At 3 pm, CST, I arrived at the O'Hare Airport in Chicago. By 6:00, I was on the plane. I have been on the plane until approximately 2 hours ago. How many hours that was in transit, I have NO IDEA. I just know that right now, it is 7pm in Athens, but 12:00 pm in Chicago. So, I'm a bit tired and time confused, but that will go away shortly.
The process of flying to Greece wasn't too painful. My first flight, from Chicago to London, went swimmingly, and I have no complaints. I watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for free, which was fantastic, ate food that didn't make me ill, and dozed through much of the flight. The second part was more troublesome. The flight into London landed, at predicted, at 6:40 am London time. Boarding for my connecting flight ended at 7:40 am, London time. And then it took 10 minutes to get off the plane, more to get through security and into the correct gate at the airport, but I made it just on time, and successfully boarded the plane. Half an hour later, I disembarked from the plane. Apparently, some gasket or connector in the nose of the plane was loose or broken, and maintenance said they couldn't fix it in a reasonable amount of time. So, instead of taking of at 8 am, we took off at 10, putting us into Athens two hours later than I'd initially expected. Once we got in the air, though, everything went smoothly for that flight as well. I didn't want to sleep, so as to get on Greek time, and so watched The Adventures of Tintin, which was a very cute and well-executed movie, and a great way to pass the time couped up on another airplane. I was also fortunate enough to get in the baby seat row on that flight, but there were no babies, so I had lots of leg-room, which was quite nice.
Once arriving in Athens, I met up with the other two students in my program that I knew were on my flight, as well as two others who I hadn't realized were on the flight. We took two cabs to get to our apartments near the Athens Centre. And that's where I am now, relaxing and decompressing and unpacking my bags. The apartments are nice, with air conditioning, large windows, and a balcony. I'll be sharing my room, kitchenette, and bathroom with two other girls, which will be an interesting experience. But I am looking forward to it. Now that I've arrived, much of my nervousness has fallen away, and I'm just excited to explore this new place.
As for program things, we have a dinner trip tonight, which should be fun, and then a few orientation things tomorrow. Stuff really gets going next Monday, when classes start. And that's the point where I'll start being busy, and actually having something to talk about.
So for now, I will leave you to get ready to eat and to finish unpacking. In parting, here is a picture of the view outside my bedroom window.
Αντίο για τώρα! Τα λέμε σύντομα!
The process of flying to Greece wasn't too painful. My first flight, from Chicago to London, went swimmingly, and I have no complaints. I watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for free, which was fantastic, ate food that didn't make me ill, and dozed through much of the flight. The second part was more troublesome. The flight into London landed, at predicted, at 6:40 am London time. Boarding for my connecting flight ended at 7:40 am, London time. And then it took 10 minutes to get off the plane, more to get through security and into the correct gate at the airport, but I made it just on time, and successfully boarded the plane. Half an hour later, I disembarked from the plane. Apparently, some gasket or connector in the nose of the plane was loose or broken, and maintenance said they couldn't fix it in a reasonable amount of time. So, instead of taking of at 8 am, we took off at 10, putting us into Athens two hours later than I'd initially expected. Once we got in the air, though, everything went smoothly for that flight as well. I didn't want to sleep, so as to get on Greek time, and so watched The Adventures of Tintin, which was a very cute and well-executed movie, and a great way to pass the time couped up on another airplane. I was also fortunate enough to get in the baby seat row on that flight, but there were no babies, so I had lots of leg-room, which was quite nice.
Once arriving in Athens, I met up with the other two students in my program that I knew were on my flight, as well as two others who I hadn't realized were on the flight. We took two cabs to get to our apartments near the Athens Centre. And that's where I am now, relaxing and decompressing and unpacking my bags. The apartments are nice, with air conditioning, large windows, and a balcony. I'll be sharing my room, kitchenette, and bathroom with two other girls, which will be an interesting experience. But I am looking forward to it. Now that I've arrived, much of my nervousness has fallen away, and I'm just excited to explore this new place.
As for program things, we have a dinner trip tonight, which should be fun, and then a few orientation things tomorrow. Stuff really gets going next Monday, when classes start. And that's the point where I'll start being busy, and actually having something to talk about.
So for now, I will leave you to get ready to eat and to finish unpacking. In parting, here is a picture of the view outside my bedroom window.
