Fridays...

After a rather busy week (with that research proposal of mine getting reviewed and re-reviewed, Friday finally came.
So, I had a tutorial at 2.30 and after that, I stayed at the computer room "polishing" my proposal and answering John's questions about Ancient Greek. Funny thing, although this is what I have been studying for at least 2 years (I focused on linguitics related courses the last two years of my Bachelor's ) I had problems remembering words and other stuff about the language. I guess it really has been a long time and since I cannot practice it...
Anyway, at around 6.30 John and I left for TH where we found Émile, Raph, Tobin, Josh ,Joey and Andrea.
I had the "autumn adventure" pizza and about 3 glasses of beer. A bit later, Émile and Andrea left for opera (I hope you had good time guys) and the rest of the gang stayed there until 8.00.
Then we split; me and Joey headed home, while the rest went to Agora (which is a Greek word by the way and it means "gathering" or "the place that gathering takes place").
Once again I enjoyed the company of good friends and the very yummy pizza at TH, but right now I think I am getting a bit depressed.
I do not think it is school since it is too early for that. Maybe it's the fact that at the end of the month I am turning 27....

Elections.....

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your interest in the exercising of my right to vote. I do realize the importance of voting for the upcoming municipal elections, and that said, of any electoral process in general since they are a true triumph of democratic procedures. Having said that, it fills me with regret to inform you I cannot participate to the elections, although I found all your programs very interesting.

Thank you for your understanding,

Your friendly International Student

P.S.: A humble request if I may; could you please stop mailing me with brochures, letters etc?

Σήκωσέ το, το γ....νο, δεν μπορώ,δεν μπορώ να περιμένω...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Eurobasket 2005 championship winner:

GREECE!!!!

After an astonishing final, Greece has beaten Germany 78-62 and is the Eurobasket 2005 championship winner. It took 18 years (since the legendary Eurobasket 1987 final in Athens, where Greece had defeated the Soviet Union 103-101) for the Greek national basketball team to finish at the first position, but who cares?
I still remember the all-night celebrations back then, and I can only assume that in Syntagma and Omonia square in Athens, and everywhere in Greece, the party has already started. It was Athens then, now it is Belgrade! In fact, the coach of the 2005 team, Panayotis Yannakis, was a player in the 1987 one.
But now, a new page is written in Greek basketball history and a new legendary team is a fact.
To the players of the team, a great THANK YOU!!


Ευχαριστούμε μάγκες
Μας κάνατε πάλι πολύ περήφανους!

One step at a time...

O.K., the very first drafty version of something I call research proposal is done!!.
I just gave it to GP for comments and the verdict is pending....
In other news, nothing really exciting.
There is a first OCF gathering later this evening in the house of one of our former executives (i.e.: pasta night!!) which I plan to attend later and that will be for today.
I think I need some rest. Seriously.....

Getting busy so soon? Yes!!!

After a relatively uneventful weekend (it was nice though to see some friends in the church yesterday), a busy week revealed itself right from today.
Earlier this day, I had a meeting with GP where we discussed the details of my PhD program. The verdict: I am expected to have (at least) one of my evaluation papers ready by the end of the year, but this is the least of my concerns right now:
By the end of this week, I must have a research proposal ready for funding purposes and you guessed correctly;here is where the fun begins... (The fact I have never done something like that before, just makes it even worse...).
After the meeting, I attended a seminar taught by an invited speaker and at around six went with Raph for dinner. On our way downhill, we came across Moti and Marc and we decided to go to TH.
Now, the original plan was a quick dinner and then back home (research proposal, remember?).
Once again, my planning was ruined (I am mostly to blame, but I can think of another individual as well....). So, we had dinner, chatted a lot and, to conclude an enjoyful evening, played taboo. Thank God the score was not kept. (A piece of advice: If you want your team to win, make sure the other one gets the non-native speaker).
At around 9.35 we called the day/evening off and went home.
So, what about that research proposal? I guess I can start writing it tomorrow morning....

*UPDATE: (23. 31)

I turned on the "word verification" feature since I realized I was getting too many spam comments. Sorry for any inconvenience guys! (After all, it certainly does not feel right to ask your friends to provide proof they are humans!)

Back to Montreal...

After a very nice trip from London to Montreal (I guess traveling business class is always good), I safely arrived at the aiport last Tuesday evening. Needless to say, I was exhausted and needed some sleep, however the fire alarm test scheduled for next day did not allow me this pleasure.
Anyway, I got up at 9.00 am (the alarm actually got me up) and decided to go to school since I didn't want to miss any more classes. Besides, I had some other stuff to do, like officially registering and getting my Health Insurance and student I.D card.
Getting to the department was an interesting experience; I was walking down familiar streets, but still unable to realize where exactly I was. (JET LAG)
Anyway, I got to the department, attended a TA meeting and then had lunch with Émile at TH where we met Raph, Tobin and another guy whose name I cannot remember (I was completely unable to store any new information that day).
At around 13.30, I dragged Émile to the administration building where I registered (but I did not get my I.D. card) and then we headed back to the department where we had a class.
Now, I was able to to keep up with what was going on but still my brain refused to be productive.
Later on, me, Raph and a new graduate student (his name I also do not remember, SORRY) went to TH for dinner and beer.(Although, Tobin suggested to me to have a beer earlier, I did not, because JET LAG +BEER= "GOOD NIGHT" and I had a class afterwards. But there were no limitations later...) Time happily passed with eating, drinking and chatting and at around 19.30 we all left.
I headed straight home and tried to get some rest.
So today, I woke up around noon, got to the department where I had to talk tosome people, got my health insurance card and sat in for OCF at Shatner.
Life is getting back to normal and it is starting to feel like Montreal again...

Finally, as promised, here are some links with pictures from Samos. They are actually three sets:

• Getting there
• Staying there and
• Leaving (pictures of the airport)

I hope you enjoy them...

Athens - London

Greetings from London. After a 3 hours flight, I have safely arrived at Heathrow airport.
My trip was relatively uneventful, however breakfast/snack was not served INside the plane but at its entrance. It seems there was a strike of the people responsible for catering, so no hot meal and (this is what I cannot understand) no cold water! I guess the coolers were on strike too....
Anyway, the flight was smooth and we arrived at the airport on schedule (10.00 am local time). The weather is good but, as expected, cloudy skies.
It is the first time I have ever been to Heathrow. So, impressions:

• It is big! (Actually, there was a 10 minutes by bus distance between the terminal my flight from Athens arrived and the one the flight from Montreal departs.
• It is a consumer's paradise. There are just shops everywhere. AND you can buy in Euros!!
• It is easily accessible and not so hard to walk around (unlike some other airports.)

Overall, you can get used to it (even these small vehicles that people use to move around making a very annoying sound). About the food, I haven' t tried it yet, but there are not so many choices.

Pictures will be posted at a later post. Unfortunately, they will not include London (It takes about 90 minutes to get there.) And finally, British English (yeah, I know...) sounds just great!

That is all for now.

Final destination, Montreal.

The Prodigal Son returns....

It was about time! After wasting my time in a reckless living (parties, women and of course hours in the beach ), I am coming back.
All my papers are in order (finally!) and as one of these documents states: "You may now travel to Canada".
Thank you!
So, I have re-rescheduled my departure from last Friday (9th) to this Tuesday (the 13th) and hopefully, (if I manage to wake up) I will attend class this Wednesday.
Now, I do not expect the fatted calf or anything fancy (TH next Friday sounds great enough, ) but I just HOPE all bad luck ends here.
You see, while for the rest of the world Friday the 13th is considered a bad day, for us Greeks it is Tuesday. Isn't that great?)