‘Olympic Quest 2013’ CategoryPage 3
We are 30 students and 2 instructors (Aaron Banks and Mary Joos) embarking on a journey to discover the world of the Ancient and Modern Olympic games. Through on-campus study, guest-lecturing experts, and travel to Greece, Italy, Austria, and Germany, we hope to enlighten ourselves with the knowledge and ideals of this great cultural phenomenon – The Olympics.
Ciao Italy!
This morning, Matt Panciera came to talk to our class about Pompeii and Roman history as well as the culture of Italy that we will soon be experiencing. He is a classics professor here at Gustavus and spent two years living in Italy. He also is doing research on the graffiti located in Pompeii found […]
Learning About Sport in Antiquity
“How many of you compete in sports in the nude?” questioned Eric Dugdale as he enthusiastically taught our class this morning. Eric Dugdale, an editor of Greek Athletics in the Olympics by Alan Beale, was referencing to a very odd phenomenon that existed in the Ancient Olympics. Although this seems somewhat barbaric today, the ancient Greeks […]
Introduction to German Cuisine
After working in the library, the group walked downto the Co-op to try some new German cuisine. Stefanie Hailperin made us some interesting new foods, starting with liver dumpling soup, or Lederknoedelsuppe. They wouldn’t tell us what it was until we tried it though. While the soup was cooking, she passed around some of her German cook […]
The Modern Games
This morning Dr. Banks lectured on the Modern Olympics and how they differ from other modern sporting events as well as the ancient games. Big differences include that the Olympics occur much less frequently than average sporting events, and the value of mind/body perfection is much more emphasized in Olympic games. We also learned how […]
Ancient Olympic Games
Today in the morning session of class we learned about the Ancient Olympic Games. What stood out to us was how different the Ancient Games were from our perception of the modern games. Starting with the Panhellenic Festivals which started around 776 BCE and ended around 460 CE which consisted of four separate games. The Olympic […]
The Oresteia and Greek Mythology with Will Freiert
The Oresteia is a trilogy among Greek tragedies. The three plays, entitled Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides, are centered around the themes of justice and revenge. In Agamemnon, Queen Clytemnestra seeks to avenge her daughter, Iphigenia’s murder. Iphigenia was sacrificed by her own father/Clytemnestra’s husband, King Agamemnon. Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia in order to get favorable winds so his army could […]
The Olympics are Kuehl!
Sunday, January 6th was our first day back to Gustavus after Christmas break. Olympic athlete Kris Kuehl came to talk to the class and we watched a documentary on the Ancient Olympics. Kuehl answered what it means to her to be a modern day Olympian. From her perspective the Olympics are meaningful because of the […]
The Adventure Begins
Aaron and Mary spent Sunday afternoon getting prepared to start our Olympic Quest! We began our journey at the St. Peter home of Stephanie Hailperin learning how to make authentic Bavarian food – specifically Rouladen. Rouladen is a German Roulade consisting of beef wrapped around bacon wrapped around a pickle. The roll is then seared […]
Welcome to 2013!
The new year has come which means we are fast approaching our departure for Olympic Quest 2013. The students (and Mary and Aaron) have been reading and researching in preparation for our trip. We have everyone reading two books to help them orient themselves to the Olympics and to Greece, our first stop. “Private […]
Welcome to Olympic Quest!
It is December and here at Gustavus most students and faculty are busy wrapping up on semester while anxiously looking forward to break! We are Olympic Quest are looking forward as well – but we are looking forward to January and beginning our adventure through the Ancient and Modern Olympics. This will be our blog throughout our […]