Greece (picture heavy)

I finished my Greek Myths summer class 2 weeks ago but didn't find the energy to blog. I checked my grade yesterday night and saw that I got an A! YAY! I'm really happy because I was pretty much out of it for the last part of the course + I had a hard time concentrating during the final.

That's achievement number 1, the second achievement is: I reached my summer savings goal! I used to be the type of girl who could never save past a few hundred dollars. I'd spend all the money I make on clothes, camera equipment, food etc. But this summer, I wanted to change my ways so I've saved more than 2k. With this money, I plan to help my parents financially.

I realized that there are many things I have to improve about myself and accomplishing these 2 little achievements encourages me.

Furthermore, I wanted to blog about my Greece 2011 trip because after taking the Greek Myth class, I've come to appreciate my trip even more!

No trip to Greece is complete without the mandatory, cliche Parthenon picture!

Delphi, the navel of the world!

Lovely travel buddies : 3

Neighbourhood of Plaka in Athens.

View of Athens from the Acropolis~

LOL, If I were a Spartan warrior, I'd be killed within 2 seconds D; -panda runs away but can't even 'cause the armor is too heavy x__X-

Our lovely hostel in Meteora :)

The peaceful lifestyle, imagine waking up to this every single day~

Our hostel in Delphi, definitely not as accommodating as advertised X-D

Delphi was very beautiful, small but full of history and myth!

Hot springs in Santorini! Not fun to have sea water splashed into your eyes : P

So hot that we had to cover ourselves otherwise we'd be roasting!

FUNNY PICTURE OF ME : ) Too bad we didn't get to bathe in the water, those rocks are not friendly!

Walking around in Oia, trying to catch the famous sunset!

Waiting for the sun to set in Oia. Wish we had more time there, I'll definitely go back for my honeymoon : 3

DONKEYS EVERYWHERE! Awww, Marie's one sided love for the donkey :P

Here's a little story I learned from my class that I wanted to share:

It's the story of the creation of humans by Prometheus and the story of his brother Epimethius:

Prometheus, according to various sources is the original creator of men. He was a second generation Titan and similar to Zeus in many ways; especially his intelligence. Prometheus' name could be interpreted as foresight. He created men so that they can look towards the skies and worship the gods. Prometheus often challenged Zeus which angered the king of gods. One of Zeus' schemes to get back at Prometheus was by creating women. He made women out of clay and water from Okeanos, asked all the gods to give her a gift. Aphrodite made her beautiful and desirable, Athena taught her weaving, Hermes made her cunning and deceitful. Zeus called her Pandora (meaning all-gifted) and gave her to Epimethius.

Epimethius is the brother of Prometheus and his name could be interpreted as hindsight. He eagerly accepted Zeus' gift despite his brother's warning to not accept anything from the gods. Epimethius was the guardian of a box containing all the evils of the world. He took in Pandora and married her. One day, while doing the house work, she discovers the box and opens it out of curiosity. Hence, all the evils of the world were released: humans were now plagued with sickness, war, despair. Only one thing stayed inside the box and it was hope. Why was hope inside a box containing all evils? Why wasn't hope released? That was a question me and my friends pondered.

Hope was in the box because it can be horribly evil when it's false hope. Wishful thinking: only prolonging ones' agonies. And why did it stay in the box? Because humans have control over hope. We might not control the other evils, but we can use hope either constructively or destructively.

Life is unpredictable, you have to hope and trust that everything happens for a reason. That it happens for the best.