Northern Greece

I just spent a week in Northern Greece- Thessalonica and Delphi, mostly. It was a solid trip, I suppose. There's only so much historical lecture I can listen to before I get bored of it, but all in all it was a good city to visit. Much more modern-feeling than Athens, in that the streets have a regular pattern and actually make sense.

I got sick last weekend for the first time in over a year, which was not so good. Being the badass that I am though, I kicked the sickness in the face and was all better after two days.

Parents visited. That was solid. We went to all the sites in Athens and I got lots of good food.

In two weeks I'll be in Rome.

 Lastly, I have my first sunburn, so my blog title is no longer a lie.

The Peloponnese, Athens, and Istanbul

I'm really bad at keeping up on blog entries, but it's my blog so too bad for you.

In mid February I went to the Peloponnese on a class trip. We were gone for about 5 days, and saw a variety of sites such as Sparta, Mystras and Mycenae. All in all, it was a pretty interesting trip that involved looking at a bunch of rocks while freezing in the annoyingly cold weather. Pictures are on Facebook if you want to look at them.

In the meantime, the weather has stayed irritatingly cold. You imagine Greece to be warm and sunny all the time, and supposively it is most of the time. Unfortunately, we're in one of those winters that happens only a few times in a Greek person's lifetime. Fortunately, that's still warmer than the mildest winter back home.

I went to see the Parthenon. It's pretty impressive. Much bigger than you would imagine. Definitely worth seeing.

A few friends and I visited a local brewery in Athens. That was a relief: I had missed the good beer from back home. Over here they really only make pale lagers which are not good. Greek people think they're great, but they've never have anything else, as imports are really expensive. Due to that, I was happy to actually have something tasty with some body.

Yesterday I got back from a weekend trip to Istanbul. That city is my favorite place in the world so far. The sights are amazing. The Hagia Sophia is one of the biggest churches in the world and was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. The Blue Mosque, built across the street to one up the Christians was almost as awesome. I got to visit an ancient Ottoman palace and see the arm of John the Baptist, the Rod of Moses (surprisingly non-snakey) and the sword of The Prophet (pbuh).

Going out at night was fun too. The first night we went to a pub off the main shopping street and got to see a Turkish fellow play us Sweet Home Alabama on guitar while his partner accompanied with a jazz flute. Definitely a great moment. The next night we went to a karaoke bar and of all my requests, the one they chose was Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. That's a fun one to sing.

Now I'm back in Athens. It's been a rough day- I woke up and the first thing I heard about was that my buddy Brandon died yesterday. Rest in Peace buddy. All in all, it's been a good month and a good trip so far!!