What's the Plan Stan?

So, I know I've been slacking. Like a lot. Usually, a week out or so, I already have like a million posts or something here. Not so much this time around mostly because I've just been busy with the end-of-the-semester stuff that naturally comes with work. As of now though, things have slowed down finally and I am actually able to focus on the fact that in just over a week, I'll be out of the country again! The first part of the blog this summer will obviously focus on my first trips to Greece and Romania. Later (once I get back and what not), I'll shift focus to the next trips which will be the Czech Republic and Poland later in July.

For the Greece/Romania trip(s), here is the final schedule with little tidbits of information here and there:

Thursday, May 23rd- Fly out at 11:40 am on United. Arrive in Newark at 4:30 pm and leave there at 5:45 pm for Geneva. Arrive in Geneva at 7:45 am the next day and depart for Athens at 11:25. Arrive in Athens around 3:00 pm on Friday. Since my ticket was booked later than the rest of the groups, I'll fly out of Dallas on the same flight but will be on a different flight into Athens and will be picked up a little later than everyone else at the airport when I arrive.

Friday-Sunday- We will be working with refugees in a couple of churches and will be holding dental clinics as well. There are a bunch of locations (i.e., orphanages, centers) that we're seeing on this trip so I'm not 100% sure yet what is where. Sunday afternoon we will be sightseeing at the Parthenon.

Monday, May 27th- We will be taking a three island cruse on the Aegean Sea (Aegina, Poros, and Hydra).

Tuesday, May 28th- We fly out of Athens early for Timisoara, Romania where we will meet up with the best people ever and my Romanian family, the Gonciuleas (I stayed with them last summer)! We will drive a few hours to Severin and hang out with the kids in the group home there that night.

Wednesday, May 29th- BEST DAY EVER! I get to see my favorite people in Rogova!!!! In the afternoon, we'll drive a few hours out to Oradea.

Thursday, May 30th- We will be visiting the feeding center and the girls' home in Tinca where we will be conducting dental clinics and just doing what we do with the kids (having fun)!

Friday, May 31st- Drive to Tasad for dental clinic and a feeding center visit in the morning. Either Tasad or Oradea has a feeding center focused primarily on the gypsy population out there and I'm very excited to get my first experience with that specific population. We head into Budapest, Hungary that evening for an overnight there.

Saturday, June 1st- Some members of the group head back to the states that day while the rest of us go back to Oradea.

Sunday and Monday (June 2-3)- More visits and clinics in Tasad/Tinca.

Tuesday, June 4th- Back to Severin and Lupsa.

Wednesday, June 5th- Back to Rogova in the morning and then we drive out to Timisoara in the evening (it's a couple of hours north of Severin).

Thursday, June 6th- Fly out of Timisoara at 8:00 am and arrive in Munich at 8:25 am (there's a time change). Depart Munich at 12:20 pm and arrive in Chicago at 3:30 pm. The final leg leaves Chicago at 5:00 pm and arrives in Dallas at 7:20 pm.

If it all sounds like a lot, it absolutely it but that is totally what makes these trips fun. Both Bruce and Jerry (who I've traveled with before; you can read about their antics on any of my past trip blogs) are awesome guys to travel with and I might be looking forward to all of the funny things that I'm sure are bound to happen on all of our bus/van rides! I wish I could give more specifics on who is coming and what we're doing but I don't have all of that yet. The original trip got shifted around a bit and this is kind of two separate trips in one so as each day comes, I'll be filling you all in then. Like always, I'm bringing a ton of goodies for the kids over there and I'll be getting some posts up about that eventually before I head out. For now, it's getting late so that's it at the moment and noapte buna to all (goodnight in Romanian... so excited to go back yet again)!