Hitting the books...

The last part of our orientation included a half day trip to Vergina, the burial site of the kings of Macedon. Once I get the pictures up on my computer I'll add a post about that experience. Today was the first day of classes at ACT. Since the school is not near our dorms they provide a bus for us once in the morning before the first class, and back again after the last class. Its rather convenient because the ride is only 20 minutes; the problem is that the last class gets out at 8 and my classes end at 3 or 5 each day. So, with a few other students, today I experienced taking the city bus home. Three different buses and 45 minutes later we were finally at the bottom of our street and only a short walk away from home.

Despite the transportation issues, the school is great. My first class was Greek 101. Seeing as the language is so different from English we started at the very beginning and learned the alphabet, or at least attempted to. I'm seeing lots of flash cards in my near future. It is going to be a challenging class but very rewarding when I can finally go out in the city and have some comprehension of what I'm hearing and seeing. I was talking to the tour guide that we had in Athens about it because he has been living in Greece for about 4 years now and still taking language classes. He said that the easiest part would be learning to read and write it once you memorize the alphabet. Speaking it is an entirely different battle. My goal is to be able to carry on a short conversation with a local by the end of the three months. Maybe it will just be ordering at a restaurant or buying a bus ticket at the train station, I would still feel accomplished.

My second class today was History of Ancient Greece. This one I am very excited for because I really have never learned much about the Greeks. Most world history classes cover it in the broad sense and there is never enough time to really focus on it. All the ruins and historical sites I am seeing on my travels around the country will mean so much more knowing the stories and legends behind them.

In other news, I made it onto the trip to Mount Olympus for next weekend with my roommate Jamie. Next Saturday we will be hiking up to visit the ancient Gods, I'll try and put in a good word for you all. :) Also, we booked a weekend trip to the Greek island of Santorini to leave on this coming Friday! I'm very excited for that even after the trouble it took to book it. I'm going with Jamie and our friend Diana who lives downstairs. Jamie is from Florida and goes to USF, Diana is from Springfield, MA and goes to BC. We are going to stay at a beautiful looking hostel right near Thira. They offer island excursions and will even pick us up from the airport, what more could we ask for? We get there at about 1pm on Friday and don't leave till Sunday night to have as much time on the Island as possible. Another student who lives in our building went to the island before coming to school and has given us a list of places we should get to, not sure if we have time to get to them all but I plan on trying.