more pictures

#1 the Reichstag. that huge line of people is waiting to go in and walk up to the top, where there's an observation tower. I can't imagine what the line is like in the summer. My hosts and I sprawled out on the grass in front of the building and soaked up the sun for a while. later that day, it snowed (but it didn't stick)
#2 can't get enough of sunset pictures
#3 the upside of having to wait for the ferry for 7 hours on our last day in Naxos was that we got to witness the school kids' parade for Greek Independence Day, which is March 25
#3 a really big theater on the Acropolis
#5 view taken from the Temple to the Goddess of Pottery and Crafts in General (and the other god. let's not forget him.). looking out across the Agora and up the hill to the huge rock on which rests the Parthenon and a couple of temples

Spring Break, Part 4: Athens

I flew into Athens on Thursday night, and was there only to sleep for 3 hours before getting up at 5 and taking the metro to the port in order to catch the ferry to Santorini. my first impression, bsaed on that short visit, was that Athens was (to be blunt and reductionist) a shithole. this may have been informed by the location of our hostel, which was right beside the red light district and which, when I shared where I was staying with a few random Greek acquaintances, incited raised eyebrows and an inhalation of breath through clamped teeth. but we were totally fine, aside from my travel companions being tear- gassed on their first night: city bus drivers were on strike (causing a glitch in my arrival-- the bus just pulled over to the side of the road and stopped moving far away from where it was supposed to go. luckily a nice Greek man pointed me to the metro, and eventually I found my way to the hostel), and my companions got caught in a protest.

I developed a more favorable impression the second time around (we came back to Athens for two nights after the island of Naxos), though that's a relative term-- I still wouldn't call myself a big fan of Athens. the city doesn't have much going for it, beyond housing a bunch of really old stuff. it was cool to see some of the old stuff, but not as cool as I'd expected due to the hordes of tourists which rendered the experience at the Parthenon fairly unenjoyable. I much more enjoyed seeing the 'smaller' tourist attractions (such as the Agora and Zeus' temple).

our last night-- after negotiating the shut-down of the entire metro station while we were en-route to our hostel (the train just stopped and they turned off all the lights. that was a new one.) we wandered around for close to hour trying to find somewhere to eat, and ultimately settled on a 24- hour restaurant which produced plenty of entertainment, from language barriers with the waiter to questionable food to stray animals circling our feet and random people walking up to our table and attempting to sell us toy parrots and squirt guns.

oh, Greek food: not as phenomenal as I'd been expecting. though my judgment is framed through the lens of a vegetarian-- it is really hard to be a vegetarian and eat out in Greece. still, I managed, and I made sure to get baklava on my last night.

so I came away from Greece not quite as enchanted as I'd been expecting. part of that could be chalked up to too- high expectations, sure. but those expectations were high for a reason-- Greece gets a heckuva lot of hype. I think a large part of what I've learned from this experience is that I have very little interest any more in going to areas that are big tourist attractions-- it's just not really possible to have any kind of experience when you're being jostled about by people who don't understand the concept of a line, damnit! (it's a pet peeve)

None of this is to say that I wish I hadn't gone-- it was, without a doubt, an experience, and I feel like I've affirmed some thoughts which I've recently been distilling in my brain.
and good things come from all places-- the upside of being in the hostel was that I roomed with a nice guy from Argentina with whom I discussed the state of the world; and as we left for the airport on our last morning the man working the front desk told us,

"Have a nice life, yes? Life is beautiful."


#1 the feet of a really old statue
#2 really old theater beneath the hill that houses the Parthenon. They have the stage roped off, but not the seating-- so I plopped my butt down on the same seat used by ancient Greeks on a night out
#3 Emily and I in front of the Greek Agora (marketplace).
#4 Temple to two Gods. I can't remember either of their names, but the one was Goddess of "Pottery and Crafts in General", which I think is an hilarious job description. I took this picture from the Agora, looking out across the marketplace and up the hill to the temple. this was probably my favorite place in Athens-- so beautiful and green and good for imagining what it was like when people actually conducted their daily lives
#5 Temple of Zeus, about a 10- minute walk away from the Parthenon

Spring Break, Part 3: The Island of Naxos

I liked the island of Naxos more than I did Santorini. it had a great town, with lots of pastry shops, restaurants, and stores with hand-made products. the island was home of Dionysus, God of Wine, so it also has good alcohol. our hostel was amazing-- we paid 8 euro a night (the equivalent of about 12 dollars) for big rooms with kitchenettes (complete with stove, fridge, and cooking utensils), balconies, maid service, and a bottle of wine on the house (which we proceeded to drink on our second night, along with a dinner of bread and cheese [bread and beans, for the non- cheese-eaters among us] from a little bakery/cheese shop).
on the first night a few of us wandered outside after dinner and ended up on a beach at night. God, I love being on the beach at night.
the island began to lose its charm, however, on the third day: we were supposed to take a 9am ferry back to Athens, but upon reaching the port at 8:30 were informed that it hadn't sailed due to wind. so we sat around in the sun for about seven hours until the next ferry finally decided to show up (and during that 6- hour ride back to the mainland, I was reminded once again that I get nauseated on big boats sailing choppy seas).

#1 one of our balconies off the room of our hostel. I say "one of" because we had TWO.

#2 an old church. nearby was the Archeological Museum with lots of old stuff.
#3 a store selling all kinds of herbs, spices, oils, and other wonderful- smelling things. I bought cinnamon sticks and walked around smelling them all day
#4 the Temple of Apollo. we climbed up to it on our last night in Naxos to watch the sunset.
#5 the sun set. it was pretty.

Spring Break, Part 2: The Island of Santorini

Santorini was nice, but honestly-- I don't think it's worth all the hype. I've seen prettier. though I'm not saying that I didn't like it. the owners of our hostel were reason enough to go-- absolutely lovely people, who picked us up from the port, offered us free wine, and were generally warm and generous (though a bit dishonest on their website about the hostel's distance from town-- it turned out to be an almost 40-minute walk into the city center).

#1 view of the port on continental Greece as we depart via huge-ass ferry (think Titanic size) for the island of Santorini. during the 7.5-hour ferry- ride, I learn that I become nauseated on huge boats floating atop choppy seas.

#2 we went to the beach on our first day. of course. it wasn't warm enough for swimming, but it was warm enough for wading followed by lying on the black beach for an hour or so
#3 this picture is taken from about half-way up a mountain. we were going to go to the top in order to see some ancient ruins, but learned right before we set off that the ruins had been closed for the day (such a weird concept, ha- 'closing' ruins). we decided to climb the mountain anyway

#4 view from the other side of the mountain, as we made our way down what equated to a goat path. it was rocky and narrow and steep
#5 view from one of the streets in downtown Santorini, looking down on the coastal part of the town

Spring Break, Part 1: Berlin

I spent three nights in Berlin. I stayed with my German friend and her boyfriend, who lived in Berlin for a year, so I had the privilege of incredibly knowledgeable guides (and the comfort of a nice apartment, complete with a double- bed futon!) We pretty much saw chunks of every part of the city (which is huge, but not overwhelming because it extends out instead of piling everything on top of itself).

It was pretty striking to stand beside the wall... and so interesting to see the way that the city is evolving, now that it's been taken down.

On Thursday (my last day in Berlin), my hosts had to catch an early- morning bus to Prague. That left me to navigate the city on my own for a few hours before heading to the airport in order to fly to Athens. I'm proud to say that I did so with no problem (though I do have the benefit of being a native English speaker, and of living in a world in which most people speak at least a modicum of English.) I spent a lot of my time in the German Historical Museum, then wandered around in the sunshine and stumbled across a market before taking the SBahn to the airport.

Overall, I really liked the city-- it's got character, but is by no means in-your-face. It also has a whole lot of variety-- very distinct neighborhoods within the city. It feels like a city that's doing something-- that's pushing and pumping, but not in a caustic way; it's more subtle. And though I'm generalizing from limited interactions, everyone I met was friendly and helpful. It's also a very down- to- earth place, and seems to be less skeezy than a lot of cities I've been to (or even US culture, in general).


#1 Memorial to the Jewish victims of the holocaust. the blocks of concrete are of varying heights, while the ground beneath them waves up and down. it would be easy to get lost inside of it.


#2 the window from which Michael Jackson dangled his infant child! (I'm not sure which window, specifically, but it was one of these)
#3 sunset over the city. took this photo while standing near the Sony Center

#4 sign at Checkpoint Charlie. pretty crazy that all of the old signs remain, signs which used to dictate people's lives. but now people go about their daily business without paying them mind.
#5 view from the staircase of a four- story ex- factory which has now been taken over by artists who both produce and showcase their work within the building. there's also an open bar up near the roof, from which patrons can look out over a yard that houses large sculpture installations.

belated Belfast post

1. the Giant's Causeway is kind of ridiculously beautiful



#2 more evidence for statement #1


#3 it's also kind of ridiculously windy. haha! this sign is even better than the falling car one from the Aran Islands



#4 one of many, many murals in Belfast. I felt a bit weird taking pictures, especially amidst a crowd of people taking pictures. these murals mean so much to so many people


#5 the "peace wall"-- people/visitors from all over write messages of peace on this wall, which is about 20 feet high and holds up another 30 feet of chain-link fence in order to separate two warring communities: one Catholic, one Protestant. I wrote something near the woman's right armpit

belated Belfast post

first of all, I love alliteration. second of all, I'll make this brief: I went to Belfast and the Giant's Causeway the last weekend in February. it was pretty good. I got home late Sunday night, fell asleep, got up early Monday morning and went to classes, then picked up Jean at the bus station. we spent the week together, bid adieu, then I had four days of frantically working, and then this morning I met up with Mom and Colin. they're here until the end of next week, then I leave for spring break, and then it's basically April. and somewhere in there I write 5 essays and prepare a massive presentation and some group project that has yet to be defined. hoo boy.