The Magic Tree at Dodoni

Classes have officially started! The courses are beginning greek language, greek culture and dance as well as Greek regional tensions with Albania. The program also includes two excursions every week where we travel into town or to another area of the country to see museums, ruins, and other attractions. The first one was yesterday and we went to the Oracle of Dodona and the Temple of Zeus. That oracle was the second most prominent in the country, second only to the Oracle at Delphi, which most people have at least heard of, even if they don't know what it is :)

An oracle is a person or a place that people in ancient Greece would consult if they needed guidance from the gods. People would give their questions to priests at Dodoni and they would interpret the sounds made from the oak tree leaves as the answer from Zeus. If you've heard of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, their boat contained a branch of the oak tree of Dodona which gave the ship prophetic powers. Its unbelievable to actually be visiting the places that I've read about in myths and histories. The ruins around the theatre and temple were beautiful. Its amazing what Greeks were able to accomplish so long ago. This region is surrounded by mountains and the views are constantly breath-taking. The weather has been shifting between beautiful sunshine (as you can see in the photos) and overcast with showers, which alright since I'm used to that at home :) But I've already got to experience some greek sun which is exciting!
  

So far I like the classes, but we haven't really recieved any homework yet so that might be a part of it :) I'm getting more accustomed to the campus and life here, but the cafeteria is not very good at all, but I'll just have to get used to that. Other than that things have been going great. I love my roommate Kacey, our awesome dorm room, and so far the other people in the program seem to be pretty cool. Tomorrow we are visiting the Nekromanteion, which is a temple of Hades in Nikopolis, so I'll post more after that trip. Until then, Γεια σου!

Touchdown Athens!

Well I finally made it! Left Seattle Saturday morning and arrived in Athens, spent the night at the Neo Olympos Hostel with Kacey. On the flight from Newark to Athens I sat by a really nice greek college student from Athens and I'm going to try and meet up with her when I go back so she can show me around. After arriving in Athens, We explored the city a little bit in search of food and caught up on sleep. Then got up early this morning to take a charter bus with the rest of the group from Athens to Ioaninna. The 6 hour bus ride was absolutely beautiful! We went across the Peloponesse and back up to mainland Greece. The views included snowy mountain tops, villages right on the bright blue ocean and lucsious green rolling hills.



I'm leaving for Greece!

I'm getting ready to leave for Greece this Saturday! I'll be studying abroad this spring quarter with a program at UW and wont be back in the States until July 1st. My group of about 20 students will be staying at Ioannina University in northern central Greece. I can't believe that I leave in less than a week! This week I'll be packing, saying goodbye to friends and family, shopping, and packing some more. Greece, here I come!