IN CORINTH, Ju nior BenSmithta kes in thesceneryof theCOrinthian Gulffrom the top of acastlebu ilt inthe17005. Smithsa id the scenerywas bea utiful, from the la ndscapes to th eancie nt massi ve struc tures. -COURTESYOF B. SMITH Summer Huggers-partake of Greek Olympic culture J]unior Lindsay Richardson said she was strolling through the plaka, an Athenian marketplace, absorbing the Greek culture when she came face to face with "the creatures." "They were the Olympic mascots, but I call them 'the creatures' because you couldn't tell what they were," said Richardson, who was part of the 2004 summer Harding University in Greece group. "I guess they were people, but they didn't look like people." The 2004 Summer Olympic mascots, named Phevosand Athena, were siblings modeled after ancient Greek dolls, with elongated heads, small arms and large feet. "1 thought they were disturbing," Richardson said. "Other people thought they were cute." Richardson' 5 encounter with Phevos and Athena were just two of many reminders that the Olympics had arrived in Greece. Junior Carrie Witter said Olympic billboards were everywhere. "The billboards were not only the canvas for Greek Olympians, but there were even American and many other Olympians on them as well," Witter said. "It was pretty cool to see." Junior Jarod Stokes said he enjoyed the Greeks' enthusiasm about the games returning to Greece. "It was so cool seeing and hearing how excited they were about how the Olympics were finally returning to the 'motherland,' and how it was about time that they did," Stokes said. Along with excitement, junior Julie Akins said the games also brought a few problems. "There was still so much roadwork going on with scaffoldings everywhere," Akins said. "It already took about an hour to get to Athens by bus, but now it took even longer because of all of the road work. They were still working on it up until the last minute." The roadwork caused fear that Greece would not be ready in time for the games. Stokes said the Greeks he met kept apologizing that the Olympics were going to be bad because they did not have enough time to get everything done. According to the students, the Greeks had other issues as well with the Olympics. "Half of them were upset because the Olympics were going to occur during their vacation season," Witter said. "They usually leave for that month, but now they had to stay around because of all the business that would be coming in." In spite of some of the negative aspects, Akins said experiencing the Olympics in Greece was neat. "1 enjoyed seeing [the Greeks] so pumped," Akinssaid."Theyjustwanted everything to be ... perfect." Richardson said she even got into the Olympic spirit enough to get up close to one of "the creatures." "I saw this 'creature' coming toward me, and my first impulse was 'Oh, how ugly,''' Richardson said. "But then I decided to get my picture taken with him. So I conquered my fear and took the picture." ~AMYIRElAND 25 - HUG
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==