June 17: Arrival Day

Arrived from Athens airport exhausted and thirsty. I was nervous about customs and finding my way around the airport to get to our van driver who would take us to our hotel, the Herodian. When the bus driver took us to our van we realized that we wouldn't have enough room to put all of our luggage in the back so we piled our smaller carry-ons on our lap and we off through to Athens. Unfortunately the ride was not so pleasant. Exhausted and tired we all simply just wanted to rest. However the Greek gods did not have fortune in store for us yet, the air conditioning in the car didn't work and only two of the windows opened. With our luggage stacked on top of us we soon became sweaty and it felt as though I had wet my pants because of all the sweat. The ride was long, about 45 minutes and the cities were so different from anything I had seen before. The terrain was rough and varied from the beaches that reminded me of Miami with all the strip mall type stores with souvenirs to farmland that stretched for miles. The architecture of the houses was a replica of a Mediterranean town with the sea stretching for miles. Traffic however was not as admirable. It was astonishing to see the amount of congestion around 10 'o clock. Motorcycles would zip past the cars rising along the center white lines even when the light turned red. Finally after our hard-earned arrival we came upon the Herodian hotel. It was immaculate. The lobby had a dining area with a glass roof surrounded by plants and vegetation. There is a rooftop garden and a Jacuzzi platform overlooking the suburb of Plaka and the Old City of Athens. Within our line of sight in the night sky you can see the Acropolis lighting up the sky, a beacon of the beautiful paradise we are in and the carefree atmosphere that surrounds us. After checking in we went to our rooms, got settled, and decided to explore some of the city ourselves! We found shops with clothes, leather sandals, hats, blankets, and the finest jewelry. The main street of Plaka had many restaurants and later that night we found it to be a hangout for the locals where they would sit and watch the games while their children played soccer in the square. Then we took a nap until our group meeting at 5:45 pm. We met in the lobby and proceeded to the sister hotel of the Herodian: the Philopopos. In the meeting room Professor McCoy formerly introduced us to Athens and his goals for the program as well as giving us tid-bits for our busy day tomorrow. We dined in the suburb of Plaka, Little alleyways of restaurants and coastal tavernas stacked upon each other. The food was delicious, we dined on true Greek cuisine and finished our meal off with white wine and fruit. Afterwards we parted ways and our small group of nine decided to head up to the rooftop garden to sit in the Jacuzzi. It was a great time simply sitting there and gazing at the Acropolis. Nothing could have been better. I showed it to my parents through skype that night and I wished they were here to experience this magical place with me. This wasn't just Athens this was my paradise.