Pre-GTL Vacation

As a pre-GTL adventure, I went to Greece with my family! Including my aunt and uncle and my grandparents who are Greek. It was such a treat to get to travel with them (and have them order when we couldn't!) We were in Athens for a couple days and then went to a town on the coast (Vouliagmeni) to spend time by the sea. (See picture below of the view -- not too shabby, eh?) 

In Athens we went to the Acropolis and the National Archaeological Museum. The ruins in Athens are absolutely stunning. It's amazing to think how much they were able to accomplish with such little technology.

(View of the Acropolis from our hotel in Athens) 

So a fun bit of background information: Athena and Poseidon battled for the city (now Athens -- can you guess who the winner was?) Poseidon stuck his trident in the ground and spewed salt water while Athena offered the first olive tree. The people of the city preferred the olive tree and chose Athena as the winner which is why it's called Athens. So the Parthenon is a temple to Athena! (see picture 1 below). There's also what I will kindly refer to as the "losers temple" which is a temple to Poseidon built on the coast in an area called Sounion. We went for a visit out there (see picture 2 below). Again both were absolutely stunning as you can see from the pictures!

Parthenon (Athena) 

Sounion (Poseidon) 

Today my dad, sister, and I flew to Frankfurt and drove to Metz. Allison showed me around Metz and pointed out all the places to go including a walk to the train station with a brief tutorial on where to go, where the ticket booths are, etc. It's occurred to me just how much French I don't know as I pantomimed and jabbed my finger at the menu ordering lunch today. I'll have to work on that. Tomorrow I'll check into school and go to Cora (the French Walmart) to get some essentials for my 12 weeks over here.

I can't wait for everyone else to get here and start planning trips! That's all for now :)