Felicia's thoughts

Felicia King

Greece Travel Journal

5/30/2008

4/2

I’ve never really been good at these things- journals or diaries. It’s just never been my thing I guess you could say, but I’ll give it a shot. In class we had a discussion on the book we’ve been reading. One of the aspects that Goldhill discussed in the very beginning was the importance of understanding our pasts so that we can know ourselves today. I feel that it has less to do with knowing the past so that we do not make the same mistakes and more to do with understanding the foundations of civilization. What I mean by this is that when one discovers the past one can understand the evolution of society and how or why society is the way it is today. I feel that learning your past can get you in touch yourself and change your view of the world around you.

For our particular society in the West rediscovering the ancient worlds of Greece and Rome can truly open your eyes to our world today. Looking around one can see the connection between the past and today. One of the examples that come to mind is architecture and even our founding fathers and the formation of our government. In grade school I was never taught that these great men were influenced by the ancients or that George Washington was a lover of classical architecture. It kind of reminds me of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me or something on those lines. However it’s not like I was lied to as much as people left out some quite interesting details. In any case I feel strongly about the learning of our past not only of US history but where our ancestors came from.

I agree with Goldhill that Classical studies should be brought back. To be honest on more than one occasion when people have asked me what my major was and upon my telling them that it was Classical studies, they think that I’m studying classical music. Although I find it frustrating, I explain to them that it is not classical music but the study of the classical world of Greece and Italy as well as other civilizations of the time. Now I just say that I’m studying ancient history. But Classical studies are so much more than history. It is about literature, language, art, philosophy, and history. So when I say ancient history I know that I am not doing my major justice.

4/18

Reading the section on democracy really made me realize the huge differences in our “democracy” and that of ancient Athens. I especially was interested in the part about the citizen not being active in politics was known as an idiot. Well I suppose that makes most of the US a bunch of idiots. It truly makes me wonder what our country would be like if more people got involved. Would Bush be our president still? Would we still be in the Middle East? Would there be No Child Left Behind? Would music programs at schools still be funded? If any thing I feel that we have done this to ourselves. Especially in education, where many young people can find outlets and inspiration in the performing arts or music and these programs are being closed down. What would the United States be like if we had people who were active and cared about what was going on? What would the United States be like if the government actually encouraged its people to be a part? Now that I’ve made myself pissed off about the United States government yet again I’m just gonna stop writing or I’ll really start thinking about moving to Europe for real this time.

5/13

So here we are on our way to Greece….well almost on our way since I’m writing this at the JFK airport. One of the reasons why I wanted to come to Greece was so that I can make the history that I have read about and been lectured about real. It just seems that history is something that I’ve always been interested in but it never truly feels real. It’s like a whole other universe that I acknowledge but don’t ever really believe in. Like life on Mars it may have been there but since we can’t truly be there to see then it is a kind of believing without seeing. So learning the history of other countries without ever seeing them face to face, would it be considered blind history? All you ever do is read and believe what the authors have to say without ever having gone to that area to see for yourself whether or not the Parthenon is majestic or if there really is a wine dark sea. So yea it is blind history. I am a blind student of history. I just read but can never manage to get there to make myself a seeing student of history. I suppose this is my chance. Thank goodness I brought 3 weeks worth of contact lenses and an extra pair of glasses. I’m ready to see and soak it in. Besides who wants to be a blind historian their entire life? Not me!

5/14

So you think to yourself this is going to be magical, extraordinary, and better yet majestic. Well what happens when you feel slightly disappointed? I ask myself, “Have I set myself up for some kind of magically pieced together acropolis where no bits have been blown to smithereens…….Well yes, yes I did.” Now please realize at this point we have not actually gone to the acropolis, and I can only speculate as to the massive building that lays before my eyes as I sit on the rooftop of our hotel here in Athens. But I have to admit I’m not that impressed. Reading this you may be shocked or dismayed at my blasé attitude and that is ok. But my imagination has lead me across time on a fantastic voyage of ancient Greek buildings that seem to sparkle in the sunlight and remain white as snow, despite my knowing that there were painted but if I do say so myself they look way cooler as plain janes because it allows you to paint them with your mind’s eye but yet again this is my opinion. But anyway I set myself for a Disney version of the true acropolis. How did this happen? Overactive imagination I’m sure. Wanting the perfect romantic ideal of the real world? Even closer to the truth. Oh, if only our world could be full of genuine compliments and people who would tell you if you had something in your teeth instead of letting you go around with spinach just hanging out in your mouth. Bringing myself back to the harsh reality where people let you walk around with that speck of pepper on your left upper canine, I feel as though I must have missed something. Aren’t I supposed to feel excited, completely taken aback by a giant building scattered with metal scaffolding and massive numbers of rude tourists ruining the scenery with their existence…here I would like to point out that yes I am a tourist but one has to admit that they detract from the surrounding beauty of everyplace they go…

So why do I feel this way? I think that the reason I have discovered a lack of enthusiasm for the real situation of the Acropolis and the grossly crowded streets is that fact that my idealistic and romanticized version has been completely blown to bits- kind of like the Parthenon. So I shouldn’t really blame the tourists that are staring up at the Parthenon in wonderment as I sit here on the rooftop greeting reality with a scowl on my face. But just because my fake reality has been destroyed does mean that I am not just a tiny bit curious as to what it would be like standing before the great Parthenon looming ahead.

Tonight my dreams will turn into realistic nightmares of bringing history to the real world- to life in the here and now. Who knew that I would be so disappointed with the present? Well certainly not me. I thought that finally linking the history that I have come to love so much would be a smooth transition and it would make it all that more real. But I think that there is something to say about a reaction such as mine. It may be unique among the people in the group who are discussing how awesome it looks from our view, which I can’t deny but I definitely lack the enthusiasm in my agreement with them. And so to make myself feel better I would like to blame all those who took part in the ruining of the ancient ruins all over the world, those who took the time to break statues, steal marble to make something else that was not as cool in any way, and for those who thought it was a good idea to store explosives in ancient temples….yea about that! I would like to thank you all during these past hundreds of years who have now ruined my opinion of this great architectural structure with multiple acts of stupidity. Does anyone else feel the same? Because I would like to pop a few of these dumb asses for ruining the idealistic views of history in future generations, such as myself. However, I suppose I could let go of these views a little better but reality just isn’t my style in the historical sense. I think that this session of therapy has better acquainted myself with the poo which is reality and that reality is a sitting in front of my face- more than likely rude tourists who will probably touch the marble and ruining the scarred piece of historical architecture called the Parthenon. Bastards.

5/15

So the day began with the Temple of Olympic Zeus…someone remind me to find a priest when I get back home and have him personally explain to me the reason for Christians ruining everything awesome by building churches on top of them. Although this is not the case for this temple, I already know that my loathing of stupid ancient people will make me rant on for hours. Despite the temples lack of over 50 of its original columns I’m willing to let go and let karma. No one ever really gets the sheer size of these structures until they actually get there. In your mind’s eye you think of “how cute it’s the size of my house”, not “whoa, this is bigger than a football field”- which just so happened to be my reaction. However, despite my being awe struck by the size of this beast, was my longing to see it as it had been. How amazing would it have been to walk up to this massive structure back in its heyday? That would have been a sight to see.

Backtracking our way to the Acropolis and reflecting on my thoughts from the night before I talk myself into letting the Acropolis have one more chance to redeem itself in my mind forever. Did I think that it was beautiful? Not so much. Did it make me long for the ancient days just for a moment in time? Yes it did. Again with the massiveness! Even looking at the pictures that I took on my camera today does not give it justice. People look like ants in comparison to the Parthenon. How did these ancient peoples do this? How did the Egyptians, or should I say slaves, create the pyramids? How did the ancient people over there on the island of England create Stonehenge? Because if someone has a definitive answer I will be beyond ecstatic. These are the things that really get my attention. These are the things that make me impressed. It is hard enough even in our own societies to build such impressive buildings, how the hell did they do it? Even if no one ever finds out, it’s ok I’m still impressed.

So it got me. The Parthenon, that is. It got with the awesomeness of its size and presence. Awesome, definitely.

5/17

I waited a day to absorb, as well as catch my breath from the hike, from that which is Delphi. One has to really think back on the plethora of stories that link back to this very place. I remember reading about the importance of the Delphic oracle and wishing that I could be a priestess of Apollo. Which in itself may sound completely corny to other individuals, but to me would be the coolest thing ever. I’m more than sure that if I had an opportunity to go back in time I would be a priestess of some really awe inspiring god- plus for the most part they had it pretty good for women of the time. What was even better about the place was the stone that Dionysia showed us with the three holes for a possible tripod and a hole for the gases or whatever came out of it. At the moment it didn’t even have to be true, ‘cause I was sold before she even got past the tripod business. Even though deep down inside I knew I should be a good scholar and remain somewhat skeptical, I’m more than sure I just didn’t care because I was in love with the idea.

Let’s move on to the absolutely ridiculous view from Delphi. I mean if I was that struck by the amazing view when I turned around to face the mountains I can only imagine what it was like for the people thousands and hundreds of years ago. The mountains, the structures truly make it a surreal place because you can not take it all in at once. I had to keep turning around because it felt like a picture from a movie that I saw once. It just didn’t seem real, even though I was there. Right there! Still I could not believe my eyes. This is the kind of place one needs to go to because it makes you realize that these things are not just in movies or books they exist and you can be a part of it. You and the real world side by side with no idealist views or grand expectations because history mixed with nature is always an impressive sight.

Now this part has really nothing to do with ruins. James and I were discussing what we should say in our journals at one point in the beginning days of the trip. A thought came to mind about how I perceive the people of this ancient city. Take Socrates for instance. This man was indeed a Greek. But when I visualize him in my mind I do not see him with dark brown or black hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. On the contrary I see him with white hair, blue eyes, and fair skinned. This brought me back to the Japanese art history class that I took this semester. My professor said that the Japanese took Chinese art and “Japanized” it- it is the process of “Japanization”. Then it clicked. I was “Causasian-izing” these ancient people. Now I realize he would have already been considered Caucasian so maybe a better word would be “Anglo-cizing”. It’s taking a dark eyed, dark skinned, and dark haired Jesus and making him the fair skinned, blue-eyed man that white people go crazy over. I’m not really sure why I do this to people of regions I know not to have such characteristics. Maybe it is because it’s just easier to imagine people that you have no idea as to how the truly appear in a manner that is easily relatable. This reminds of what someone wrote whom I cannot remember the name at the moment, but he said that if horses had gods then the gods would be in the image of a horse or something along those lines. This was referring to the images of gods being that of humans. In any case I just thought it was an interesting point of view- to imagine all of these dead ancients as fair-skinned and blue eyed even if they weren’t. To be frank I see Socrates as a white haired man, fair-skinned, blue eyes, wearing a robe that covers one shoulder and he uses a long staff like cane. Maybe the images of Charles Heston have messed any future visualization of ancient philosophers, historians, and politicians. I suppose it could be worse for them, Charles Heston was a good Moses.

5/18

After learning of the mystery religions in the Greek and Roman Mythology course that I took with Dr. Bregman, I always wanted to see Eleusis. Every time I think of Eleusis I see a procession of people on their way to be initiated into the mysteries of Demeter and Persephone. When we got there it was easy to visualize this. Sitting in the hall of initiation and looking into the Plutonion, was a very surreal feeling. What makes the whole experience that much more unreal is the fact that the Mysteries are mysteries themselves. No one knows what truly went down here at these ruins. There isn’t much else I can really say about this site. This was one of the places I was really looking forward to and although none of the buildings and temples were standing I could easily see them with my imagination as well as the people that came there.

The theatre at Epidaurus was amazing not to mention huge! The thing that made it that much more special was Nancy’s singing. She has a truly wonderful voice. While she was singing I thought to myself, “Finally! We get to see her specialty!” We had heard from Tina and Jay already and it was awesome to see her bring something to the table as well! The acoustics of the theatre were incredible. When I stood on the center stone and spoke it was out of control! It was seriously like Dolby surround sound. All I have to say is very, very cool!

Corinth was another incredible site. To be honest I never gave Corinth too much thought before. I never thought about what the city may have looked like. It was much bigger than I thought it would be. I thought it was interesting to see where shops would have been and, which was funny, the Roman toilets! It was interesting to hear that they would just go in and chat it up while doing their business. If anything I have to give these people props for being that comfortable. Nowadays people barely go in to the bathroom without hoping that no one is in there with them. This information was important despite its content because it let us in to how they felt about these kinds of situations and what they thought about natural human functions.

5/19-5/20

This is where I admit that I hate ferries with a passion. Also I spent most of the day at the Thalia Hotel sleeping off the sea sickness that I have only had one other time in my life- when I was 7.

5/21

Snake goddess! Ow! See what you may not know is that this is the theme song that I created for the snake goddess quite a while ago when I took an art history class in the fall. So when we came to Knossos I knew that I could definitely apply it to this situation. Once we got up to the ruins it was very, very easy to see why people thought that this was a labyrinth. The whole place is like a giant maze with all these rooms scattered all over the place with no real architectural plan.

One of the random thoughts that came to my mind was whether or not Theseus, Ariadne, Jason, and Medea were real people twisted by time and a lot of story telling. They say myths and legends stem from real people, places, and events. I for one would like to know who the real people were that allowed for these awesome stories of the Minotaur and golden fleeces to reach our ears in contemporary society. They must have been amazing people or at least did one amazing thing to have started such a story. But what of the women? I mean it’s not like they could actually do the same things as men or so we are told. One of the greatest myths of a female that we know is that of Helen being taken to Troy and the thousand ships that were sent to get her and all because she was so beautiful, not to mention someone’s wife. In the end, I know that we will never truly know and will only be able to speculate.

Yes! I saw the Snake Goddess with my own eyes! Fantastic!!! Of course this is referring to our visit to the Heraklion Museum. (PS Did I ever mention that I was very disappointed that we could not go to the Acropolis Museum ‘cause I was!) Even though there were not that many exhibits the ones out were fantastic. It was great to finally get to see some of the images that I was given to me in my art history be there right in front of me. One of the things that I had not seen before was the board game. I mean one never really things of these people from 2000 years ago having a games like that. The only form of entertainment that I thought they had involved religious festivals. If any thing this just makes them seem more like real people and not just really old and very old peoples.

5/22

In my opinion I would say that Phaiestos is very similar to Knossos but maybe a little smaller. Nevertheless it was still a site that one should definitely see. Plus the view of Mount Ida was gorgeous! I always read about Mount Ida but I never thought that it would be that big! The site itself was very cool. Now I’m still slightly skeptical over this, but the so called olive press room, or whatever it was, was an interesting section. I really liked the King and Queen’s room. Even though there wasn’t that much to them I could visualize people living in them. Phaiestos palace has a lot of storage rooms, or what looked like storage rooms. It was a fascinating place and made me wonder even more what these places would have looked like in their heyday.

Gortyn was small, but pretty interesting. The most interesting part of it for me was the wall of laws. Despite the fact that I could not read any of it, which is fine, I was just really overwhelmed by such a massive wall and the laws written on them. So to make it easier on myself I bough a translation of the law codes, which I will be making a part of my summer reading.

Matala! By the way did anyone know that the hippies through the sarcophagi and bodies/bones into the ocean? No, well neither did I until I asked our guide George on the way back to Heraklion. What the hell, hippies? I thought you people would respect people’s burial sites! As we can see I was wrong. Nevertheless the tombs were pretty neat although I felt as though I was disrespecting the people that were once laid to rest here. So I made the visit to the caves extremely short, just long enough to say that I went there. As for the beach- so nice! Not minding the fact that I was almost taken out by the large waves coming our way, like many other victims around me, I had a blast. Then I realized on the ride back that I was swimming in an area where people’s bones where chillin’ somewhere on the bottom of the ocean…..slightly creepy.

Also I can’t recall when I had heard a story of Zeus dying. But it doesn’t really matter because the mountain definitely looked like the profile of someone’s face and that always catches my interest. Now that I have caught wind of such a myth I will be searching for it!

5/24

You don’t know people until you travel with them. I have heard that many a time but after some time here in Greece with 23 students I think it’s safe to say that you know their true character. This is my conclusion that I have come to while sitting on the beach. Many of the people I know I will want to stay friends with and others, well I could live without. It makes me wonder about the ancient notion of the guest-friend. What if the host really did not like the person that came to stay? I’m guessing that they took them in anyway so that they would not offend any gods. But still it must have been frustrating at times.

So after people came back from the Santorini trip, I heard a story that the island is known for their vampires. By the way, very cool. I’m not sure what the fascination is with vampires in my own world, maybe it was my reading Dracula that started it all. Oh! Another interesting story that has been passed on to us by our tour guide a couple of days ago was that Crete was known for its piracy. Cretan version of the Pirates of the Caribbean anyone? Who ever knew that Crete would have an action packed history? I didn’t.

You know I never thought to ask anyone around here or in Athens how they feel about having such a rich history around them. Personally I feel pretty disinterested in US history. When I look at our young country and then look to the histories of say China or Greece for example there just doesn’t seem to be much comparison. I am more interested in where we all came from here in the United States. The only true natives of this country are the Native Americans. The rest are, well, mutts. Take me for example. Not only am I Irish, but somewhere along the way I got a dash of French and pinch of Cherokee. For most people having a mix a nationalities and ethnicities is a norm. True Americans are a people of diverse backgrounds. However I want to know the history of these diverse backgrounds. I want to know about the Chinese and the rice noodle, the Egyptians and their pyramids, or the Sumerians and their writings. It all goes back to the idea that to know the past is to inevitably get to know yourself. Also, it gives a sense that you belong to something much older and greater than you. That is where I want to belong. There is so much out there to discover and learn that I feel that it would be a shame for people to miss out on any of it. The point of this world is to get what you can out of life, but at the same time to realize that past is as important as the present or future. History can take you to places in time that you may have never thought of before. Remembering the first time I read the myth of Psyche and Eros way back when I was in my single digits I was completely taken in. Now, I do realize that not everyone is interested in history, and that is perfectly fine. However, I think that it is about the way in which you are presented to history that will affect the way you perceive for the rest of you life. When people think history they think of how boring it can be. Well sure even I can agree that history can be absolutely dry and blah. On the other hand, I have had teachers and professors who have approached with history with enthusiasm and brought with them a sense of mystery and excitement that sucks you in. Those are the people that make history something worth exploring. Everyone has their specific place in time or topic that they absolutely love and obsess over. For me I have many areas in time that I love and want to learn more of. And when I discuss anything to do with history with my friends I make it exciting. Why? Because that’s they way it should be. It should be the Indiana Jones whip and fedora, Brandon Frasier taking down mummies, Gerard Butler as King Leonidas kind of action packed story of our civilizations. But in all honesty we know that there are things that are not so action packed and completely disheartening. However if we make the effort to learn about all the good, the bad, and the ugly can we become better as a result of it? I like to think so.

Coming to Greece was a major experience in my life. If only for 2 weeks, I got to see a whole new culture and the birth place of democracy. I got to eat a massive amount of feta cheese and baklava. For 2 weeks I got to stumble upon random ruins in the city of Athens, I was able to follow the steps of thousands of people who traveled to Delphi, and I had the chance to lay my eyes upon the original home of the Snake Goddess on Crete. I realized I see the Parthenon as not beautiful but as a breathtaking piece of architectural history. I recognized that I like to make all the ancient people look like me. Finally got my taste of Greek macho-ism and was not impressed at all. I had my fair share of Greek driving and was glad that Maine was not as bad. Discovering the multiple uses of olives and their oil, I was happy that at least one country was progressing somewhat with going green. I was able to become a seeing and knowing student of history. So how can I describe these feelings and experiences that I was able to have while in Greece? Well…I can’t. Finally being able to get the place that I have studied for over 4 years know was simply indescribable. Which seems disappointing to some extent, but how many times can you say fantastic or amazing without feeling that you simply aren’t getting across the awesomeness that you experienced. So all I can truly say is that it was more than memorable and that now I can really connect myself to the ancients. But yet again it is simply indescribable. Indescribable.

Last Words:

Now if I recall correctly we were supposed to do a final evaluation at the end of our journal. I felt that giving us time to explore and sleep off the jetlag was great. The amount of activities that were scheduled was balanced because I think that if we did anymore tours I would still be recuperating by sleeping through this entire week. Of course there was still so much more that we could have seen, but we saw the major things on the mainland and I thought that was a good choice. For being in an area for a short period of time seeing the most famous is usual the best technique. On Crete I had kind of hoped to see more of the island that we did not get to see. I feel that all three of our professors to accompany us were wonderful. Everyone had something interesting to show us, and as a lover of learning I appreciated it. For me this trip was less about a relaxing holiday as the Greeks kept referring to it as, and more about connecting to the world that I had read so much about. Thank you all for your patience during the more frustrating parts of the trip as well as the good parts and again thank you for the opportunity.

And like I mentioned before I’ve never really been good at the whole journal thing so I hope that I at least came somewhat close to what you were expecting from our journals. Thanks again!