Well, I just got back to Greece, where I presented college papers with a bunch of other college schmucks who also have to present academic papers to get abroad.  But it was cool cuz my department paid for part of it. And it was much less stress-inducing than my recent flight to Paris (read: No sprinting through airports at breakneck speed from a plane that was 4 hours late to make a flight that had been delayed for 3.5 hours and was leaving; no 5-hour waits on the runway while plane parts were shipped in from other countries, etc.)

I headed off from KC on Saturday. I made it to Atlanta and had my last (sob) Dr. Pepper, since they don't make the nectar of the gods in Europe. :(

Anyway, the flight over was not fun, since I can only sleep if I'm stretched out. Eleven hours in one chair is never fun. I did manage to sleep some, and very uncomfortably. I looked terrible once we got there. We rode the metro in and ordered lunch, feeling sticky and gross. We got smoked salmon, which literally made me gag. Raw fish is NOT a texture I enjoy. :(

4 hours later we were wandering through Athens with out suitcases, lost. We couldn't see the hotel and the people I asked didn't speak good English at all. I finally saw it through a construction site. My professor/dad wanted to go around, but I, desperate to not lose sight of it once we'd seen it, just plowed on through the broken concrete and crane workers, dragging my suitcase behind. Heaven! We'd made it!

I promptly passed out on the bed. My dad says he took a shower, left the room, took a walk, came back in, watched tv, and then rearranged the furniture, and I didn't even move. I was veeeeery tired.


I got to meet college students from all around the world. We're talking Spain, UK, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, China, Ireland, Israel. It was amazing. It made the linguist in me very happy to get to learn so many new (British) phrases and analyze people's accents. I've now started saying that everything is "lovely" and thinking in a British accent.

I made friends with some Chinese guys who made me take a picture with every single man at their group (I should have charged per picture! haha) and kept telling me, "You bery beautiful. You come China. We pay, no problem, we pick you up, you come China!" hahahaha, no thanks, but it was fun. :)

I tasted the most disgusting food ever and pined after good ole' chicken and rice. I translated Dad's English into words everyone else could understand. I spoke Spanish whenever possible and drilled Felix about French spelling and grammar.

I learned some new things about myself, as well.

1. My new favorite cologne of all time is Chemistry by Clinique. The guy next to me on the plane was wearing it; I'd never smelled it before, but it just made me want to snuggle up next to him and breathe in all day. BOYS, WEAR THIS! It's hot!

2. I hate to be cold, but I also hate to be hot. I don't function well in any extremes. The happiest I was was in the water, cooling off.

3. I HATE to speak slowly! The WHOLE trip I had to speak sooooo slowly because no one was a native English speaker, and even the native English speakers from the UK and New Zealand and South Africa had a hard time understanding an America accent. After DAYS of speaking so slowly for HOURS, I was ready to die. The happiest I was was when I would come across some Hispanic family and I could launch happily into this tirade of Spanish as FAST as I wanted! :)

4. Jet lag affects me about 4 times more than it does everyone else. After 2 days, they are all fine, but I am still groggy, unhappy, grouchy, thirsty, and incredibly difficult to wake up.

5. Paris is still the most beautiful city in the world.

6. A hot shower solves all problems.

7. Never go into a strange person's hotel room, no matter how clear you were than you only wanted to be friends. Just say no! (That's a whole different post there!)

8. Don't run 26 miles without stopping. You'll die. They'll name a Marathon after you, but you'll still be dead.

9. The Britains are actually quite bitter at us because they think we (not our ancestors!) kicked them out and "chose Bush" over them. They also get quite uptight at how we pronounce things and say we are "wrong."

10. There is nothing so sexy and sweet as having a French professor lean over and breathe into your ear, "Tu es une belle femme" ("You are a beautiful woman.") Sooo sweet!

11. Don't wear your bikini top upside down. You'll figure it out mid-swim and have the embarrassing dilemma of 1. Do I come out like this and look like an idiot?. or 2. Do I change mid-water and hope no one notices?

12. Take snacks; you probably won't be able to eat a lot of the foreign food.

13. Never go somewhere without an internet connection.

14. College students from all over the world still stress out about getting their thesis done, exactly the same.

15. College professors from across the world who are TWICE your age still think they can get in your pants simply because... "you are an American."  Of course.