Not Long Now

The picture on the left was borrowed from the Drury University site. If you want more information on the town I will be staying in for most of the semester, please visit the link below. [http://www.drury.edu/multinl/story.cfm?ID=12841&NLID=211]

I'm in the countdown to Greece. There's tonight and all day tomorrow [Sunday] left. When I wake up on Monday morning, it's time to jet. I had my hair trimmed, my nails manicured, new clothing packed, and a book about the modern history of Greece to read on the plane. My great mom has lent me her new camera that she took on her trip to Hawaii earlier this summer. It's smaller than mine and has a bigger memory card. I'm not bring much technology to Greece because of the differences in plugs and voltage. I will have to use a "Type C" plug converter.
Tomorrow I am going to my home Church, and then my parents and I are driving up to Denver. We're eating dinner with the clan up there and staying overnight because I have a 7 am flight on Monday morning. My next update may come from my long layover on the East Coast on Monday morning and afternoon, or I might wait until I have some time in Greece. There is no telling when that will be. Please be patient with my updating. I'll try to at least give a quick update every couple of days. There's going to be a lot of jetlag and culture shock to begin with. I also don't know when I will have internet access. I may not have time or internet until I get to Volos which will be almost two weeks after I arrive in Athens.
Thanks for visiting! My adventure has been building up for a while, and now it's finally about to really get rolling. Bring it.

Packing

There's a lot of stuff to pack for a three and a half month journey in Greece. I'm trying to pack light, but there's a lot of stuff. I need some odd materials according to my packing list from the University. I need a large unlined journal, small 45 degree triangle, watercolors, colored pencils, medium nib fountain pen, spiral bound notebooks, etc. I'm a little worried what the art supplies are for. We need them the first day in Athens.
My mom bought me some really good shoes that are a cross between a normal shoe and a hiker. I think those will come in handy with the heavy walking we'll be doing.

Here's the run down: There are nine students from my University headed over this semester to Volos. The boys out number us two to one. We will be over there from August 28th to December 8th, longer if traveling after the semester. A couple people are already traveling in Europe, but not in Greece. You'll be seeing a bunch of people in my pictures when I post them since I'm living with them as well as traveling with them.

13 Days

Countdown to Greece: 13 days

There's been a bit of a change, but it's good! Our Professor has made reservations for us at a four star hotel in Athens that is right downtown for our orientation. I've never stayed in a four star hotel before! I worked in a fancy five star...but that's a totally different experience.

I'm back home for the last couple of weeks before I leave. It's nice to see my family. I'm going to miss them terribly.

I'm still studying Greek, although at this point I'm ready to say "I'll learn when I'm there!" It's hard.

Countdown

I have 21 days until I leave for Greece. I'm excited. I'm headed home this Sunday to spend some time with my family before I go abroad. My parents are coming to Europe during my fall break. We're either going to England or Italy. We haven't decided.

To the left is a map of Greece. Volos is circled in red. This is where I am going to spend the semester. I thought it might be a good idea to show an actual map instead of just telling you it's north of Athens.