The whole point of going to Greece was to take the GMAT. We left early for the testing center on our last day in Greece and even though I arrived 30 minutes early, they let me start as soon as we got the administrative parts done. I had the room to myself because apparently not that many people take the GMAT in Greece anymore. The experience was fine though the room was too warm and the room was right at street-level, so I listened to cars honk incessantly and all of the chatter during smoke breaks from the various classes the center was offering. And also I lost nearly two minutes in the last section (which only lasts 30 minutes to begin with) because I was still locked out after a break and had to wave at the security camera to get someone to come help me, and then the lady entered the wrong password two times. I never take breaks during standardized tests so that taught me. I didn’t get a crazy high score but it was high enough that it’s not worth paying $300+ plus airfare to try to do better. So I was relieved.
Severin came and picked me up after my exam and since we had a few hours to kill before our flight we decided to dump the rental car somewhere so we could grab a quick bite and visit the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki.
We pulled into the car park and it ended up being one of those robotic parking garages! It was totally crazy– there were probably six or seven of these little bays where you pulled your car in, and then it got taken underground by an elevator. As soon as you paid for your parking, the car was summoned. The whole affair made me so giddy. SO GIDDY, we got video:
After lunch we milled around the museum for a few hours:
The museum was super; I’m glad we made the time to visit. The museum had many gold artifacts (jewelry and other accoutrements) and various articles of Macedonian warfare– my favorites were the bronze helmets. This is a relief of the goddess Epona, who was the Roman protector of horses, ponies, and mules. Obviously I had to get a photo.
This spectacular marble head is of a Greco-Egyptian god named Serapis– it is 2,200 years old. I had never heard of Serapis prior to this trip, but apparently he was a Greek god worshipped in both historic Macedonia and Egypt. Some attributes of Egyptian gods– specifically Osiris and Apis– were adopted into Serapis’ mythos in order to appeal to both Greeks and Egyptians.
This relief of an ear is a totem or offering to Serapis, meant to signify that Serapis hears man’s prayers. It’s from the 1st century B.C. I like it for its simplicity.