Better by the Dozen:)

I’m excited to tell everyone about this week’s topic! My living situation here at ACG is a pretty cool one:) I live with 11 other girls all from different parts of the US. We have a great 12 person apartment that shares a kitchen and a pretty awesome balcony that overlooks the neighborhood! Coming here, I was very nervous about who I’d be living with. We were not notified ahead of time how many girls we’d be grouped with, or any names of the girls we’d be grouped with, so we all came in blind. However, as we slowly arrived it was clear I got very lucky with my group:)

12 girls sounds like quite a bit, but it’s actually a TON of fun! Our dynamic is very friendly and balanced. We love to have “family dinners” where we all eat together or bake something and chat if we have the time. All the girls are also super supportive! If anything is wrong, someone is always there to help in any way they can. We encourage each other to go outside our comfort zones with the knowledge that we won’t be a lone, and as a result, my adjustment time here has been very smooth and I’m so very thankful for each and every one of them.

I was initially also worried that I would never take any trips outside Athens while I was here because I am horribly afraid of going places by myself haha! But the crazy thing is, within 2 weeks of knowing these girls, it’s hard to remember not knowing them. I presently have booked a trip with 6 girls to Italy for Thanksgiving! Things I never thought I’d do, I am doing with their help and it feels amazing to be so blessed. Things also tend to be very spontaneous in our apartment so you might think you’re going to have a boring night and the next thing you know, there are 10 people standing in your door asking if you want to go see live dancing in the square and eat gelato…who’s going to say no to that!?

Another cool thing about living with so many girls, is that while we all come from very different backgrounds, I do share a similar faith with a few of them. It’s nice to get a few reminders of my savior from people close to me while I’m living in such a secular place. I had felt pretty alone in my faith up until getting to know them! We are going to be trying different churches around the area on Sundays for some different experiences as well, so I am excited to see how Greek church services differ from my comfortable small-town WELS ones, and to be able to do it with some friends! God really is good:)

I wish I had a picture of all 12 of us, but I just realized we haven’t taken one yet! So attached are some pictures from a few adventures I’ve gotten to take so far with a couple of my roomies<3