This is Matt Grodd writing from you live in Athens, Greece.  I was given the honor of heading up the ladder end of these blogging entries, and I couldn’t be happier about it.  This trip has by far been the greatest experience of my life, and wrapping it up in Athens was the perfect idea.

            Today we met up with our tour guide Robert, who after spending four days with our crew, he’s now definitively one of us.  He is by far one of the funnier guys we have come across along our journey, and he is so bright as well.  Everywhere we have gone during our journey in Greece, Robert has just had a wealth of knowledge about each spot. 

            So Robert met us outside our hotel at 8:30, and we went on an early morning hike up to the peak of the Acropolis.  The Acropolis was absolutely gorgeous, and Robert obviously gave us the whole story behind the reasoning, history, and purpose of the sacred building.  We then moved on and saw the Parthenon, which was such a unique structure as well.  After we went through the Acropolis, we took an informational walk through Agra Square.  We then did another mini hike up to the Temple of Hopotholus, which was a fascinating sight.  We ended our Acropolis journey at Temple of Stoa, which has recently been turned in a mini museum.

            After we left the Acropolis, we journied off to the Theatre of Dionysus, to learn about how drama often was used as Competition in Ancient Greek times.  We saw a lot of different Tripod Monuments all around Dionysus that were still in very good shape compared to a lot of the other structures we’ve come across in Greece.  We ended our travels at the Modern Olympic Stadium, which was the perfect way to end our final day in Greece.  The Modern Olympic Stadium was the main sight for the first Olympics in Greece in 1896, and its structure is sill very in tact in nice looking.

            After today tour a lot of us went out for Soulvaki Lunches, and then did some last minute shopping for our friends and family.  At around 5:00 we met to determine the winner of the Scavenger hunt, which Rachel and John S. won by one point over the Will/Dave Tandem.  It’s now 6:30 and I am very excited for our final Farwell dinner tonight in Athens.  I’m looking forward to some great dialogue, some fantastic food, and one last great memory from this amazing journey in Europe.

Signing off from the greatest experience of my life,

Matt