The Start and Arrival

View from the deck outside my bedroom window

Its finally here, we are in full swing for starting the study abroad trip in Athens Greece! Monday at 10am the whole group met at the FPU campus to discuss last minute details and prepare for the trip. We had discussion groups about skills that will be used while traveling, and asked the students to come up with thoughts about what to expect in introvert and extrovert situations (i.e. how will they interact while abroad, and what will their internal dialog be like). Notes of the discussions were taken so the students can look back and see if their expectations meet what they really experienced. At the end of the study abroad we will ask them to fill out a survey asking them to reflect on their experience and share their thoughts.

The bus ride into Boston went well, though we did have a brief moment of panic when we hit traffic on I90 and had a little less than 2 hours from our 9:40pm flight time. Moving through check in and security at the airport was quicker than I have ever experienced which was a relief since it left us enough time to grab a bite to eat, relax for a bit, and make some last minute phone calls to say see you latter, Ill call your from Greece.

We had a connecting flight in Zurich the airport was very nice and modern; it was quite large too. At one point we had to take an underground automated train from our arrival terminal to our departure terminal where we passed through security again and customs as we officially entered Europe. Our flight from Zurich to Athens was slightly delayed since the mechanics were installing new tires on the plane. We had boarded the plane and could see the tire being changed, after sitting on the plane for a bit the pilot came over the intercom and said the pit crew needed to change the tire on the right side of the plane too since the one on the left had been changed. Oh well at least it was just a minor delay and we would be on our way.

The landing in Athens was a little tense as the plane had a sensation of being pushed sideways; there was a fair amount of left to right correction going on as the pilot was lining us up for the landing. Once we touched down there was a round of applause from the passengers and a sigh of relief (maybe they were just clapping since they were happy to be in Greece).

Upon arriving at the Sina apartment (the one I am staying in with the students), we were given a brief tour of the apartment by our driver who had picked us up at the airport (he works for the school we are partnered with). The place is nice and has plenty of room for all eight of us. The furniture looks like it’s from the 70's but is still adequate for what we need, and everyone is very pleased with it. Within the first 45minutes of being in the apartment we had our first power issue, we had overloaded the circuit and ended up blowing the main fuse located on the power meter of our apartment. I called the Hellenic American University and had them send a person over to help resolve the power issue. The man who drove us from the airport to the apartment showed up and worked on the issue for about one hour, then we were back in business (with a bit more of a power conservation mentality). Turns out the electric water heater combined with the air conditioning units will draw too much power and put us in the dark. Now we know and we will be conscious of what we turn on.

I am off now to explore more of this wonderful apartment!