Day 17: What happened? I blinked!

Today was our last full day on the trip! It started with a trip to the site of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. We learned a lot of great history while sitting inside of their 72,000 seat Olympic Stadium that was built in 1982. We learned that Athens was actually prepared to host the 1996 Olympic Games before they were eventually awarded to Atlanta. Athens actually had 70% of their infrastructure built already by 1996, but wouldn’t end up needing it for another 8 years. The city improved their surrounding infrastructure such as roads, airports, and metro for the games. After the games, the city maintained all of these stadiums and infrastructure until the global recession in 2009, where many of these venues became abandoned and run down. Currently, some of the venues are trying to stay afloat by renting out their facilities, but that strategy hasn’t worked very well. The Athens games are a great example of how important the sustainability factor is for the cities hosting the games. It is clear that the London Olympics in 2012 took many measures to fix what Athens did wrong, and it was easy for us to see since we had visited the London Olympic Park earlier in the trip.

Next up was visiting Marathon, Greece. This is where the Battle of Marathon took place around 480 BC. This is the site where the Athenians defeated the Persians, although heavily outnumbered. Their strategy was to trick the Persians into thinking they had won by letting them penetrate their front line. Their front line essentially funneled them into a narrow passage, where the Athenians ambushed them. This strategy proved to be successful seeing as there were only 190 or so Athenian casualties to the 6400 Persian casualties. After the battle was won, a soldier ran back all the way to Athens to share the news. This run is where a marathon gets its name! It was awesome to be walking around where this defining moment in history took place.

After that, our next stop for the day was the beach! We were at a beautiful resort on the Mediterranean Sea. We all grabbed lunch in the restaurant first. I ordered the shrimp pasta, and boy was I surprised to see whole jumbo shrimp on my plate, eyes and all! After lunch, we digested for a minute before heading to the beach volleyball court. Not to rub it in, but the final score strongly resembled the results of the Battle of Marathon, with my team being the Athenians. The other team returned the favor in the beach soccer, however. To cool down after our intense games, we all jumped in the water, which turned out to be quite warm! Overall, we had a great time at the beach, and made it out with only a couple sunburns!

To wrap up the day, we headed back into Athens for our last group dinner. We ate up our last traditional Greek meals, topped off with some delicious baklava for dessert. During the dinner, we tallied up the results of our scavenger that took place throughout our trip. Although Louis and I gave it our best, the gold medal ended up going to Aodhan and Kaya, who put up an impressive 25 points. Professor Kim surprised the whole group with some awesome Olympic patches and magnets, while the best scavenger hunt teams got a few extra prizes as their reward. The day as a whole was an amazing end to an amazing trip.

To wrap up this incredible journey, I decided to ask each member of the group their favorite part. Here are their answers:

Anna - The Pairs river cruise at night and seeing the Eiffel Tower all lit up, and then having a group photo shoot in the middle of the street

Fiona - PSG game in Paris. It was an amazing atmosphere, and the post-game championship celebration was awesome

Jacob – Going out to O’Neils as a group in London

Lintaro – Our tour of Wembley Stadium in London

Toni – Hiking in Switzerland and seeing the amazing views

Andrew – Abbey Road in London, and INSEP in Paris (France national Olympic training facility)

Ethan – Eating fish and chips in London, Eiffel Tower, and rooming with Lin <3

Kaya – Going to O’Neils with everybody in London, and hiking in Switzerland

Louis – Hiking in Switzerland

Matt – Beach volleyball in Greece and meeting with representatives from the IOC and checking out the Olympic Museum in Lausanne

Aodhan – Hanging out at O’Neils in London and the IOC day in Lausanne

Christian – Beach day today and seeing the Parthenon in Greece

Maggy – Paris river cruise at night and seeing the Eiffel Tower all lit up

Myself – Our group picnic on the coast of Lake Geneva in Lausanne

Professor Kim – Our archery day at the World Archery Excellence Center in Lausanne and INSEP in Paris. Both were new additions to the trip, and it was important to add a Paralympics portion to the trip we got at INSEP.

As you can see, there are a ton of different answers, which speaks to how great of a trip this was. There’s no doubt we’re all sad as we wrap up and say goodbye, but in the words of Dr. Seuss,

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened”

Day 15: Beta day (#2) in Greece

After visiting the sites in Delphi, and enjoying some authentic Greek cuisine, we went on to the next part of our adventure. The second step on our journey in Greece was going to Olympia, and seeing the archaeological sites and the museum. When we got there, off the bat we knew it would be a hot one, but the troops rallied together and we went on our way. The sites in Olympia were a lot easier to navigate than the ones in Delphi, with a lot less of uphill walking which was to the delight of all of us. What was cool about Olympia was that it was the birthplace of the Olympic Games. It's home to what was once the most important athletic center in Greece. When we first walked in, one of the first things we saw was the Temple of Hera, which was home to one of the Greek masterpieces, the statue of Hermes, with the infant of Dionysus. That statue was discovered in 1877 in the ruins of the Temple of Hera. We saw the statue a little bit later in the day when we visited the museum.

After we saw the Temple of Hera, we continued to walk around the site. The next thing we saw was the Ancient Stadium in Olympia, which was home to the first ancient Olympic Games. The stadium had a 200 meter race way, which unlike tracks today, it was just a straight shot for 200 meters. The crew decided to do a relay rice, and the ones who came out on top were Kaya and Louis. Me and Lin put up a good fight, but we ultimately came up short in the end. So that means I probably would have been looked down upon in ancient Greek times, and not have any statues built of me as a glorified athlete.

Then we went on to see the rest of the sites, which included the Temple of Zeus, the first administrative buildings for the Ancient Olympic Games, and the first place where the athletes were able to train and use their version of locker rooms. My favorite part of all of it was seeing the first locker room areas and stadiums, because it was cool how we started off the trip going to Wembley Stadium and seeing how massive and advanced the stadium is, and then being able to compare it to what they used back when the games first started.

It was an awesome experience being able to go to where the first Olympic Games started, and being able to realize how much the games have transformed over the years, and turn into the great spectacle that they are today. To end the day we got to cool off a bit in the hotel pool, then we jumped on another 3 hour or so bus ride and got to our final destination for this amazing trip, Athens.

I was also able to put on a little bit of a show for my classmates In one of the ancient temples, which is shown below.

Day 15! Give it up for day 15!

Hello folks and welcome back to the chronicles of Syracuse Abroad. Day Two in Greece was a fun one for sure, but also an exhausting one. We left a little bit after 9:30 from the hotel to head to our next archaeological site, which was at Olympia. We were extremely glad to see the relative flatness of this site compared to Delphi, even though it was very much hotter than Delphi was. The tour of Olympia was fascinating, with the location of the temples and their differing ages being a focal point of attention. The juxtaposition of Phillip the Second’s temple with the Temple of Hela was a great lesson of humility and arrogance, and I loved seeing how the workshop for the architect had been turned into a church by early Christians.

It was also fascinating to watching Ethan’s mime routine in the  gap between the walls in said church.

After we finished looking at the Temple of Zeus that was destroyed by a earthquake, we moved on to the stadium that was located a little bit outside of the Sacred Grove, and most of us did a two person 200 meter relay. Matt and I came in second to Kaya and Louis. whoever came in third isn’t relevant so they shall not be named here.

We got gyros at a restaurant near the site, and then saw the Hermès statue amongst other ancient wonders in the museum. My favorite piece (as well as Nikki’s) was the helmet of the Athenian General who won the Battle of Marathon. It was insane to see something from a piece of history  I’ve learned about from a young age up close and well preserved. After the bus ride back to the hotel, we played baseball in the pool and then took the bus to Athens, where we got some dinner at an excellent Mexican place near the hotel, and then went to bed for the early wake up tomorrow. Overall, an awesome day!

Day 14: Geia sas from Greece!

After a long day of almost 12 hours of travel between plane and bus, we arrived in Delphi, Greece. We were all more than ready for a good night’s sleep. We woke up for a Greek continental breakfast at the hotel. If we’re being honest, I’m not completely sure what I ate, but it was delicious! My favorite part had to be squeezing my own orange juice.

After a nice breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed down the street to see the only correct model of the ancient sanctuary in Delphi. Our translator, Nikki, gave us a great overview of what exactly the sanctuary was and how it worked, so that we knew what to expect before we went and checked out the ruins ourselves. We learned that the god of this sanctuary in Delphi was Apollo, who was the king of many things, such as the sun, archery, music, and poetry. This sanctuary was one of only two Panhellenic sanctuaries, meaning that people were accepted here from all over Greece. The other sanctuary of this kind is Olympia, where we are headed next. One of the main things that sets this sanctuary apart from others is that it had an oracle. The oracle is a person that would answer any questions you brought him, ranging from political questions, questions of war, sickness, or love. The oracle would find the answers to these questions in a dark, forbidden room in the back of the temple. The model of the sanctuary showed us the outer wall, and the main temple of worship at the center. Just inside the outer wall, and all the way up to the center were small treasuries, where people could bring and store valuables from their homes. In the back of the sanctuary, there was a large theater built into the mountainside used for theater, music, and poetry. Not included in the model, was a large stadium even further up the mountain where the athletic competitions would take place. Now time for the real thing.

At the base of the mountain, we saw a couple things. First, was a building that used to house a fountain filled with sacred water that people would use to drink, and cleanse themselves before entering the sacred area. Today, that same sacred water still flows, just outside of those ruins in a small stream. We all had a taste, then turned around to see the ruins of an old gymnasium. It was a long skinny building that athletes and military used to use to train for wrestling and running. We then headed up to the sanctuary.

The treasury of Athena has been reconstructed to see what it would have looked like long ago.

We got to see the ancient ruins of the temple of Apollo.

We saw what remains of the theater and stadium as well.

It was at the top of the stadium that Nikki shared how the ruins were discovered. The ancient city had been buried over time from war and weather. The new city of Delphi was built directly on top of Apollo’s ancient city, until the French discovered it in the 19^th century. They decided to quite literally pick the city of Delphi up and move it, in order to excavate the entire site.

Professor Kim shared a cool little piece of history with us on the way out that you would never know was there unless someone told you. Near the entrance to the sanctuary, there was a small rock with the modern symbol of the Olympic rings carved into it. As we’ve learned, this logo wasn’t designed until many, many years after this sanctuary was excavated, which leads to the question of why it was there. She shared that this was actually propaganda from the 1936 Berlin Olympics that were held during Nazi Germany’s reign. The Germans traveled to Delphi, as well as other ancient Greek ruins, and planted these rocks with the modern logo, and pretended to excavate them, to show that their Aryan race was linked to ancient Greece. This of course was not true.

We then headed inside to the museum where we saw many of the things excavated from this site, including a sphinx that used to guard it, gold and ivory statues, as well as many other statues, and one of the oldest written down musical melodies.

Before hitting the road, we stopped for some traditional Greek food for lunch. This consisted of Greek salad, and meat platters containing chicken, beef, and lamb. It was all very delicious, and we all enjoyed trying yet another traditional meal in a new country.

After lunch, we began our travel to Olympia, stopping about half way in a small town on the coast called Nofpaktos, where we walked around, skipped some rocks on the beach, and had a light snack.

We then continued our journey to Olympia, where we checked into our hotel upon arrival, relaxed for a minute, then headed to the main street and found some dinner to wrap up the day.

Day 14: Day One in Greece, First Stop, Delphi!

Day One in Greece, First Stop, Delphi!

After a long afternoon and evening of traveling, we arrived in Delphi, Greece around midnight. After what felt like only five minutes, we woke up again to begin our adventure throughout Greece.  Due to some morning rain, we made a minor switch-up and went to see the only accurate replica of the ancient sanctuary of Delphi. We examined the replica while our tour guide Nikki explained the various buildings and statues within the sanctuary. Delphi and Olympia are the only two Panhellenic sanctuaries. Specifically, she told us the history of the sanctuary and the story in which Apollo, the god of poetry, archery, the sun, and music, defeated a python and then went into exile in which he absorbed the python’s supernatural powers and returned to Delphi. This story furthermore explains the ancient saying that with bad there is always some good. In other words, Apollo could not just destroy the python, instead he had to absorb its powers and take some bad in order to have some good. Nikki then described the oracle and the ways in which people brought their questions to the oracle. These questions included political questions, questions of war, and questions of sickness. She then described the layout of the sanctuary which is marked by the outer wall. The sanctuary is found in the center surrounded by smaller treasuries. These treasures stored various valuables. The lower sanctuary contained a gymnasium where young competed in both running and wrestling. This gymnasium was also used for military purposes.

            After the rain stopped, we headed to the archaeological site and instead of examining a replica of the sanctuary, we got to explore the real thing. Prior to entering the sanctuary, individuals had to cleanse themselves with the sacred water. Below is a picture of some us doing just that upon entry.

            I really enjoyed the archaeological site because it brought the replica to life with a picturesque view of Greece in the background. While exploring the sanctuary, we stopped at a few important spots including the gymnasium, the theater, and the stadium. We also examined the temple and Nikki pointed out right where the oracle would be. It was amazing to walk throughout the sanctuary and imagine the sanctuary filled with individuals dating all the way back to 800 BC. After taking in some of the beautiful views, we descended towards the museum. On our way towards the museum we saw inscriptions of the Olympic rings. Professor Kim described to us the ways in which Hitler used the 1936 Olympics as a political platform and furthermore as a way to expand the power of the Aryan race. The Nazis planted the Olympic rings among the sanctuary and then excavated the inscription of the rings to connect the ancient Greeks to the Aryan race. Below is an inscription of the rings.

            Throughout the museum, we saw various statues that were excavated by the French in the 19^th century. One of my favorite parts was the gold and ivory statues that were found buried throughout the sanctuary. The ancient Greeks both disposed of unwanted goods in wells as well as hid various treasures and statues during invasions and wartime's. These are the goods and statues we saw in the museum. While some have been destroyed, many have been left in beautiful conditions. Below are pictures of some of these statues.  

            After the museum we got on the bus and headed to lunch. We stopped at a small café where we shared some authentic Greek cuisine family style. The food was absolutely delicious. We shared some Greek salad with lots and lots of olives followed by an eggplant, potato, and beef dish followed by Tzatziki and French fries and ending with an assortment of meats including chicken, lamb, and beef. The food was amazing!

            We then got on the bus and started our four-hour journey to Olympia. Halfway through our trip we stopped at a small coastal town called Nofpaktos. We walked around and took in the beautiful views which included both a fort and an ancient castle. We then stopped by the local café and enjoyed a few beverages by the water. It was extremely relaxing. An hour later we hopped back on the bus and completed our journey to Olympia. We arrived at our hotel just a little way up from the main street of Olympia. We look forward to checking out Olympia and having some pool time tomorrow!

Nofpaktos

Kalinychta!

           

             

Day 12; FISU and Rest!

Rain, rain, go away...

Today was a nice relaxing day for most of us, which I think we could all agree was much needed. Not that being in Europe for 18 days is strenuous or anything, but we leave for Greece tomorrow and had a free afternoon, so naps were top on our list.

However, first on our list for this final day in Lausanne, Switzerland was visiting FISU or International Sports Federation University! If you're wondering why the first letters of each word don't spell FISU that is because FISU is from the French way of saying it which is Federation Internationale de Sport Universite.

Here we met with a guy named Julien who gave us a presentation full of information about FISU and later gave us a tour of the building. Due to the fact that it was a Saturday, and the building is located on the campus of the University of Lausanne, we basically had the place to ourselves.

Overall it was an amazing opportunity for this SU Abroad trip to go and visit Julien at FISU. He told us about the history of the organization that dates back all the way to 1949. It was finally recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1961, and they've managed to grow tremendously since then. Everything that they organize is considered an educational event even though people are allowed to enter from the ages 17-28 (sign me up!) Of course, you must be a student to participate, but as Julien stated they're still trying to figure out a registration system that's easy and works worldwide. This information caught the attention of some of my peer, so perhaps we'll see some SU representation at the future FISU games.

One of the main takeaways from this presentation was that FISU is primarily Europe focused even though it allows teams from all over the world to participate. America itself barely sends anyone to the games as in the recent past they've lost to Mexico in American Football and Japan in baseball. Julien explained that this was primarily because of the NCAA and its structure, but with FISU being held in Lake Placid in 2023 they hope for some more American exposure!

The games take place every two years and summer and winter happen will within the same year. It's surreal how they manage to put everything together with such a small staff.

After this presentation, we hopped on the metro back to the hotel where we were all given the rest of the day free. Instead of sticking as a group we broke up and did our own little thing which was good considering it started to downpour around 4ish.

Some of us visited a winery (21+ people), some napped, some ate, and some napped. A majority did the last three and then packed!

As for tonight when we reconvene, if the rain decides to stop finally, we'll probably visit the free concert that they have by the water which is also surrounded by all these different food trucks.

Lausanne overall was breathtaking, and today was much needed, but it's time for Greece!

Bon voyage for our last final six days in Europe together!

Our Last Full Day in Switzerland :(

Today was our last full day in Lausanne, Switzerland and boy am I going to miss the magnificent views, especially the ones from our hotel looking over Lake Geneva. We started the morning looking pretty spiffy and headed to the University of Lausanne to visit the International University Sports Federation. We met with Julien, a member of FISU. He presented a lecture in which he gave a general overview of FISU as well as the history and structure of the federation. FISU organizes events for student athletes. These athletes are 17-28 years old and must be enrolled in a university. The goal of FISU consists of a combination of achievement in sports as well as education. More specifically, the federation conducts three main types of events including sports events, developmental programs, and educational programs. Some educational events include the FISU forum, the FISU seminar, and transfer of knowledge programs. As an education major, I admire the educational aspect of FISU and the ways in which the federation implements both sports and academics together.

            FISU conducts both summer and winter Universiade’s every two years (these games occur during odd years). The Summer Universiade is the core event in which 173 countries compete for approximately 12 days, competing in 14 compulsory sports and 3 optional sports. Approximately 2,600 universities are represented during the summer games. The Winter Universiade is much smaller in that only 50 countries compete in 8 compulsory sports and 3 optional sports. 650 universities are represented during the winter games. In 2023, the 31^st Winter Universiade will be held in Lake Placid. This is extremely advantageous because it promotes the games in the US which furthermore leads to greater involvement both in the US and throughout the rest of the world.

            After the presentation, we got to explore FISU and look at some artifacts from past winter and summer games. We even got to pick up some of the torches that have been used for the games (these torches are very similar to those used during the opening ceremony of the Olympics). Let me tell you, some of those things were heavy!

            Overall, our time at FISU was extremely interesting, personally I had never heard of the summer and winter Universiade’s, so I really enjoyed learning about athletes my own age competing in international games similar to the Olympics. After FISU, we returned to our hotel and had a free afternoon. While many slept, some of us explored Lavaux, a popular region of vineyards and wineries in Switzerland. Specifically, we climbed (yes, we actually had to climb) to Domain de la Crausaz. There we tried a view traditional blancs and enjoyed a beautiful view of the vineyards and the Swiss Alps. It was a perfect way to end our final afternoon in Switzerland. After the winery, we headed back to the hotel but of course stopped for some Swiss chocolate. Boy, am I going to miss this place!

             

Day 11!

Friday in Switzerland started with a subway ride to CAS, or the Court of Arbitration for Sport. This court decides international sports disputes, which can include instances of doping, match fixing, eligibility issues, etc. There we met one of the lawyers, who was actually from Buffalo, New York. He talked to us about how sports law internationally is different than in the US, as it deals with issues directly about sports themselves, not just between two parties involved in sports.

CAS has been around for nearly 30 years, and has developed into what he called “the Supreme Court for all Olympic disputes.” To ensure equality and fairness across the board, CAS bases their rulings on the legislative codes in place by the organization overseeing each case. For example, rulings for doping are based on the World Anti-Doping Code. Each sport has their own international bodies/codes as well, such as FIFA regulations overseeing soccer rulings. We also talked about a few specific cases, including Oscar Pistorius and the controversial Caster Semenya case. Semenya is a female runner from South Africa. She naturally produces higher testosterone levels than other females, which in turn makes her look a bit like a man, and arguably helps her win female races by wide margins. The CAS just ruled that she has to take drugs to suppress her testosterone levels in order to make it a level playing field for all females racing. He explained how CAS came to this ruling and acknowledged that while controversial, it is an important precedent for them to set.

After this thought provoking-discussion/meeting, we walked around downtown Lausanne for a bit and headed to a pizza place for lunch. After lunch, we travelled just outside of Lausanne to the World Archery Excellence Center. There we got a tour of the center before getting to try out our skills at archery ourselves. After a short teaching period from the instructors, we started firing at targets from a pretty short distance. As we got more comfortable, we began to move further away and shoot at balloons placed in the middle of the targets. We also had some friendly individual and team competitions where we kept score to see who was the most accurate archer. Shoutout to Matt and Christian for catching the team W.

After we finished, we got to see an Olympic archer shoot at a target from the baffling official distance of 70m. We could barely even see the target ourselves, let alone be able to shoot at it, which made it so impressive to watch. We then headed back to our hotel in Lausanne. Many of us grabbed dinner by the Lake and enjoyed the live music going on, and then walked over to the carnival that was set up in time. Overall, another great day on the trip in beautiful Switzerland.

Day 11: Hawkeye in Training

Today is Lausanne, Switzerland we started off the day by visiting the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport more commonly known as the CAS of the court of Arbitration for Sport. We met with a lawyer named Brent Nowicki who works on cases there who happened to be from Buffalo, New York. He was taking over hosting us from someone who previously worked there and was a Syracuse Graduate. Brent played lacrosse at Fairfield university and then went to law school and worked at a law firm. He was hired by the player’s association of the Premier Lacrosse League on the side and fell in love with working in law with sports whether it was endorsements or arbitration or things like that. He applied for an opening position for a lawyer at CAS and has now been there about 7 years and says “I love every second of my job. I never wake up and think, ‘ Man I have to go to work today’.”

Us posing with Brent and his new Syracuse hat as a thank you

Brent told us a lot of very interesting things about the CAS. He explained how they operate with arbitration, both sides show up for the case and it is ruled on between 1 or 3 arbitrators depending on what the parties in the case decide. The CAS has around three hundred and fifty different arbitrators who they cycle through and call in based on a variety of factors such as race, gender, background and sports knowledge. The laws that are applied to each case vary significantly depending on the type of case and where it originated. They could even refer to the laws of that country in their rulings. Often the world committee for that sport makes a ruling before the CAS does and the CAS mostly handles appeals outside of the Olympic Games but the CAS might rule differently on a case or appeal than another organization.

One of the main cases that people kept asking questions about was the recent ruling of CAS against Caster Semenya. She is a South African middle distance runner who is externally a female, but was born with internal male parts, mainly testicles. These male parts produce an abnormal amount of testosterone giving her a competitive advantage over females because she had testosterone levels closer to men and she has never lost a race. The IAAF ruled that she had to suppress her natural hormone levels to the level of normal women, taking away her natural advantage/ capabilities. She appealed this to the CAS, but the CAS ruled in the IAAF’s favor. This was a very controversial case in sport.

Next, we went to the World Excellence center for archery to take a tour and try out archery ourselves. We saw someone training outside and shooting at the Olympic distance of 70 meters. We toured all of the world class facility including weight and massage rooms, food and game rooms, and room for company events that get held there. We learned how to shoot the bows and we had a lot of fun popping balloons and having competitions against each other.

One of our instructors was a national judge I believe for the Olympics and the other was an Olympian for Maloui.  He put on a shooting demonstration for us from 70 meter and was consistently shooting and 8 or above. The target was so far away we had to use a spotting scope to see where he hit. It was incredible watching him shoot a massive bow.

Written by Andrew Perodeau