I pretty much slept for 9 out of the 11 hours during the flight home, had a nice dinner with the fam (vegan meatloaf- haven't had that in a while!) and hit the hay by 9:30. Strangely enough though, I woke up around 4 and couldn't really fall back asleep... must be the time change and such. I figure it will take a while for me to readjust back. Until then, I probably won't be sleeping like a normal human being.
EST - 1, MORGAN - 0. Sweet...
It feels so strange to be back in the states. The snow, for one thing, is a bit of a shocker. There's just so much of it!! And the air is so bitter cold! I thought it was cold our last few days in Athens but this is just horrid! Driving home with my dad from the airport was an interesting ride because I slowly began to absorb the difference in the landscape around me. It feels so strange not to see green fields of orange and olive trees, colorful Mediterranean style buildings with orange tiled roofs, cerulean blue skies, or the limestone silhouette of the Acropolis in the distance. Instead, I see WHITE. White picket fences, white snow, a white bleak sky, white colonial style houses... Almost the complete opposite.
During our farewell dinner at a local taverna, my Greek Art History professor, who is a world-renowned archaeologist living in Greece, told me to contact him if I come back to Greece and he would give me a private tour of any site I wanted to see. For me, it's not a question of if- it's a question of when.
While I was living in Athens, I met many people who- like me- first became acquainted with Greece through a study abroad trip with their university. Each one of them told me how that was the beginning of their "love affair with Greece," because they just continued to come back until they made the decision to move their permanently. I can already see this happening for me. There is something about Greece, almost like an infection that just takes completely over you the longer you stay- and you either get it or you don't. And once you get it, there's no cure besides giving in and going back.
This trip has really extended my knowledge of ancient Greece and it has showed me all the opportunities in careers that Greece has to offer me. I've also discovered a real passion for the Bronze Age period as well as Archaic art and architecture, and I think that this is something that I would really like to get into.
There is so much to do in Athens (let alone Greece) for someone like me who is interested in what I'm most passionate about. I feel like it would be silly not to consider living or at least going back to Greece in the future. We only merely touched upon the surface of what Greece has to offer-- with over 2,000 islands and all of the Peloponnese and mainland Greece, one month is just simply not enough time.
So, I guess my next language to learn will be modern Greek then...
Thanks to all who read my blog and experienced Greece with me. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe even learned a little something too. I had the most amazing time and I've returned home feeling refreshed and missing Greece, agapi mou, already.
Yassus for now :) and polla filakia! (as they say in Greece which means "many kisses")
No comments:
Post a Comment