Crete!

A week in Crete, and lots of ruins.

Life isn't slowing down for this blogger.  Once again, I'm off having adventures on an island in the Meditteranean.  This time, the destination is Crete, a large island south of mainland Greece.  And unlike the Santorini trip, this one is school-sponsored, which means that the past few days have been full of Balkans history and archaeology.  (The Balkans is an area  of Europe that includes Greece).  Over the past three days, we have visited three museums, and something like 6 archaelogical sites.  Each stop has been accented with copious amounts of lecture.  (Guess that's what you get when you hire a couple of experts to do your lectures.)  Don't get me wrong - I really find the history of the Greeks interesting.  It's just that I can understand why some have started to succumb to the It's-Just-Another-Pile-Of-Rocks-FerGoshSakes syndrome.  Thankfully, though, our site tours ended relatively early today, and allowed me to roam Iraklion (where we're staying) in search of an internet cafe to keep you updated.
Another thought - Iraklion is a tourist town to an extreme, so pretty much every Greek you meet expects you to speak English (or any language besides Greek).  Normally, this would be a crutch for me because it wouldn't force me to practice the language.  But I've found an upside to the situation - because the business owners speak English and Greek, I am able to experiment with some of my newest and rustiest Greek.  If I don't get the message across, I can revert back to English, and share a good laugh over my attempts. 
And I think I said it before, but it bears repeating:  if you study abroad in Greece, use your Greek as much as possible, even if the Greek guy/girl behind the counter speaks fluent English.  Greeks love it when you make an effort to learn their language, and they tend to open up (and even smile) when make an honest effort.
Well, that's all I have to say from Crete.  Hopefully next week will slow down a little bit, so I can catch my breath. 
Also, I finally figured out how to make an album.  I'll include a link to it at the bottom of all of my future blogs that you click on.  And I should be updating that weekly, so be sure to check back often.