Booked

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008
1
148
Trip End Dec 09, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of United States  , Oregon,
Friday, April 11, 2008

          By the time I step on the plane, I will have worked for two years for this trip to Greece.  From the first information session where I learned about the opportunity to bring college students from Oregon, Washington, and Alaska to study abroad through the AHA International program, to the summer I spent preparing my application to teach persuasion and rhetorical criticism in Athens at the Athens Centre, to the interviews in Portland and the training in Bellingham, to the year I've spent reading every book with the word "Greece" in the title, it's already been the first steps on the journey of a lifetime.

          Every day preparing for this trip is a learning experience.  For instance, I had never heard the term "Schengen Group" before last month.  The Schengen Treaty is a collection of European countries whose borders are open to each other.  American visitors can spent up to 90 days anywhere in the Schengen Group without a visa Schengen Group countries
Schengen Group countries
 .  Beyond that, you've either got to leave the Schengen Group, try to get a rather expensive and uncertain visa, or risk fines or prison by praying you'll slip past the border officials.

          Yesterday I booked the plane tickets and the hotel reservations.  This was a bigger deal than it might sound because it involved the decision about whether I would return home after my 90 days in Greece or whether I would leave Europe after 90 days and explore a non-Schengen Group country such as Turkey or the UK.  (Praying to avoid border fines was not an option!)

          Ultimately I decided on the path of least resistance, 90 days abroad and then home.  As the travel guidebook writer Rick Steves would say, you have to approach your trip with the mindset of "I will be coming back some day" so that you don't fall into the trap of trying to do EVERYTHING in one trip.  Like doing Istanbul and Ephesus and Cappadocia or London and Dublin and the Irish countryside after three months in Greece... all of which I considered.  [sheepish grin]

            Yesterday also marked the arrival of the passports, complete with ultra-flattering photo of me looking zoned-out and unhappy (the photographer made me take out my gold earrings -- the noive!).

          This has also been a good week for students joining the trip.  MT was the first to hear she's been accepted.  HH has her interview on Monday.  CB introduced herself to me a few days ago as having applied.  SB announced today that she's applying too.  J asked me after class for a flyer and more information.  I completed a recommendation for MF.  I would congratulate myself on being a recruiting machine, except that the phrase "Athens, Greece" sort of sells itself.   I think I'll use initials or nicknames to refer to students to respect their privacy.

          I need to get back to practicing my Greek language.  I left off on learning how to say, "The yellow rectangle is shorter than the green rectangle."  Very useful stuff.  A guy on the bus ride home today had a sentence tattooed on his arm in Greek letters, but I couldn't read it.  It must not have said anything about rectangles.
Slideshow Print this entry Medford hotels