First Post from Athens....

-9/24
So I stayed up for about 30 hours after we left…it turned out to be a pretty solid decision. In effect, I haven’t felt jet lag at all, which I am really pleased about. We got into Athens and proceeded to get our key (which resembles a prison key from the 1800’s) jammed in the door shortly after we were shown around the place. It’s a real intense wood door with steel on the inside so eventually a locksmith had to come within the first 2 hours we were here. About 80 Euros later, it was fixed....Fortunately, we didn’t have to pay, and the lock itself is getting replaced Saturday. We went from there to a Greek taverna (restaurant) and had a traditional Greek meal. The know how to cook. It was awesome and so far the food as been amazing. By the way, their mealtimes here, are way different. Hardly any breakfast, then a huge dinner type meal at lunch followed by what you would call a siesta. This city pretty much shuts down between 3 and 5 pm. Then, around 8 or 9, maybe 10, people come out and go out to dinner, then usually get coffee or drinks or just relax outside with friends because the weather is always so great. After dinner, we walked around our neighborhood (which is about a 15 minute walk from the center of the city) and checked out eachother’s apartments, etc. My apartment is pretty solid. There are some weird things, I guess, but it’s pretty nice. The rooms are comfortable, the kitchen is up to date, the actual apartment complex is really nice, and it seems like it’s gonna be a great place to stay. Check out the pictures on facebook I posted….The apartment even has stained glass windows. Pretty cool. The two annoying things are that you can’t flush the toilet paper…you have to place it in a can. And two, internet is really inconsistent. That aside, the apartment this city is awesome. There is a ton of culture and endless things to do. The group went out tonight to dinner then headed down to Syntagma Square (the main square in the city). We wound up kind of lost and ran into some cool places, even got to see the Olympic Stadium. Eventually we got to the center of the city and it was awesome. People stay out here until late into the night, so there is always stuff to do. It is just all around a really cool place. I could write a lot more, but I’ll save it for when I get back. There aren’t words to describe walking a few blocks out of your apartment and looking up and seeing the Acropolis lit up and being the only thing shining on top of a huge hill in the night sky. We have orientation again tomorrow, then some more free time to roam the city and stuff, so it should be another good day.
Later
Ryan