In Eternal Catch-Up

Let’s try to knock all of this out in one blog post.  Ok, it might take two, but I will catch up and stay on top of this, especially next semester when I won’t have Geology taking up my free time.

Pretty soon after Israel, as in a few days, we had a rogue fire alarm go off at 4:30 in the morning.  I grabbed a shirt and ran out into the hallway about the time Dr. James was coming down from his floor.  He was going to the office, like I was, which, if you remember, is just 5 steps diagonally to the right across the hall when you walk out of my apartment.

Well, this fire alarm woke me up, but for some reason I immediately thought it was a burglary alarm.  So deep down I’m nervous cause I’m thinking there is a good chance we have people in the Artemis but, at the same time, I’m trying to get psyched-up to fight if I have to.  Ridiculous I know.  However, when Dr. J first saw me and said it was the fire alarm as we were both going into the office to shut it off I immediately realized that that made a whole lot more sense.

After turning the alarm off, Dr. J and I walked throughout the entire Artemis trying to find any signs of fire or smoke.  I even discovered a new room that I hadn’t been into.  I’m telling you, this place is like a maze, or Hogwarts; there is always something new to be found.  In fact, as I write this, on March 14, I just discovered a new room 3 days ago; kind of a sub-room in the laundry room that I didn’t know existed.  Crazy!  And I like to think I’m a very observant person. 

Ok, that covers the fire alarm fiasco. 

Next, sometime the week of the fire alarm, we threw a little surprise birthday for Mark.  We’ve been trying to do unique things for everyone on their birthday, things that fit their personality.  For Kelcey’s birthday we did a scavenger hunt.  For Mark, Mrs. Beth made this famous pasta recipe from the HUF program since he was a HUF student before.   After dinner, we arranged a bonfire down at the beach.  This meant I started shuttling students down via the large white van.  Oh, by the way, it’s the manual car I’ve been practicing on with Mark teaching me.  This was my first time to really be out on real roads, taking people.  At the beach we just chilled around the campfire and even sang some.  It was a great time all around.

Looking down at the Torch and Starting Blocks for the
Marathon race in Marathon, Greece. 

That weekend (at least I think it was, the timing is not important) we went to Vravrona and Marathon.  Both sites are only a little ways away.  Vravrona is only about 4 or 5 miles behind the Artemis, in fact, it’s where we (the people who built the hotel before us) get the name for our building, the Artemis.  Check this out, it’s really neat (at least I think so, being a huge Greek Mythology nerd).  As Agamemnon was sailing from Mycenae towards Troy, for the Trojan War, he was said to have stopped at Vravrona, just a handful of mile behind our building.  While out, he killed a stag sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt and nature and whatnot.  The only way he could make propitiation for this sin was to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia.  Until he sacrificed his daughter, Artemis made sure there were prevailing winds that kept him from launching back off to continue his journey for Troy (which is located in Turkey).  Vravrona had a temple to Artemis, and that is why our building is named the Artemis, because it’s so close to this site.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at Vravrona, the archaeological site was closed, only the museum was open.  You can see most of the site from the road just looking over the fence.  This is a site that I didn’t even go to as a student.  I reported on it for a project and had my professor take us, but we only looked over the fence then because it was closed then too.  Maybe one day I’ll be able to walk around Vravrona.

Marathon really only had two things, a giant burial mound for those that fought in the battle of Marathon and the starting blocks for the current Marathon.

Burial Mound in Marathon.

I’ll cut this post short at here.  I know you don’t want really long blog posts.  Next time I’ll talk about the Peloponnese (Southern Greece) trip.