Setting it up!

Today I found out that my loans for Greece have been pre-approved! We had a bit of a rough spot, but it's all been smoothed out. Also, today I bought my plane tickets for going and returning. It's going to be an interesting trip to say the least. I leave from Denver early in the morning on August 27th and reach Athens mid-morning August 28th. I start back the morning of December 7th and arrive back at Denver late that evening local time. To me it'll be late, late. On the way back I get to go through Munich! Awesome! Four years of German shall not be wasted!

Tomorrow I'm going for a check-up to get a notarized letter saying that I don't have any diseases for the Greek consulate's approval. On Saturday I will be heading back to my university for the major portion of the summer to work in our Technology Services/Web Services. Fun all around!

Information on Volos

I thought I would give everybody some basic information on Volos, the city I will be traveling to in the fall. Volos is the capital of the Magnesia prefecture of Greece and lies about 330 miles north of Athens. It is a port city like a lot of cities in Greece, and Volos is one of the most important commercial ports between the mainland of Europe and the Greek islands. It is home to the University of Thessaly, and is a candidate city for the Mediterranean Games in 2013. The urban plan was formed in the 1880's and is very neoclassical; however, Volos survived a major earthquake in 1955 that reshaped the city. Volos is famous for many reasons but historically because the Quest for the Golden Fleece began there. The city was called Iolcus at that point in time, and the hero Jason was the rightful king of Iolcus. I won't go into the whole story. Feel free to look it up if you're curious. There are a bunch of archaeological sites around the city.

Sounds like fun!

Beginning of my Adventure

Yassou! Hey everybody! This is my special blog for my fall semester '07 in Greece. Welcome. I'll be spending most of my time in the city of Volos, which is between Athens and Thessaloniki [the second largest city in Greece]. Volos is a medium-sized city of around 150,000 people according to the director of the Drury Center in Volos.

Here's the basic itinerary for my trip:

August 28th--Arrive in Athens, Greece
August 29th-September 1st--Orientation in Athens
September 2nd-7th--Field trip around Southern Greece
September 7th--Arrive in Volos
October 1st-7th--Field trip around Northern Greece and the Islands
October 12th-21st--Fall Break
November 5th-10th--Field trip to Spain
November 15th--Field trip to Meteora
December 6th--Fall semester ends

Keep watching for updates all this summer, and when I actually get to Greece you'll get to read all about the great stuff I do.