The late afternoon sun was still warming the city of Athens as Flight 3382 arrived from Frankfurt on May 26th 2008. The view from my miniscule window informed me that the land was dry and hot and had seen very little rain in the past few months. That impressive and heart pounding sensation of wheels returning to the earth, as we touched down on the runway, sent shivers of excitement up my spine. The sheer exhaustion of the twenty some-odd hours of flying suddenly seemed insignificant. Dazed and confused the group of us sauntered out into the sunlight, after we retrieved our luggage and assessed the fact that we were actually in Greece. This long awaited journey had finally arrived and as the sun slowly worked its way towards the horizon, we arrived at Hotel Oscar. Most of us were very eager to get out of our clothes, shower and then take off to explore the city of Athens. We needed to seek out our first venue for some traditional Greek food. My first impressions of Athens, Greece were that it was loud, dirty and very beautiful all at the same time. Once we had dinner, we all looked forward to a good nights sleep so that we would be fully rested for our excursion to the Acropolis.

We all had an extremely early morning and most of us were very jet-lagged. I pretended to be full of energy because I may not get the chance to replay this day in the future. We began our day with a tour of Athens and our first stop included a photo opportunity at the Olympic Stadium. I had a really hard time paying attention to our guide Antonus because I was in such awe of where I was standing. I knew there would be many awe-inspiring places in our near futures but I had the hardest time absorbing the fact that I was actually in Greece. For some strange reason, once we arrived at the parking lot of the Acropolis, I thought we would be the only tour there. I was dumbfounded at how many people were hiking, walking and strolling all around the citadel. Once we got up there, the Acropolis was breathtaking to say the least. I have never seen such massive towers of stone glinting in the sunlight, their limestone bodies towering over the masses of people fighting thier way to the home of Athena. The impossibility of trying to imagine waht this place looked like thousand sof years ago nearly blew my mind. Our tour guide attempted to keep us all together and inform us of some history, but the blistering heat and exaustion of flying thousands of miles only a few hours before, kept me from understanding a word of what he said. I left the Acropolis wanting more - more knowledge, more sights and more experiences. I had an overwhelming desire to be with the buildings, place myself into the past, sit and observe the architecture and imagine what life was like back then. I wanted to see Athena stroll across the court yard draped in a pale linen dress, holding her shield, wearing her helmut and projecting pure confidence and wisdom as she protected her city, her country.