Iridescent Clouds, Looking Like A Rainbow In The Clouds.

Iridescent clouds, looking like a rainbow in the clouds.

A diffraction phenomenon caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals individually scattering light. Larger ice crystals do not produce iridescence, but can cause halos, a different phenomenon.

Yep, that's definitely a rock.

Okay, I’ve seriously been slacking. Time to write a week’s worth of updates!

June 11th

Back to the museum! On Monday, we were given topics to write about that related to ancient Cyprus. The museum is looking to add this info to their website within the next year, and they’re even thinking about putting together a written publication. This means that my little blurbs about Cyprus could end up in an actual museum publication! Holy crap!

I chose to write about “Trade and Contacts with East and West in the Prehistoric Period.” Let me tell you, those Cypriots sure had an extensive maritime trade network. There was a lot of information that I had to condense and write summaries of. Doing that pretty much took up my whole day.

June 12th

Tuesday was absolutely amazing. Mimika had arranged for Dakota, Haley (the other intern), and me to meet the curator of the Antikythera Shipwreck exhibit at the National Museum, where she’d give us a personal tour! Dakota and I met Haley at the Cycladic Museum, and then we trekked to the National Museum from there, which was about a thirty minute walk. We ventured through Omonia, which is the sketchiest district in central Athens, apparently. But, it was broad daylight, and there were three of us, so we were okay. I actually kind of liked Omonia and would love to go back and take good photos there. But there are anarchists there…supposedly. Everyone keeps warning us about them.

The National Museum is absolutely GIGANTIC! It was a bit daunting, actually. We were told to go around the side to the office entrance, where we would meet the curator, Christina Avronidaki. However, we couldn't find said entrance, so we walked through the front. We told them we were to meet with Dr. Avronidaki, but they had no idea what we were going on about. So…we had to go back around and locate the office, which we finally did.

We were introduced to Christina, who’s a very nice woman. She gave us special passes that gave us free reign of the museum. I mean, with our special passes from the Greek government, we’d be able to get in for free anyway, but I digress…

I almost cried during the tour of the Antikythera exhibition. It was just so amazing; I’ve been reading about the wreck (and the Mechanism, of course!) for YEARS, and to finally see it was one of the best experiences I’ve had to this day. The so-called Antikythera Mechanism was way smaller than I thought it’d be! It was smaller than my head (and I have a pretty small head). I always had it in my mind that it would be some huge device, but it wasn’t at all! I felt almost as cheated as I felt when I saw how small the Kritios Boy is…my other favourite part of the exhibit was the marble sculptures. They are definitely a sight to be seen. Where they were buried in sediment on the sea floor, they were pristine. However, where they were exposed, they looked all “corroded.” It was extremely eerie, but also SO COOL. I’ll upload some pictures later.

After we said goodbye to Christina, we wandered around the museum for another hour and a half. Just like at the Acropolis Museum, I saw so many pieces that I’d already seen in textbooks. Seeing them up close and personal, though, was something else. I managed to humiliate myself, however. I wanted to pose with one of my favourite pieces of sculpture, the Artemision Zeus/Poseidon. As soon as I tried that, a guy from the museum started flipping a shit and causing a scene. Awkward…you see, in situations like this, I laugh when under pressure. That just made it worse. Needless to say, I left that room as soon as possible.

Other highlights included seeing the golden death mask of “Agamemnon” from Mycenae as well as the National Museum’s collection of Cycladic Art. We then went to turn in our badges, and we did so by sneaking through a gap in the back wall of the Antikythera exhibit. Like a boss.

After we left the museum, we stopped at a café in Omonia. It was really nice to unwind and get to know Haley a bit better. We had an interesting conversation about our interests in art, and Dakota and I talked about archaeology. Then, we parted ways since Haley had to go back to her apartment at 1:30. Dakota and I tried to find the Numismatic Museum and got pretty turned around. I wanted to give up since the bandaids I’d put on my toes kept falling off. Result: bleeding blisters on my pinky toes. Ouch. But, we eventually found it and toured the collection. The house was absolutely beautiful, except for one tiny little detail: swastikas. Everywhere. Swastikas on the floor mosaics…swastikas on the walls…oy vey. Later, we learned that the house belonged to Heinrich Schliemann for a time. That explains everything. If you know anything about classical archaeology, it’ll make sense to you, too. But the coin collection itself was quite impressive once you put the swastikas out of your mind. I do have to say that coins aren’t really my thing, though. I understand their importance to finding the chronology of a site, but studying them isn’t really something I’d want to do.

Dakota and I split up near the Cycladic Museum. She needed to send some postcards, and I wanted to head back to the BSA to disinfect my blisters. Fun. Right near the BSA, though, I walked past a dead kitten. That totally ruined my mood. :(

That night, Dakota went out with her friend from Bryn Mawr who happened to be in Athens for the week. I just hung out. It was a pretty long day, after all.

June 13th

Wednesday was our last day at the Cycladic Museum before heading to Patras for two weeks. At breakfast, we heard some pretty hilarious stories from Alice about the time she spent working at the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London. Apparently, the guy who played Watson got fired for being racist, tries to hide the fact that he’s from New Zealand, and took voice lessons to lose his Kiwi accent and sound British. He sounds like a winner. And then the guy who plays Sherlock won’t answer to anything but “Sherlock,” so his true identity is a mystery. Great stuff.

At the museum, we sent our summaries on our topics to Mimika as soon as we arrived. A short time later, she called us into her office and proceeded to tell us how absolutely astounded she was by how well we wrote! She couldn’t believe that we’d only been in college for two years and said that that post graduate Greek students could hardly write summaries that well. Thanks, Bryn Mawr Archaeology Department! I knew your extremely high standards were good for something! Basically, I felt happy for the rest of the day just knowing how highly she thought of us. I then moved onto a new topic to write about. This time, I chose the history of writing in ancient Cyprus. It was very interesting indeed!

We headed out to get lunch at 1. Both of us got tiropita and had our meals back at the office. It was pretty sweltering in there. Mimika then told us that another curator, Maria (who’d given us a tour of the museum’s Cycladic collection), was absolutely frantic and needed our help! Sasha and Dakota to the rescue! It turns out that she needed our help to write tweets for the museum’s Twitter. So, we spent the rest of the day coming up with the best tweets ever in Haley’s air-conditioned office. When they get posted eventually, EVERYONE will be flocking to the museum. There was one that I wanted to put in about Nero and the violin-shaped people figurines, but it was probably better that I didn’t…

That concluded our first leg of our internship. We said goodbye to Mimika and headed back to the BSA to pack (supposedly). We bought laundry detergent on the way because we planned to wash our clothes before leaving. That never happened, and we figured we’d just wash our clothes in the hotel bathtub in Patras. Euro 2012 was on…

June 14th

Off to Patras! Well, first I had to finish packing. It was a bit of a disaster. How the hell am I gonna manage next time? When everything was stuffed into my bags, we left the BSA and took a cab to the bus station. What a busy place! There, we called Konstantinos “Kostas” Paschalidis, who was going to be our guide/“boss” in Patras. He’s one of the guys in charge at the dig site and is a curator at the National Museum.

Our bus left at 12:30. I wanted to stay awake and look at all the scenery, but that just didn’t happen. I took a much-needed nap at around 1:00 and woke up around 1:45. Okay, so it wasn’t much of a nap. We pulled into Patras at 3:20, which was a bit later than we should have, but that was okay. We got there intact!

We met Kostas at the bus station. He’s a really cool dude. Hilarious, actually. He has a cute little hatchback from the 80s that just barely managed to fit our luggage. Score! We then arrived at the hotel. It’s so nice! Our room’s a bit small, but it’s really cool because it has the best wallpaper ever. Pictures will follow. And about the laundry situation…there’s no bathtub. Still have to figure out what to do about that. The sink’s a bit shallow…

At 8, we went to the lobby to meet Dr. Lena Papazoglou-Manioudaki. She’s the head curator of the Prehistoric Collection at the National Museum and has been working at the dig site since the excavation started in 2008. She introduced us to the two post-grad students we’d be working with, Katarina and Panagiotis. Kostas was a bit late, but then we headed out when he arrived. We went up to the square near the hotel and went to a cute little café. I ate so much (I’d only had a Luna Bar at the bus station) salad, and I even tried a spinach-type dish that I really enjoyed. I shared an eggplant with Dakota, and Lena shared her onion pie with us. I also ate a ton of olives, since those are really growing on me. Oh, and I had two glasses of white wine. That was fun.

The conversation was mostly in Greek, but occasionally Dakota and I were included. Kostas translated some stuff for us. I was very slightly buzzed at that point, so I didn’t really mind that we didn’t have to talk as much. Then came the dessert platter. Oh my god…heaven. We left at 10, at which point the cafe (and the streets) were absolutely bustling! Things really come alive in Europe after 8PM. But we were too tired to do anything else, so we went to sleep after we got to the hotel. We had to be up at 7 to go to the dig!

June 15th

Happy birthday to my husband, Tim Lincecum!

Ahem. Anyway. We woke up at 7, which was kind of difficult. I took a lightning-fast shower, which helped wake me up a bit. Then I slathered myself in sunblock/bug spray. Breakfast started at 7:30. Dakota and I met Kostas, ate, and left the hotel at 7:50. Then, we headed to the dig site. It’s about five kilometres from our hotel and up a lot of winding roads. At one point, it becomes all dirt and gravel, and it gets really bumpy. I’ve never been on a road where only inches separated you from safety and certain death by falling off a mountainside. It was crazy. But Kostas playing Greek music from the 60s-80s was a fun perk. He made a habit of telling us when certain songs were from. “Yes, this is early 80s."

We got to the end of the road, where we met Katarina and Panagiotis. We then had to hike a few hundred metres to the site itself. I immediately managed to tumble down a steep slope. I scratched my leg up pretty well, but I felt awesome. First battle wound! I later figured out my contacts were behind every little stumble I had. My left one was bothering me, so it screwed with my depth perception. Also, I have pretty flimsy ankles.

Kostas gave us a tour of the site when we arrived. He introduced us to the workmen, but none of them speak English. I was immediately blown away by the view. From the hill (which is more like a really small mountain), you can see the whole city of Patras, as well as the Ionian Sea! I can only imagine how beautiful the sunset would be from up there. The background noise was a lot of cowbells ringing and roosters crowing. On an opposite hill, there’s a weird family who gets all defensive if you try to go near them. Turns out the National Archaeological Service is renting the hill we’re working on from them, but they don’t like it. The cowbells grew closer, and it turns out that they belonged to goats. Kostas doesn’t like the goats because they go to the bathroom on the site.

The settlement is from the Mycenaean civilisation and probably dates to around 1500 BCE. It was incredible standing on floors so old. The upper part of the site has the remnants of what could’ve been an Archaic Temple (so, maybe 6th-5th centuries BCE). Lena told us that it may just be one of the oldest Greek temples EVER. And I got to stand on its column bases! It also has an apsidal structure and what appears to be a destruction deposit. Kostas was working more in the lower level, however. That’s where a bunch of walls have been found. I got to stand in actual Mycenaean ROOMS. It was so amazing to be surrounded by so much history (or prehistory, if you’d prefer). We didn’t do much after the tour, but Katarina taught us how to distinguish pot sherds from rocks. As the workers were shovelling dirt into a wheelbarrow, we went through the dirt looking for sherds. More often than not, we heard Katarina say, "that’s a rock.” “Yep, that’s a rock.” “Rock.” “Petra.” We did find some sherds, however, so it wasn’t a total failure. Then, we watched the workers uncover more of the wall in square Θ17 (we learned about all the site divisions and how to classify objects).

At 11:30, we had lunch in the “air conditioned” place, as Kostas calls it. It’s a small grove of trees that provides shade and a nice breeze. I only had a granola bar, but I shared it with Dakota. Panagiotis had a few breadsticks that he shared with us. We’d definitely have to buy our own food.

The day continued much like that. When I was on the upper part of the site with Dakota, Kostas came up and said, “Sasha, I think I found something of yours!” It turns out he had my left contact lens. No wonder I’d stopped rubbing my left eye! They found it on Wall 2. Who knew that the Mycenaeans had advanced contact lens technology? Basically, we had to put it in a baggy with water, like a goldfish, if we wanted to save it. Its shape was a bit wonky, but it looked normal after it got hydrated. So, that was fun.

Among the day’s finds were a very tiny bronze ring found in the upper part and then some later, Archaic pot sherds on the lower part. You could tell because of the glossy black glaze. Kostas got so annoyed and was like, “GET OUT OF MY SITE!” It was pretty hilarious. Oh, Archaic pottery…why you in a Mycenaean layer?

We left at 2:15, and I managed not to trip on anything else on the way back to the car. Score! Once back in the hotel, we showered. Oh, that was much needed. Then, Dakota and I took a nap until about 8, when we headed down to the city’s wharf. Patras is a really nice city. It’s much smaller than Athens, but it is still pretty lively. The docks were full of people as the sun began to set. I’d laid eyes on one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. Pictures to come. We then headed to a market to buy lunch food for the next two weeks. Peanut butter jelly time!!! After dropping our food at the hotel, we went out to eat back down by the sea. We found a place where I had a salad and a veggie burger. Let me tell you, that was one of the best veggie burgers I’d ever had. Omnomnomnom.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, watched Euro 2012, and slept.

June 16th

Had to wake up again at 7. We ate breakfast with Kostas and then went back to the dig. Working on a Saturday, hellz yeah!

This time, I didn’t fall on the way to the site. I think it’s because I was actually wearing glasses. Either that, or I was just extremely excited because we were gonna excavate a pot of our very own! We’d be real archaeologists!

When we got to the site, Kostas gave us a bunch of tools and brought us to the room where the pot was. Katarina told us how to work around the pot so we wouldn’t break it, and we started to excavate. We were so excited. I may have been singing the theme song from the movie “Holes,” but it was totally necessary. YOU GOT TO DIG THEM HOLES.

About a half hour in, we’d already exposed a lot of the pot. We were talking about how it should go into a museum and how our names would be attached to it. So exciting. But then, Kostas had to come and burst our bubble…

The pot was a lie.

Well, it really was an ancient Mycenaean pot, but it’s one they rebury every year for the next season’s Bryn Mawr students. Bummer! Kostas called it “Persephone,” because it goes to ground for about six months every year.

For the rest of the day, we watched the workers uncover more of a wall. We did help Panagiotis, though. He showed us how to find walls and use a brush to expose stones. He then had the idea after lunch for us to do a little bit of surveying. Of course, that wasn’t necessarily allowed, but whatever. After lunch, we went down a really steep slope that had a goat path. We’re not goats, though, so it was a bit of a tricky descent. We ended up in a rocky field full of a plant known as “donkey thorns.” They’re a really interesting looking flower, kind of alien-like. Basically, we found a bunch of sherds. We didn’t take that many back up, but Kostas found some Corinthian-style roof tiles! Those are from the 5th century BCE, so they’re way post-Mycenaean. The climb back up was a bit more difficult because it was so steep. A plant stabbed my leg, which I didn’t appreciate. It was also 104º F, but what can ya do?

Then, we classified some more pot sherds with Katarina and wandered between the two levels of the site. We left at 2 because Kostas and Lena had to drive back to Athens to vote. That’s kind of annoying that they had to drive three hours, but this is an extremely important election.

That night, Dakota and I went back down to the wharf and watched the sunset. Then, we went to dinner at the same place we went to the previous night. Mmm, veggie burger. We watched the Euro 2012 game because it was Greece vs. Russia. It was a really intense game, but we left just before halftime to get froyo.

On our walk back to the hotel, we heard a shit ton of screaming. It seemed as though there were a riot starting! But, it just turns out that Greece had scored a goal. Crazy, man. We got a bit lost on the way back, but we managed. I turned the TV on when we got to the room and watched the rest of the game while Dakota skyped her friends.

GREECE WON.

And then the honking and shouting didn’t stop until 2 AM. Greece, you DRUNK. It’s just the quarterfinals. But they weren’t expecting to beat Russia, so…I guess that’s okay. I wonder how it’s gonna be for the elections today.

June 17th

Woke up at 5 AM to watch the Giants game. I hoped Timmy would turn it around in Seattle. After giving up two homers in the first, he settled down. And then we came back and scored 4 runs for him. But then I fell asleep, and when I woke up, the game was tied in the 6th inning (or maybe the 5th). A relief pitcher was in, so I was confused. But I was too tired, and I fell back asleep.

Woke up for real at 12:30. My leg was really hurting from pulling a muscle when I fell a few days ago. My calf is just really tight. Anyway, we walked up the hill to see the Byzantine fortress, but it was closed. Boooooo.

Dakota and I split up, and I got lunch at the café we went to a few nights ago. I had a huge salad and fourteen olives. I’m an olive fiend.

After lunch, I took a photo walk. I think I got some good pictures.

Then I got back to the hotel. And now here I am, trying to write blog entries.

Remind me not to slack for this long ever again lol.

THE END (for now)

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tipsorina

5 years ago

Source: 1 2 3 4 5 6 If you want more facts, follow Ultrafacts

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tipsorina

5 years ago

How to feel again

Walk barefoot in the grass, remember the way this feels. Now put your shoes back on, you do not want the thing to touch your toes.

Go outside in the dark, scream at the moon. She is listening, it is okay.

Allow her to comfort you, she means well.

If you hear other people screaming, do not fret, they are just as apathetic as you, let them feel.

If an elderly woman comes and stands near you, thank her. Listen to what she has to say, she knows best.

If you see an animal that does not belong, leave. Go home, and sit in a room in the dark. If you don’t, go home and have a good night’s sleep

Do not fall asleep.

If you hear whispers, it is okay.

Remember rule number 7 and 10. Leave at sunrise. Lock the door behind you. Feel.

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tipsorina

5 years ago

Captives’ Facade

Corinth, Greece

2nd century CE

An ornate two story facade located in front of the early basilica flanks the Lechaion Road between the North Shops and the Monumental Gate. The upper story consisted of a row of six larger-than-life-size figures standing against Corinthian piers. The two best preserved pillars represent men in eastern dress wearing Phrygian caps. Two heads of women from the same monument indicate that the males were accompanied by female figures. They may have been personifications of geographical places. The monument has been thought to commemorate the victories of the Emperor Septimius Severus over the Parthians in CE 197.

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tipsorina

5 years ago

Update:Τα 18.

*Η στιγμή που το κορίτσι που ήμουν στα 16 μου,άλλαξε στα 17 για να καταλήξει αυτό που είναι στα (τόσο κοντινά)18 μου.

Υπάρχουν ακόμα μέρες που κλαις για καταστάσεις και πρόσωπα του παρελθόντος,μέρες που δε θες να σηκωθείς καν από το κρεβάτι,που θες για λίγο απλά να υπάρχεις στον χώρο,χωρίς όμως να κάνεις τίποτα.

Αλλά:Οι μέρες εκείνες είναι τόσο λίγες,μπροστά σε εκείνες που νιώθεις ευγνώμων για ό,τι έχεις καταφέρει ως τώρα.

Ένα αγόρι θα σου πει πόσο του αρέσουν τα μακρυά μαλλιά σου γιατί “αυτά ταιριάζουν στις κοπέλες”.Και τότε αποφασίζεις να κάνεις αυτό που ήθελες τόσο καιρό αλλά δίσταζες:τα κόβεις.Δε σε νοιάζει τόσο πια η γνώμη των άλλων.Έτσι τολμάς κι εκείνα τα piercing και φοράς πλεον ό,τι αρέσει σε εσένα γιατί πια δε σε αφορά η μόδα.Νιώθεις μια περίεργη μορφή εσωτερικής ελευθερίας.

Έκανες κάποιους λάθος χειρισμούς.Θα συνεχίσεις να κάνεις.Αλλά πλεον έχεις μάθει να σε συγχωρείς και όχι να σε καταδικάζεις.Έπαψες πια να ανακυκλώνεις τις αρνητικές αυτές σκέψεις στο μυαλό σου.

Συνηθίζουν(λανθασμένα) να λένε ότι η ωριμότητα πάει με την ηλικία.Έτσι θα χάσεις λίγο την ανεμελειά σου γιατί ένας μελλοντικός ενήλικας έχει περισσότερες ευθύνες απο τον 16χρονο εαυτό σου.Θα αρχίσει σιγά σιγά να σβήνεται το χαμόγελό σου και τη θέση του να παίρνει ένα πρόσωπο βουτηγμένο στις υποχρεώσεις.Μην επιτρέψεις να χαθεί αυτό το παιδί από μέσα σου.

Διαφώνησες αρκετά αυτά τα δύο χρόνια και έχασες άτομα.Κάποια μάλιστα ήταν σημαντικά για εσένα.

Αλλά: Κέρδισες εσένα και δεν επέτρεψες σε κανέναν να σε αλλάξει.Και δεν μπορώ να φανταστώ μεγαλύτερη νίκη από αυτήν εδώ.

Συνειδητοποίησες την προσωρινότητα των καταστάσεων και κατάλαβες ότι οι άνθρωποι δε μπορούν να μείνουν για πάντα.Βέβαια,είμαστε κι εμείς οι ίδιοι που αποχωρούμε κάποιες φορές.

Τελικά έκανες πράγματα που ισχυριζόσουν ότι δε θα κάνεις ποτέ.Κάποια μάλιστα τα επανέλαβες διότι σου άρεσε η γλύκα της “αμαρτίας”.Έτσι,ήπιες λίγο παραπάνω και δε γύρισες σπίτι την ώρα που είχες υποσχεθεί.Ή μάλλον ίσως και να μη γύρισες καθόλου.Ανοίχτηκες σε άτομα που δεν περίμενες ότι θα ερχόσασταν τόσο κοντά και τόλμησες επιτέλους να φύγεις από καταστάσεις που για χρόνια σε έπνιγαν.Έσπασες τους κανόνες για ό,τι ποθούσε ανέκαθεν η καρδιά σου.Διεκδίκησες,υποτιμήθηκες,πόνεσες,κέρδισες αυτό που επιθυμούσες,αλλά έμαθες και να χάνεις.

Πλήγωσες και πληγώθηκες παραπάνω απ’ όσο πίστευες ότι θα αντέξεις.Και όμως,να ‘σαι εδώ.Ακόμα πιο δυνατή.Ακόμα πιο εντάξει με την ιδέα ότι έσφαλες.

Αλλά: Ακόμα πιο σίγουρη ότι δε γίνεται να φταις για όλα εσύ.

Η ευτυχία σου δεν εξαρτάται πια από κανέναν άνθρωπο.Η ευτυχία σου καθορίζεται από εσένα.Και δεν ξέρεις πόσο υπέροχο είναι αυτό.

Χρειάστηκε να πεις πολλές φορές ένα μεγάλο “Άντε στο διάολο” σε καταστάσεις που δεν οδηγούν πουθενά.Κι έτσι,προχώρησες σε νέα πράγματα,καλύτερα.

Παρέμεινες ζωντανή κι έφτασες μέχρι εκεί που δε μπορούσες καν να φανταστείς ότι θα καταφέρεις να φτάσεις ποτέ.Τα μαύρα σύννεφα έφυγαν.

Έφαγες λίγο παραπάνω και δεν κοιμήθηκες καθόλου κάποια βράδια.Ξενύχτησες.Απέκτησες μαύρους κύκλους και ραγάδες.Ψήλωσες.Πάχυνες και αδυνάτησες.Και κάπως έτσι έμαθες λίγο παραπάνω να σε αγαπάς.

Τωρινέ μου εαυτέ,είμαι περήφανη για εσένα.

Υ.Γ.:Σε όποιον νιώθει ότι δε θα φτάσει μέχρι τα 18,διότι δεν αντέχει άλλο:Ο πόνος αυτός είναι προσωρινός και όλα εκείνα που σε περιμένουν τόσο μεγάλα που αξίζει να παλέψεις γι'αυτά.Τις πιο όμορφες μέρες δεν τις έχεις ζήσει ακόμα.Τα λέμε.

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tipsorina

5 years ago