Greece Travel Journals

Armenoi (Crete) Minoan Rock-Cut Chamber Tomb.

This information is for those students who are required to keep a Travel Journal as part of their Study Abroad coursework for the University of Arkansas.

Please note the difference between a "Travel Journal" and "Site Report Notes."

A. A TRAVEL JOURNAL usually contains your reaction to things and people, and is more personal. It reflects your own thoughts about what you are experiencing. You may include sketches, quotations from things you read, your own poetic compositions, and anything else that will help you remember your feelings and impressions of the adventure. Please do not write intimate, personal, libelous, or false information. Have fun. Be creative.

Examples of Travel Journal entry (yours can be wildly different; the following are just to give you a feel of the general kind of thing we are looking for.)

• "Today I saw the Parthenon for the first time, and it was all I had expected, and more! The crowds of tourists there made me think of a bunch of ants that had just found a sticky wet lollipop on the sidewalk, and swarmed towards it."
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• "Eating in tavernas on the sidewalk and seeing all the people go by in the evenings ("volta") makes me wish that we did that more often at home. It gives me the feeling of how the Ancient Greeks spent a lot of time outdoors, and how they interacted with each other in their communities more than we do in our country."
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• "Greek food is wonderful, but I can't stand the yogurt, although our professor told us that we shouldn't be in Greece without appreciating the 'culture'. Another one of his puns. Ha ha ha."
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• "Mycenaeans are cool. I would like to learn more about what life was like in places like Tiryns, Pyos, and Mycenae. I want to buried in a tholos tomb."
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• "I'm confused. How come sometimes Attalus is spelled ­us and sometimes ­os? I'll ask this in the morning, if I can remember."
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• "The National Archaeological Museum is awesome. I want to come back and spend at least a week going through the vase painting rooms and sculpture displays. I like the archaic korai the best. The way their garments were sculpted with all those folds, and the bright paint that decorated them makes me wish I could have seen them when they were all standing on the Acropolis. Also, I want to spend a lot of time in the Epigraphical museum and read all the inscriptions I can."

B. SITE REPORT NOTES usually contains facts, figures, and academic information.

Taking notes like this are optional, for your own use, and do NOT need to be turned in. They might come in handy when you are writing your examinations, so it would be a good idea to take a notebook to the sites.

Example of Site Report Notes:

• "Palace of Nestor. Linear B. tablets found that show centralized administration. Megaron 'Throne-Room' plan, with frescoes on floor and walls. Many drinking vessels. Evidence of wine production and chariot repairing. Older palace nearby. Tholos tomb associated with palace. Destroyed by fire 13th century. Cause of destruction unknown."
• Stoa of Attalos; Athens, Agora: Built by Attalos II of Pergamum. Gift to Athens: 159-138 BCE. Second floor used as viewing area for Panathenaic procession. Later incorporated into post-Herulian wall (after 267 CE). Doors walled up. Architectural pieces put into shops to add bulk to wall. 2 shops on each floor. Open colonnades = most floor space. Wares put outside during shopping hours, inside shops when closed. Pausanias does not mention Stoa of Attalos, which was really an ancient shopping center. 116 meters long."

[Please keep your Travel Journal separate from you Site Report Notes -- in a separate notebook.]

Delphi. Sacred Precinct of Apollo.

Expectations for TRAVEL JOURNALS.

1) Before departure.

Have at least two entries, dealing with your preparations. What are you doing academically to prepare yourself? What are your expectations? What are your concerns? How are you preparing for the trip in a non-academic way? What about your report topics excites you? What do you wish you had more time to do? What books are you thinking of reading and/or bringing with you?

2) During the trip.

If you can compose a couple of paragraphs daily, you are doing well. When would be a good time to write? On the bus? In your hotel room while your roommate takes a shower? In bed before you go to sleep? In a museum? On a hike? By the pool? In a taverna?

Just jot down some impressions, make some sketches, describe some scene, incident, artifact, newly-learned fact, new associations, cool inscription, linguistic connection, whatever has stimulated your interest.

3) Frequency

Try to write something every day (however brief) , and that way you won't feel the need to catch up and try to remember all the interesting stuff after five days have gone by, and you get things jumbled up. If a day goes by without an entry, don't worry; just get back to it and know that in a few years you will be glad that you rescued these precious memories.

You will probably feel overwhelmed with all the stuff you want to write, and be frustrated that you don't have the time or energy to write every thing down. Don't despair. Hit the highlights, make a few short notes to remind you of what you would like to write if you had the time. These notes will stimulate your thinking later on.

4) Evaluation

The professors will read and evaluate the Travel Journals at the end of the trip.

• Journals which have been kept faithfully with 20 or more entries, well and thoughtfully written (and legible) will receive a grade of A on this assignment.
• Journals with fewer entries (17-19), without as many observations, will receive a B.
• Those which contain even fewer entries (14-16), of mediocre quality, will receive a grade of C.
• Those which show little or no thought or care (and 10-13 entries) will receive a grade of D.
• Students who do not turn in acceptable Journals (fewer than 10 entries, with little relevance or thought) will receive a grade of F.

RETURN TO GREECE 2007 MAIN PAGE.