Remember the Titans...

Anonymous So, for me, coming up with a blog account is now, after a little more than a week and a half here in Athens, is becoming difficult. Honestly, I had difficulties to begin with. I just don't see myself as one that is capable of conveying this experience through word. Actually, I'm convinced that there is no one that can really capture what opportunities like this are, as they are EXPERIENCES, something that you must partake in, must be exposed to. I'm not gifted with the ability to even come close to providing an written account that even remotely does justice. I can start talking about the human immune response to various infection, cytokine activity in the initiation and maintenance of the adaptive response, or the exciting new research in optogenetics and its application to neurodegenerative diseases and neurobiology, but I am not someone who can use social media to shape and drive meaningful conversation. So... what I am trying to say with all of this is that these blogs are becoming hard.

A couple minutes ago, I just got back from a European football (soccer... whatever) match between two Athenian teams, Panathinaikos an A.E.K. Neither team has their own venue so the match took place at the Olympic Stadium "Spiros Louis". We sat behind the goal in the lower levels of the stadium, directly opposing the pitching and rolling sea of green scarfs, flags, and people supporting Panathinakikos. At the beginning of game, red and green flares first illuminated the section, then hid it from view due to the smoke pouring from the pools of colored light. During all 90 minutes of play, the die hard fans chanted, swayed, jumped, and followed the conducting of one individual in the front. 8 massive flags were continuously waved around to the beat of a drum somewhere in the mass of green. Watching that scene alone was worth the price of the ticket. The noise and energy that carried over made me wonder about what this stadium would have been like during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Those that experienced, participated and competed in the Olympics in Athens say it was like nothing else. I remember being awed by the majesty of it all through my TV screen so I can't even imagine what it was like to be in the midst of. Sitting there tonight, basking in the energy of the the titan that is the Olympic Stadium, I let my mind wander many times to that night and the homecoming of the Olympics. Tonight, I remember the Titan that was the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad.