HARRY POTTER

So Delphi really took a hit on me and my health and I woke up Monday morning feeling positively awful. So I went to talk to Leslie and arranged to go to the doctor at the college. he sent me to a local private hospital for bloodwork and even drove us there which was very nice of him. I'd heard all kinds of horror stories about Greek hospitals and Leslie even told us upon arrival that if we went to a hospital to make sure it was private. So I did not experience an authentic Greek hospital, and the private hospital gave me a lot of relief when i realized that it was not going to be the horrible experience that is the Greek hospital system. However, the doctor barely spoke any English and our conversation consisted mostly of hand gestures until he was able to find another doctor who could help translate. Everything eventually went well, I got my bloodwork, and we stayed and waited for the results which came back fine saying that I had a mere infection. I got some antibiotics on the way home and within a few days I was back in class and back in action. Just in time for...

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2!

Erin made some butterbeer for the occasion, and I decorated it.

And of course, being a bunch of Honors students, we had to see the first possible showing of the movie.

We found a lovely little outdoor theater in the neighborhood to watch it at.

And the movie did not disappoint.

Does your goat shiver?

Our second to last weekend in Greece, Saturday was spent on a day trip into Athens to see the Roman Agora and Sunday was a trip into the mountains to the fantastic site of Delphi. Unfortunately, I cam down with a bit of an infection and not quite feeling up to the trek on Saturday and spent the day in bed instead, but Sunday i dragged myself downstairs because there was no way I was going to miss Delphi.

After a couple morning hours on the bus, and a pit stop at an incredibly hot rest area, we made it to Delphi.

And what a beautiful place it was.

One of the sanctuaries on Mount Parnassus.

Welcome to the site of the Oracle of Delphi. Hear is where people would come from all over Greece to ask the Oracle their questions.

MYKONOS(BAR)

So, I'm still incredibly backlogged on my blogs. This time I blame it on my very inconvenient infection of some kind. Although I also blame it on myself for getting backed up in the first place. Also, I really just don't like blaming anyone or anything for anything anyways.

Last weekend, we traveled to the gorgeous island of Mykonos...

We got on a ferry at an almost obnoxiously early hour, but something about rising with the sun always seems to make it worth it.

This pesky rainbow followed our ferry the entire trip to Mykonos.

Ellie mesmerized by the Big Blue Aegean.

Welcome to our hotel, that I still can't pronounce the name of, much less spell.

Mykonos. This was the first moment that I realized how much I would love this island. I was standing outside my door and noticed that the building across from mine was very wonderfully lit by golden sunlight. So I grabbed my camera and headed up the stairs and low and behold, I was greeted by the beautiful orange sun setting over the Aegean. Valerie and Erin joined me soon and we all watched the sun go down on Mykonos and it just kept getting more and more beautiful. I took probably 25 shots of the sunset and picking this one was so har because they all looked great. I've never seen such a beautiful sunset, and I took it as a good sign.

After we watched the sun set, everyone got together and we walked down into the city to get dinner. Dinner was a cheap and simple gyro that was quite good, but for the me the walk itself was worth it. The lighting in this twilight hour was like a photographer's dream come true.

Everything was just so soft and beautiful.

And the architecture reflected the practical needs of living on an island, but they almost seemed to be held equal or less than the building just being beautiful to look at.

And these windmills! This one was all by itself, but further into town there is a group of five in a row that will always have a special little meaning to me.

This cat and his wonky ear held me up a few minutes. Just like the sunset, I couldn't seem to take a picture of him that didn't look great.

The next morning we were up early to take a ferry to the neighboring island of Delos to see the ruins. We took a long walk down to the harbor led by the Kaplans through the middle of Mykonos suburbia. Not like any neighborhood I've ever seen before.

One of the things that stands out most to me about Mykonos is the color blue. It was everywhere. This picture, for example, look at the teal. Layers upon layers upon layers of teal and blue.

Delos was pretty magnificent. Rumor has it that when Lito, Apollo's mother, was pregnant, she was cursed by Hera and not allowed to give birth on solid land. At the time Delos was a floating island so she landed there and gave birth to the sun god.

What was exceptionally neat about Delos, was the fact that the ruins were completely different than other ruins we had looked at. They were not all just foundations covered in dust asking us to use our imagination to look at. They were fully structured walls and buildings and rooms with columns and mosaics and sculptures.

You could even see how the streets resembled the narrow streets bordered by tall houses for wind protection, just like it's modern neighbor Mykonos.

Ellie, just being cute as always.

LIONS. Lions are actually quite common in Greece, even though they are not currently living here. they are such powerful symbols of strength that it really makes sense for them to be here as guardians but I also find it interesting that my kinfolk are held in such high regard here when they're still exotic. Greeks are very highly nationalistic so it's interesting that an animal they use often in sculpture and mosaic, does not actually live there and you can tell by looking at some of these goofy lions that the Greeks were not exactly experts on what lions even looked like.

And the beach. Other than the explicit and outrageous partying that goes on (of which I do not have any pictures, but you can ask me later about the stories), the beach is what Mykonos is most well known for. And  for good reason. This is just one of th beaches that we went to during our stay on the island. What you can't see in this picture is the plethora of topless women hanging out and catching rays. What you can see are the mountains in the background, but you'll never understand how truly majestic they are until you're 20-ft deep in crystal clear waters looking up at them.

And it's not a Greek isle without bougainvillea.

HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY ELLIE! How many people get to celebrate their fourth birthday on the Fourth of July on a ferry with a bunch of college kids and a majestic chocolate chocolate cake?

At least one.

Our Fourth of July bus on the way back to the dorms.

There's a baby minotaur in my fridge. But he's just a baby, he doesn't know any better.

Apperently, I suck at blogging. Probably because I'm too busy out living my life rather than writing about it. Maybe also because my drawing professor likes to assign hours worth of homework at times I absolutely don't have hours to spare. If only there were three of me; one to draw at all hours of the day and night, one to go to every museum and art gallery I can get my paws on, and one to sleep and enjoy all that is Greece. My life is definitely a three girl job.

Last Thursday, or forever ago in Greece time, a small group of us were escorted downtown by Phil to go to a couple site visits...

Once we got within a certain distance of Syntagma Square, the roads were blocked and cars and pedestrians weren't really allowed much further.

Luckily, my site visit, the glorious Goulandris Collection, was right before the blocked areas and we were able to get in cheap.

We mostly just breezed through the museum since we had other sites to get to also, but I really loved this nifty little light installation.

The Goulandris Collection is mainly known for it's extensive exhibition of Cycladic art and figurines. These cute little statues are anthropomorphic figures.

I took some pretty neat notes at this place to help with my site visit, and I really enjoyed the fact that everything in here was incredibly well labeled and you could really get a sense of why these pots and artifacts are important and what they were used for.

The Cycladic figures were often used as tributes to Mother Earth and the crossed arms are a symbol of fertility. I really love these figures. Not only are they beautiful, but they stand for so much, the symbolism is so strong.

When we left the museum we ran into more police blockades, but we found a lon way around them and eventually ended up in areas that we probably weren't supposed to be in on our way to the National Gardens.

Timing this picture was pretty difficult, but if you look behind the lovely Alec, you can see a protester leaving Syntagma with a mask and sunglasses on to protect him from the tear gas, the real subject of this photo.

En route to the National Gardens we stumbled upon Aristotle's Lyceum, which was in fact stumbled upon by someone else not too long ago when it was discovered in 1996.

I kind of expected there to be a lot more to the National Gardens, but I hear there is a small zoo nearby so I'll have to give it another chance. If they have lions, it can redeem itself.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, although it was never finished and was really just busy work for the people of Athens, it's still pretty stupendous.

Hadrion's Gate nicely framing the Acropolis in the back ground.