Gabrielle Rife - First Reflection

This first week has been fantastic, Alibet exhausting, to say the least. There's been very little time to do much else in between the exhibits besides sleep let alone process all of the amazing sights we've been exposed to thus far. Before coming to Greece, I'd be lying if I said I was just coming to see the sights and learn something new. I've grown up, my head buried in books constantly absorbing the various mythologies and stories and histories surrounding the Mediterranean world and wishing I could see for myself where everything had originated. To witness a view of Athens from the Acropolis, stand where its said Klytomnestra stood, plot for the return and demise of her husband, where the great athletes competed against each other for victory for their city-state, and even, in my silliness, recite the Jabberwocky poem at the center of an ancient Greek theater. It's more than surreal to me to experience all of this. even in my perpetually exhausted stupor and ever aching feet, I wouldn't have it any other way. My only regret is that I didn't, myself, get a chance to see these epic sites it in all their full majesty, that they were more often than not torn down by religious zealots, or by conquers or repurposed entirely before I could see them as they were, is the biggest tragedy of this trip, if I had to name one.