While most of the students slept in this morning (finally), the instructors, along with a couple students, were up bright and early to start on the foundation of our project. The interview with Yannos is critical to making this video. I spoke with Sheheryar this morning when he got back from the interview. He explained that they got to the Aegean Center around 11 in the morning to set up the equipment and test the video and sound before Yannos got there. Yannos ended up arriving around noon and the interview went very smoothly. He answered the questions that the students and instructors had written for him and the interview concluded after about half an hour. We had an encounter with our first scorpion this morning when we got to the school. Julia was standing by the door and noticed something yellow shoot across the floor. She asked Thomas if there were any scorpions here and he assured her that there were small ones on the island. (Smaller scorpions are apparently some of the most dangerous). They were able to brush it out the door with a broom as it coiled up and prepared to attack, and all was well. I did not realize scorpions were common residents of the island. I didn’t know at the time, but I actually saw one on our hike yesterday morning and thought to myself, “that is one creepy insect”. Little did I know, there are mini scorpions around the island and my ankle was only a few inches from one. I got a little nauseous at the thought, but soon forgot about it as I let out a chuckle while trying to close the bathroom door at the little school we work at. The bathrooms are very small here. I am forced to stand on the toilet seat in order to close the door and I giggle every time from feeling so ridiculous. At the school, everyone was divided up into our separate rooms where different teams work on their material for the project. We were able to get a great deal done today having the interview at our disposal. We left the school around 6 in the evening and returned to the Villa Katerina. Everyone found their own way to get dinner for the night. Some people went out for dinner while others stayed in and made their own with food bought from the market down the street. My roommate, Julia, and I decided to make egg sandwiches. It was a productive day overall, but I think we all can admit that we are looking forward to our free day tomorrow!

-Ashley Broyles

Today was the earliest we have gotten up, or at least most of us. Thomas Lewis asked us yesterday if we wanted to do a morning hike up the side of a tall mountain in the distance. The majority of us agreed because we are quite a unique group of people. After struggling to wake up at 6:30, we met in the lobby and headed out. The sun was just coming up so it was a pleasant morning. We went off trail going up, but it was fun because going off trail allows you to see what most people do not. We eventually got back on trail and after an hour and a half, we made it as far as we could go. It was an amazing sight seeing Paros from above with the sun rising slowly over the mountains. It took us around half an hour to get back which was just enough time to meet the rest of the group for our journey to the archeological museum. We stopped and grabbed breakfast at one of the amazing mini coffee shops around the city. People ordered many scrumptious things including different types of crepes, Greek yogurt with fruit and honey, and no morning would be complete without coffee. We then walked to the museum, stopping at various points throughout the town with Albert William leading the way. We soon arrived at the museum and we all scattered like flies, flocking from artwork to artwork admiring their ancient beauty. I was personally amazed at how archeologists could find various pieces of a statue and try to reconstruct it.

After spending an hour or so gawking at the works of art, we headed back to Villa Katerina to get ready to go to our own personal mini school to get some work done for our project. We spent around 3 hours researching and completing an awesome time-lapse of the town we shot the night before. It turned out great! We are going to do a couple more tonight after dinner, which was our first group meal. After class, we each went our separate ways. Some went to town, others went back to the hotel, and I went to the beach to do a little snorkeling. It’s awesome how there is so much to do in this little village. This island has more things to do in all of Indianapolis in my opinion.

-Ozvaldo Ayala

Hi Everyone,

Today, we organized all of our equipment and started our pre-production for the documentary.

We all had a bit of a late start adjusting to the time zone. We began with breakfast at Meltemi, a small restaurant right by the beach. Afterwards, we headed to our headquarters at the local music conservatory where we set up our equipment. Today was a long, but productive day.

The video team including Jiachi, Osvaldo and I went with Thomas to check out the video equipment and establish a workflow. We shot a mock interview to test the lighting and get everyone familiar with the post-production process.

Riley, Mandy, Sarah and Wen, comprise our 3D team. They have a lot of work creating the 3D model of the ruins. Riley and Mandy worked on 3D modeling of the historic artifacts. Wen modeled historic statues from that time period while Sarah spent the day researching architecture in order to accurately represent the ruins.

Julia, Ashley, and Cynthia visited the local library where they researched the region and its history towards developing the script. They also searched online databases and interviewed the local librarian.

Everyone was asked to submit questions about those aspects of the ruins that interested them personally.

Andy assisted everyone as well by consulting with the video team concerning audio issues and helped Julia, Ashley and Cynthia focus their research for the script.

After a long day of working, we got a chance to kick back and relax by treating ourselves to dinner at Hibiscus, a local pizza joint – the oldest restaurant on the island. Later that evening, the video team recorded time-lapse video before finally returning to the villa for a good night sleep.

Efharisto!

Sheheryar Ahsan

This is the hotel our group will be staying at for the entirety of our trip. It is very nice and incredibly beautiful!

This will be the classroom we will use while studying in Paros at the local music conservatory.

What a great group of people!

Our group met for the first time at the School of Informatics and Computing on the campus of IUPUI.

We enjoyed  our first meal together at the Greek Islands Restaurant.  

A few days before departure, Professors William and Lewis discuss how to safely pack the equipment for its long journey. 

This is our last meeting before departure.  Each of us is responsible for bringing some gear.  Next stop, Greece!