My mom left on Saturday morning, which was way, way more sad than leaving her & my dad in the airport. I cried the whole taxi ride home, which was probably very awkward for the driver. We went to the beach down the street from my house, into Rhodes city and Old Town and found the doe and the buck at the entrance of mandraki harbor, drove around the island and stopped at tsambika beach and lindos so she could jump off the little cliff, and watched all 4 Harry Potters. An excellent visit, in my opinion.

Her leaving definitely made me a bit homesick. It's gotten a little worse because the stupid time difference makes it really difficult to talk to people when I'm not really tired & they're not at work & whatnot. Only 66 more days. Margot and Jenna left for Thessaloniki today which was really sad. It's definitely going to be a lot quieter/slightly more boring without them around. The boys and Joanna left Saturday afternoon. We're already planning for them to come back for a weekend in the beginning of November, and Charlotte and I are going to Thessaloniki the first weekend in December for her & Jenna's birthday.

The semester has officially started. I'm taking Rhodes of the Hellenistic Period, Minoan and Mycenaean History and Modern Greek 1. My schedule is
Monday: Rhodes of the Hellenistic Period 9-10:30, Modern Greek 1 5-7
Wednesday: Minoan and Mycenaean History 9-12
At some point during the week I'll have another 2 hour Modern Greek class, but it will probably change week to week.
So now I'll have more time to be on-line to talk/Skype if anyone wants to. Monday nights [afternoons for you guys] would be good for me, I can stay in the internet room late since I don't have class on Tuesday. Or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights.

Charlotte and I have plans for pretty much every weekend. This weekend we're taking a ferry to Kos where we'll stay overnight, and then take a day trip to Bodrum, Turkey. Lauren, Erin, Megan, Nick, and April went to Marmaris, Turkey a few days ago, they had a decent time. Next weekend we're going to Santorini with Erin. The first or second weekend in November, Margot and Jenna will be visiting, and whatever weekend they don't come we're going to visit Rome and Florence. The next two weekends Charlottes sister will be visiting, and the first weekend in December we'll be in Thessaloniki. Then we're going to Paris to stay with Casey Sullivan, and then it's the last weekend before we come home! Thinking of it like this helps me not be so homesick.

We've been getting text messages from Athena, our roomate who is now in Athens for the semester and the news has not been pretty. Her and Kerri got there Saturday morning to an apartment that was filthy, had no beds, no furniture, no silverware, and Joanna's room wasn't even built yet [Kerri, Athena, Michelle, Lena, and Joanna were planning to live in 1 three bedroom apartment]. Thankfully, three of the girls have family in Athens and they stayed with them the first night. Kerri and Athena slept on the floor of the apartment the second night and ate food Kerri's grandmother had sent with them. Last night after 11pm, they finally got beds. There's no internet, they aren't getting bus passes even though the have to take a 25 minute bus ride to get to and from their classes. Their cafeteria where they're supposed to eat is in a sketchy neighborhood and has terrible food. The representative for Paideia Athens wasn't even in Athens the weekend they got there.

Margot, Jenna, John, Carolyn, and Sondra were all planning on leaving today and taking the ferry/plane to Thessaloniki. Elias had known their plans for at least a week, but he e-mailed them all on Friday and said they needed to drive back into Rhodes city to try and get a refund [on their non-refundable tickets], buy plane tickets for a flight to Athens that leaves the next day and be in Thessaloniki by Sunday. Un-freaking-believeable. None of them did it [as nothing he said to do was even possible]. He said they couldn't miss that much class. He seems to be forgetting that Margot and Jenna don't HAVE any classes, because they're not offering the classes they were told they could take and now have to take classes directly through Aristotle University. Elias didn't sign them up for any, so they have to show up there [with no idea of where to go], try they get into classes they need, and then pray they're taught in English.

Kosta, Elias's 28 year old son, our "representative" [a pretty pathetic one who, for the first three weeks, constantly ditched us because he was dating one of the 18 year old girls in the program] also forgot to take the boys to the airport on Saturday and they would have missed their flight if one of the other boys hadn't still had his rental car.

This entire program is just so disorganized and ridiculous. I have to go to the hospital for a tuberculosis test and chest x-ray, and pay 150 euro [a little over $200] so I can renew my visa and actually leave the country.

Needless to say, I am counting the days until I come home right now. I miss you all very very very VERY much. See you in 66 days!