Hello Blogging World.  I’m Dave Andrews, a Junior from Baltimore Maryland.  I am a broadcast journalism major and a Music Studies Minor here at Penn State University, and so since I am studying neither of them in Athens, I will be using my reporting skills to meaningfully paint the picture for you readers as I see the world through my eyes.  I am so excited to travel to Athens, since it has already been a headache of Zeus-like proportions just preparing the logistics to leave.  The FBI lost my request for a background check twice, so technically I won’t know if I’m 100% going until about a week after I get back home for Christmas break.  That leaves less than a month to solidify preparations for living abroad.  Gotta be flexible though, I would hate to live a boring life of knowing my plans to live on another continent more than a month in advance.  Anyway, beyond my excitement to study a culture stuck in the crosshairs of the past and the present, I can’t wait to live in one of the most unpredictable nations in the world.  With the economy as turbulent as it is and the people of Athens holding their government accountable, it truly will be an examination of a Culture in transition.  I hope that I will get enough of a sufficient first hand understanding of all the challenges and triumphs that I witness abroad that I can then portray Greece in an accurate light here on the GeoBlog.  

Beyond the cut and dry facts, I hope to enhance this blog with pictures, stories, and humor that come up while I’m in the land of the Gods.  In order to do anything successfully, you can’t take yourself seriously.  I hope to take my work seriously, but a blog is a medium where anyone can freely express their ideas.  I laugh at myself all the time, and I’m ok with that and I hope you are too.  Join me on this ride to Athens.