The flight landed 35 minutes after 6 p.m. on that warm Saturday evening at the Athens International Airport. 45 excited, proud and emotional students touched down on Greek soil and headed straight to the ACG residences, their “home” for the next two weeks.

Half an hour later, they were all settled in their apartments and eagerly followed their resident assistants to the campus gardens to meet their buddies, the ACG peers.

As the meal was being served, one could not but feel that this was a vibrant group of students sharing the same values, the same beliefs, the same dreams and it would become clear that lifelong friendships were about to be built.

Nobody cared if Greece lost its first World Cup game that evening.

They are all winners! And the neighborhood of Aghia Paraskevi does not care either, instead it celebrates the arrival of the HG 2014 class!

Welcome to Greece, welcome home!