Sunday, I slept in, woke up did some work, and set out on a 20 mile run. I probably ran a little less than that as I measured my distance based on my time and was dragging by the end of the run. However, 2 hours and 40 minutes later, I managed to walk back into my apartment. It felt good to make it that far, but I was really out of it Monday. I pretty much ate and slept all day. I'm feeling good and healthy today though. For those who don't know, I hadn't mentioned it on here yet just to make sure I could do it, I will be running in the Athens Marathon, November 8th, which is the original course run by an Athenian Warrior concluding the Battle of Marathon around 470 BC to announce Victory. I'm excited - less than 5 weeks to go.

     Today was busy, I added another course last week which is more of an art course than an archaeology course. I don't think I'm getting credit for it, but the professor is good, and I'm learning in it. We went to the National Archaeological Museum today which was pretty neat. It's a huge museum so we did not see a whole lot, but I did get to see this giant statue of Zeus/Poseidon, which I've seen on many text book covers. It was neat to walk into the room it was displayed in and have that sort of Aha! moment and to be standing in front of a very famous piece of art. On a side, I think its neat to know that scholars are still debating things like which god is depicted in the statue. Furthermore, the fact that excavations are still unearthing new objects and scripts which change history as we know it adds more mystery to the world and goes to show there is till plenty of the past to figure out.

     My study abroad experience has not been simply my own experience; my family and friends have been very involved and interested in the process and experience. This is especially true to my family, most of whom have never been outside of the US. It has been a sort of learning experience for us all and I am incredibly antsy to be able to share in this with my parents who arrive in Athens less than 32 hours from now. It should be a big part of my study abroad semester to be able to travel and see sites alongside my parents. I never, ever would have guessed this would be the situation I would be in my senior year of high school.