On October 1, 1830, the couple set sail along with Mr. Bingham, a printer and the Rev. John Jacob Robertson and his wife Julia. They arrived in Malta on November 16. Robertson had been the minister who had originally proposed a foreign mission to the church. From Malta, they proceeded that same day to Smyrna making their way to Tenos, where they would remain until spring due to the ongoing conflict in Athens during the Greek struggle against the Ottoman Empire. On May 26, 1831 the group left the island and made their way to Athens, their original destination. By July 18, they had found suitable accommodations for Hill to establish a school for girls, as Athens was in ruins due to the war. She began with twenty pupils, who studied in the basement of the house she and her husband occupied in Plaka, near the Ancient Agora of Athens. Within two months enrollment at the school had increased to 167 pupils, ranging in age from three to eighteen years old. It was the only school in Greece offering education to women at that time and from the beginning, the girls' schools were under the direction of Hill, while her husband supervised the boys' education.