I had a really nice day today in Athens. Kendra, Lindsay, and I took the metro into the city. While they went and explored the Acropolis, I relaxed at a cafe, ate some Greek yogurt with honey, and filled out some postcards. I found an international press store, and bought a USA Today to catch up on what is going on back on the other side of the world. They returned, but Lindsay had to leave early, so Kendra and I headed over to the New Acropolis Museum. It was really cool. They had four floors worth of artifacts from the Acropolis. Outside was really neat too because the floor was glass and beneath was ruins. I realized I never talked about this before, but the Parthenon (I also realized that in an earlier post I accidentally wrote "Pantheon"...wrong country!) was built for the goddess Athena. According to Greek mythology, there was a competition between Poseidon and Athena as to who the city would be named after. Eventually, Athena won, the Parthenon was errected in her honor, and the city was named "Athens." There's a little fun fact for you.
After the Acropolis Museum we discovered that there was a fine arts festival in town. Much to my delight, we discovered that Sylvie Guillem would be performing later tonight!!!! Not only was she performing, but she was performing in the theatre IN THE ACROPOLIS!!! For those of you who don't know who Sylvie Guillem is, she is a French ballerina from the Paris Opera Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London. She is an absolutely phenomenal dancer, and the suppressed ballet fanatic inside of me went insane at the thought of seeing Sylvie Guillem live at the Acropolis. Unfortunately, the show was sold out, and my little ballerina heart was broken. It would have been an incredible performance, but it's ok. I was very impressed that almost all of the people coming to see the show were locals and not tourists. It is really refreshing to know that despite everything happening in Greece right now, there is still a support for the arts. That makes me happy.
Kendra and I got a real Greek dinner. I ordered Moussaka. It was SO DELICIOUS! It was a multi-layered dish composed of eggplant, mincemeat, spices, and this creamy cheese sauce. Oh man. It was fantastic. I'm glad I decided to be adventurous with my menu selections. I'm usually not, but this was so worth it. For dessert I had, you guessed it, Greek yogurt with honey once again! Incredible. I'm going to try to go to the supermarket tomorrow to buy some prepackaged yogurt to bring back on the ship.
After dinner Kendra and I went shopping! I ended up buying two dresses, a real pair of handmade gold Greek leather sandals, and a really nice present for my parents. I'm really excited about it. I know they'll love it, and I really wanted to get them something to show how much I appreciate them. I'm also really excited about all the clothes I have purchased in the different ports. It is a really big deal for me to have a wardrobe that I feel really good about, and have clothes that I feel good in. I'm not going to get into anything, but for those of you who know me, you know what a big deal this is. I'm really proud of myself, and I think it is definitely a worthwhile investment for very many reasons.
For my Race, Class, and Gender class we have to do "Photo Essay," where we take several pictures about a theme pertaining to the class and then write about them. I'm doing mine about the breaking of the typical gender roles we have constructed in America. So far I have gotten pictures of men carrying children around and female police officers. I think it's a good assignment, and I think I picked an interesting topic. It really is rather fascinating to notice the difference in gender roles between America and Europe. There are an enormous amount of women working in "masculine" fields, such as police officers, and I have seen a lot of men alone with their children in public. There are other examples as well, but these are two of the more prominent ones that I am focusing on for my project. It makes me really happy to see this. I wish America could adopt the ideas and the mindsets of the people in these countries.
This leads me to my next point...I have come to many, many realizations over the past several days. Kendra and I had a long talk about this on our walk back to the ship. I am embarrassed to be an American. I see the ignorance in myself regarding the world around me. I see the ignorance in my peers as well. I see the way I get treated as a "less-than" in some of these countries because I am American, and the world recognizes our ignorance. It is so sad that the entire world can see our ignorance, but we have no idea. I found it very interesting when I was buying the USA Today and talking to the lady at the store that she asked me where I was from, and before I could answer she said, "England? Canada?" It made me realize that based on my behavior, this woman assumed that I could not have been from the US because I was not living up to her stereotype. It makes me so sad to think that that is the image of Americans in the eyes of the rest of the world. This experience is so life changing. Semester at Sea is opening up my eyes and truly creating a global citizen out of me. I needed this. I needed to get away from America and remove myself from everything I knew. I could not be more proud of myself and the growth in me.
I have more to say about this, but it is 1:15 in the morning, and I am exhausted. Tomorrow is my last day in Greece, which I am terribly sad about. I am stuck on the ship for quite a bit of the time we have left because I have a lecture to go to, but hopefully I will get one last taste of Greece (and by that I obviously mean yogurt!) before we leave for our next port--Bulgaria.
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