Off to a Great Start!

I am here! I have arrived and it is beyond amazing. The flight was good, a bit uncomfortable and hot but I managed to sleep a bit. We landed in Zurich after eight hours and it is such a beautiful country, I wish I could have stayed longer! We saw the sweetest little villages and all of these blond beautiful people, it was great. We flew into Athens and I finally saw what I've been waiting so long for it finally sunk in! We took a taxi to our hostel and the driver was very nice but sort of a reckless driver which I expected. Our hostel is very cute! I am aiming to get pictures up tomorrow. It's just Bette and I so it's very cozy and the bathroom is actually up to par. After getting settled in we walked around and came upon the brand new Acropolis museum and then the Parthenon! It is breathtaking, I couldn't believe I was looking at it. We just stood in the middle of the sidewalk and just stared at it while young kids and dogs were roaming around us. Athens is what I expected, crowded with buildings but not crawling with people. Americanized, but not overwhelmingly so. We decided to go to this restaurant recommended to us by the bartender at our hostel called "God's Restaurant"...I know it's strange. But it was the most delicious food I have ever had! We had baked feta cheese with honey for an appetizer and I had the pita kabob which was so good! They also brought us balsalmic vinegar and olive oil and I now know what that is truly supposed to taste like! It was divine, so much better than Biaggis. At the end of our meal our very friendly (and cute) waiter brought us shots of ouzo, a Greek liquor that tastes like liccorice! After our meal we decided to go to a happy hour at our hostel and ended up meeting three other girls on our program. They all go to school at Michigan and two of them are doing both of the classes I'm in. The five of us got along instantly and sat outside on the deck in the beautiful night talking about our lives and our new experiences! We're already making plans of what to do on our free weekends! Bette Rubin and one girl Sam and I went to the rooftop bar of another hostel to see the Parthenon at night lit up and it was so beautiful I can't even describe. But we lasted only about 15 minutes because we're so jetlagged. Sleeping on a plane doesn't work well for me. Tomorrow we have registration and more exploring to do! I hope I find out my roommates and discover they are great! More tomorrow,
avtio, Caroline