Athens

Athens: After getting into Athens late due to a delayed flight from London which was allegedly the fault of the French airport workers at Charles de Gaulle (I believe this allegation), we stepped right out of the train station into the famous Monastiraki Square. Athenstyle, our hostel, was just steps away! It took us awhile to find our hostel because the online instructions said to look for an Applebee's. There certainly was no Applebee's. This was to be the first of many mistaken directions, tips and instructions from ever-screaming Athenians. But don't tell anyone that; they're Greek so they of course know best. Just re-watch the film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" to know what I'm talking about (WINDEX lol).
After settling in, eating a late dinner and enjoying some delicious Greek beer, we headed to the rooftop of the hostel where we had stunning views of the illuminated Acropolis. Magnificent.
The next day we were off to explore the Acropolis up close. What a hike! And it's not like they have safe roads or maps or anything along the way! It's amazing to compare these places to our museums in the US; ancient artifacts lie to and fro here! It was so cool to walk the roads of Sophocles and the like. I can't even imagine the glory of these structures when they were new as they are so overwhelming in their beauty and grandeur even now.
The highlight for me was seeing the ancient theater of the Acropolis where Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, etc all had their plays first performed in the great Dionysian theater festivals of the ancient eras. To see where drama as we know it all started! To see the foundations (both figurative and literal) of Western theater made me realize and reaffirm my passion for the theater. I was sitting on the steps where audiences watched Aggamemnon take the stage! Where "dues ex machina" came to be! Where The Furies and Orestes and Oedipus came to life for the first of many many many times! How could I not have been floored?! Other sites house more ancient life and history, sure, but for me, THIS is where life began and begins.
Even though we practically passed out from the heat, after the Acropolis, Mom and I headed out for some shopping. They have a lot of little tourist shops around Monastiraki Square and the Acropolis and they all sell the same souvenirs for the same prices but they have some cool stuff. We also headed to the Athens mall which had department stores, H&M, Zara, all that good stuff. After all these excursions, we were exhausted! We ate some dinner, made plans for the rest of the trip and hit the hay. Our hostel has bunk beds so it's pretty silly and small but we like it.
Today, June 3 (I think?) we went to the Athens flea market which looks exactly like any antique or swap meet in the US (read: a whole lotta junk). Then we took the 3 hour bus ride from Athens to Delphi. Delphi was small and deserted. The salespeople at the shops seemed desperate. Is tourism down? We'll see when we get to the destination spots: Mykonos, Santorini, etc. We walked along more unpaved and unmarked roads to the Sanctuary of Athena. She's my favorite goddess (and my cat!) so this was obviously awesome! We couldn't exactly find the site of the Temple of Apollo or it's famous Oedipal oracle, but it was hot, we were tired, and we weren't even sure if much of the temple was still standing so we hiked down to the one street that is Delphi and got calamari and iced tea instead We also hit the Delphi Archealogical Museum where we saw amazing ancient ruins discovered at the site. This was enough and I can say I've been to what was once considered the center of all things.
The best part of Delphi was all the cats! They roamed everywhere, scruffy and begging for treats! I take that as a sign the goddess... Er, I mean CAT Athena, was present on our visit to her sanctuary.
Now, we're on the long bus ride back to Athens. I'm sitting next to a large Greek woman and these loud Spanish (I think) teens are, like, screeching behind me. Sounds like Greece. Can I get a gyro and a cold, tall Mythos over here, or what?!

Day 2 London: Just walked Abbey Road! Saw Paul's offices, the roof of the final Let It Be performance, etc, etc. The list goes on. The Beatles ruled London in the 60s. I guess I've learned nothing from "Midnight In Paris" because I want to live in that era!!!!!!!!! I covet it!!!!!!! Oh well, I guess we'll never learn!   After the wonderful Beatles tour, we visited Regent Street for some amazing shopping! We went to the famous 7 story toy story Hamley's where they had all this amazing, official Harry Potter merch!!!! OMG the wands were so cool! I wanted to buy Harry's Wand but then it's like, what do you do with a HP wand after the initial photo shoot of you in a cape casting spells?! lol That is a reoccuring theme... I want this amazing souvenior but then WHAT WILL I DO WITH IT WHEN I GET HOME?! Yes, I want those Royal Wedding biscuits for the William and Kate tin, no I don't need that! That beind said, I bought the most AMAZING heels with the Union Jack on them... talk about covet... :)   After a quick rest we popped into the New Vic for some dinner. The New Vic is a great, experimental theater that has a bar and restaurant attached! What a great way to make money for a quirky theater company... giving me ideas.... It was so great to stay in the Theater district.... with my peoples...   Day 3 London:   I'm writing this from an internet cafe (no free wifi!!) from Heathrow airport. Our flight to Athens has been delayed 2 hours! Grr... Well, as long as we get there. They said it's going to be a busy flight, but at least it's under 3 hours long. I will probably just read magazines and work on my new play that I've just started.   Some conclusive thoughts on the English after my two days here: We in America seem to have a sort of mythical way of looking at the British. We think of them as more sophisticated, more fashionable, funnier, etc. it seems. But other than a few idioms and a funny accent, they're really just like us! Well, they appreciate art more, which is lovely. And they've birthed some remarkable people. But so have we. But they have royalty, so that's cool. I can't believe William and Kate are going to be in LA tomorrow and I'm here! Funny timing... maybe the royal family is what creates this mythology for us surrounding the British. Ah, well, maybe I'll find out whenever I'm lucky enough to come back here. Until then, off to Athens to bask in the Athenian sun and pretend I'm a Greek goddess!

Greetings from London! About to watch the Comedy Theater's revival of Pinter's masterpiece "Betrayal." We're in these ridiculously high up balcony seats!!! I can't believe old theaters like this still exist! *sigh*

Keep on moving...

Okay, so updates! Just made it back to Long Beach after a long, crazy four years in Santa Barbara. Graduation went well. Pico Iyer was the commencement speaker for the Arts and Humanities graduation ceremony and I was super stoked on that!!! He was so eloquent and inspiring. He said those who are graduating with degrees that make money, like, say, NOT THEATER, may have the money, the houses, the cars, the "answers," but they are the ones who will be turning to us, the arts and humanities students for the REAL answers about life. It made me smile and made me think, for some reason, of my time on Semester at Sea. I wonder why? Maybe because SAS was the best thing I did in college and probably the best thing I've done, ever. And although many people chose to spend their time in school "getting ahead," staying behind, on a ship, was something that I think will get me ahead in the long run.

After graduation, me and the girls headed straight for Las Vegas. Of course. Joanne got this fantastic deal for a suite at the Encore hotel, so we jumped at it and found ourselves in a "King's Suite" on the 38th floor of the Encore with a huge bed, couch, nice bathroom and stunning view of the strip! The room was unreal. And destroyed by the time us 8-10 girls had stayed in the room for 3 nights. Utterly destroyed. We left a big tip for housekeeping!

And then, after thinking, as one always thinks to herself, or screams to her best friends in the car as she drives away from Las Vegas, GET ME THE HELL OUT OF LAS VEGAS, we made it home.

Now, I've moved most of my stuff back into my Mom's place in Long Beach and am unpacking my life as I start packing for Greece with Cambodia's packing-for-a-year in the back of my mind. It's all about the suitcases and duffle-bags and storage containers. Yup yup this is going to be an adventure... or a series of adventures...

Until next time!

LinkedIn

Got myself a LinkedIn profile! Connect with me!

http://www.linkedin.com/in/monicatrausch

Musings on the Museum of Woman...

The shows went so great! We performed on UCSB's campus as well as downtown on State Street in front of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art during Santa Barbara Downtown Organization's First Thursday Events. Both nights were highly successful! I got a lot of great feedback. The best thing any audience member said to me after the show was, "Thank you for doing this."

It's kind of incredible that it was, in fact, so brave to do what we did on the stage/sidewalk two days ago. I didn't realize the scope of what I was touching on. Or maybe I did, and I just refused to process it completely because I probably would have exploded with nerves. But we did something powerful out there on Thursday. We questioned society and the norms we take for granted on a physical place, a property where those norms are continually upheld. Maybe we did something brave. Maybe just a little. Maybe a lot?

Check out my university newspaper's review of the Tuesday show on campus: http://www.dailynexus.com/2011-06-02/museum-woman-art-life-inspiring-form/

She got it, and it sounded like a lot of others did, too. One step at a time :)

The Museum of Woman

Tomorrow night's the big show!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173192126072999