Judging by first impressions

Good morning. I got into Greece safely!

I don't know what it was that I saw from the plane, but to me it looked like an ampitheatre the size of Pleasant Hill, California. A ruin? The first thing I see outside the plane over Greece is a ruin? REALLY?

A few hours before we landed I found out that we were just north of Spain, and I got incredibly tripped up. The Spain flight I took last summer was an experience for me because it was my first European flight, and to think that I was right there once again, so close to it...I can imagine how I'll feel come spring break when I do head back there.

There were no Greek-speaking flight attendants on that plane. That's apparently how uncommon the Greek language is; they can't put Greek-speaking flight attendants on a plane bound to Greece.

They also didn't have us fill out immigration cards on the plane like they usually do when you travel to a different country. All they did was stamp my passport at the customs gate, they didn't even look at my student visa.

I was picked up at the airport and taken to my dorm, and I spent most of the day there yesterday unpacking, taking a nap, and meeting my (four!) roommates. The only time I left was to go to dinner with all of them plus some neighbors, a few of which go to school at NAU. Athens is like Phoenix, Arizona, where it's divided up into smaller areas; our area is called Aghia Paraskevi (I'm pretty sure that translates into Saint Paraskevi, but "paraskevi" also means Friday), and it's quite small, but has a busy main street, where we found dinner last night. We wound up in an Italian restaurant, which...our first night in Greece and we're getting Italian food...but I was so hungry I didn't care where we went.

First impressions nonetheless of a Greek restaurant. They smoke inside. They take the time to set up place mats and napkins for you. You have to pay for water if it doesn't come from the tap (and it is safe to drink out of the tap in Greece, except for the Greek islands) and you have to pay for the bread on the table, so eat all of it! But they serve dessert on the house. One of my roommates is Greek and actually comes to Greece every summer to see family, and she says all this is common. And they don't try to rush you out like they do in the States, you have to get their attention for the bill.

Today a few of us went to walk down the main street (I wish I knew the name of it, but I didn't see any street signs for it). Another roommate of mine is from Egypt, actually, the only roommate not from the States, and since Greece is a two-hour flight for her, she studied here for a summer session once. She played tour guide for a couple of us, so we walked to the supermarket and to the mall and down some residential streets, all apartments.

First impression of life in one teeny corner of Athens. Jaywalk at your own risk! People go where they want here. Whereas Americans are so confined to traffic and sidewalk rules, these people are not at all. In small towns like Pleasant Hill it's okay to dart across the street or cut across someone's lawn to get to a back street, but you wouldn't try that in a big American city, and you wouldn't try it in Athens.

It's a quiet but bustling little area. Lots of kids running around. I even learned a Greek swear word today (don't tell anyone I told you this: MALAKA!). The trees are nice and green, people speak English in the bigger stores, and almost all the apartment buildings are white.

We also walked around campus today, but I'll talk about that later because orientation is tomorrow (which beats the purpose of walking around campus today, but it was something to do). We'll have pictures for next time!

By the way, when I say good morning, I mean that when I post this, my friends in Arizona and California will just be getting up. That's hard to remember when the Sun shines brightly above Athens, Greece.