2-16-2014 Seeing HUG

HUG is how we at Harding University refer to our campus in Porto Rafti, Greece.

This is the Artemis Hotel which will be my home for the next few days as I travel around Greece with Jenna and her friends.

Jenna and I took a quick trip to the beach between classes this morning.

 Church in Athens tonight with a group of students from Greater Atlanta Christian School.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my friends Gary and Mandy Richie.

 Sunday night at HUG is Pizza Night.

Still up at 1AM.

1-15-2014 Leaving for Greece

Jenna, Julie and Jamie at the LR Airport.  Jenna is leaving today for her semester abroad at Harding's Greece campus.

We started the morning with breakfast at Cracker Barrel in NLR.                                

These six went to Harding Academy together.  I am so thankful that Jenna has great friends.

This is one of Jenna's best friends, Olivia Bissell, and they will be roommate for the semester.

Olivia and her parents Ken and Rene.

The entire group that was leaving from Little Rock.  They were heading to Atlanta to meet up with everyone else.  As I blog this, the group is flying to Amsterdam and from there to Athens.

Birthday Greetings from Greece

My friend Tish Elrod sent me this photo this week. This sign says Happy Birthday in Greek. Tish and her husband Dr. Mark Elrod are teaching in Hardings international program in Greece this semester. They were on a trip when my birthday came along so she sent me this late birthday greeting and photo. All I can say is that it is Greek to me.

I changed my college major over Greek. I started Harding as a Bible major. After my first semester my advisor suggested that I start the first of four semesters of Greek. I had no intension of taking Greek. I am barely able to function in English. I am such a terrible speller that sometimes spell check can't guess what I am trying to spell so i just have to add more letters until it can guess. Parts of speech and grammar might as well be Greek as far as I am concerned. The truth of the Bible major is that when I went to get my schedule for my first semester the line for undecided majors was really really long. The line for Bible majors was empty and Bible was one of the things I was considering. Well after my first semester I changed to Psychology and that is what I graduated with and I got a Bible minor.

A couple of years ago I was shooting a Bible Professor for a magazine story and he just happened to be teaching Greek. After I finished photographing I sat down in an empty chair and listened as they worked out a section in the Gospel of John. I pulled a small Bible out of my camera bag and as it turns out the class translated that greek passage word for word exactly as my english NIV bible had it. Needless to say I am sticking with my English Bible.