Day 1 Paris

Well, we had an eventful time getting to Paris! Our flight from Nashville to Philly was half an hour late, which wouldn't have been a big deal if our layover had been more than an hour! And, of course, our connecting gate was literally the farthest one possible from our arriving gate! So we ran, and we ran, and we took the shuttle, and we ran some more - and we made it! Only to sit on the plane for an hour and a half while they straightened out a lighting issue! That's how life goes, huh?

When we arrived, we took a taxi to our guesthouse, and discovered it to be even more lovely than we imagined. Cecilia and Jean-Claude, the owners, have three studio apartments that they rent out, and keep an absolutely lovely garden filled with roses and green grass and a lovely pavillion from which to enjoy it all. When we arrived, Cecilia had fresh bread, butter and marmalade waiting for us to snack on, and had stocked the refrigerator with orange juice, yogurt, water, etc! Our room is small, but comfortable, and the bathroom is spacious by European standards. The decoration is very homey and kitch, very similar to what you would expect in an American B&B. Altogether it's a very welcoming and comfortable place - a nice change after all the hotels I've been in in the last month.

We were seriously jetlagged of course, so we took a nap and managed to oversleep by about three hours. We finally got out the door around 4:00 and successfully navigated the metro system and arrived at the Eiffel Tower! We walked around, took in the Eiffel Tower, and decided to eat before mustering the energy for the climb. We ate a simple but satisfying meal around the corner and made our way back to the tower. For some crazy reason we decided to go by stairs as opposed to the elevator, so 30 minutes and 500 steps later we were on the Eiffel Tower! I had no idea that they had little sandwich and snack places up there, or souvenier shops, etc. So we walked around, and enjoyed the view from up there, and finally took the elevator to get to the very top! By far, the scariest elevator ride of my life - all glass, and all you can see is what is below you, and very little of the superstructure holding you up. But we made it, and the view was spectacular.

There is a Champagne bar up on the top of the tower, so Daniel got us glasses of champagne and we toasted our one year anniversary overlooking beautiful Paris from the the top of the tower! Afterward, we walked along the river for a while, and finally made our way back to the guesthouse. One the way back we stopped and had a fantastic meal at an Asian restaurant near to it. It was delicious! Daniel had some sort of spicy beef dish, and I had chicken with curry, and stir-fried noodles with vegetables. It was all flavorful and well cooked. We also enjoyed a bottle of bordeaux and we had sorbet for dessert. I kid you not, this was the best sorbet I have ever had! Homemade, real ingredients - it was fantastic. Daniel had chocolate, and I had mango and coconut. I think we'll be going back there several times during our stay here . . .

So there was Day 1 in Paris. I'll try to update whenever I can, and with pictures eventually. Love you all!

Back from Greece, Leaving for France tomorrow.

This is the first time I've sat down to gather my thoughts about my experiences in the last month. Where to start? What to share? How to describe how it has changed me? I suppose a good place to start is by talking about Greece itself. We spent two weeks in Athens, and two weeks traveling on the mainland. Athens is dirty, noisy, crowded, shoddy, and altogether irresistible. There is something magical about being the high-end shopping district, looking into the windows of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Fendi - and turning the corner only to stumble on a Byzantine church from the 12th century. Or getting a quick bite in some sketchy little neighborhood, and emerging to find yourself in full view of the Acropolis. The juxtaposition is jarring, and altogether wonderful. I can't tell you much about the people, other than the younger men will cat call an annoy any young woman to no end. But I can say that I met a few Greeks who I instantly connected with, and one whom I feel I could be friends with for the rest of my life. Yiota (our guide through the Athens Center, the organization who put the program together for us) and I had one long conversation over beers in a coastal town called Loutraki, and soon realized we were kindred souls. Similar music, similar movies, similar passion for good food, good company, beautiful places, and a certain knack for enjoying those things to the fullest. She is romantic in a purely beautiful and not at all sentimental way. She would never watch a chick-flick, but she understood the look I had sometimes at dinner or at a site, and would say, "There is nothing better than to see your love again."

The students can be described as a group of 12 people as unlike myself as you could imagine - athletes, economics and poli sci majors, all but one in fraternities and sororities, etc. I can say with confidence now, after this trip, that I can navigate almost any social situation, and make friends with any sort of person! I thoroughly enjoyed their company, and they kept me from feeling too lonely. I liked the short interlude into "normal" life - I had my first real glimpse of what it would have been like had I been social and well adjusted in college! :) But, there you have it - I had a month of it, and now I'm incredibly happy to be back in my own slightly dark, slightly off, and totally un-normal life with my husband who loves me for being just a little bit off.

Greece is breathtakingly beautiful, and so diverse in the kind of beauty it offers from one place to the next. I had gone to Greece only looking forward to the antiquities, the ancient buildings. But some of the most memorable, and heartbreakingly beautiful things I saw were Byzantine fortresses, overgrown with wildflowers, perched on high mountains overlooking green valleys. The Greek and Roman architecture was beautiful as well, but somehow not always as alive, as palpable, as I expected. Does that make sense? Or perhaps it was just the circumstances - we were rushed from site to site, pressed on all sides by tourists, tired and hot. Perhaps if I had had time, a few hours to sit and listen, to study how the temple interacts with its surroundings, take time to drink in the symmetry, the strength, the poetry of lines in those buildings ... But I didn't have time, and I was trying desperately to answer 12 students' questions with accuracy. Greece is a place that I will go back to, though. And I can't wait to share it with Daniel. He's not exactly a Classicist, but the beauty of ancient Greece would not be lost on him.

The most valuable thing I learned on this trip is my own desire and enthusiasm to share the knowledge I have gained. I led discussions once, often twice a week, and I was surprised by my own confidence, and my urgency to help these students understand antiquity. I think I had a taste of the joy of teaching. Of course, it's hard not to be excited when you're explaining the significance of a building or a vase or a sculpture when you and the student are standing right next to it!

I posted pictures of Greece on Facebook, for those who would like to see them. Daniel and I will hopefully be posting pictures of our trip while we're there, since we'll be bringing a computer along. That also means Skype, by the way! :)