Explorin'

Today we mostly had orientation all day-- got to know the ground rules. You know, everything from refraining from "inappropriate relations" and taking a swig to the lesser law of no flushing toilet paper. I think I can handle it. Afterward, we had our first humanities class. My appreciation for what we are studying has increased already. Truth be told, if I was sitting at Harding reading these same books I would die of boredom. Being here gives me a new world view and just makes me think about how important the past is. We then had lunch which was really good today (so much for the hope of losing weight) and then I went exploring with some friends.

We just walked around our area. We went down by the water and took pictures by the water, in nearby abandoned boats...you name it, we took a picture of it. We look like such tourists. Some of the people here catch squids from the water and beat them against rocks to tenderize them. We saw this elderly man and marveled at him as he nonchalantly beat the poor thing against a nearby rock. There are these huge, beautiful rocks all over by the water-- something tells me the squids probably don't appreciate that part of the landscape. I wonder what the man thought with 15 kids staring at him like we were at a Man Vs. Squid wrestling match or something.

We are having a mixer tonight after dinner to get to know each other better. I'm looking forward to making some new friends-- I feel like I already have. We have a good crew.

Little known facts I have discovered thus far: Greece has no animal control so stray dogs and cats are EVERYWHERE. We had like 10 follow us back to the hotel. People honk all the time-- they don't use it as a warning signal or anything. There is a lot of grafitti-- apparently the F bomb is quite popular, but that is the only English in the whole sentence. Waving here is an offensive sign. Those that know me know I am quite the avid waver, so I am trying to cut back.

I have a balcony on the outside of my apartment and have decided this is the coolest thing ever-- I plan to incorporate this in my home "when I grow up"-- even if I have a one-story house. Haha. I know I jumped all over the place in this entry, and I'm sorry-- but it's just a lot to soak in! I am enjoying soakin' it up though!!