Week 1

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Well, I must say that this first week has been a whirl wind. I flew here a week ago yesterday and I feel like I have been here forever. I flew through Switzerland and it was beautiful, but cold. Flying from Switzerland to Greece was probably one of the pretty flights of my life, we went right over the swiss alps and it was beautiful! After we got to Athens Kosta's brother, Dimitri, picked us up. I really don't know what we would have done if he wouldn't have picked us up. Both Stacy and I were so tired that thinking about where we would have needed to go would have been hard. He took us right to our hotel and it was so cute! The name of is was Hotel Anastazia. Later that evening he pick us up and took us out to dinner and we had our first gyros, i must say..they were pretty good. We went to bed after dinner that night thinking it would help us get over jet lag, but i think i have finally recovered today-a week later. I woke up about 3 am here and couldn't sleep anymore so that was terrible. And my phone wasn't working when it was supposed to, so i was freaking out about that, the night over all was just not good. Dimitri came an picked us up the next afternoon and took us to his office so we could get on the internet and check our emails and things so that was really nice of him. Then we went over to his friend Timo's house. We watched a movie there and then went out to dinner with Kosta's family and it was probably the best meal i have ever had in my life. For those of you who dont know who I know Kosta- he is my sister's boyfriend and his family lives and Athens and they offered to take care of Stacy and myself while we were there, and the did such a good job!! So after dinner we met back up with Timo and went to a bar for a little bit and that was interesting, it was snowing like crazy though-which is weird because it hasn't snowed in Athens in 3 years! So we all decided it would be a better idea to go home. We went and drank at the hotel for a little bit and then we went to bed. I woke up at about 6 in the morning this time and couldn't sleep anymore so that was fun. We went to the office again and got on the internet and finally got my phone all figured out which made me feel so much better and put me in such a better mood! We ordered pizza and the crust was stuffed with cream cheese, it doesn't sound very good but it was actually really good. Then Koula, Kosta'a oldest sister took Stacy and I to the market and showed us what was good to buy and took us up by their house and its on the mountain that has beautiful views of Athens below it so she stopped and let us take pictures and showed us their house and its soo cute! its pretty much the biggest one on the block! Then we went back to the office and they called a cab for us and we were off to meet the rest of the group. So we got to our hotel and went up to the room and i was about ready to fall over i was so tired to i took a nap. Then everyone came home from dinner and we went up to one of the guys rooms and hung out for a little bit and then went to bed for the next morning. All we were told was to get up and be down stairs at nine with good walking shoes-never a good sign. i will write more later i have to go to dinner now!

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Photos

FIrst Hotel
This was the view from our balcony from our first hotel in Athens

House
This was the cute house that was next to the hotel, i never did get a picture of the hotel because it was too busy snowing every time we were going in and out!

Mountain
This was the view from the mountain that Kosta's parents live on. You cant really see it but Athens lays below where they live!

Mountain 2
Same mountain, the sun was setting!

Me
Me on the mountain with all the snow and Athens behind me!

City Ruins
This was the old city, or what is left of it. This is where we began our orientation. It was very weird to think about how old that part of the town was and that people live there!

Thissio
Cute little shop in Thissio (the part of Athens we were in)

Dogs
There were stray dogs every where, and they slept sitting up and it was really funny!!

Thissio
pretty columns

Greek Church
Stacy went inside this church to see what it was like on the inside and this old women came running at her saying pou pas pou pas which means what are you doing? in greek. It was very funny. This was the day of the funeral for the Arch Bishop that died so I guess we werent allowed in the churchs!

old library
This at one point was an old library that Hadrian build. He built many things through out the city and has a street named after him. But was is funny is that he wasnt Greek!

cute street
This was a street in thissio that joined with another street. I think this picture is funny because it looks like those two taxi's are going to hit eachother!

Graffiti
There is graffiti everywhere, but for the most part its pretty. I have no clue what this says but i thought it looked cool!

Church
Stacy and I in front of an old greek church!

hill
This is a huge hill in the middle of the city. these are all over town. There will be more to come on this hill!

Chocolat
This was my favorite store! not only was it pink but its name was Chocolat, how much more Cecily could this get?

dinner
Stacy and I at dinner at this resturant where we ate sword fish, it was okay, not the best

Friends
This is Dimitri who is Kosta's brother and Temo who is his friend on the left. They took us all over the place and took us out. We had a lot of fun!

Out
Stacy and i out with the guys

View from the hill
This is Athens from above