Bella Greece

This weekend was incredible I got a lot done as far as continuing on the aesthetic experience. I worked about 20 hours each day and got an incredible amount done. I read 7 books of the Odyssey and cataloged and set up digital images for the 1500 photos that I've taken over the last bit of time here on this quaint little island.

I also watched the Easter parade (of people, we didn't really have a parade) of people come in from Europe for their Easter breaks. The island was hopping and I no longer had any idea what language to say to them all, but I've outlined this in other writings.

There are so many quirks of living in another country. In America, you expect everything to be safe and perfect and if your water doesn't work it's a real problem, but in Greece, everything is Sega, Sega (slowly, slowly), and things are just different here in general.

One thing I will mourn when I come home is that you can get a perfect looking orange in America that tastes terrible, but in Greece, you can get the ugliest orange that tastes delicious.

Today was another one of those beautiful days on such a higher level than just everyday living. I took a look yesterday at the fact that I really have been here for a month. The time has gone by really fast, but I also look at how much it's made me grow and even the things that have come from me being here. I have written more pieces of art than I probably have ever. I even wrote my children's book that I am even thinking about illustrating myself.

I have taken two rolls of black and white film and I have gotten three prints from those negatives that I felt were worthy of displaying. In addition to that, I have had some incredible help with the way that I run as a photographer. There are people here that are so knowledgeable.

I have gained so much in the field of art history that I really know that I chose the right filed and the right major to be working with. Today, as I stood over the waterfront watching the sun go down over the next island over (Mycenae, I think) I took some wonderful photographs, but then I looked down at what I was standing on, and it turned out to be a section of an old temple. It was a HUGE marble stone, and it even had the ridges in it. However, it was just a rock (ok, a big slab) again sitting on the edge of this beach (port) made out of slabs. It really shocked me that it wasn't sitting in a museum, but that I was actually able to stand on it to take photos! I sit in my art history class and am so amazed at the instructor and how much he knows, and the past and the people did things are so impressive to me. It really does prove that they may have even been more civilized than we were, and I can't begin to imagine what it would be like in another 2,000 years when our civilization could possibly be one of those vaguely remembered things. I like the field though, and it really helps to be able to walk into traces of temples and things from more than 3,000 years ago. I was at the site of at least three different temples dedicated to Athena today. I'm just so amazed at that.

In addition to that, I am working on paintings in the same style that great painters of the past have been working on. It's so useful because I will have to restore paintings at some time. I'm doing two paintings right now in the same style as Reuben, it's just so amazing. I have four paintings that I have started, and I have a plan for at least two more. I understand that I will be brining home about 16 paintings with me in all. WOW. I am going to do a special process learning how to paint like Boticelli, and I may even make a copy of one of his paintings. The point is that I'm learning a lot in the area and I am producing and I still have a lot to produce.

And I can even say that I can actually draw decently. I can draw a person with hands and feet and all. I can also draw still objects and buildings. It's just nice to know that I've pushed through such a big barrier and I'm good at it. WOW.

That's all in addition to the fact that I've taken over 1600 photos since I've been here. Though I need to jump on it because there are so many more photos to be taken! I'm going to model for a friend, and that will be fun to learn how to be on the other side of the camera as well. I'll tell you about it next week when it's over.

Also, I am going to start my first of two mosaics tomorrow. I'm excited about it, and I drew the design today. It is going to be a fish, and it is going to be the size of A4 paper. I'm going to do two, so if there is something else you want me to do, give me an idea, because I have no idea!

The north winds are supposed to start tomorrow. They are called the Fortuna winds. The legend is that if they stay for 5 days and then someone commits a crime of passion that the crime will be forgiven. I hope that they don't last very long because they are cold. Would you rather have winds from Germany of Africa? The weather has been nice, but I'm told that it needs to rain or the poppies won't come in fields this year, and that would devastate some photo ideas that I have.

I went shooting photos at two of the most beautiful places that I know on the planet today, I didn't even know that they existed, but one was in a Cypress grove and the other was next to a windmill overlooking a cliff off the ocean. In addition to that, there is another cave I plan to go to at some point to take photos, but it's been a worshiping spot to one of the gods for a long, long time! It was wonderful to take photos with my photo instructor, as she is a brilliant and amazing person, so I learned a lot. I plan to go out with her more so that I can really gain in the photo area.

After that I had an incredible discussion in painting today about what it really is like to get an education and I had so much fun looking at the diverging viewpoints of the people here. They are all so amazing, but it's fun to be with them all. I started another painting and ate an orange in the sun. One of my other ideas of heaven--Greek oranges.

I then took a copy of a photo that I had taken of an old, retired Greek man and I went to seek him out to give it to him, but I never found him. I intend to seek him out before I leave the island and give him his portrait. I think that will be a good effect to create!

THEN I had a Greek lesson, and I learned so much. I love my teacher, he is this beautiful Greek man and he is trying to learn photography so we get along very well, he is a teacher here in a normal school. He invited us over to his house. He is going to cook Greek food for us, and we are going to have a Greek practice session. Good stuff.

And then I designed my fish mosaic, and here I am writing this email getting closer to midnight. I still have to do some photographic work on the computer before a class tomorrow! I have literature tomorrow and I can't wait to talk about my main man right now, Odysseus!

I have a class at 8 AM tomorrow, so I should probably get going.

I love it here, right down to eating a Souvlaki and then having a Greek man bring me some Ouzo because he thought it would be a good thing to go with dinner. I can see how this was the first civilized place in Europe.

Time to go.