Day 1 - Arrival

When I woke up, I was flying over Eastern Turkey. I was still about 2 hours from Athens; I had looked out the window, and noticed the glare over the horizon. It was beautiful! The skyline was red, and the sun was going to rise sometime soon. The local time was about 6 in the morning, and I could actually see some of the snowy mountains. It was a pleasant sight. Then I landed in Athens at about 6:45am EET. I was nervous and happy at the same time! Getting off the plane, I felt a great amount of freedom and independence. I got my passport stamped, and collected my luggage. I headed out of the lobby and met Grandma and my uncle, Parry, and they welcomed me with a hug. It was great to see them again after 6 years. Parry was talking to my mother on the phone at the time, and he gave me the headset so I could talk to her for a bit. We were discussing the drama with my lost video camera bag. We couldn’t open my suitcase because my keys were in that bag! Oh well. Parry said he was going to take it to a Lock Smith to get it opened. He drove me to Despo, my aunt’s place and we greeted with a hug. I was happy to see everyone again. I had been given Steve’s room to sleep in. Steve was one of my cousins who passed away years ago. Now I had some time to think to myself, my situation, and meeting some of the TRF members as well as Agnes in Latvia, of which my parents are holding me back. I went to the local supermarket with Despo for a bit of shopping, then I greeted Con, back at the house. He looked at me and compared our heights. It had been that long, so obviously I’ve grown a lot. We had our discussion about how things are going, and I was surprised that he understood my English.

Despo later took me out and taught me how to travel locally; Con dropped us off at Doukissis Plakentias Metro Station, and we headed on Line 3 to Monastiraki. We had souvlakia at a shop called Savvas and Grigoris; I kept this restaurant in my mind for future souvlakia. Then she took me to Dafni, by Metro on Line 2. This is where Sophia worked; the shower screen shop called “Pretty ντουσιέρες”. I greeted Sophia with a hug, and we talked among ourselves. Then we came back home by metro and bus; I was a tad confused about how the tickets work, due to Despo’s not-so-good explaining skills. Now let’s call it a day.