Squirrels Everywhere

I have been in Athens for more than a week now. So far I am really liking it, even though classes have not even started yet. Saying goodbye to my family was hard, but I was so excited that I did not really have a lot of time to ponder it too much. The flights were very relaxed; only catching my connecting flight from Detroit to Columbus was a true nightmare as the immigration officers seemed to still recover from their New Year's hangover. It was that slow. All around me people were panicking because they feared they would not catch their connecting flights. I was lucky, and made it just in time; some other passengers were not as lucky.  

There was a huge power-outage on my first morning in Athens; there was no internet connection or electricity from about 5am to 1pm which made for an interesting first morning of me trying to find my way around my room in the interim-housing. At some point I simply decided to just walk around campus. There were no people anywhere to be seen but I was far from being alone. There were squirrels everywhere. I am a huge animal-lover, and so I can watch animals for ages and never get bored. All the squirrels running around, fighting over food that they found in trash cans, and washing themselves in puddles made for a funny first walk around campus. The weather was very nice, and I marveled at the beautiful campus with its brick-houses. Finally, I did come across one human being who was walking his dog, and he kindly explained the way to Baker Center to me.

Naturally, most buildings on campus were closed but there was WiFi on the main campus “College Green,” and so I could use my phone to walk around campus without getting totally lost. I ended up at the Walter Center, where I finally found some other people who could help me identify a place to buy some groceries for the day and the day after. Turns out pre-cooked pasta with pre-cooked sauce is not quite as disgusting as I imagined it to be. It was a decent meal, and I got to use the microwave that I had in my room at the interim-housing.

My first tour to Walmart a few days later, however, was way less interesting and exciting than I had imagined it to be. I am not sure why I thought it would be interesting, other than that I had never been to a Walmart. It was a very bland experience. Yes, Walmart is huge and you can get somewhat lost, but that's about it. I would always rather go to Kroger, which is more like a German supermarket with decent food and fruit and vegetables. For anybody who is wondering, I did find a “substitute” to satisfy my daily chocolate needs – KitKat. I did not really consider it “real” chocolate in Germany, but it is serving me well here so far.

Other than that I really enjoyed the “mix-and mingle” activities we could attend the first week. Who would not like free food, or watching Star Wars in an American movie theater? I had never been to one before. Naturally, just like in German movie theaters, they had lots of snacks to choose from there, but after having tried it I have no desire to eat popcorn with Cheddar Cheese powder ever again.