Arrival and Weeks 1 and 2!

/in

So I made it! I actually somehow got off the 9 hour flight and found where I was supposed to be in a confusing airport surrounded by people who were not speaking English. (The first major success of mine). This experience is already so unlike anything I’ve ever done that recalling all of my first impressions is actually proving to be very difficult! If I start from the beginning, I can say that I saw my very first palm trees! They do exist beyond my imagination. I also remember from right after landing that the urban-ness of the area was overwhelming especially mixed with jet lag. But as I regained a sleep schedule I was able to take in the sights around me and appreciate/notice the different things like the sidewalks, for example, which are very classy and made of different kinds of stones that are also uneven in many places (I would know because I trip on them daily). I also have been notified, and noticed myself, that the driving here is different. People are kind of crazy, they just drive wherever they want whenever they want. It’s pretty funny, actually. You could be walking on the sidewalk and a car will pull up onto the sidewalk right in front of you and the driver will park and walk away and you just have to go around the car! Safe to say my own parking skills would not be heavily judged here:)

The food continues to surprise me every time I have a meal. I’m not sure why or how it’s so good, but they have created flavors that America can only dream of I am certain. Although I have wondered if half of why it’s so good is because of the presentation. They make everything look fancy even if it’s not fancy and that just makes it taste better. The other night I went out to dinner with a few friends and we were presented with some barbecue potato chips. Now, it could be that the potato chips in Greece are just different and more flavorful and crunchy here than in the states, OR it could be that they tasted better because they were brought to our table in a delicately painted ceramic bowl! I’ll have to do some research on this in my down time.

What about the real reason I’m here! School! Well classes have been very interesting so far. Some of my professors are hard to understand so I will be an expert lip reader by the end of this experience. I noticed they seem to be more focused on the process and connection of learning as a class than in individual work, because 3 our of my 4 classes have a group project that will count for a big percentage of our grade. The number of individual assignments seems to be way less. Either that, or I am missing something and I will have a lot of catching up to do on Monday. We’ll see how it goes!

The most memorable point of my first week was going to the acropolis! First of all, pictures on the internet don’t do it justice, and yes, it also actually exists it’s not imaginary. It’s HUGE. It made me feel very much like watching Hercules and I was so intrigued by all the history seemingly frozen in one place. They are working on some restoration too so it was cool to see what the buildings would have looked like back in their glory days as opposed to what they look like now. I can’t wait to see more!

Overall, I had many first impressions of Athens and I’ll probably have more as the weeks go on because there is SO much to see and do here. I’m excited for all of it!

Flying Away This Weekend!

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Well, I leave for Greece in four days! Which is crazy to even think about because I began planning for this trip my freshman year and it was just something exciting I talked about every once in a while and now its actually happening! I have a great mumbo-jumbo mix of emotions flashing through me at different times during these last days, many of them do not even have anything to do with actually being IN Greece, but rather, making sure I have everything I need to get INTO Greece from my flights. The excitement comes and goes. I love fantasizing about what my daily routine might look like, and how different it might be from the one I’m used to. I’ve thought about my daily habits and how those might change in such a different setting. I’ve thought about habits I want to keep, ones I want to break, and new ones I want to try. Re-reading through my goals and expectations sheet again, I was reminded of a few of those goals, but also saw where some of them have changed, or where expectations have already been met! For example, I had big expectations for the ISA program and how well their communication would be during the “don’t freak-out” stage of arriving in a different country and trying to find the rendezvous. But! I have been provided with so many directions and backup directions that I don’t believe even my overthinking brain has been able to come up with a tragic scenario where I don’t know what to do next. So that is very comforting:)

I’ve also gotten the opportunity to chat with a bunch of the other students who are in the ISA program with me! I’ve loved this part because I have already found a few students who are on my flight to Athens, and knowing I can find other people really helps me feel more secure and less alone. It’s also given me an opportunity to realize all the different types of American students I will be with on this trip, which is kind of a cool culture thing of it’s own. My roommate in Athens will be a girl who attends UCLA for example, and MLC is very very not like UCLA I am sure, so it’ll be interesting to see how we both adjust to ACG from our differing experiences at our home universities.

In my free time recently, as I’ve thought more and more about my trip, I’ve really found that my biggest goal is staying in tune with my faith life. It’s the number one most important thing. If I am not grounded in my savior, then I am not grounded at all. While I’m over there, I will not get the opportunity to go to chapel services twice a day, or even regular Sunday services. The friends I make will be encouraging I’m sure, but probably not with the same reminders I’m accustomed to getting from friends of the same faith. In this, there is both a challenge and an opportunity. I will need to challenge myself to stay faithful in my prayers, my devotional life, and worship life. I will need to set aside time to hopefully livestream a chapel service a few times a week or especially on Sundays. The opportunity in this though, is that I can really let my light shine. Maybe I could start a devotional group or even just use my faith to help encourage or comfort others. I feel so blessed in this area also as I realize the kind of history I’ll be able to see. Not only just regular amazing history, but Biblical history! I’m very excited to get to see places I’ve only ever read about, and I’m excited to learn even more than what I already know about those places and the people who live there. I know that if I put myself out there during this trip with the knowledge that Christ is at my back, I will get way more success and experience out of it. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for me and how he will use me according to his will for my life during these next few months!