A Couple of Days Recap

21 hours of traveling sucks.  There is no other way of saying it.  Taking an Advil PM to try and sleep on a plane only to be woken up every five minutes due to lack of comfort sucks worse.  But looking out over Athens from the window of the plane makes one forget about his troubles awfully quick.

First, a couple of random thoughts.  When someone has their headphones on and is reading a book, don't try and start a conversation with them.  Especially about how much you enjoy weaving, knitting, and crocheting.  And when you are a middle aged man.  Come on man, can't you see that I am busy?  Second, flying into Zurich was very cool mostly because of how quaint the villages and little towns looked.  All very simply, along the same style and very much how one would picture Zurich.

Upon arriving at the airport, our RA and director of international studies were there waiting for me with a sign and they drove me back to our apartments.  I got a chance to meet my roommate, Sean, as we woke him up to come answer the door.  He promptly fell back asleep and I unpacked and did the same.  When we actually got to talking, we found out that we have a TON in common and everyone was remarking at dinner how shocked they were that we didn't know each other before the trip (roommate gods shine on me once again).

14 of us went out to dinner last night at a traditional Greek restaurant in the square down by our apartment.  Snagged a giro and a beer (sorry Mom and Dad) for under 6 Euro.  I think I can get used to that pretty easily.  We went to a free concert in the square afterwards and when the band broke into Bob Dylan, our group got a kick out of that.

Today we wandered around the city just checking out some of the sites.  There is only one other guy in our program (15 girls for those counting at home) and he was born and raised in Athens till he was 11.  His name is Marios and he is a total G (something about those kids named Mario seem to be good luck for me).  He has done all the talking and directing for us and it has been a total godsend.  Going to snag dinner tonight as a group and then probably check out the city a little more.  Orientation starts tomorrow.  Gag me.

Sorry that this is such a rambling post.  They will have more structure in the future, and won't be as long.  I just had to catch all my loyal readers (are there any?) up to speed.  Pictures to come soon.

PS My Skype name is Peter Sean Mertens (or look it up as peter.mertens11).  Add me if you do not have it.