Tuesday May 30th

 Today, our group had the privilege of visiting the mesmerizing city of Delphi. As we arrived, we were immediately captivated by the breathtaking historic sights that awaited us. The view from Delphi was truly unreal, with majestic mountains surrounding us and creating a picturesque backdrop for our adventure.

Our first stop was the ancient ruins of Delphi, which provided us with an extraordinary glimpse into the past. Walking among the ruins, we couldn't help but feel a deep sense of awe and reverence for the ancient civilizations that once thrived in this very place. The remnants of temples, theaters, and other structures painted a vivid picture of the glorious history that unfolded here.

One of the highlights of our visit to the ruins was the original stadium. Stepping onto the ancient grounds, we could almost hear the echoes of cheering crowds and the thundering footsteps of athletes. The stadium was a testament to the skill and athleticism of the ancient Greeks, and we couldn't help but imagine the intense competitions that took place within its hallowed walls.

After immersing ourselves in the wonders of Delphi's historic sights, we proceeded to the museum for a guided tour. The museum housed a remarkable collection of artifacts and treasures, each with its own story to tell. From intricately crafted statues to beautifully preserved pottery, the exhibits were a testament to the ancient Greeks' artistic mastery and cultural significance.

Our tour guide proved invaluable in helping us understand the historical and cultural context of the museum's exhibits. Their expertise brought the artifacts to life, enabling us to appreciate their beauty and significance on a deeper level. Little did we expect that our visit to the museum would hold an unexpected surprise. Ivanka Trump, the renowned public figure, happened to be at the museum at the same time, adding an element of excitement and surprise to our experience.

After the museum visit, our group reconvened outside for a well-deserved lunch break. The pleasant ambiance and the aroma of delicious Greek cuisine filled the air as we indulged in some mouthwatering chicken gyros. Greek food is such a favorite food of mine and being here provides such an authentic taste I’ve never had the pleasure of having before. 

We then got back onto the charter bus which was met with a ton of fun. During our almost 3 hour bus ride it was filled with music, games such as cards and photo roulette, and tons of laughs. While about half of did that the other half slept as it has been quite a long day in the sun for everyone. 

As we arrived in Athens we got dinner and got a brief lecture about the ruins of Athens before we get to see them tomorrow. As we only have a couple days left a feeling of sadness is going through the group as none of us are ready for this trip to end. Today was filled with tons of amazing memories and experiences unlike ever with some of the most amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with.

Monday, May 29

 Monday, May 29th

Today we completed our first full day in Greece! After a 4-hour night bus ride from Athens, we arrived in Olympia where we were all set for our tour of Ancient Olympia and the ancient Olympic games. 

The day started early at the Hotel Antonios where after breakfast we loaded back onto the coach bus to arrive at Ancient Olympia. Through the winding Greek roads, we made our way down to Ancient Olympia. Similarly to Switzerland, the weather was fantastic, around 75 with some clouds. 

We passed on a bridge over the Kladeos River and made our way to the entrance where we were greeted by our tour guide for the site. Right at the entrance you could see archeologists still working to excavate parts of the gymnasium that stretched to the gates of the site. We were informed by our tour guide that the gymnasium is where many of the ancient Olympians used to train and the word stems from the Greek root “gymno” meaning naked as all the athletes would perform and train without clothes. We also were reminded of some more facts that we learned all the way back in London with Professor Ryan. Including, the fact that Olympians came from all over the ancient Greek world to represent their city-states, only men competed in the events, and that the games had deep religious and musical roots. From there we were led to the ruins of the temple of Zeus which once held one of the ancient wonders of the world, a massive statue of the most important Greek God, Zeus. 

We then were led to the stadium, through a narrow archway. Past the archway was a long 200-meter track where track races were held in the ancient days. After taking in the historic impact of the site we all lined up on the starting line, and raced to the other side. Josh left us all in the dust as his blinding speed took him from one side of the track to the other. 

After catching our breath we were able to walk through the temple of Hera, one of the only ancient temples in Greece that you can still walk through. There we saw some of the remaining pillars and inscriptions. 

We headed out for our first of two museums at Olympia, the first took us through a display of the many artifacts that had been excavated from the site. Everyone was really interested in the marble statues which included a statue of Nike the goddess of victory. The next museum was more focused on the athletic aspect of the site. The museum had many artifacts of the Olympians and also Greek soldiers that had been excavated from the site. Additionally, there was a great deal of information on the influences the ancient games have had on modern games. Overall, visiting ancient Olympia was an incredible experience and really put into context the historic nature of the Olympic Games. 

After our tour of Olympia, we headed down to the market where we had an incredible lunch at a Greek restaurant. I had seabream with a lemon and olive oil sauce. However, everyone’s favorite was the tzatziki with pita. After lunch we lunch, we jumped back onto the bus for a 4-hour ride out to Delphi. On the bus, we all had a ton of fun playing cards and music, and having some snacks. Overall a great day!

Monday, May 29

After a long day of travel, we are woke up bright and early in the morning and headed to the Olympia archeological site. What is important to note is that Olympia was not a city, but rather a site dedicated to religion and sport. Here, we met up with a tour guide that took us through the excavations as well as the museums with artifacts excavated from the site. When we first walked in, we saw archaeologists digging near the entrance trying to find more of the gymnasium. We first walked through the other parts of the gymnasium which have been dug up already. This was where the athletes would practice their sports prior to the Olympic Games. We then walked to the palaestra, where the athletes would wrestle one another. After going through the gymnasium and palaestra, we walked right up to where the Temple of Zeus stood. There was one complete column which was restored in 2011 to show the size the temple would have been. Many of the ruins on the ground were remains from the buildings that got destroyed by an earthquake in the 6th century CE. We eventually headed over towards the Temple of Hera, which is the oldest structure at the site, and third oldest temple in Greece. We then went to the stadium, the world’s oldest. We all lined up for a race along the stadium which is about the length of two football fields. I got off to a slow start, but I came back and finished strong, winning the race. After that, we were able to walk through the Temple of Hera, one of the few temples in Greece that people are actually allowed to run through. 

We then left the archeological site and ended up going to the museum near the site. The museum was actually quite similar to the Greek sections of the British Museum and Louvre which wasn’t all that surprising considering the British and French claimed many artifacts that weren’t actually theirs. So, we saw similar pots, figurines, and sculptures as we saw at those precious locations. However, no matter how many times we see these artifacts, the detail on the sculptures with the expressions of faces, perceived movement of the static sculptures, and the preservation and restoration of many of them never cease to amaze me. We then headed to another museum which was more tailored towards the Olympic athletic side of Olympia while the previous was more religiously focused. In this museum, we saw many of the same types of artifacts, except this time much more athletically focused. 

After going to the archaeological site and museums, we headed toward the streets of Olympia and got lunch. We ordered many appetizers for the table, including tzatziki, roasted feta, and Mediterranean triangles (which were my favorite). I ordered a pork souvlaki which was delicious and came with more pita and tzatziki which was delicious. 

We then got to shop for a bit along the street, where I ended up buying a Greek (Hellas) Giannis Antetokounmpo jersey. What is incredible is that the prices here are so cheap, especially considering we came from Switzerland where prices are higher. 

We then went back to the hotel and went swimming for a bit at the pool which was a solid time. We then left for Delphi on our bus, where many of us sat in the back playing cards and vibing together listening to music. We eventually arrived after a 3 and a half hour ride, and soon after we went out to dinner together. I ordered some chicken on pita which was a great way to finish the night before heading to bed for an early morning. 

Monday 5/29

 Today was our first day in Greece. We were all very tired from our long travel day yesterday. We had to get up and pack all our stuff and check out of the hotel before we headed out for the day. 

We headed off to Olympia and met up with our guide, Joanna. She was very knowledgeable and told us all about the ruins sites as we walked around. She even showed us some sites off of the main spots that still need to excavated. It was really cool to see people doing excavations while we were there. They cannot use any power tools because they don’t want to risk damaging any of the ruins. Joanna was showing us pictures of what the sites would have looked like when they were built as we went through the sites. I can’t even imagine the buildings actively being used during the ancient games. I really enjoyed hearing about the temple of Zeus. The statue that was built for him in the middle of Olympia was solely to worship him. The statue that was built for him was almost 40 feet tall! I also really enjoyed seeing the stadium where the games were held. There is a walkway leading into the stadium that used to be lined with statues of the cheaters of the games. I love how they made statues of the cheaters and not so much the winners. Then you walk through and arch into this 600 ft long dirt area. The whole group lined up on the starting block to race. We all charged to the end and Kyle won! Some of us then lined up again and did a girls versus boys rely race.. the guys won. 

After the archeological sites we went to the first museum. I really enjoyed the first museum because it had a lot of the statues that were excavated and put back together. It’s amazing how archeologists can piece these statues back together so well most of the time without having all the pieces. My favorite room had the statues from the pediments of the temple of Zeus. There was almost no sculpture that had all its pieces but they were all positioned and put back together so well. The second museum was mainly about the ancient Olympic Games and how they started. We learned a lot about this in our lectures at the beginning of the trip. I liked to see all of the armor that the athletes had to wear. For the races that were in full armor the athletes had the wear almost 30 kilograms of armor!

We then headed downtown and had lunch at a Greek cafe. I have never really had Greek food before and I really enjoyed it. Whens a better time to try Greek food than in when in Greece! We spent some time shopping down town then headed back to the hotel for a swim in the hotel pool. After we dried off we headed back on the bus and drove the Delphi!

Sunday May29

 Today was a very long day. We had a free morning to explore Lausanne one last time before we had to say bye to one of our favorite places yet. Some people went to the beach to sit by Lake Geneva, others took this opportunity to sleep in, and some more just walked around town. When it finally came time to head out, we went to the train station which would take us to the airport. The train was nice and quiet, and was about an hour long.

We got to the airport and headed inside. With all of our luggage, we needed to check our bags, however the line was very long. It took us between forty five minutes to an hour to finally tag our suitcases, which put us in a time crunch as we only had about another thirty minutes to forty five to get through security and to the gate, before the plane was scheduled to take off.

We were scattered by the time we checked our bags, so we headed to security individually, with the hopes that we would all make it through quickly. For some that was the case, as about half of us, myself included, got through security in roughly ten minutes.

Everyone was on their own in terms of getting to the departure gate, which was a few minutes walk away from where security was located. I got to the gate, along with a few others, just as the boarding process began. About half the group was missing at this point, which was a little worrisome. The boarding of passengers continued, but thankfully as people continued to get on the plane, more of us showed up. We all finally made it to the gate around the time it was our turn to get on the plane.

We made it on the plane, and it took off a few minutes later than it was supposed to. But that wasn’t the main inconvenience of the flight. I would roughly estimate that about 40-50% of the passengers were kids, clearly on a school trip, aged around 12-13 years old. They were way too loud for a majority of the flight. From takeoff they were screaming and talking with each other, and throughout the flight there were random bursts of yelling. The worst occurred while landing, when right as we touched down, literally all the kids started screaming. I think almost all of us got headaches from these kids, and we probably weren’t the only ones who were a bit annoyed.

After getting our luggage, and meeting as a group, we got some food at the airport, which we all loved for its cheap prices. Some people got snacks, some got dinner, and everyone got some water. We were preparing for the 3.5-4 hour bus ride ahead of us that would take us to Olympia. 

We finally got to the hotel around 2am with everyone very tired. We all went to our rooms and passed out, getting a little bit of sleep before our first day in Greece.

Saturday 5/27

Today we started bright and early at nine to go hike in the Swiss Alps! We hopped onto a train that first took us to a farmers market where we were given free cantaloupe and grabbed a bite to eat. I personally went to Starbucks where I learned my lesson about the pricing of Swiss products (10 dollars for a drink). As much as I love it here, the prices make my budgeting difficult. After this, we hopped on our next train which took us up through the Alps and dropped us off at the base of our hike. We had to take a pulley cart up the mountain to get to our trailhead. The hike was a lot of steep hills and mud. I was very thankful I decided not to wear my white shoes, I can’t say everyone else made that same decision. Despite the mud, the hike was absolutely beautiful. We saw people hang gliding and got a gorgeous view of Lake Geneva. We also walked past lots of cows that had actual cowbells on. After a successful hike with no one falling (there were lots of close calls) we headed to Montreux where we got a nice, healthy lunch at McDonald’s. We ate in the market and got some gelato for dessert in the hot weather. We also got to check out The Queen recording studio where they recorded their last album. It was a pretty small exhibit but still cool to see their instruments and recording studio, especially if you’re a fan like Kirstyn. After this, we headed back on the train and had some free time before dinner and we were finally successful at doing some laundry. We got an amazing fondue dinner as it felt necessary while in Switzerland. We had three types of cheese fondue: regular, truffle, and garlic. We also got a dry meat board to add on top of our bread and potatoes. Between the 13 of us we ate almost all of the fondue and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of it. We ended the night at our new favorite place Lake Geneva swimming in the very cold water. We wanted to jump into the water cold or not because who knows if the opportunity will ever present itself again. The cold water was somehow not the biggest problem we came across, the rocks at the bottom of the lake were causing us a lot of issues walking in and out of the lake. Despite this it was still a really great experience, and something I will remember forever. After swimming we sat on the rocks around the lake listening to music and taking in the last night in Switzerland. I speak for the group when I say Switzerland has been absolutely amazing and we do not want to leave. I am however very excited for Greece and can’t wait to be there and eat the amazing food they have to offer. We miss you Professor Ryan and GM!

Saturday, May 27

 Saturday, May 27th

Today was undoubtedly the most scenic day we've had! There were stunning mountaintop views as well as beautiful Swiss scenery from the lakefront. 

We began our day at the Swiss Wine Hotel breakfast buffet where we quickly fueled up and headed out to catch the 10:00 AM train from Lausanne to Montreux. Along the ride, we had fantastic views of Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman as the Swiss call it, and the surrounding Alps. We also were able to see the Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, a UNESCO world heritage site. Everyone was in awe of the rows and rows of grapevines that seemingly stacked vertically into the Alps. 

Before arriving in Montreux we got off a few stops early in the town of Vevey where we had an opportunity to stop by a local farmers market. The market was located on the lakeside and was filled with a diverse aroma of different meats, cheeses, and chocolates. After wandering the rows of stands I sat on a bench at the lakefront and took in the view. 

Upon arrival in Montreux, we quickly ran across the platform to catch the train going up into the mountains. The 20-minute winding ride allowed us to progressively see more and more of the eastern edge of Lake Geneva. When we arrived the sun’s warm rays were beating down and we were ready for yet another railed ride, this time up the funicular. The steep sloped rail ride slowly brought us to the top of the mountain where we were able to begin our 2-hour hike. 

The hike brought us along a muddy path that winded through the forest atop the mountain. Throughout the beginning of the walk, you could barely see the other mountains through the trees in the thick of the forest. As we moved farther up the forest we came across several clearings where there were stunning views of not only the lake and the mountains but also the towns below. As you can see in the pictures, the panoramic of from the mountaintop was breathtaking. However, these pictures don’t do the view justice as the perspective in person was unbelievable. 

As we continued through the trail we entered a more open area where we were faced with a major uphill climb. We powered through as a group thanks to the bravery and leadership of Josh and were rewarded at the top with some Swiss cows. After nearly 3 miles of hiking (According to the health app) we returned to the train station. 

Back on the lakefront in Montreux, we had an opportunity to take in the lakefront and have lunch. We then checked out a Queen museum, which featured a Freddie Mercury statue as well as the original recording studio where Queen recorded many of their songs. 

After returning to Lausanne we capped off the night with a group dinner at a fondue place called Chalet Suisse. The fondue featured different flavors such as garlic, truffle, and pepper. It was also accompanied by bread, prosciutto, and potatoes. It was a great end to an exciting day.