Hello, my name is Alexander. I was born and raised in Athens, Greece. I am the son of Michael and Ulrike and I have an elder brother called Markos.

I studied chemical Engineering in Karlsruhe, Germany and got my PhD in chemical engineering from MIT.

My email address is

Hello, my name is Eva. I was also born and raised in Athens, Greece. My parents are Emanouilia and Stelios and were born in Crete and Naxos respectively. I have a younger sister Nektaria

I am a graduate of the Department of Philosophy, Pedagogic and Psychology of the University of Athens, Greece. I also have studied counseling psychology at Boston University (master of education). Since 2004 I am enrolled in a doctorate program in developmental studies at Boston University.

My email address is

I love sports, but I don't really like competition. My favorites are:

• Wind-surfing. I started windsurfing when I was 12 years old and liked it since. I ride a F2-Sputnik 270 since 1993. By that time it was considered very good, now there are faster boards on the market. I don't care much though, because I just want fun. Meter-high jumps and glide-jibes are standards and occasionally I manage duck-jibes and nose-tacks. In 2005 I enjoyed the lovely Golden Beach in Paros for a couple of hours while Eva was trying to snap a picture in the air. We will have to try again it seems ! In 2006, Aiolos was kind enough to let me enjoy my graduation with constant meltemia outside outside Sounion.

• Cross country running. Running in the city or on the track is also nice, but not the same. In October 2005 I ran a marathon in Connecticut in 3h 43 minutes. According to "experts" I should have run faster, but my legs had a different opinion !

• Rowing. I started rowing in Karlsruhe. While a student at MIT I used the MIT facilities. Since graduation I have not been able to row.

• Swimming. I love the sea and when I was in Greece, I was swimming all year long. Second choice are lakes and third choice swimming pools.

• Cycling, Trekking and Canoeing

Well, I enjoy sports, but I am more eclectic and specific:

• I love swimming from April to November in the lovely Mediterranean

• Trekking in good weather conditions (15-30°C).

• Cycling. I especially like cycling with Alexander running next to me or behind Alexander on a tandem bike.

• Canoeing / cayaking in hot weather (>30°C)

• Tennis (especially double with Alexander: me playing at the net and him running around the court)

I like singing, but nobody likes to listen to me. Generally I am a consumer of arts, not a producer. I like theater, cinema, music and reading books.

• With some friends we tried to organize a theatrical play in Greek, here at MIT. We had lots of fun but did not manage to stage our play. If you would like to try again please send an email to odyssebach AT mit DOT edu

• If you like Christmas carols please have a look at German and Greek songs in MS-Word-format

• We have translated from German to Greek the book "Wie schön ist Panama" by Janosch. We are searching for a publisher. The ones we have asked liked the book and our translation, but are afraid that it would not be successful in the Greek market. We would love to show it to you, but we don't want to violate any publisher rights.

• I love painting, singing, and acting.

• And Dancing: I still have not given up teaching Alexander how to dance!!!

• In November 2001 I presented the poem of Odusseas Eluths " O Hlios o Hliatoras " "The Sovereign Sun" by Elytis at a Balkan Poetry evening at MIT. Kimon Friar has made an extraordinary English translation. Alexander would not let me post it here though, because he is afraid of publisher rights.

• I have translated "The happy prince" by Oscar Wilde in Greek. Since Wilde passed away in 1900, I guess I could put it up, without violating any law, couldn't I?

We both like cooking very much, especially together for special occasions. For our friends we have translated many recipes from German to Greek and from Greek to German, but we have left most of them in Greece. So at the moment you can only see a few (everything in pdf format): Also during our tenure at the Westgate Executive Committee we organized international cooking classes.

• A recipe for pasta flora in English. Pasta flora is a marmalade cake

• A recipe for Greek zucchini piein English.

• A recipe for humous in English

• A baklava recipe in English.

• A bread recipe in English.

• A German apple pie in Greek.

• A German Chocolate cake in Greek.

• A German cake of nuts and figs in Greek.

• A German Kleckerkuchen in Greek.

• A German Marmorkuchen in Greek.

• A German Meistermohnkranz in Greek.

• A French Quiche Loraine in Greek.

We both love traveling,especially in the nature. We also love discovering new places and cultures. This is part of the reason that we decided to pursue graduate studies in Boston.

Together with traveling comes taking pictures. When we find time and MIT increases the user quota we will put up some more.

We are lucky and some of our friends sent us some pictures from Greece. So in case you don't know how Greece looks like have a look:

• Sotiris Kontolios sent us great pictures from Serifos, an Greek island in the Aegean Sea. See a typical village on a hill or a traditional old man in a village or a nice church or an original view from a bridge or a traditional windmill. If you want to see more photos by Sotiris visit his website

• We have also Photos by Giannos Koudounas, our best man. From Mykonos, one of the Cyclades-islands and one of the most popular Greek islands we have a view from a window and the harbor. From Santorini (Thira), the famous volcano island, we have a view to the sea, that Giannos and Alexander had thousands of times during endless summers of sports and fun, as well as a sunset.

• Dimitris Kazis (who is a friend both of Alexander's parents and ours) sent us many pictures from Greece. We chose some of them: From Castellorizo, an acritic island the capital as well as a sea cave. Greece is famous for its ancient culture, so we also chose the sanctuary of Great Gods in Samothraki, a green island in northern Greece. Finally look at two pictures that combine some typical elements of Greece: fisher net in front of church and a vase above the sea.

• In January 2002 there was very much snow in Greece. You can see much snow in Sounion! We had never seen so much snow before and we missed it! You see the harbor or a house or Alexander's aunt Liselotte or more snow

• On the 20^th of July 2002 we had our religious wedding in Sounion, Greece. The ceremony started at 20:30 and then we celebrated until the dawn. For the sunrise we went for a swim.

• In July 2003 Markos and Alexander climbed Mnt Olympos (with 2917m the tallest mountain in Greece) in one day. We started from the beach in the morning and ended at the beach in the evening. We were clever enough to pick a long day! In July 2005 we tried again our endurance: this time we started at Litochoro, went to Mytikas from Scala, down through Louki, up to Profitis Ilias and then again down to Litochoro.