ONE MORE (very important!) FORM

If you are planning to go with us in January you must also turn in the Witte Travel Application linked here (the form itself is at the end of the travel brochure which is also part of the PDF file).  This form gives our travel agency our final list of names and allows them to book a block of flights as well as hotel rooms.  This form is also important if you plan on making your own flight arrangements on either side or both sides of the trip…the agent needs to know this up front.

You may also pick up this form outside Professor Winkle’s office (Hiemenga Hall 359).

Don’t worry if you do not have a passport number yet; this can be supplied later.

SO…BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1st YOU NEED TO TURN IN TO EITHER PROFESSOR NOE OR WINKLE THE FOLLOWING:

1. $500 deposit (check made out to Calvin College)

2. Interim Application Form (linked in previous post)

3. Legal Waiver (linked in previous post)

4. Health Form (linked in previous post)

5. Witte Travel Application (linked here)

Professor Noe’s and Winkle’s offices are located in the Classics Department in Hiemenga Hall just past the Philosophy Department.

UPCOMING INFORMATION MEETING

If you are at all interested in this trip please plan to come to the information meeting next week:

Wednesday, September 15th in Hiemenga Hall 337 at 3:30pm

At this meeting we will go over all the essentials regarding the interim–itinerary, cost, deadlines, expectations, paperwork, etc.

If you cannot attend be sure to contact either Professor Winkle (jwinkle@calvin.edu) or Professor Noe (dcn3@calvin.edu). 

Applying for Interim in Greece 2011

Getting registered and securing your place on the interim roster involves a lot of paperwork and requires your attention to deadlines which come quickly in the fall.

We will be holding a information meeting early in the semester which will cover the items below but you may wish to check them out sooner than later. All (unless otherwise noted) the following paperwork and deadlines must be met/completed/turned in by October 1st:

1. Off-Campus Interim Application

2. Health Questionnaire

3. Legal Waiver for Off-Campus Travel

4. Off-Campus Interim Recommendation (you’ll need one professor’s recommendation)

5. Off-Campus Scholarship Application (optional…awards from $200-$500…you can read more here)

6. Off-Campus Grant Application (optional…awards from $200-$800…these are due by October 31st)

7. Non-Refundable Deposit of $500 (turn in to either Professor Winkle or Noe)

8. Formal Registration for the Course (during regular registration period at the end of October)

9. Secure a Valid Passport (NOTA BENE: Your passport must be valid for three months after our depature date, in our case this works out to be April 5th, 2011)

10. Have a brief interview with either Professor Noe or Winkle (these will take place in October and November)

ELEUSIS

ELEUSIS:  Eleusis was renowned in antiquity as the sacred sanctuary of the earth-goddess Demeter.  Here, according to the myth, the goddess came (disguised as an old woman) in mourning after her daughter, Persephone, was abducted to the underworld by the god Hades.  Eventually a compromise was struck in which Persephone would spend part of the year with her mother and part of the year with her “husband”, Hades below.  This annual death-and-rebirth of Persephone was tied to the annual, four season vegetative cycle of the earth.  This became the basis for an annual secret initiatory cult which took place at Eleusis and attracted initiates from all over the ancient Mediterranean world.  Seating from the central mystery hall (Telesterion) can still be seen cut into the rock of the acropolis.

HOSIOS LOUKAS

HOSIOS LOUKAS: The 10^th century Monastery of Holy Luke (dedicated to a 10^th century beatified hermit, not the gospel author) is one of the best preserved and impressive Byzantine monuments in Greece. The main buildings of the site are two conjoined churches from the 10^th and 11^th centuries. The focal point of most visits to the monastery is the array of finely-wrought gold ceiling mosaics which depict Christ, Mary, various apostles and even one of Holy Luke himself. Below the church is a crypt which is decorated with 11^th century frescoes and contains three tombs one of which contains the relics of Holy Luke. Despite its attraction to tourists it is important to note that the site is a working monastery; a handful of monks still live, work, and meditate in the private buildings which flank the church.

CORINTH

CORINTH: Corinth was an extremely wealthy and strategically significant city for both the Greeks and the Romans owing to its location near the isthmus, making it a north/south crossroads as well as a port for two bodies of water. It was a famously cosmopolitan city with all the attendant affluence and tensions of such places (notably attested in Paul’s two letters to the early Christians here). Notable on the site: the monolithic columns of the 6^th c. BC Temple of Apollo, the evidence of a Corinthian Jewish presence in the courtyard of the small museum, and the Bema where it is likely Paul stood before the proconsul Gallio in AD 51/52. Looming above the site is the Acrocorinth (the massive acropolis of Corinth) which holds the labyrinthine, castle-like fortifications dating back (mostly) to the 13^th century. Acrocorinth’s walls and cliffs are a hiker’s dream and provide expansive views of the ancient and modern city and the sea beyond.

MESOLONGHI

MESOLONGHI: This town is best known for the role it played in the Greek war for independence in the early part of the 19^th century. In 1826 a vastly outnumbered Greek force was besieged here by the Turks for several months, but despite the Turkish numerical advantage the Greeks were able to turn back the invading armies several times. On the night of April 22-23, 1826 about 9,000 Greeks (desperate and out of supplies) attempted to break out and escape the town (an event known to Greeks today as “The Exodus”). It was a confused, embattled escape and in the end only about 1,800 Greeks survived. Lord Byron also died here of fever on April 19, 1824 after ten months of incessant activity in the cause of Greek independence. His heart is buried under his statue in the garden park near the tumulus which holds the bones of the defenders of 1826.