First Field Trip and Site Report

Our Art in Athens class had our first field trip to the Acropolis today and even though our UNF group has traveled there before, we tried to take a different route…resulting in the majority of our field trip group being about 20 minutes late to the site. Even though Micah, Erika, Erin and I had already been to the Acropolis, it never gets less amazing to see in person. Plus, since we had already visited, we were able to listen and absorb more from our professor since we weren’t as concerned with taking pictures.

Have I mentioned our professor is British? Because his accent makes everything he says that much more interesting. It was extremely interesting to learn in more detail about the frieze, pediments, metopes and columns. I know more about the Parthenon than I ever thought I would! Even though art is not really one of my interests, I thoroughly enjoy this class.

For part of our UNF culture class, we each have a historical site to visit and prepare a site report to share with the class. After our field trip, we decided to split up and check this off our to-do list. Erika and I headed towards the Byzantine and Christian Museum, but not before aimlessly roaming the streets of downtown Athens. This may be one of my favorite experiences thus far. We had no time limit, nothing to rush back for, no agenda. So we chose a random road and just started walking and enjoying each others company.

Some of the things we encountered include:

-A beautifully and intricately decorated graffiti alleyway that had amazing art.

 -Making friends with shop owners and being more confident in our (small) knowledge of Greek. Each time we mentioned that we were learning Greek, it seemed to impress and surprise them. After entering a store with jewelry and clothing, I greeted the shopkeeper (Anastasia) in Greek and she responded with a lot of Greek that I didn’t understand. I had to admit that I actually didn’t know that much Greek, to which she responded “Wow, you look Greek to me! Someone in your family must be Greek.”

-We found a new obsession with komboloi beads (worry beads).

-An art gallery in which we could afford absolutely nothing, but Erika and I both fell in love with a remarkable painting of a rooster. I had no idea that a rooster could look so regal.

-One of the coolest things we’ve seen yet: we walked upon a random dance performance in the streets of Athens, very much like a Step-Up performance. If you know anything about me you know how much I adore dancing, so this made my heart so happy to see! I felt the urge to go join in but I have yet to be classically trained in the art of break-dancing. They were SO good, and there was even a female break dancer representing for all the ladies. I even threw some Euros into their hat because I thought they deserved it. 

Exploring with Erika.

I've never seen graffiti so pretty before!

We eventually made our way to the museum which is located in Evangelismos, a much less touristy part of Athens. Despite not knowing where the museum was, it was relatively easy to ask and understand the directions. I had no idea the museum was so extensive and large. You could spend at least two hours in this museum looking at the sculptures, jewelry, paintings, manuscripts and other art. 

A holograph of Heaven and Earth earrings. I swear they look real, but they are actually on display in another museum right now.

Standing next to a piece of contemporary art called the Pledges. This abandoned boat that was once used to transfer immigrants is now covered in more than 10,000 tamata (votive offerings) that are inscribed with the names, dates and places of birth of immigrants. This piece depicts the journey from despair to hope, from death to life. It focuses on the courage of the human soul and the power of life itself. 

If you are interested in learning more about this spectacular museum, feel free to check out my Prezi presentation in the link below!

http://prezi.com/4-rgwhr-meox/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

 

Later that night, our whole group attended the Greek play/tragedy “Elektra”  in Kerameikos (or Gaza). Thank goodness there were English subtitles, because I would have been more lost than a blind pig trying to follow the plot of this play. One thing that bothered me though was the translation of the subtitles. Either 1. Everything was not a direct translation and a lot of the dialogue was left out or 2. It was a direct translation and Greeks just have so many more words to express feelings and thoughts that it doesn’t translate to English because we don’t have the capacity in our language to fully express the range of emotions like the Greeks do. Many times I would be reading the subtitles but it wouldn’t change for a while.

The play itself was impressively passionate and emotional. Maybe I would be more of a critic if I had more acting experience than that of a 4^th and 5^th grade school play. But to my untrained eye and ear, the actors/actresses did a wonderful job of portraying the emotions in the script. During the play I tried not to focus too much on the subtitles because I was trying to pick up the Greek words I knew and also watch the facial expressions of those acting.

Before heading back home, a few of us decided to walk around and explore because we had never been to this town before. Well, another lesson learned (I’m telling you not a day goes by that I don’t learn something new). Apparently, the Metro/Bus stations close down at midnight. We were under the impression that the metro ran until 2 a.m. so we weren’t in a hurry to get home. We soon learned otherwise. Once I realized that we were going to have to take a taxi alllllll the way back to Deree, I freaked out on the inside. I’m not really sure why, but I was not excited about riding in a taxi. 95% of the time I am all for new experiences, but I got super anxious about getting in a taxi cab with a Greek driver that may or may not understand English, communicating where we wanted to go, and making it there safely. As I’ve mentioned, the driving is a bit chaotic and I would have rather walked. Since that was not a realistic option, into the taxi we went. Luckily Sarah Kim and I had 3 of the boys with us so I felt safe, I just really did NOT want to get in that taxi. Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up around taxis or riding in them, or because I’ve seen one too many movies where people are kidnapped in taxis. Of course everything ended up fine, our driver was actually an Albanian who loves America and was quite chatty and we all made it back alive. Nonetheless, you can bet I will be making sure to catch the metro before midnight from now on.