Johnnie Pride!

Over the past week, I actually had two really cool opportunities.  I had two experiences involving CSB|SJU.  The first of these was on Friday afternoon, when I met the professor and several of the Bennies and Johnnies studying in Athens right now.  Not only did I enjoy a tasty lentil soup with salad, bread, and a cheese pie, but I got to talk with fellow Minnesotans about the CSB|SJU fall, the football team’s surprisingly good showing so far this season, and general life in St. Joseph, MN.  It was good to be among people who were as excited as I was to see the weather starting to change.

A few days later, I became the unofficial representative of CSB|SJU at the United States University Fair at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Athens.  This was an event sponsored by the Fulbright Foundation in Greece for universities across the United States to recruit among Greek students.  Although I had no experience with this type of event and minimal training, I think it went really well.  I got to talk to a lot of people about some awesome schools, plus I gained two things: a black CSB|SJU banner (currently being used as the curtain of my bedroom) and a nice CSB|SJU polo.  Love it.

I'll leave you with a song that comes to mind as I write this post.

High above the Sagatagan,

Towering o'er the oak and pine,

Proudly stands our alma mater,

Ever let her beacon shine.

Alma mater we'll be loyal,

Ever love and praise thy name.

Hail, all hail Saint John's our mother,

We thy honor will proclaim.

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

The weekend after Hydra, I joined a few of my fellow fellows on a trip to Aegina, another nearby island.  Instead of going for the whole weekend, we figured it’d be just as awesome to make it a day trip.  Conveniently enough (i.e. we planned it this way), we were there on the weekend of the PISTACHIO FESTIVAL!!!  Oh yes.  Kilos upon kilos of pistachios.  Pistachio ice cream.  Pistachio brownies.  Pistachio liquor.  Pistachio milkshakes.  Pistachio baklava.  If you can’t guess it already, it was a very nutty day.

Before I go on, it’d be worth a few moments to share a bit about Aegina itself.  Like Hydra, Aegina is very close to Athens – about a forty-five minute ferry ride away.  That’s about where the similarities end, though.  Aegina is a much more modern (read: motorized) island, which makes it much noisier and much dirtier.  Regardless, there are some pretty neat views.  Like this one:

 Anyhow, we got to visit a few places that are kind of cool.  Apparently they are excavating an entire town they’ve discovered.  Overlooking the town is the Temple of Aphaia, a minor goddess worshipped exclusively on this island.  She was thought to have strong influences on fertility and the agricultural cycles on the island, but after a few centuries, she was lumped into worship of Athena.  Talk about a demotion…  Regardless, there’s a relatively intact temple standing at one of the higher points of the island.

Further down the hill from Aphaia’s temple, there was the Church of St. Nectarios.  When I say church, you’re probably thinking an early- to mid-Christianity era church; relatively small with some nice architecture, but not entirely the most impressive.  WRONG.  Check it out.

After these few explorations, Anna and I sat down at a sea-side taverna for dinner, watching the crystal blue waters and breathing in the impeccably clean air as the sun slowly came closer and closer to the horizon.  Beat that.

As we wrap up this post, I want to come back to the title of this entry.  I bet you’re curious why I’m asking about a chicken when I don’t mention it at all.  Well, there is also an oddity about Aegina that Bethany stumbled across.  Apparently the Mayor of Aegina tried to ban all poultry from the island.  The Aegina city minutes are posted here:  http://www.aeginagreece.com/magazine/the-mayor-of-aegina-against-poultry/.  So now we know: He was avoiding the Mayor.