A couple days ago I returned from another one of my amazing weekend trips!!! This time, I was in Athens, Greece to visit my sister who is studying with at the City University of Athens for the semester. My trip didn't start out very well at all!!! Cory, Grant, and I left Cheltenham Spa at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and arrived at London Gatwick airport at 6 a.m. One problem. About an hour into my bus ride, I realized I had left my passport in my dorm room in Cheltenham. Don't ever do this because you can't fly anywhere without it haha. Sooo, I got a bus from Gatwick at 6:20 a.m. that stopped at London Heathrow first and eventually back to Cheltenham. I arrived in Cheltenham around 11:15 a.m. and quickly found another flight from London Heathrow that was leaving at 4:40 p.m. I boarded a bus at 12:30 p.m. in Cheltenham and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. None the less, I landed in Athens about 10:10 p.m. Athens time (it's 2 hours ahead of England). My sister was waiting for me at the airport and it was very relieving (and awesome to see her of course!!). I went straight to bed at the guys apartment (where I was staying). On Friday, my travelmates and I were lucky enough to be invited to go on a day trip with the rest of the BCA Athens group. Our first stop was the Epidarus theatre, which is the middle picture. It has amazing acoustics, as you can hear any sound all the way from the top. What's even more impressive is the fact that it was built in the 4th century B.C. and is in very good shape. To get to this theatre, you pass by the Corinth canal (the third picture of Rich and I is at the canal). The Corinth canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. My sister plans on bungee jumping it sometime in the near future!!!(with my mother freaking out from this news haha). After the theatre, we made our way to the citadel of Mycenae. Mycenae was a military stronghold that dominated southern Greece in the 2nd millenium B.C. The whole site has been excavated and it had an awesome view of the rest of the countryside. The next day, my sister was nice enough to take us to the Acropolis, even though she was already been before. We climbed Mars Hill (right next to the Acropolis), where the apostle Paul delivered his famous speech (and also where we posed for many Boy Band pictures). After that, we headed up to the Acropolis, where we saw the Parthenon. It's amazing to think how far in history the Parthenon goes back and that you are actually staring at in person. We then preceded to go downtown to the shopping area, where Sarah and I accidently bumped into two Elizabethtown professors!!! It's such a small world, as they recognized Sarah's Etown shirt. They were in Athens for a conference. I also ate a Gyro, which was absolutly delicious and got to see Laura Lesnick(Our friend from high school who came to visit), who I haven't seen in forever!!! I have to thank my sister especially for taking care of Grant, Cory, and I and also all the other BCA Athens students for being so nice and showing us around without any complaining. Grant, Cory, and I can't stop talking about how much fun we had and all the new friends that we made. The Athens trip was my last out of country trip for the semester and it couldn't of ended on a better note. I will always cherish the chances I had to travel in Europe and it has opened my eyes to the world. Continue to follow my blog, as I am going to another football game this Saturday and I will be providing some reflection posts in the last couple of weeks. Wherever you are, stay classy and live life to the fullest!!!
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