A long and winding road
I had a very long trip, but I'm here now! I embarked from flagstaff at 10PM on the 24th, and took a 10 hour train ride to LA. From there, I waited for 7 hours in the airport before boarding my 12 hour flight to Moscow. After another 4 hour layover I caught my final flight to Athens. Why such a long trip? Because I am in Greece! Flights to Greece are pricier than those to Germany, so the long trip was necessary to cut down the cost of the flight, because I am on a budget. It was an adventure in and over itself. The logo of my airline was, quite literally, a hammer and sickle with wings. Apparently Aeroflot, the former Soviet state airline, has decided to stay in the Cold War. Even the flight attendants seemed as if they were from a past age, as they would not have been out of place on a PanAm flight from the 1960s. They did have in-flight movies, however, so they have not completely disengaged for the modern world.
Why the trip to Greece? One of my closest freinds is currently studying at the American College of Athens, so I decided to take advantage of the situation. How often does one get to see a close friend a foreign country all at once! He, like myself, is able to take classes in English. This is lucky for him, as his knowledge of Greek is about as good as my knowledge of how to speak to cats. So far, he has had an excellent experience with his study abroad. This makes me even more excited to arrive in Germany and begin my own adventure.
So far, I have had an excellent time in Athens. I have seen the acropolis, which is a place I have always dreamed of visiting, and experienced my first European culture first hand! I also visited one of the famed Greek islands, which just a couple of months ago would not have seemed within the realm of possibility. Their were several small idyllic Aegean style towns on the island, any tourists dream destination! I would highly recommend this program to anyone who likes beautiful beaches, gorgeous scenery and good food. The academics seem excellent as well, but I can only report that second hand. It has been facilitating to connect the knowledge I have acquire from university courses with an actual location. Ancient Greece and Art History seem much less theoretical now.
I cannot stress enough how amazing it was to see the Acropolis in person. It is a place that I have wanted to see since I learned about it in middle school. Greece is simply a must visit country for those who love history. The layer upon layer of history that one can feel here is astounding. This is especially true in the new Acropolis Museum. It contains an astounding array of artifacts and original works for Ancient Greece. I had learned about the museum in my art history course at NAU, which gave me a depth of understanding that greatly added to the experience.
The language barrier is not nearly as high as I would have expected. Many people in Athens speak at least some English, because it is such an international tourist destination. It seems that English truly is the global language. Many highway signs are in both Greek and English, and many restaurants have English menus available. This has been good for me, because my knowledge of Greek is absolutely non-existant.
Next stop Germany!
Acropolis!
Idilic island
more Acropolis!!