sorry I missed yesterday...

So last night I tried to get on here and post something for yall but the internet in the hotel was messed up so this blog is going to be an accumulation of yesterday and today before dinner.

Yesterday morning we woke up to go on our tour of Athens. We havent been to Athens yet so I was very excited to get to see the actual city instead of our suburb, Glyfada. We started by going to the Roman Auditorium. This place was huge! Here is where they use to have concerts and stuff. Now the roof is burned off but they still have concerts there like Diana Ross and Eric Clapton. It was pretty cool.

After that we headed up this hill, yes we hiked it, to the Acropolis and the entrace of the Parthenon. First I would like to talk about my feet. I had on chaco's (sandals with straps) and am climbing on these stone stairs and my feet are disgusting. Everything there was marble. Its so crazy because we spend a fortune on marble for our houses and they have their park benches and their sidewalks made of it. But the marble has this white powder that gets everywhere and my feet were disgusting and covered in it. It made me think about in Bible times how they always talk about washing the feet. I had never thought this that gross, yeah sure its someone elses feet and they have been walking around. But back in the day when they went barefoot or had tiny flat sandals on they would have had unbelievably disgusting feet! This completely made me change my view on Jesus washing the apostles feet. It definitely shows you how much he lowered himself for us humans. What a good lesson in humility.

Once inside the Parthenon, I was speechless. It was gigantic! and to think that all of this was built using wooden carts, oxen, ropes, and chisels. Its unbelievable, and the carvings and decorations on the columns are so detailed. You see so much history and our tour guide Katerina told us a ton about it.

We also saw another temple, the temple of Poseidon. It has a really cool story. There is this olive tree that is huge that stands right next to the temple. And tradition says that the goddess Athena and the god Poseidon had a rivalry over who would be the main god of Greece. So they were both asked to give their best gift. Athena gave the olive tree that is next to the temple. She said it could be used for electricity such as candles and then Poseidon struck the earth with his Tritan and gave the Athenians salty water. The people of Athens declared that light from olive oil was more beneficial to the city and Athena became the goddess and thats how the city became called Athens. Pretty cool story and it was neat to see the temple.

The best part of the day came next. We hiked down from the Parthenon and came to this giant rock/boulder in the middle of the walk way. On the side of the boulder was a plaque with Acts 17 on it in Greek. We were standing at Mars Hill, where Paul gave a sermon to the Greek philosophers. How incredible was it to stand at the bottom looking up and thinking that 2000 years ago Paul stood in the same exact spot. I climbed the original stairs to the top and was speechless. I could see the whole city of Athens in front of me and to the right the Parthenon on top of the hill. Now it makes sense as to why Paul says he knew they were religious people. There are gigantic temples to all of these gods completely surrounding him as he speaks. My group sat down on top of Mars Hill and our professor pulled out a Bible and he read Acts 17 to us. After reading we sang Pierce My Ear and Jesus is Lord. Then we prayed and headed down to the bus. I have never felt so close to God before. Its incredible to think that where I am right now, living for the next three months is a place that is in the Bible. Does it bring the Bible to life? Yes. I can now read Acts and think to myself, I have been there. I have seen this. I have sat right in the place where Paul preached. Its something incredible.

We then went down to Plaka which is the old Athens to eat lunch. Its a part of the city that has less traffic and is a lot more quiet. The streets have outdoor cafes everyone and lots of touristy shops to buy things at. I bought some Greek sandals and some other things for the family and then we headed to the museum of the Acropolis.

When the architects started building this museum they uncovered the ruins of an ancient Athens neighborhood. So they decided to build the museum floor out of glass so that as you walk around the museum you can see the ruins underneath you. It was pretty cool. We couldnt take pictures becasue they didnt allow cameras but I sneaked a few just to remember it by! I was exhausted by this point from being out all day and tried to pay attention to all the ruins, artifacts, and statues inside but I'm afraid most became a blur.

Last night we came back in time for dinner and then headed into Glyfada to explore the nightlife. We went to a super cute little ice cream parlor with amazing ice cream! It was delicious, strawberry was my choice of course! Even though we were so tired we ended up staying up very very late hanging out in the hotel. I am getting to know some of the people here very well. I can tell already that this trip is going to bring new friends in my life and that we are going to have some crazy and funny times together!

I wanted to put pictures up here but for some reason its being difficult. They are facebook so definitely check them out. There are some good ones.

I'll post again tonight to tell you about today.