Thursday, June 3, 2010
Going around
So I'm regretting more and more I didn't bring a computer because there isn't one here on Naxos for the public so I have to type on myopic which is a hassle. So I'm in Naxos having left beautiful Mykonos. I've posted photos on facebook so go check them out I haven't labled them yet and won't till I get to a computer. Tomorrow I am going on 'spring break' on santorini and I'll be there for two nights. I'm about to go to sleep. Sorry this is silly and short. Goodnight!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Ball is definantly rolling
I don't have a lot of time to type this because we are about to go to diner and who knows how long the internet here is going to last so here I go.
Yesterday ( Day 3)
Went to the Acropolis. It is amazing. amazing. amazing. I have a lot of pictures we went to the New Acropolis Museum after and it was too cool. I normally would have more to say about this, but again, rushed...
Today ( day 4)
We had our first real class today, so our first quizzes and assignments are tomorrow. We went to the National Arceaological Museum today and it is really big. I think that i missed a lot but at the same time i saw way more than i could really appreciate.
I think most of us are going to have to stay in tonight because we have to study stuff. Tomorrow is our last day in Athens for 2 weeks and we are going to Mykonos and Naxos before coming back for a few days. So i don't know what the internet connection there will be like, but hopefully sometime tomorrow i'll be able to load a few pictures up!
Yesterday ( Day 3)
Went to the Acropolis. It is amazing. amazing. amazing. I have a lot of pictures we went to the New Acropolis Museum after and it was too cool. I normally would have more to say about this, but again, rushed...
Today ( day 4)
We had our first real class today, so our first quizzes and assignments are tomorrow. We went to the National Arceaological Museum today and it is really big. I think that i missed a lot but at the same time i saw way more than i could really appreciate.
I think most of us are going to have to stay in tonight because we have to study stuff. Tomorrow is our last day in Athens for 2 weeks and we are going to Mykonos and Naxos before coming back for a few days. So i don't know what the internet connection there will be like, but hopefully sometime tomorrow i'll be able to load a few pictures up!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Day 2
Ok really it is Day 3 but i'm not counting the first night i was here because i didn't do much other than blog about my awful time trying to get here and go to sleep. So today is the 2nd Day of the 'offical' trip
My roommates are really nice, their names are Amanda and Addie. I had met them at the oriention in Louisville, but we didn't really know each other before coming here. Everybody that i've talked to so far in the group are really great. I still don't know a lot of the people in the group because we just haven't had much of a sit down and introduce yourself time. Which is fine because we will be together long enough that i'm sure we will all mingle. I have a hard time remembering names though so we will see. To complicate the matters there are two Julie's, two Amanda'a, and three Jessica's.
Yesterday after the rest of the group got in we got settled into our rooms and had an hour to grab some lunch ( I had a turkey sandwich with tomatoe) then we went for a walk. I think the professors just wanted to keep all of us awake as long as possible so that we get used to the time. We walked down to Haden's Gate ( please excuse the spelling on this, i'm not going to bother to look up the correct spelling because i have to go soon) and we went to the Temple of Zeus ruins. I have some good pictures. Today we are going to a Museum, i forget the name, and then we are going to the National Parks.
We don't actually have class till Sunday, that is when we are taking our first quiz's and assignments. So i have to take a small notebook with me to take notes today because i know that one of my assignments is a two page paper describing in detail an artifact at the museum we visit today.
Tomorrow we go to the Acropolis!
My roommates are really nice, their names are Amanda and Addie. I had met them at the oriention in Louisville, but we didn't really know each other before coming here. Everybody that i've talked to so far in the group are really great. I still don't know a lot of the people in the group because we just haven't had much of a sit down and introduce yourself time. Which is fine because we will be together long enough that i'm sure we will all mingle. I have a hard time remembering names though so we will see. To complicate the matters there are two Julie's, two Amanda'a, and three Jessica's.
Yesterday after the rest of the group got in we got settled into our rooms and had an hour to grab some lunch ( I had a turkey sandwich with tomatoe) then we went for a walk. I think the professors just wanted to keep all of us awake as long as possible so that we get used to the time. We walked down to Haden's Gate ( please excuse the spelling on this, i'm not going to bother to look up the correct spelling because i have to go soon) and we went to the Temple of Zeus ruins. I have some good pictures. Today we are going to a Museum, i forget the name, and then we are going to the National Parks.
We don't actually have class till Sunday, that is when we are taking our first quiz's and assignments. So i have to take a small notebook with me to take notes today because i know that one of my assignments is a two page paper describing in detail an artifact at the museum we visit today.
Tomorrow we go to the Acropolis!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Fun of Airports
Okay, I'll start with the good news. I am in Athens, in my hotel room for the night. I got in at about 5pm Greece time. Here is where the other shoe drops. I was suppose to be in at about 9:30 am Greece time.
Let's Tarintino this :)
Monday:
Left Muncie with Gabe a little after 9am. I think i slept about 4 hours the previous night and i haven't been able to sleep well for a while now.
Had a lovely day for the drive to Richmond to meet my parents at Ried Hospital so that Dad could drive the rest of the way to Dayton and then Gabe would have somebody to ride back with at least most of the way.
We leave Richmond at about 10:45ish? Get to Dayton i check my bags, my flight is on scheduale for 1:30pm. We all have a nice chat and coffee. Gabe and Dad embrass me by taking phone pictures as i'm about to go through security. Say goodbye and hugs all around i get into the terminal just fine and find my gate no problem.
Now, i'll admit that i had my reservations. I was going to a forgien city where i didn't speak the language, had no local currency at the time, I was (and am) missing Gabe and my parents and my cat and chinchilla. So i was freaked. I get on the flight to go to Phildephia where i had a one hour layover then directly on to Athens.
We got on the plane start to push off from the gate and we stop, and we wait, and we DEBOARD the plane because they are having trouble getting the second engine to start up. Now i'm glad that they figured that out before we were in the air but i had a short layover to begin with and i was worried. They said a half hour, then an hour, then finally at 3:30ish we were able to get on the plane to phildelphia. I was going to miss my connecting flight for sure (it left around 4ish) So the airplane people transfer my ticket so now i'm routed to go from phildelphia to Zurich, Switzerland, then on to Athens. I say whatever as long as i get to Athens and they said i would be there at about 12:30ish.
So i get to Phildelphia where they have a friggen huge airport. My plane landed on one side and my flight to Zurich was on the whole other friggen side of the airport. My flight to Zurich was already boarding by the time my plane from Dayton was landing. So i take a bus to get to the correct gate and walk in and they are doing the final phases of boarding passengers on the flight to Zurich. So i'm walking and i'm thinking i'm not going to make this flight i'm going to be stuck in philadelphia of all places. I should just say put me in a hotel i can go tomorrow with the rest of my group, but no i decide to run.
So i'm running like a crazy person, not like nice even jogging, like sprinting down through the terminal (because of course the one i need is the one at the very end), and i make it.
Now i'm on my way to Zurich, it is one of those huge planes. Like i think the measure basketball player's height to make sure they could all walk comfortably up and down the aisles. I get about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I start to get a charlie horse in my leg because i sprinted about 1/4 of a mile in stupid sandles. My feet are swelling and I just feel like crap. Oh, didn't I mention? This plane also left one hour late.
Tuesday:
Zurich. I get in, i have to go through customs which was easy i just showed them my passport and they let me go on through. I ask a airline worker if they thought i could still make the flight to Athens and which direction i should be headed. They say maybe i can make it because the flight is suppose to leave at 9:45am and it is 9:33am. So i'm kinda sprinting down those walky runway thingys. I get to the gate and it's closed for business. So now i go to the transfer desk in Zurich's airport. Which by the way if you have a lot of cash Zurich's airport is friggen awesome. They had Burburry, Coach, Hermes, and a lot of perfume stores, chocolate shops, and i'm sure many other high end shops.
Anyway, I'm at the transfer desk i get them to redirect my flight i go over to make sure that my bags that i've checked are following me still and they say, "Well i can only print you the boarding pass for Munich, you will have to get the one for Munich to Athens when you get there." So i very kindly say, "Umm. What???"
I now go back over to the first women at the transfer desk and ask if there is anyway that i could be put on Standby for one of the flights directly to Athens (they were already overbooked) because i had been having some problems with getting to my connecting flights and i didn't want to be in Munich for the night. My other option (other than Standby, or Munich) was a flight that would go out at about 9:30pm and get me into Athens at about Midnight. Which is something that i really didn't want to do, but thought it would be better than spending the night in Munich's airport.
Now, it may be because at this point i was crying and trying not to blame the people at the counter because it really wasn't their fault and they are doing there jobs. But something must have worked because i got on the next direct flight to Athens (The one that previously was overbooked) that left at 1:00pm.
I then found a very nice cab driver.
It turns out that my cab driver lived in New York for a time and was a cabbie there before moving back to Greece to raise a family. He thinks that drivers in Greece are worse than New York drivers. After riding in a cab with him i agree. So he was really nice and pointed out a bunch of stuff on the way. We drove by some protestors that were outside the parliment building. Also the lawschool and a bunch of other stuff that i don't remember now.
I then got check into my hotel and I took a very nice shower and changed clothes before coming into the free internet lounge that is in the hotel to type this up.
The rest of my group gets in tomorrow, i'm not sure when, but i'll probably just hang around near the hotel intill they do, then i think we are going on a walking tour around Athens?? I forget I will have to look it up now.
and, I now have advice for future travelers on this trip, Just buy the ticket and go with the group because then at least they have to deal with 20 or so pissed off people that have been jerked around instead of one kinda weepy one.
Let's Tarintino this :)
Monday:
Left Muncie with Gabe a little after 9am. I think i slept about 4 hours the previous night and i haven't been able to sleep well for a while now.
Had a lovely day for the drive to Richmond to meet my parents at Ried Hospital so that Dad could drive the rest of the way to Dayton and then Gabe would have somebody to ride back with at least most of the way.
We leave Richmond at about 10:45ish? Get to Dayton i check my bags, my flight is on scheduale for 1:30pm. We all have a nice chat and coffee. Gabe and Dad embrass me by taking phone pictures as i'm about to go through security. Say goodbye and hugs all around i get into the terminal just fine and find my gate no problem.
Now, i'll admit that i had my reservations. I was going to a forgien city where i didn't speak the language, had no local currency at the time, I was (and am) missing Gabe and my parents and my cat and chinchilla. So i was freaked. I get on the flight to go to Phildephia where i had a one hour layover then directly on to Athens.
We got on the plane start to push off from the gate and we stop, and we wait, and we DEBOARD the plane because they are having trouble getting the second engine to start up. Now i'm glad that they figured that out before we were in the air but i had a short layover to begin with and i was worried. They said a half hour, then an hour, then finally at 3:30ish we were able to get on the plane to phildelphia. I was going to miss my connecting flight for sure (it left around 4ish) So the airplane people transfer my ticket so now i'm routed to go from phildelphia to Zurich, Switzerland, then on to Athens. I say whatever as long as i get to Athens and they said i would be there at about 12:30ish.
So i get to Phildelphia where they have a friggen huge airport. My plane landed on one side and my flight to Zurich was on the whole other friggen side of the airport. My flight to Zurich was already boarding by the time my plane from Dayton was landing. So i take a bus to get to the correct gate and walk in and they are doing the final phases of boarding passengers on the flight to Zurich. So i'm walking and i'm thinking i'm not going to make this flight i'm going to be stuck in philadelphia of all places. I should just say put me in a hotel i can go tomorrow with the rest of my group, but no i decide to run.
So i'm running like a crazy person, not like nice even jogging, like sprinting down through the terminal (because of course the one i need is the one at the very end), and i make it.
Now i'm on my way to Zurich, it is one of those huge planes. Like i think the measure basketball player's height to make sure they could all walk comfortably up and down the aisles. I get about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I start to get a charlie horse in my leg because i sprinted about 1/4 of a mile in stupid sandles. My feet are swelling and I just feel like crap. Oh, didn't I mention? This plane also left one hour late.
Tuesday:
Zurich. I get in, i have to go through customs which was easy i just showed them my passport and they let me go on through. I ask a airline worker if they thought i could still make the flight to Athens and which direction i should be headed. They say maybe i can make it because the flight is suppose to leave at 9:45am and it is 9:33am. So i'm kinda sprinting down those walky runway thingys. I get to the gate and it's closed for business. So now i go to the transfer desk in Zurich's airport. Which by the way if you have a lot of cash Zurich's airport is friggen awesome. They had Burburry, Coach, Hermes, and a lot of perfume stores, chocolate shops, and i'm sure many other high end shops.
Anyway, I'm at the transfer desk i get them to redirect my flight i go over to make sure that my bags that i've checked are following me still and they say, "Well i can only print you the boarding pass for Munich, you will have to get the one for Munich to Athens when you get there." So i very kindly say, "Umm. What???"
I now go back over to the first women at the transfer desk and ask if there is anyway that i could be put on Standby for one of the flights directly to Athens (they were already overbooked) because i had been having some problems with getting to my connecting flights and i didn't want to be in Munich for the night. My other option (other than Standby, or Munich) was a flight that would go out at about 9:30pm and get me into Athens at about Midnight. Which is something that i really didn't want to do, but thought it would be better than spending the night in Munich's airport.
Now, it may be because at this point i was crying and trying not to blame the people at the counter because it really wasn't their fault and they are doing there jobs. But something must have worked because i got on the next direct flight to Athens (The one that previously was overbooked) that left at 1:00pm.
I then found a very nice cab driver.
It turns out that my cab driver lived in New York for a time and was a cabbie there before moving back to Greece to raise a family. He thinks that drivers in Greece are worse than New York drivers. After riding in a cab with him i agree. So he was really nice and pointed out a bunch of stuff on the way. We drove by some protestors that were outside the parliment building. Also the lawschool and a bunch of other stuff that i don't remember now.
I then got check into my hotel and I took a very nice shower and changed clothes before coming into the free internet lounge that is in the hotel to type this up.
The rest of my group gets in tomorrow, i'm not sure when, but i'll probably just hang around near the hotel intill they do, then i think we are going on a walking tour around Athens?? I forget I will have to look it up now.
and, I now have advice for future travelers on this trip, Just buy the ticket and go with the group because then at least they have to deal with 20 or so pissed off people that have been jerked around instead of one kinda weepy one.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Leaving on a Jet plane
I'm heading off tomorrow, i think i've got everything packed but i'm sure i'll remember something i've forgot as soon as i've gotten on the plane. I still have room in my bags so i'll be able to bring stuff home hopefully. I am kind of nervous of getting to the hotel from the airport. I can either take the metro for about 8 euro and it will take about 40 minutes or i can take a taxi for about 35 euro. I'm kind of nervous about taking all my luggage on the metro but it looks really cool. I think i'll just decide when i get there see how tired I am so i can keep my wits about me on the train.
I'm staying at the Hotel Attalos.
The rest of my group is going to meet at the hotel on Wednesday at around 11 and we are going a walking tour around Athens. We have already had to change our plans once because there is going to be a ferry strike on the day we are leaving for Mykronos, so instead we are flying there at something like 6:30 am. Anyway. I need to call my mom and remind her yet again remind her to pick up my contacts :)
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Popping Cherries
This is my first ever blog entry.
I'm leaving on Monday for a 5 week trip to Greece for a study abroad. I don't really know anybody else on the trip, i've only met some of them once. It will be the longest time that i've been away, and the second time i've been overseas.
I got a new digital camera so hopefully i'll be able to take plenty of pictures and post them up if i can figure out how to do that here.
I have about a million and two things left to do but before i get too excited i think i better drink my cup of tea and knit and watch reruns of Roswell.
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