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

Update from Paris...9/22

-9/22

So I’m sitting in the airport in Paris…pretty much miserable and sleep deprived, just like the other 20 something kids in the group. We got in at 6 am Paris time (midnight on our bodies) and don’t take off until 12:45 (6:45 am on our bodies) so basically, it’s an all-nighter. I personally am not a fan of France so far. Everyone in the airport has pretty much lived up to the stereotype. The security was borderline ridiculous. A lady yelled at me because I stared at her when she ordered my to “Open” several times my already-open bag. Finally she realized she meant “close.” She was opening my bag because we had to go through security here (something none of us expected to do) and I left a water bottle in my bag with liquid in it. I offered to drink the remaining 2 ounces of water, but the crazy Frenchwoman proceeded to walk me out of the security area, point at the bathroom and make a dumping motion of the bottle and say “toilet.” She then made me go through the entire security procedure all over again. Awesome. And people say no one loves the French? I really can’t see why. Also, there is this noise coming over the loudspeaker every 2 minutes that resembles a text message notification on a cell phone. It’s followed by a bunch of noises (which I guess is someone speaking French). Needless to say, it’s getting old. I also am a bit ticked off because I bought a 7-up for 3.4 Euros, which translates to about 5 bucks. Greaaaaaat. We’ve been sitting, trying to sleep in the airport for the past 3 hours and still have a buck forty five to go. Should be interesting.

The good news is, despite all this annoying waiting and the long flights, and complete lack of sleep, everyone seems to be getting along, and to be honest, everyone in the group seems pretty cool. The guys living in my apartment all seem to be good guys and it looks (at least at this point) like they are going to be great roommates. Anyway, things are going great and life is good in Europe thus far. Tonight, after we get settled into our apartments, we have dinner at a Greek taverna in Athens as a group. At this point, it seems like forever away, but in reality it’s only about 7 hours or so. I’ll post again when I get set up in Athens.

Peace

Ryan