Getting settled...

I reposted the above picture thinking now you might be able to click on it and it will fill the screen?

Anyway so it's been almost a week of classes in Athens so far and so far so good. I switched a couple of my classes and now am taking a Basic History of Aegean Art/Archaeology, a History of Greek Athletics, Byzantine Art and Architecture and Modern Greek. Modern Greek as stated before has proven to be very intense and I find my self concentrating on everything going on in the class. It may be the most I have ever paid attention in a class in my life (yet it still doesnt seem to help haha). I mean its def. a struggle but I do find myself learning so I think it will be alright. My Athletics class is very straight forward basically just proving to be a normal history class. The Aegean Art class is similar to that and the proffessor is very cool/ interesting. Lastly the Byzantine Art is also good. It's a little different then I'm use to and it may be due to the teaching style. My professor is an extremely interesting person. I cant say its really a lecture type class, my professors loves to include random things at times but it I really like it cause he has a personality and is not just strictly listing facts. He also has us do this journal type thing in which he encourages us to sketch out the pictures/buildings haha (and has said that it will be something we need to keep in order to show our kids eventually). Since I missed the first class due to switching courses he offered to meet me outside to class to discuss which I missed (which is prob. not much ahah) but I am supose to call him tomorrow and possibly meet him somewhere or at his house for coffee or something. So I think that will be extremely cool/interesting to do.

Hmmm what else is knew... so i've found a couple of great/cheap gyro places. They are so good and you can find them basically anywhere. So far I have only had the chicken ones. Here a gyro consists of the meat (beef? or chicken), tomato, onions (but not for me), lettuce, Tzatziki (its basically a mix of yogurt, cucumber and garlic) and then french fries. Its very good!

Although I am thousands of miles away from home things dont seem that different. haha. I mean of course seeing the Parthenon everyday is a little bit of a shock haha but overall it seems pretty normal... I can go to store, get food, etc pretty easily and its not much different then living in a city in the USA (except maybe the insanse driving/traffic conditions). Although the main things are pretty much the same I have begin to notice some small things such as the lack of huge stores (at least in my area) and things seem to be a little more simple? Its very hard to explain and its def. not a bad thing at all and I actually do really enjoy this characteristic. (if that makes any sense)

One thing is a basketball cost 45 euro! haha and that was 20 percent off! So I am highly awaiting the arrival of a basketball shipped by my mom and dad. haha so hopefully soon I will be able to play since there are basketball courts right across the street.

I have not yet gone to Syntagma or Plaka but hope to venture over that way this weekend. I'm also highly excited for next week because Allison has decided to come visit! I'm excited to show her around the city of Athens and then am excited to visit Granada for her to show me there later in the semester.

Well I will keep writing when I get a chance.

First weekend in Athens

Well its been a couple days since I wrote and a lot has happened. A couple days ago a group of people including me went to bumper cars haha. We took the tram to this place which was quite interesting. It was a restuarant/bar attached to a type of arcade/ bumper car place. It was a lot of fun and a group of about 12 of us were the only people on the bumper cars.

We had our first two days of classes on thur. and fri (we normally wont have classes on friday). My classes are so far so good and I decided to switch one of them cause i thought the one would be pretty boring. Modern Greek class is very interesting. It's a little frustrating cause the alphabet is a lot different but I'm beginning to be able to somewhat read signs haha and I guess being immersed in the language will help me move along. Although the people speak greek a whole lot of them speak english. I would say almost every young person (people 30 and below) speak english and a lot of older people do too. It's a lot different then learning spanish but I think eventually i'll get use to it.

So I know I promised some pictures so I'll post some of my room and the views from my balcony.

This is the view from the academic center. It extremely weird to be so close to the Parthenon something I have only see in a dark room on slides. But now I am so close and seeing it in person which seems almost unreal (as write now I am looking out the window at the Parthenon while typing this). I havent yet gone up to the Acropolis but am planning on it soon and will definitly visit in my classes.

So Friday night I went out with a couple friends to a restaurant/bar place. Athens is pretty crazy in the sense that a normal night of people going out consists of going out at midnight with some people staying out to as last as 6 or 7 am. haha I cant say I plan on doing that but its extremely crazy. I guess Athens is known for this crazy nightlife haha (I guess thats why they have siesta).

Yesterday (Sat.) I decided to sign up for a hike with other students from the college. I wouldnt say it was a hike hike but we took a bus for about an hour to a mountain. We hiked up a path to the top area. The mountain looked down upon the town(?) of Marathon and the water and the view was extremely beautiful as you will see in the pictures below. We walked for about half an hour and then stopped for lunch. Here are some of the pictures. The first is an overall view of the water and Marathon. The second is a picture of me and a friend, Ryan, from gburg (who I didnt know before coming here) and Athens is somewhere behind our backs and the next is also a friend, Kelsey, from gburg (who I didnt also know before coming).

Well thats it for now I will post more as I continue taking pictures and adventuring.

I'm HERE!

Hey everyone,

Well I am finally in Athens. After a long plane ride of about 8 hours and not getting any sleep I have made it to Athens. The city is a lot larger then I thought. There arn't many very tall buildings but the city just seems to stretch on forever. I got my first sights of the Acropolis today when driving back in the Taxi. It seems so unreal that I am here in person and am seeing the Parthenon in person (instead of in a dark room on a slide haha).

Well anyway more about the flight... It was pretty boring but I was able to watch a couple movies and shows such as Friends on the TV. I had an aisle seat in the middle (set up 2 4 2 seats across) and ended up really have two seats since nobody sat in the middle two seats. But that didnt really help much since I wasnt able to fall asleep. On the plane I met two other Gburg students that I hadnt ever met before (I guess Gburg isnt that small) haha. I also met a Greek girl/lady (I dont really know how old she was but she grew up in Athens but has been living in Queens for the last 12 years- she said something about law school and she was going back to Athens on business - so maybe mid 20's? anyway) So I talked to her a little about Athens and discussed some places to visit (which I cant really remember any since she said all the Greek names and it's hard to remember them - and i cant even remember her name either haha). Well she talked about the soccer matches a little and basketball matches and also some nice parts of town for shopping or eating and places I should visit (I'll have to look at map and see if I recognize anything).

Well once we got off plane we basically just herded to pickup bags and from there went through customs (which was just walking though a gate). We arrived a little early so we were waiting for the CYA people to come and give us our keys and etc. We then took a nice taxi ride from the airport to the main part of Athens so I was able to see a lot coming into the city. The landscape is very beautiful with mountains mixed with valleys of buildings. The traffic situation is very intense at times haha (by the way almost all the taxis are Mercedes which seemed a little weird). Well I later arrived to my apartment and met my roommates and got settled in a little before heading to academic center to do some paperwork. So far I have lucked out on room situation. I have a single and wireless internet seems to be working so hopefully it will stay like that.

Well I explored a little earlier and went to supermarket and walked around the surrounding neighborhood (I also happen to live about 2 min. from the academic center so thats nice)

I am planning on going out to find food for dinner a little later but thought I would write post updating everybody. I will try to take some pictures esp. of my room and views around where I am later and post them.

11 days!

It is now 11 days till my flight for Athens and I have yet to start packing. Yes I still have 11 days but I still feel like I have no idea what to bring and how much to bring. I guess I will figure it out as I get closer to the flight. I have currently started a list (haha) but there isnt much on it.
Well the closer I get to leaving the more I will prob. have to say so until then...

This is a test

This is my passport photo...

I am very good looking aren't I? I could have used this one haha ....

Well one last photo test... ahhh long hair!