Day 1 - Flying into Athens

I got all ready to go this morning and headed off to the Roissy bus to take me to the airport. Courtney was kind enough to guide me there so I found it and boarded with no problems. The trip was short. Then I got into the airport. Because I checked in online, I looked around for an electronic check-in. Well, I didn't find it so I waited in a gigantic line. Wow. The french may know how to make killer pastries, but they have no concept on how to form decent lines. There were these people who were lining up beside me. Who does that? It was a little infuriating. Plus I wasn't completely sure I was in the right line so that did not help my mood. I was angry, then I just started tearing up a bit :( But then the line fixed itself and I got checked in just fine. What a relief. Then I went through security haha The guards were really nice to me. One of them called me sweetie. Which is probably why I didn't get in much trouble when I accidentely left a full water bottle in my bag. Oh man. But they just looked at it and I was fine. I didn't even have to throw it away. After going through that, I sat down at my terminal. My flight was delayed for two hours, but then we finally got on and took off into the skies.

While flying over snow-covered ranges, which I assume were the Alps, I saw something beautiful that caught my eye. It was a different kind of beautiful than what I have been experiencing for the past three months. It was a very small town, maybe half a dozen homes, in the middle of a ravine between two huge mountains. It was incredible. I love cities, but I don't think there could possibly be anything as serene as nature. I am re-reading Mrs. Mike, a wonderful non-fiction novel about a girl from Boston who marries a Mounty and lives in the North with him. Though I wouldn't want something that extreme, I would love to live within nature. Or a least close enough to it that a trip into nature would not be a problem. I think I'll stick to the states :) Enough rambling for now.

You know something great about international flights? You get food and a movie! If I took a flight of this length in the states, what would I get? Peanuts. I love that a three hour flight gave me a good meal and entertainment :) For the movie, we watched Up in the Air. I am pretty sure it is rated R, but airplanes edit, so I don't feel bad about watching it. It was really pretty good. As for the food, the main dish was teardrop noodles (obviously they are not called this but I cannot recall a more fitting name) with very tender meat and a tasty sauce. I really enjoyed it. The salad was plain rice with weird olives in it. I did not enjoy it so much. And for dessert, I have no idea what it was. It was extremely thin and crunchy rice noodles soaked in brown sugar or seemed like that anyway. It was good, though it was just a tad too sweet. Overall, I had a very good experience on this flight, though I did experience those few problems before getting on.

For the half an hour or so before we landed, I witnessed another incredibly beautiful sight. This time, I was able to get some good pictures, which I will gladly share with you.

Can you see how blue that water is? Incredible!

Then I got off... I found the exit fine. I thought I would have to go through passport control or something but I didn't have to do that at all. Kind of weird. Then I found the bus. And as I sat down to get my money out of my locked bag, something really terrible happened. My lock wouldn't open with my combination. I almost broke down right there. I had put the lock on the back two pockets, the pockets that have all my important things in it. I guess the last time I put it on, I messed up the combo before closing it, thereby changing the combo. I just sat down and prayed. Then I tried the lock. Somehow, it came off and then it locked itself again. I don't know how it happened, but I am so grateful for prayer. I know He is looking out for me. Hopefully I can figure out the combo so I can lock up my stuff, but at least I can get to my stuff. I am very grateful.

After double checking that it was the right bus, I bought a ticket and got on. It was a long ride. What made it even longer was not knowing when it would be that I would have to get off. It was not so fun. Finally, I got off and then I couldn't find the hotel for the life of me. One guy asked if I needed help and he showed me where to go. I went in that direction, but I didn't see it. Another guy stopped me and he said to just walk straight. Well, I did that too, but I still couldn't find it. So I wandered around, trying all the streets. As I was doing this, the first guy saw me again and pointed out the sign for the hotel. Finally, I saw it. It had obviously been a long day by this point. The guy walked me to the hotel. He was very nice (and he was old, so I wasn't creeped out at all). I got in, finally!

Then another thing happened. My name was put on tomorrow's list instead of today's list. So I didn't have a room for tonight. Luckily, Dr. Johnson walked in at this point and they sorted it out. There was one room left in the hotel for me to stay in. Man oh man, I am definitely being watched out for. Then I got to my room, flopped onto bed, and cried for a little bit. Today has been an extremely long day, and I even lost an hour! I need to get some sleep! But first, just one picture. The view outside my window.

Where these stairs lead to, I have no idea.

Bon nuit :)