in britannia

I was really impressed with the opening salvo of the Olympic Games from Athens tonight. The respect and homage paid to the history of Greek culture, art, architecture, and sculpture was a truly stirring tribute. It's cheesy, but it's times like these when the world takes notice of the importance of Classical Civilizations that I am proud to have been a Classics major. Not for movies like Troy, or the upcoming Alexander the Great quasi-epic, of course. But when the Minoan Snake Goddess gets international press coverage, I'm pretty stoked. Most impressive was the Cycladic head breaking apart to reveal the kouros statue, which then broke apart even further to reveal the Greek sculpture of the Athenian 5th century. My grandfather had offered, four years ago, and probably jokingly, to take me to Athens. I'm kinda bummed I never followed up on that offer. Seeing all of those shots of Athens, the Temple of Poseidon at Aegina, the Parthenon itself all makes me miss the summer I spent travelling through southern Europe. Perhaps my upcoming six-week semester breaks might be the opportunity I need to do it all again... :)

On a different note, I saw my brother's white-coat ceremony today at UMDNJ. It's amazing how professional he looks with his coat and his stethescope. I don't say it nearly enough, but I am so proud of him - he's going to make an amazing physician someday.