this particular excursion to delphi and olympia, our last of the semester, had all the makings for a goddawful weekend, but ended up being surprisingly dece in practice. first off, there were our leaders: our professor was named kriga, and it is putting it delicately to say she could easily be the lost greek hunchback of the acropolis... 'stache, perma-pregnant belly, janked up teeth and all. i would feel bad about saying this if she had demonstrated any proficiency in teaching or leading students in any way. i could not have learned less about each site if i stayed home, in indiana, under a rock, in a self-induced coma, and these were things i was actually interested in learning about. essentially, we showed up to each site, were lead around by kriga, who often supplied proven false information, to maybe 48% of the significant bits, told to look around on our own for 10 minutes [note: i don't know if you've ever tried to sprint up a mountain in skinny jeans that have gotten too baggy, but i tell you what, it is exactly as uncomfortable as the mental image you have right now might suggest... i almost mooned many a tourist/ruin... but i saw the stadium at delphi. boom] and got back on the bus generally an hour and a half ahead of time.
if we had been staying in super fly locales such as santorini, this unexpected free time would have been a dream. olympia is no santorini. to be fair, our first night spent in delphi was pretty nice: amazing view from a cozy hotel, good company, and an appropriate amount of time to appreciate what was essentially a one-street town. the next two days and nights spent in olympia were borderline madness-inducing. it is worrisome when a 5 hour nap in a trife hotel on a bed constructed of sofa cushions seems more appealing than exploring greece.
i should also mention our other leader, maria, an administrator for cya. greece has never known a snarkier woman, and after spending 2 months getting mean-mugged by every woman between the ages of 9 and 65, that is saying something. but i can appreciate a little snark... what i can't handle is legitimately THE most patronizing tirade i have ever been subjected to, at 7:30 am, one-on-one in the hotel dining room, about how unnatural it is to be vegan and how i am going against evolution in doing so. oh bitch no you didn't. all i said was no i don't want a goddamn hard-boiled egg, coffee is fine thanks. step off. we are now mortal enemies, a fact she may or may not be aware of.
our final day, we checked out of olympia and headed further into the mountains and had a weirdly refreshing experience with snow? i sort of miss maine? we stopped for literally 8 minutes to learn a little more nothing at an open air museum about water power, which in no way relates to anything any of us have ever studied... ever. at this point, my fairly small group of 18 had so firmly bonded in our unified hate of so, so many things that the trip in retrospect was pretty fun in social terms. i'm actually totally okay with suffering under less than stellar circumstances as long as the clowning is above par.
i have two days of classes this week, and we leave for paros and mykonos on wednesday morning. i checked the semi-reliable weather report, which says it will be a high of 60... but i'll be damned if i don't get in the sea again and wear an inappropriate sun dress. i am deeply committed in my idealistic romantic standards.
love,
kg
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