From Athens to the Aegean Sea...

Yesterday was our first full day in the country. We had about three and half hours worth of lecture time in the classroom studying philosophy which has been really interesting. Nothing was planned for the afternoon so a group of us decided to go and explore Athens. We are staying at the Greek Bible College which is in a village called Pikermi that is about a 45min drive to downtown Athens. We used public transit to make our journey to the city. We were led by two students from the school...public transit in Greece is way nicer and more complex than Chicago. It would have been a nightmare trying to do it on our own for the first time. We didn't really have a plan once we got to the city so our group split up and explored where ever we wanted to go. The two students who got us to the city went off and did there own thing and left us with some hand written instructions on how to get back to the school. Honestly I was a bit nervous about navigating the system without them...

We split off into two groups. Myself and two other guys decided to head towards the acropolis. We really had n0 idea what we were doing or where we were going or if we would ever make it back but it was awesome! As we headed up towards the acropolis we saw this big rock structure that you could climb up and get a great view of the city. We didn't realize until later that we were actually standing on Mars Hill (where Paul gave his speech in Acts 17). I was going to read the plaque that was there but somebody else was reading it and I got to impatient...funny how that worked out.

We weren't able to go into the acropolis because it had already closed but were did a complete loop around the base of the hill. It was really neat just to walk around and soak it all in. At about 5:30 the sun was just about down and we decided two head back. We bought our metro tickets, after some confusion, and eventually found the right train to get on. We got off at the right stop and had to transfer to a bus. I found the bus (or so I thought) and we got on. As we started going I had this sinking feeling that maybe I had read the bus number wrong and we were heading in the wrong direction...it was dark...I didn't recognize anything...not good. Finally, we made a left turn onto Marathon Blvd. which is the road the school is off of. I only recognized the road because of the blue solid line that runs its entire length to mark the route of the original marathon. A wave a relief came over me. We made it back.

Today (12/28) the morning started with breakfast and then several hours of lecture. The afternoon was left open for a trip to the beach with the group. We went to a coastal town called Rafina which is on the eastern side of the country on the Aegean sea. When we arrived we headed to the beach (it was about 50 degrees and windy). Dr. O'neal told us a story about Socrates drawing a picture in the sand...it was really neat. The rest of the afternoon we were free to explore. We just walked around the city and enjoyed the view.

This trip has been wonderful. However, I have found it VERY difficult to adjust to the time change. It is hard to fall asleep and I keep waking up multiple times throughout the night. Hopefully in the next few days things will get better sleep wise.

The most interesting thing I have found in regards to food here is that they put honey in the yogurt...if you eat it without honey it is very bitter and grainy. We also had pizza with corn in it.

I will be posting pictures periodically on facebook.

Off to Delphi all day tomorrow.

-Chip

Across the Big Pond...

On Christmas day I awoke around 8am. I still needed to pack for two weeks in Greece. I pack best under pressure. I was supposed to leave my house at 11am to get to the airport. 3 hours to pack...no problem. Amidst the packing I decided to download an audio book to help ease the many hours of travel ahead of me. I chose 127 Hours which is a true story that was just made into a major motion picture. I saw the movie last week and figured I would listen to the book as well.

I arrived at O'hare International Airport promptly at 12pm and met up with my friend Andy Smith who had flown over from Detroit earlier that morning. We waited about 15 minutes until the rest of the group arrived. My dad assisted in taking our first group photo and then we said our goodbyes and headed to the check in counters. We still had about 3 hours before the flight was to depart so we spent about an hour perusing the food court before tackling security.

I had been looking forward to trying out the new body scanners that the TSA has become so infamous for. Personally I don't give a hoot what kind of scanners they use. I stepped into the machine and put my feet in the correct position. The "friendly" TSA officer who looked thrilled about his job told me to hold my hands up like I was about to catch a football. It was pretty cool if you ask me, however, he also told me not to move so I didn't know when to leave my Desmond Clark stance. I stood there for about 15 seconds longer than I needed to until the guy yelled at me to move along. It was embarrassing. Like I always say...you win some, you lose more.

Our entire group made it through security with no issues and we were quickly off to the gate just to wait another hour before we boarded.

I have never been too Europe or been on plain flight that was more than 5 hours. I really wasn't looking forward to a 9.5 hours flight, but it ended up going much better than I had imagined. The plane took of almost on time and before I knew it we were flying over the Atlantic Ocean. At around 6pm (CST) the flight crew served us a gourmet Christmas airplane style dinner dish. I chose the chicken over the fish. It tasted how it looked; bad. However, it was edible and I scarfed it down with ease.

I listened to my audio book for over half of the flight an periodically glanced at the tv monitors that had a gps map of our location. I was also mentally preparing for the time change that was about to rock my world. We left Chicago at 3:45pm and arrived in Rome at 8:15am on December 26th. Getting through the airport in Rome was a bit of a challenge. We had to get on a tram and switch terminals and then find our way to our connecting gate for our flight which was boarding a few minutes after we got off the plane from Chicago. We all got a sinking feeling when we turned a corner and saw a massive line at a security checkpoint....there was no way we would make our flight. However, myself and another student saw a man dressed in a nice suit who looked like he had some authority. We approached the man and he asked us if we were traveling with a large group. He then said something over the radio and said to us, "This way please." A moment later we were standing in the priority access security line bypassing the huge crowd! (SWEET) We pulled a Home Alone through the rest of the airport and made our plane with a few minutes to spare. Next stop: Athens.

We arrived in Athens and went straight to baggage claim. (I'm not really sure where Customs was but my passport was never stamped anywhere) My bag was the first in our groups to come over the belt: score. We then had about a 25 minute bus ride to the Greek Bible College and the rest of the day has been a bit of a blur. The time change is 8 hours ahead over here. They told us to try and stay awake until 9pm to help with the jet lag. It is now 9:15pm. I am going to bed.

Class starts tomorrow. We will have a 4 hour lecture almost every day in the morning and then do our traveling in the afternoons. This Wednesday we are traveling to Delphi and next week we are heading over to Corinth.

More updates to come.

-Chip