thing to see before I die. I booked it out of the way. Mike McEwan won the boys race---amazing, considering he has chain-smoked since the age of 14.
The girls race was won by Claire Rendoni, and I have no idea who won the other races. I ran it at a jog---I didn't have running shoes on and am a professional klutz. I didn't feel like chancing a broken ankle for any ancient anything.

It took forever to get back to the hotel, mostly because Mr. Rutherford left his camera case COMPLETE with his passport in it back at the stadium and, realizing this half way home, had to go back. I met him on the road looking flustered and asked if he wanted me to go back with him (remembering how he was there for me when I lost my wallet). He nodded and we power-walked all the way back. Nice exercise. It was still there, no worries.

The food in Olympia wasn't so good--at least, not the stuff we got in the hotel for dinner. Thankfully, it got better throughout the trip. Gyros are generally about 2 euro in Greece and are nothing like the ones we make here. Meat (usually pork), cream stuff, seasoning, tomato, onion, FRENCH FRIES, and you're good!

Greeks love potatoes. My aunt, Devon would have a field day here. She is, after all, Ms. Spud.

We all already know that the Mira loves fries. I was in heaven.

BAKLAVA
everyone needs to have it

often.


I tried making it from scratch last year...not enough honey!


Another thing we got to see in Olympia (on the outskirts) was the Orthodox church of St. Nicholas. I got an icon there.
Since I go to a Roman Catholic school, many lectures had to be given in advance about the difference between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, practices, and teachings. Thankfully, we have a great Western Theological Tradition prof who didn't SLANT his information to make us look like schismatic heathens. I was uber appreciative.
There are only two Orthodox peoples in the whole class: myself and a guy named Anton, who is Russian Orthodox.
We got a lot of questions in the Greek churches. It was sorta fun.


We didn't stay in Olympia incredibly long. Next stop--Delphi!