day day dee dee water, the dog.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words,
here are thousands of words to look at.

This is today:



ευτυχισμένος Παρασκευή!

felice venerdì, happy friday!

third day of class. cafe after class. italian homework. skype with michelle.

set off the fire alarm. dinner with Kaplans. early night for an early morning.

"We're one but we're not the same, we get to carry eachother."

"we are pandora": at the Platka

Our whole group (including the Kaplans) took our first downtown trip last night to the Platka (tourist-area) in downtown Athens. Once we naviagted the bus and metro system to the square, dinner was at Scholarhio which boasted to be "the most traditional family restaurant." We had to split our big group into three tables and at ours we ordered calamari, meatballs, beans, hummus, greek salad, potato wedges and tons of bread for dipping in everything! All of this for 32 Euros split between the five of us. We had a sunset view of the Acropolis walking around shopping, mostly window shopping...Dr. Kaplan gave us information about some of the ruins in the city and little Ellie took a few pictures for me.

photo_ellie kaplan

photo_dana andresen



Ciao, American College of Greece!

First day of classes at Deree and I learned my first few words in Italian.

Mi chiamo Erica, sono americana....and so on.

I felt great today, nice and awake and healthy which was the best! My roommates keep all the windows open and it smelled like fresh oranges and watermelon all day long (thanks, katie!) We made pasta for dinner and everyone is doing their homework now. Got our metro and bus pass today so downtown for class tomorrow, yippie!

sweet dreams

Spending a day in bed to get rid of the little bug in my system was frustrating.

Finally getting out of bed to see the sunset was worth it.

Crepes at the the end of the night were perfect.

photo_dana andresen

photo_dana andresen

jazz music in the plateia after dark

kicking jet lag's ass

here comes the sun, little darlin'

sunrise hike. 20+ found condoms. student reception. Oktoberfest.

teaching Jesus beer pong

 Dusseldorf, Germany International Airport

This photo of my lunch is serving as a shout out to Alex, you can imagine how much better this is than a Greek Salad in America. More good food to come..duh, it's Greece!

bye bye, Dusseldorf!

and hello, Greek Islands!

Dinner at the Kaplans apartment, looming jetlag, time for bed.

Lost in Translation und Suche nach dem Bad

Two more hours in Dusseldorf International Airport, Germany......ANXIOUS!

German is difficult to understand and speak past the few words that I keep using which give away my pure american-ness quicker than the way I'm dressed. I'm comfortable in my shorts but travelers coming in from the cold are glaring at this Florida girl.

αντίο, america!

'Til Summer Comes Around

A mini pre-vacation before the big vacation started in Orlando, Florida dropping off little Emily for her first flight alone to see the Rodino family in Holland, Michigan. Go Emily, Go! I had a good two hours to watch hundreds of walking Disney World billboards roam the airport while Mom and Em were out at the gate.

On the road to Brunswick, Georgia to see Agent Minerich for the afternoon and meet her intern buddies. We stomped around in some ruins and stared up at the St. Simons Island lighthouse before dinner at Applebees (so typical) and checking into our hotel (seven U-turns later.)



Sweet dreams of Greece until 8am. Awake and on the hunt for a jacket to keep me warm through the nights in Athens. Ended up with a white coat that took less than 5 minutes to find because my mom knows where to get everything! Supermom! Got our "fingers sticky" at lunch and "got closer" to Keith Urban and Jake Owen when my mom finally got her christmas gift from me. Thanks Gary and Brittany for letting us share a table with friendly strangers and keeping us out of the rain! (notice the women dancing in the background)

Dragging our dripping wet jeans into Veterans Memorial Arena we found our 101-L seats much closer to the side of the stage than expected. A disco ball, 10 year old girl singing "kiss a girl", guitar handed away to a fan, Tom Pettey cover, it was another GREAT country concert with my beautiful mom. And oops! My phone got lost in the shuffle.

Merry Christmas Momma!

Happy Graduation Sebastian! Congrats!