Packing

My new mantra is "I'm not bringing much to Greece." That's the only way I can stop myself from packing absolutely everything. All my stuff is lying out on my bed right now, and it looks like a lot already. I'm basically done, I just need to pick up a couple of things from Target (like sporty socks for walking around all the ancient ruins, and black t-shirts that won't get too dirty.) I've decided to bring my laptop computer with me to Greece; I'll just lock it up in the Athens apartment when we go to Lesbos. That way I'll be more inclined to stay in contact with people, upload more photos, and spend more time on homework (yay.) I've reached my $ummer earning goals, so that's fabulous. I'm almost done reading the first four chapters of Treadgold, now I just have to read Cameron and maybe learn some more Greek. "THen ksero ellenika poli kala." (I don't know Greek very well.) Kugler sent us a very reassuring e-mail regarding the fires that have been spreading down in the Peloponnese (see map), saying it's kind of spooky and the air gets very dense sometimes, but other than that we should be okay. Germany and other European Union countries are already helping out and sending water-dumping planes. More when we actually get there.

NOTE: I just found this out, it's important for everyone to know: Athens time is EIGHT (8) hours AHEAD of Central Time. So if it's noon in Minneapolis (10 a.m. in Portland, 1 p.m. in New York) then it's 8 p.m. in Athens. Easy enough, right?

Map/First Post

Ta-daaa! I've created my travel blog and put a map on it. My technological prowess astounds even me. Scroll down to see all the happenin' spots I'm going to visit. (I've circled the places I'm going in red.) First stop: Athens. It's August 12th and I'm SO ready to go. Except that I'm only halfway through "Teach Yourself Greek" and haven't started the reading for my first course, "Byzantine History." I'm gonna depart on the morning of August 30th with my good friend Kozloff, and classes start September 1st. Kozloff and me are going to travel Europe together after classes end; we've got 17 days of travel time before we both fly back to the states out of Dublin, Ireland. Hopefully that'll be enough time to traverse a continent. We'll see. For now, it's "mia pikilia, parakalo" (a plate of appetizers, please) and "yah-soo" (cheers!)