We started the first leg of our journey as everyone met up at the airport. we checked in, went through security (Kelvin set off the alarm), and went to the terminal. Our plane was huge. 2 stories and a 3-4-3 seat layout. There were screens in the back of each seat and you had a choice of probably around 50+ movies, TV shows, various music, and various audio selections. I also had awesome seats as I was seated next to Rachel, Ashley and Amy.

There was another student group on the flight with us, and they were super obnoxious throughout the entire 8 hour fight, and super rude. One of those kids sat behind me and dug his knees into the back of my seat the entire flight even after I asked him to stop.

Anyway, since British Air is based out of the UK, they serve drinks on flights to people under 21. They came around with dinner (Tuscan chicken or pot roast, both of which were excellent) and just for the fun of it, since it was free, a few tried to get some wine. After a scuffle with the flight attendant who had us mixed up with the other student group, they got what they wanted. The other student group was made up of 15-16 year-olds whose chaperone had told the flight attendants not to serve them if they asked (which they did).

The rest of the flight was spent attempting to sleep and/or watching movies. I never slept.
We landed in London at 12:00 pm and caught the London Underground to Westminister. Turns out, the train we were supposed to transfer to to get there was closed for a restoration so we ended up getting off at Green Park which worked out well, because that is right by Buckingham Palace. We walked across the park to Buckingham Palace and took pictures of the palace, the gates to the park, and the monument in front of it. Then, we walked through another park toward Westminister Abbey. Westminister Abbey was amazing. There were actually tombs inside part of it (we didn’t go into the actual cathedral, but into other parts) of peoplr that had served the church. Some of them were so old that the inscription had completely worn out of them. After Westminister, we headed to the Thames river. Big Ben was shining over the city in all its splendor and looked like royalty with its gold shining in the sunlight. The Eye of London, just across the river from Big Ben, didn’t even look like it was moving unless you looked at it the right way. We got a group photo and started heading back to Trafalgar Square. We stopped at a mediocre little restaurant with a crazy waitress that kept yelling at us and got a quick dinner, then we left and started heading toward the underground, as we had to get back to Heathrow to catch our connecting flight to Athens.

Dr. Pappas and I set off the alarm trying to get back through security at Heathrow, and the lady spent extra time searching any girls that set off the alarm because apparently the metal detectors in London don’t do so well with bras.

Our connecting flight was only about 2 ½ -3 hours on a plane that was not as nice as the other one, however the meal was excellent.

When we got to Athens at about 1:30 Athens time, we got through customs, got our bags and met one of our guides, Manos. People basically drive to die here, and it was a relief when our driver Yorgos (George in English) was safe and didn’t try to get us all killed. Dr. Pappas wouldn’t stop complaining about how slow he was going.

On Sunday, we got up and drove out to Peloponnese to Mycenae and went to the theater of Epidarus, The citadel of Mycenae, and Agamemnon’s Tomb.

more about our trip later!

It is a curious thing that happens when you attempt to log into your blogger account from a foreign country, the site actually comes up in Greek. It is also slightly frustrating when you have forgotten our login information for the account and the password reset is in greek.

Oh, So Close

Hello all! My name is Katelyn and I am a sophomore at CWU Ellensburg. This is a blog for the Spring Break faculty lead program to Greece, 2009 with Dr. Pappas. Here is a list of all students going so you know who I am talking about when I mention names.

Katelyn Adams
Rachel Adler
Jeff Beckley
Kelvin Crockford
George David
Ashley Hart
Davis Hill
Amy Holmes
Becky Joachim
Kate Landreth
Jessica McDaniel
Ryan Ricigliano
Jessie Shipler
Shannon Thorp
Nate Wallace (CWU Everett)

As it comes down to crunchtime, people are probably running around the house or running around town grabbing last minute things that they forgot, taking finals, or driving over to Seattle to drop off their cars at someones house and carpool to the airport.

As a group, we meet tonight at Sea-Tac International Airport at 5:15. Then we check into our British Airways flight and continue through security, all while attempting to smuggle verious fruits out of the country (not really!). Or flight leaves at 7:42 pm on March 20th, and is scheduled to arrive in London, England at 12:00 pm on Saturday the 21st. From there, we have a 5-6 hour tour of London before going back to Heathrow to catch our connecting flight to Athens, Greece.

If anyone has any questions about any faculty lead international programs, I strongly encourage you to go to the international building, the little blue/gray building across from the L&L building and talk to Rebecca Garate.

Chiao!