Hello Athens!

Goodbye America, Hello Athens!! Our small group of 21 includes 16 students and our professor plus her family. We made it safe and sound to our new home for the next few weeks. The 7 hour time difference is quite a lot to get used too, especially if you don't sleep well on planes (like me). We left the U.S. at 4:20 p.m. and arrived in Athens at 9 a.m. So basically we launched right into a full day without any sleep! From the minute we stepped off the plane, everything was written in Greek. Most signs had American translations underneath but it really has me wishing I was more talented at picking up foreign languages. We took a short bus ride to our new home and wasted no time settling right in. Even though we were all exhausted, most of us decided to go explore our neighborhood as soon as we unpacked. I can already tell that my lack of understanding of Greek combined with my natural bad sense of direction is going to lead to some interesting stories...so stay tuned.
Returning to our dorms, I passed out from exhaustion and probably could have slept until the next day, but our professor (Dr.Kaplan) wanted to show us around the neighborhood and make sure we knew the basics of where we will be living for the next few weeks. One thing about Greece: you walk EVERYWHERE. Which I am totally okay with (granted you are wearing comfortable shoes). I love that you can walk around the neighborhood and get just about anything you need: groceries, restaurants, movie theater, clothing stores, banks, etc. The Greeks apparently love to just park anywhere there is pavement that is not the road. Cars were randomly parked all over the sidewalk and in the middle of pedestrian walkways. There are so many quaint restaurants that I can't wait to go to! Most of them are lined up against the sidewalk with no walls so it's all very open and airy. The weather here is beautiful and the air feels so clean and pure to breath. (so far no allergies-thank goodness!)
For our first dinner in Greece we all ate together at a communal style restaurant (I don't remember the name because it was a really long Greek name) and the food was fantastic. Communal style just means that everyone orders lots of small, different dishes and passes around the dishes to share. That way everyone can try a little bit of everything. I already think this is my new favorite way of dining. I'm definitely up for trying anything new while I'm over here and we definitely did that tonight. We ordered snails, goat, eggplant dip, the most amazing hummus, a pomegranate salad, pork, some kind of quesadilla-looking thing but it tasted like licorice- which was not my favorite thing. Let's just say I didn't go back for seconds of snails or goat. I absolutely loved that for dessert they served us fruit. And not just any fruit, it was full of flavor and sweetness, unlike our fruit in the U.S. In Greece, fruit is grown for it's taste and quality, whereas back home it's grown for quantity and it doesn't taste nearly as good. Juicy watermelon, sweet peaches and honeydew were piled onto plates for us to share. If nothing else, I know I can live off of the fruit here at least!
It's a lot to take in so far, with the language, culture and different environment. I'm usually pretty good at taking in my surroundings and absorbing a new environment. Greece is different though. The language is the hardest part for me so far and I feel out of my element when I can't understand everything. It's going to take some getting used to and also some dedication to studying the language some more. Even though I may be out of my comfort zone, you'll never grow and learn about yourself unless you go outside of what makes you comfortable. Here's to an exciting trip and lots of good stories!