So now I’m Greece. I have checked out the museums and they were great. What I noticed about Greece is the number of people that were actually in Athens. I know that Athens is the biggest city in Greece but how do the other areas measure up?

Whenever I like doing a little background research I always us Wikipedia.com for a short brief on any topic. Simply typed in Greece, scrolled down and saw what I was looking for. There was a whole table on the population of Greece right down to every periphery or “state”. The largest periphery was Attica where the capital city is Athens had a total population of 3,761,810 people. The smallest periphery, Mount Athos, had a total population of 2, 262 people. That is how many people went to my high school! Below is the full table of all the peripheries with capital cities and populations, courtesy of Wikipedia.com. Wikipedia’s total estimated population for Greece in 2009 is 11,257,285. The 2001 census had a population of 10,964,020 people.

I wanted to make sure this was correct. So I headed to a library that had books in ENGLISH! I found a reference book called Cities of the World. In the Greece section under population the total population they had was 10.1 million. This was pretty off of the total population I got for Wikipedia’s census population, but I looked at the publication date on the book and it was published in 1993. I think a few more people were born within that time.

I wanted to see how Wikipedia’s census population compared to other resources. I went to kwintissential.co.uk and found that the Wikipedia article matched that census population as in the kwintissential article. This goes to show that Wikipedia isn’t completely unreliable! Yes! Below are my image captures to show the population.

Cia.gov

Wikipedia population with table, courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Kwintessential.co.uk scan from website.

References:

"Europe." Greece. cia.gov, Web. 26 Oct 2009.

Greece. Wikipedia, Web. 26 Oct 2009.

Hubbard, Monica M. "Country Profile: Population." Cities of the World. 4th ed. 3. Detroitm MI: Gale Research Inc. , 1993. Print.

"Population of Greece." Population of Greece. Kwintissential.co.uk, Web. 26 Oct 2009. .3

Now that I’m here what do I do? I have arrived in Greece and I have nothing really to do. All I can successfully do is walk around and eat, a lot! One of the reasons why I came here was to immerse myself in the culture. I think I will go look for some museums in Greece, so I know more about the history and culture. I got online and I found the website for the Acropolis Museum. The museum showcases the Parthenon, The Archaic gallery, Athena Nike, Erechtheion and The Slopes of the Acropolis.

The Parthenon is a very important building to the Greeks. It is where democratic leaders led in the 5^th century BC. The Acropolis Museum showcases a special video so visitors are more aware of how the leaders led the Greeks.

The Archaic Gallery at the Acropolis museum shows how the Greeks had developed throughout the 7^th century. The museum has a different light input so viewers are able to see the advancement in the arts.

The Athena Nike temple can be seen. It was built in 427-423 BC, by the architect Killikrates. It was thought to be built in replacement of another small temple.

The Slopes of Acropolis are a very important to Greek culture. They were found to be having many important artifacts. Michael Petrou was lucky enough to visit this museum. He titled his article, “Nice Museum, but where are the exhibits?” Apparently Britain has about half of the sculptures from Acropolis’s Parthenon. Britain will not return the artifacts.

Greece has been demanding the artifacts back but the artifacts have been there for two centuries. The Lord, Elgin took them from Greece and sold them to the British Museum.

Other than this unfortunate drama, I’m still excited to see what Greece does have. I will visit the Acropolis Museum tomorrow! The

"The acropolis Museum." Greek Public and European Union, Web. 19 Oct 2009. .

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Petrou, Michael. "Nice museum, but where are the exhibits?." Maclean's 122.24 (2009): 35. Web. 19 Oct 2009. .Data Base: OneSearch

Bring on the Sun and Salt!

I felt like death was upon me this week. I was fighting a horrible cold this week and I realized that I should watch out for my health while I’m in Greece. With the whole Swine Flu freak out, maybe I should figure out if there are other “epidemics” in Greece that I should be aware of. I have never been keen on research, but I did it!

The only crazy thing that I found that was happening was that in 2006. According to PubMed.gov, there were cases of Candidemia or Fungemia. This is the presence of fungi and yeast in bloodstream. The treatments would consist of antifungals, such as fluconazole and amphotericin.

According to greeka.com the website stated that there are no real health concerns other than the Fungemia. There are some vaccines that people should get even before thinking about leaving their own country. They are the tetanus, polio, diphtheria, and hepatitis A and B vaccines. They are all very common vaccines.

There were some drugs that you are not allowed to have in the country. Codeine is not allowed. It is a headache medicine that was outlawed. There are immense regulations on what medicines are allowed in Greece. Greeka.com also advises that travelers have a medication medical certificate for every medication you carry into the country. It is quite clear that they do not want people to bring weird drugs in to Greece.

Over all others greeka.com said that most of the health problems come from the unforgiving heat. As with any warm climate, you want to be completely hydrated. They also recommend salting your food because sweating makes you loose sodium, which is essential to you body. Believe it or not. The greeka website also explained that the food is very good quality. It is recommended that you drink bottled water, because you don’t want to get stomach upsets.

Well, I feel very prepared now. All I really have to be conscious of is carrying medication and to drink high quality water. This will be a breeze!

"Greece Health." About the health situation in Greece and Greek Islands. greeka.com, Web. 12 Oct 2009. .

"Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Fungemia. 16 September 2009. Wikipedia, Web. 12 Oct 2009. .

Mycoses,. "Epidemiology, risk factors for and outcome of candidaemia among non-neutropenic patients in a Greek intensive care unit. ." NCBI (2009): n. pag. Web. 12 Oct 2009. . PMID: 19793354

I know where I'm going!

What am I going to do for the rest of my life? I’m a year out of Culinary School and I have no idea what I want to do. Even though I graduated at the top of my class I’m completely lost. I have worked at a few restaurants in the Downtown Portland area assisting the owners and chefs. This was all fine and dandy, but nothing is silencing the voice in my head that is begging for something more stimulating.

I think I will take this fall to explore outside of my Northwest bubble. Actually, I think I will venture out of the country. Once deciding this, I realized that I should go to Europe. It has always been a dream of mine to live in another country and I have always been fond of Europe. After all, I do have all European roots of German, English, Irish, Swedish, and Greek. What is there that I cannot find in the states? I started looking online and I found my dream destination, Greece. The images of the Greek cities are divine. I loved the way cities still retain the historic image of early Greece. I have decided to tour Greece and immerse myself fully in the culture. During my school years, I have always been fascinated by the mythology of the Greeks. After studying Homers saga of the Iliad and The Odyssey, I was entranced by the ideology of these mythical gods. Each god has their own purpose and affects the Greeks everyday lives.

I also love the food. Whenever I walk into a Greek restaurant my mouth instantly waters. The aromas of the restaurant disperse though the whole restaurant spreading the aromas of rotating lamb and warm soft pita bread. I have made it my goal to learn all there is about the Greek culture and Greek food and bring it back to America and open my own Greek restaurant. So I’m leaving purchasing a ticket and packing my bags. Here I come Greece!