Life Lessons

In 8 short days, I will be back on American soil. Two and a half months has flown by but the experience has been so great that it has got me crossing my fingers that I can return next year.

If one thing is for sure, I have become more accepting of a variety of clichés.

Cliché 1: “Karma is a bitch”. I’ve witnessed this first-hand multiple times. “Karen” has delighted herself in being the worst possible person towards me (and only me) on this trip, regardless of what it meant she would have to do. I’ve taken her abuse like a champ and not retaliated or complained too much, but I won’t deny that there are about 30 or so strangers that I have lived with over these past two months who definitely know about “Karen”. Regardless of how mean she has been, justice has been very swift ever since Thessaloniki. “Karen’s” bank account was frozen after an ATM she used was hacked. “Karen” got sun-poisoning while she was island hopping a few weeks ago. “Karen’s” Kindle broke in Olympia and she purchased another one to be shipped to Athens, which the state of Greece confiscated as a “contraband item”. Although “Karen” has made bits and pieces of this trip hard for me, I have learned from her continual bad luck on this trip that being mean simply doesn’t pay. I’ll always try and remember that from now on.

Cliché 2: “Everything happens for a reason”. There are so many instances in life where a situation is so bad or poorly timed that you don’t know how you’re supposed to benefit or learn from it. Who knew that being kicked out of the whole group dynamic in this trip would actually lead to me meeting dozens of people who are completely different from me and shared so much about their cultures? You’d never think that meeting someone who you have no possible future with could be a good thing and it normally wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the fact that the trip to see him is keeping you from losing your mind with a group of people who clearly don’t like you/being sad that you have to leave a country that you really don’t want to. Dear Life, I have learned to turn your lemons into lemonade and I’m probably better for it.

Finally Caught the Sick Bug

It had to happen eventually. Originally, I figured that I had served my sickness dues before I left for Greece when I caught laryngitis for three weeks. Unfortunately though, I have finally gotten sick with a mysterious illness that kept me from leaving our hotel on Paros and sent me back to Athens the day after we got to Paros. Thankfully, it’s not the same thing that the rest of the class had though so I have hopes that I’ll definitely be over it by tomorrow at the latest.

As you can see, I haven’t been blogging much the past few weeks. The truth is that I really don’t want to blog about anything these days because it would be all about my last few weeks of fun and I’d rather not thinking about leaving Greece at all. Despite the moments of trouble and frustration that I’ve had, this trip has been great for me.

I am more than ecstatic to get home and see my family, especially my new little niece who I’ve only seen through pictures. But I think the worst problem I’m going to encounter is that I won’t get the chance to meet anymore awesome random people. Is that weird? That I’m going to miss the strangers that I’ve been living with for two months? That and having a closet. I haven’t seen a closet or taken my clothes out of my backpacking bag for the last two months so the whole hanging up your clothes and not living out of a suitcase thing is going to blow my mind for a bit. Those two things are probably a little on the weird side. 

The Good, The Bad, The Forgotten

If you took a look at my luggage, it is hard to deny that I came to this country with the bare minimum. There are those definite times when I regret it, but nevertheless I have made it work. I don’t know if my refusal to pack some of my America necessities has been more of a training exercise or torture. At school, I straighten my hair every day—I didn’t bring my straightener on this trip on account of the time that it got drug tested in Chicago so I’ve straightened my hair all of two (maybe three) times in the last two months. I think two months of not putting my hair under heat abuse every day is the closest one can get to reversing heat damage. However, as a result of my neglect to bring a straightener I have been forced to wear a ponytail every day. After all, being in the country that shaped their lives around mythology is not justification to let my curly hair run wild and look like Medusa every day. I also have no makeup, none. I’m definitely not the type of girl who wears the foundation, the blush, the eye shadow—I prefer something that is fairly simple to complete on the go so I just stick to eye liner and mascara in order to not look as tired. Not that I necessarily miss makeup as much as I do the control over my hair that my straightener gives me, but every day I wake up and look at myself and think “Wow, I look tired”. I could get 11 hours of sleep, which I actually did on Mykonos, and I still look like I haven’t slept in months. So in order to counteract my lack of makeup I just wear sunglasses every minute I can—they hide your eyes to the point that no one can tell what you look like and I love it.lol Something astonishing though is the fact that even though my hair is always a mess and my eyes look like I’m about to pass out, the guys here still have no problem being creepy towards me. Come on guys, where are your standards?

One thing that I am 100% positive of is that my biggest mistake about packing was forgetting sweatpants. I wear sweatpants every day at school. I seriously can’t live without them and I haven’t had a pair the whole time here. If I could redo my packing I would take out a dress I haven’t worn and substitute sweatpants, no question about it. At the end of the day, regardless of what items or clothes I forgot, I can honestly say that my smartest packed item is my raincoat because it rains every three days here.

Regardless of how little I packed for these past three months I am happy I am not like my group members who have rolling luggage, especially when it comes to the staircases in Backpackers and our various hotels. In addition to the fact that I can (with only a little trouble) carry all of my luggage at the same time while people like Molly and Lulu have to have one of the boys carry a duffle bag for them while they try roll their bags up the brick paved streets. Normally brick paved streets don’t sound like they would create a problem for anyone but these are not your average brick streets. No, these streets are a league of their own. When it comes to the streets you encounter one of two things: 1. Bricks inlayed into cement with 2-3 inch gaps between bricks where wheels can easily slip or 2. Bricks that fit together perfectly but they are chipped to the point that none of the bricks are the same height so that anyone shuffling will trip every two steps they take. 

T-Minus 22

I've felt very adventurous since I got here two months ago. This new found search for excitement led to me getting my nose pierced on Friday. It definitely wasn't an impulse decision at all, I had been thinking about it for a month and had finally decided to wait until I got home to do it. That idea was shot when Molly wandered off after class one day and got her nose pierced. The minute I saw she had gotten it done I couldn't wait any longer so I studied up for the Classical course final and prepared for the paper and then I rewarded myself by going to getting my nose pierced the next day. Kegs and Zak already had their noses pierced for quite some time before they came on the trip and Kegs described the pain the next days after as "getting punched in the face over and over". Enticing, right? Make you really want to do it, I know! Regardless of what Kegs told me I decided that I had to do it so when I left our hotel to go do it I grabbed the first Lake Forest person I saw. It was James. In theory, Waffles was probably not the best choice but I just needed someone who was mean enough to not let me leave even if I wanted to.
Anyway, I couldn't decide where to get my piercing done so James was in charge of choosing the shop. He chose this place called "Nico Tattoo Crew" and I was helped by a guy with a million piercings. The shop didn't have the cool little guns that pierce your nose, they used a needle instead. Million Piercings showed me the needle but thanks to the packaging it was in, I couldn't see exactly how big it was. Right before Million Piercings started he told me not to worry about crying a lot because it was a natural reaction and everyone did it. I had absolutely no intention of keeping my eyes open during this whole endeavor so I automatically closed my eyes and started singing in my head the song from this week's Glee episode that I had chosen on the walk over. It was "Go Your Own Way". Needle went into nose and stayed there for a few seconds. Some sort of clamp was used and then the needle was pulled out. Then Million Piercings put in the crystal stud I had chosen. Not a tear. It definitely hurt, but not a single tear. I actually surprised Million Piercings a little because he was confused that I wasn't crying and showed no intention of crying for two minutes afterward. After swearing to Million Piercings that I was fine, he let me go and I paid my 24 euro and I left. Thankfully, the punched in the face feeling has not set in like Kegs said she felt when she had her nose pierced.
But here's my concern with this whole situation: Set me in front of any Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Lifetime Movie, song on the radio and I can practically cry on cue. Why do I cry when I witness anything sentimental but a guy shoving a needle into my nose does not phase in the least bit?
My nose hurt when my nostrils flared, I sneezed, I coughed, and yawned during the first day after. I sneezed at breakfast the other day and I immediately flinched and James automatically told me I was sick after a week of bragging that I hadn't caught what everyone else had. Clearly I had to put Waffles in his place so I told him "I sneezed. I don't know if you heard but I had a needle jabbed through my nose yesterday and it's sore!"

I have lived with the entire group since the day we left for Mykonos. April 20th. That makes just over two continuous weeks living with my classmates and I still have four nights until we get back to Athens. My overexposure is finally beginning to show and I'm more than excited to be living with strangers in Backpackers again. It honestly can't some soon enough.

This trip has shown me a lot about myself. In addition to my new revelation that some people just really suck at life, I've also learned a little about what I need to do next with my life. Without a doubt, I love traveling. New places. New people. New stories. New discoveries. What's not to love about that. I've already e-mailed my dad and told him to not get me anything for my 21st or 22nd birthdays or for Christmas for at least the next year and Graduation so that I can get a trip abroad for next summer. I really want to do this. My only question is where to go? Oh, the possibilities. I've also come to grips with the fact that I have zero clue about what I want to do with my life. However, as I think more about it, I realize that the Peace Corps is something that seems right for me. I'm alright with being in new places and meeting people that I don't know. I love traveling or just learning about a new culture if that's all I can get. I clearly have an affinity for helping people, especially complete strangers, as has been reinforced lately. Maybe there I'll get a good idea about what I want to do. Miracles can happen, right? I've also begun to reevaluate what I really want out of life, the whole picture isn't here yet but I'm getting there.
Personal philosophies have also changed but I don't want to explain those, probably never will either.lol

This is an early Mother's Day shout out to my mom. She's quite possibly the only person who reads this blog but it seems like she's pretty entertained by it. I love you, Mom! I miss you lots and I can't wait until I'm home. In case you haven't started your count down, I'll be back in 22 days (if customs goes smoothly and I make my connection from Newark to Houston....then Houston to Denver....then Denver to Kansas City). If I don't make that connection then I'll see you eventually I guess! I love you bunches and bunches and bunches. Thanks for always listening to me and laughing at my jokes when no one else will. You are the best mom and I couldn't ask for anyone better!! I think of all of you back home everyday. <3

Realizations

Woohoo for May! Woohoo for being done with 3 of 4 classes for the semester! Woohoo!

Fun Fact of the Day: I sleep study now.
What is sleep studying you ask? I'm rooming with Zak and Kegs while we're here in Thessaloniki and we had our final exam and paper due today. Actually, the paper is due later today but I've just been studying so hard that I finished three hours early. Want to know how hard I've been studying? The entire class felt like the exam was a major toss-up since half of what Maria says is either A. irrelevant B. hard to imagine since half of the museums we go to are closed because of the horrible economy C. unable to hear because we always find the loud asian tourists to stand right behind us and talk. Anyway, most of us pulled an all-nighter last night and I was in the room with Zak and Kegs so we would all stay awake. Somewhere around 2am I feel asleep but Zak and Kegs were still awake and they were quizzing each other. I was completely passed out but according to Zakea this is what happened.
Kegs was trying to study about Macedonia and she couldn't remember what the first capital was called. She asked Zak what it was and out of completely nowhere I said: "Aigai? I don't know how to say it but A-I-G-A-I." Then was quiet again. I actually got the answer right. Apparently me talking in my sleep was so much fun to them that they decided to quiz me for the next 15 minutes and record it.
I don't remember any of this happening. I don't remember talking. All I know is I woke up an hour later and they were laughing hysterically. I think this new development of sleep studying gives me freak status. Woohoo. It's not enough that I talk and walk in my sleep. Now I study too. This would explain why I never feel like I get any sleep, it's because my brain never shuts off.lol

Other fun fact: My extensive knowledge on pink eye from my childhood past time of playing dirt/sand/petting animals and then rubbing my eye raw came in hand this morning. Kegs and Zak have been sick with sinus infections since we got back from Mykonos and Kegs woke up with pink eye somehow. Luckily I've had it so many times that I knew exactly what to do.

More fun fact: I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to guys I must be very hard to approach, simply because I'm not amused by them. Three days ago I was walking to a bakery to get lunch with EzG and Caroline. Somewhere along the walk I noticed that one guy and a bunch of his friends had been following me for four blocks saying "Hey". After I realized that they were talking to me and not someone else I decided I definitely didn't want to turn around since they'd followed me for that long. Unfortunately the group of guys caught up with me when we got to the bakery. I turned around and one of the guys asked where I was from and I told him Chicago. How does this kid reply? "Oh, I'm Polish." I kind of stood there for a second, really confused as to why that was relevant so I finally said "Cool" and the kid walked away. The conversation could have ended after I said I was from Chicago. I didn't care that he was Polish. If I didn't get into those conversations so much then maybe I would be more polite to awkward people that follow me for four blocks.

Another random thought: I have literally lost all sense of time since I've gotten here. It's probably due to the fact that we don't have weekends, we have free days instead and sometimes we got weeks without free days. Sometimes the free days last for a week, like in Mykonos. Today, while we were all at breakfast studying for the exam Kramer/Dionysus came in and shouted "Happy Cinco de Mayo"....it's May 4th. Enough said.

That's all I have for today. Woohoo for no more Classical Greece! YAYYYYY.
:) :)

LOL

People here say the most amusing things. It’s not just the Greeks, it’s the random people that I encounter too.

Instance 1:  Walking through the Plaka in quest for souvenirs for my family. I walked into a t-shirt shop just to look around and the shop owner (who is very eccentric and will shout anything at you to get you to go into the store) walks up to me and asks what I was looking for. I told him I was looking for shirts. He asked if it was for myself. I told him it was for family. He told me that he could tell now since my face was very distressed. (Uhhh, Thanks?) Then he asked who it was for, friends, family, my lucky boyfriend? Of course the assumption that I would have a lucky boyfriend made me laugh out loud, just like it has the dozen other times that has been suggested while I’ve been here and just like the other times I enter some sort of rapid fire question session about why I laughed. I politely told the owner that I was sorry for laughing but there was no “lucky boyfriend”. WOAH. The owner was NOT ready for that answer and he then started asking where I was from. I told him I was from Chicago. Then the store owner started shouting “Chicago boys are crazy” and “Chicago boys are blind” and immediately told me to take off my sunglasses so he could look at me. I was pretty amused by the conversation thus far so I went along with it. He immediately said “I know it, you’re a Libra-a Gemini-a Sagittarius”. For him “knowing” what I was he was pretty far off so I told him I was a Cancer but apparently he begged to differ because he replied “A Cancer, well I was close!” Then the store owner explained that “Chicago boys are blind and crazy because Cancers are good girls, good for families”. I was a little shocked that my venture into buying shirts went in that direction so I just kind of stood there dumbfounded until he went to get his assistant.

Instance 2: The assistant of the store owner from instance 1 came to help me pick out shirts for my laundry list of people. Now it was a warm day, warmest it had been in Athens in over two weeks. I was wearing a thinner long sleeve shirt with shorts and sandals, and I was actually sweating a bit so I think it’s safe to say I was a little over dressed. The owner’s assistant take one look at me and says “Look at you, aren’t you cold?” I told her I wasn’t. She then said “Really? Where are you from, Canada?” Canada was a bit of a stretch because anyone would have been dressed the exact same way, even if they were from Florida. Anyway, I told her I was from Chicago and she said “Chicago, I was close enough”. Where are these people getting their geography? That’s like saying that Italy and Greece are the exact same place.

Instance 3: I was watching a baseball game at the Sports Bar beneath Backpackers, completely alone except for one other guy. We both were completely silent for about 20 minutes and our chairs weren’t even facing one another. Suddenly the guy turns to me, sticks out his hand for me to shake and says to me “I’m Danny. Don’t worry I’m a stage 5 clinger” and then turns back to his beer and we sit in silence for another 10 minutes. Wedding Crashers? Really? That is my kind of stranger. Original movie, original quote, completely out of context. I don’t think I’ll ever meet another with an introduction that can top that one.

Instance 4: Hotel in Heraklion in the quest for internet. Sadly this hotel did not have free internet so we had to go to the reception desk and pay for a password card. I walked up to the front desk and asked for a card. The lady said they were out, I raised my eyebrow in confusion. It’s a piece of paper with a password, get a post-it and write it down and your problem is solved. After I raised my eyebrow at her she said “Okay Okay I give you card” and got one out from a desk. Then I asked her how much it cost and she told me “It’s Free, 5 euro please.” Was it free or was it 5 euro? Pick one! I was so confused and faced the fact that I could live without internet for two days so I just turned around and walked away.

Instance 5: I love the randoms I meet. I was watching a baseball game at Backpackers last night with the random guy that was living in the room with Zak, Kegs, James, Eddie and myself. His name was Justin, he was studying abroad in Barcelona but he was from Wisconsin. Justin’s friends that he met at Karaoke on Thursday came into the bar and say down with us. These kids were studying in Germany. We talked for a couple hours until they told me that the German studying friends had to catch a plane at 4 in the morning (so in 6 hours). They asked me which they should take to the airport: metra or bus. I immediately told them bus because no one wants to be on the metra with that one creepy person at midnight. The German studying friends said that was a good point but they didn’t want to walk all the way to Syntagma to catch the bus. I started explaining to them the shortcuts there that would cut off about 10 minutes when they asked if I knew Athens pretty well and if I would just walk them to Syntagma at midnight. I had walked to Syntagma half a dozen times, the route wasn’t confusing, and I have walked alone in Athens at night many times so I said okay. These kids weren’t drunk, they were American, and they all were well-versed with popular references but for some reason their way of thanking me was exclaiming for about 30 minutes that I was their “Guardian Angle”. Yes, that is what they said---I was their Guardian ANGLE. I’m not sure what that meant. I don’t think anyone knew what they meant because Backpackers George who works in reception of the hostel and Bartender Bob were just as thoroughly confused as I was. So, if the term “Guardian Angle” is very popular and I’m just lost—please let me know.

Instance 6: I was standing outside of a bar in Mykonos with Caroline on Easter evening. Apparently the Greeks, who supposedly cherish Easter very close to their hearts, feel the need to have the biggest, wildest party throughout the country on the night of Easter. Anyway, Caroline and myself were waiting for Molly, Nicolette, and Kristine to come outside so we could go to a club called “Space Dance Experience”. The bar that we were waiting outside of was in a pretty isolated area and it was a little creepy. We got tired of standing so we sat down on the curb outside the bar while we waited for the other three. Every now and then random Greeks and tourists would pass us but they wouldn’t say anything until this one guy walked up to us. The creep was probably about 50 and just looked gross but he was intent on talking to us. He started by stopping and staring straight Caroline and I and saying “Hey Baby” for a minute. Then he decided to ask us questions to which we both said “Ohi” (Greek for “No”) in unison each time. Creep-o finally walked away and I started talking with Caroline again until the guy out of nowhere says to us “Sex with me is very good. You missing out.” Seriously? Seriously? We both got up immediately and ran into the bar and hid behind Kristine until we all left.

Instance 7: Delphi. Delphi is such a small town that there is really nothing to do. I went out to get a gyro one afternoon when we had just finished hiking the massive mountain in Delphi. I typically do things alone, especially eating so I’m pretty good when it comes to blocking out awkward moments or even people who look a little iffy. I was sitting in this café, eating my gyro when a waiter came up to talk to me. Originally I thought he came to ask if I wanted anything else, WRONG. The same waiter had seen me eating at the same café a day earlier with James. Clearly, if you see a boy and girl together in the country they MUST BE dating—the fact that James and I did fight like an old married couple might have helped that assumption though. Anyway, the waiter came up to me and said “Where is boyfriend today?” I didn’t really get the reference at first so I automatically turned around for any other person he could be talking to. Once the waiter caught that I was completely confused he said “You come with boyfriend to eat yesterday, no?” After about a minute of jogging my memory and realized he was assuming that I was dating James I immediately started shouting “No No No”. Looking back on the situation, I should have lied and went along with it because no one was there to stop me. After assuring the waiter that James was not my boyfriend, he then asked “Oh, so your boyfriend elsewhere. Home?” and then I had to proclaim my single status for the two hundredth time since I’ve been here. That was my second bad move because apparently a girl being single means that she wants to be NOT single and you have to change that that exact moment or the universe will most definitely implode. After telling the waiter I was single he then said I was lying because “No girl like you should be single” and then somewhere along the way the conversation escalated to him insisting that I “come back to Delphi and stay with him forever because you can be very happy with him” and then I was also promised that he would “give you the world”. I have a few issues with these statements: A—You’re a waiter, you can’t afford to give any girl the world. B—You’ve talked to me for 15 minutes and you want me to come back here for you? C—You’ve talked to me for 15 minutes. D—That sounds a little desperate. I will admit that the sound of never having to work, living in Greece forever, and having a not so unattractive guy to look at for “forever” sounded pretty nice….at first. Then I finally came back to reality and realized that I would get bored and leave 2-3.5 weeks later.

Instance 8: References to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Let’s revisit the German studying students from instance 5. Aside from their failed attempt to praise me for my guidance to the Syntagma bus stop, they also said two other ridiculous things—both of which were related to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Let’s discuss what the lone female said to me. Somewhere along the night the girl stopped me and said “Can I ask you something about the men here?” to which I immediately blurted the word “Douchebags”. After she stopped laughing she said to me “I came here expecting to see all of these beautiful men of Greece but I haven’t found one. So here my question, where is Kostas?” Here’s the thing—I am thoroughly convinced that Kostas’ of Greece were either imported or hidden away from tourists. All the men here have unibrows, their faces are so oily they shine, they’re just mean, they wear clothes that no straight man in America wear—they’re just gross. So here’s a warning to anyone coming to Greece for a Kostas: Don’t come. He’s not here. Greece lied. GWA. All you will find is a NO-stas, and they aren’t pretty. Now on to what one of the guys said, the guy who plays rugby at Illinois Wesleyan back home. Clearly this guy either A—was forced to see  the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants because of an evil sadist girlfriend or B—he secretly has a very feminine side. Anyway, I was talking with him about the places he’s been, Santorini in particular since I am currently on the fence about whether to go in May or just return to Athens. I don’t know how but the guy somehow sold me on how awesome Santorini was. He told me there are two parts to Santorini, one that is residential and one that is tourist. When he tried to describe the tourist part of Santorini he told me “It was like walking into the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I swear they have 5 miles that they shot that movie in.” If you’re a guy, especially a sober one, don’t ever reference the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants to that extent. Atleast put up a front like you barely remember anything and it was an absolutely awful experience.  Regardless of his social faux pas, the reference was awesome—nearly as memorable as the Wedding Crashers line from instance 3.

Oh the funny things I hear. I love this place and all of its socially awkward and amusing moments. J

An Attempt at Thoughtful Thoughts

I’m coming to learn many things about life

Patience is a virtue.

Words of kindness are healers.

There are more awful people in the world than we are ever told about.

You should get Peace prizes for rising above when you’re a girl.

Self-control is an art form.

Skepticism doesn’t protect you.

My generation really is the “Me” generation.

Those few friends who make you happy should be held onto tightly.

Karma is often misguided and gets it wrong half the time.

Being alone is liberating.

Conformity is a curse that you shouldn’t have to succumb to.

Independent lives are easier to lead than most understand.

Pride is a handicap.

Glee and my iPod are what helps me keep my sanity throughout life these days. I’ve had my share of moments where I’ve looked up to the sky and asked what I’m supposed to do next. I just stand there in a haze and think to myself: What am I going to do for housing? How am I going to stay calm? What can I do to make this moment less horrible? Am I going to be able to just walk away and not say anything? Being in a foreign country and having to deal with these questions with no one you can turn to is very hard, borderline terrifying. Through all of these questions and times where I just don’t know what to do I have come to learn the power of music. If you find the right song at the right moment, anything can be dealt with. Any emotion can be pushed to the back of your mind and that’s really all that is needed because with a clear mind you can solve any problem, you can conquer the world. In the times that music does not do the trick, I can easily lean on Glee for conformation that I am not the only one with the problems that I have. I am so annoyed with every person that I encounter telling me that Glee is nonsense or worthless, you clearly have NEVER grown up. Did you all come out of the womb at the age of 25, when you’ve essentially passed the age where you deal with any of the issues that Glee addresses? In my opinion, there is no way that you cannot appreciate Glee in the slightest degree if you grew up outside of a bubble. So please, stop telling me that they ruin song. No more ranting about plot lines. I don’t want to hear about acting or theatrical affects and foreshadowing. I don’t care because I’m in it for the conformation that I’m not alone in the world. When I spend nights alone in a hotel room I want to know that Quinn and Rachel feel like crap too. I’d like to know that Santana is sad because Brittany rejected her when I am busy trying to wiggle out of a star struck trance. Seeing Blaine stand by Kurt when Karofsky bullies him makes all the snide comments I hear a-okay with me for the time being.  It’s all about the personal connection.

On a different note, I was inside the Parthenon today. Experience of a lifetime. I can’t even describe it, I don’t know where to start. I was on top of the world.  This was definitely the highpoint of my life, I could literally feel all the stress of the last year and a half lift off my shoulders. All the fights with friends. The homesick calls. Fretting over papers. Numerous moments of letdown. Everything was gone because I had made it to this amazing spot where so much had happened. I was right in the middle of history, like it had been frozen in time. It was what I needed. Wonderful

No one is safe!

I have officially gotten over my rebellion stage when it comes to sunscreen. When I first got to Greece I put on sunscreen like a good pale girl but then I got burn on my neck in our first excursion from Athens. Surprisingly the sunburn only hurt for a day and it wasn't even that bad. That was the start of my rebellion against my protective bubble of SPF 50. 

Our third day on Mykonos, our first official free day where we didn't have to wake up early, I went out by the pool and stayed there all day. Result: front half of my body burnt to a crisp and a little less burnt on my back. My stomach hurt to breathe but I thought my back would be okay to go out by the pool again the next day. WRONG. I put on SPF 50 just to be safe yesterday and then went out to the pool for a few hours. Result: burnt so badly on my back that I was only able to comfortably sleep for 5 hours. So this leads to my next question...who in the world gets burnt wearing SPF 50. Isn't SPF 50 near reflective. I mean how do albino people go out in the sun if you're not even protected with 50?!

So as I've said before, I have gotten over my rebellious urges to defy the sun gods. Now I get to sit inside on a beautifully windy day. Yay Me!

Explorer

This is the life, everyone!

We are all officially on Mykonos, we got here yesterday afternoon. Despite the very rainy and cold weather that we had in Athens our last three days there and yesterday, the weather is actually quite nice. There is the occasional fear that the blustering winds will blow me off the island but the sun is out and it’s actually very warm if you manage to find a good spot with some wind blocks.

Our first day here was supposed to be class on the island of Delos nearby and then we would have five free days to ourselves. Apparently though there are actual regulations as to when a boat can’t take off. I guess the winds are so strong today that the boat today Delos did not leave and we’re trying again tomorrow. So the rest of my day so far has included a lot of adventuring and sitting by the pool in our hotel.

Adventuring was definitely the high point of my morning. I decided to go walking around Mykonos with Ez G, Eddie, and James and we found our way to the coastline of Mykonos. The wind was pretty vicious but that didn’t stop us from climbing on the rocks, shouting “I’m king of the world”, and walking out to the water. After we got done with our coastline exploring we found Keegan, Zak, and Lulu and then we went shop exploring. We found a honey store. We got to sample said honey. Yummmm. I bought a honey called Vanilla Fir Tree Honey.  Somewhere along the way we lost Keegan, Zak, and Lulu again. On our way back to the hotel we found gyros for 2.50 euro, they were great specifically because these were the type of gyros that come with fries in them.  We took the 20 minute climb up to the hotel (which ultimately counteracted the gyros we had just eaten) and took a nap until Kristine brought our Bronze Age course grades to the hotel. I got an A-. WOOHOOO

Thankfully the Taylor Swift invasion in my head has calmed down a little. My life no longer feels like a Nicholas Sparks novel. Still pretty distracted though and there’s still a lot of Taylor Swift going on in my head.

…..What to do, what to do?

Umm, Eww, Gross...

“It was enchanting to meet you…”

It's final, the only explanation for this place is that it is magical and not a real place at all. Like Never Never Land.

I would like to start out by saying that I am, always have been, and always will be a Taylor Swift fan. Love how her songs are about actual emotions that everyone experiences at some point in their life. However, I have never been such a fan that I will listen to her songs continually for days and days on repeat. I am sad to report that I have been in the type of mood where I just want to hear those sappy songs that you will without a doubt cry during. I’ve been in this mood for the past four days, not a sad mood though. A hopeful mood, so hopefully that I’m actually disgusted with myself. Not only am I hopeful but I’m also in that state where I’m completely distracted from daily life. I actually just did a load of laundry in preparation for Mykonos (since we’ll be there for 6 days) and I’ve done laundry at the Backpackers Laundromat multiple times and everything has been very successful. However, this time since I was busy stuck in this trance and listening to “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift I put in a load of laundry in the wash without detergent. It took me 20 minutes of the 30 minute cycle to realize that I had forgotten detergent. I’ve achieved ultimate idiot status. However, the old man who came in after me actually made my epic fail look like a success. He put a load of dirty clothes directly into the drier (before washing) and then proceeded to be confused when his clothes came out dry. Those are the kind of people who make me feel better about my mistakes.

Alright, I’m off to be thoroughly disgusted with my new state of unprecedented optimism. 

“I was enchanted to meet you.” 

"Bold" Girl

First of all--sorry for not posting for such a long time. I have been off having the time of my life, meeting new people.

After this week, I can easily say that I terribly regret not having the courage to break-off from the group for housing earlier. I now have confidence that I won't be lost in confusion in a foreign country by myself. I learned how to make hotel reservations alone, with only minimal guidance from Kristine. I've realized that I actually am a likable person regardless of how I feel about myself at times. I've accepted that I really do enjoy being independent.

I was hanging out with a group of people who were living at Backpackers the past 4 days and we decided to play a game called "one word" where we went around in a circle and everyone had to think of one word to describe each person.  I was called "bold". They told me that they could never imagine living apart from your classmates when they're right down the road and I could easily live in comfort with people I already know. They said that they were stunned that I felt no anxiety or was not weary at all about living with 4-5 people that I've never met in my life. I guess I never really stopped to think about how much courage it takes to be in a foreign country for an extended amount of time and then decide that you don't want to live with people you know. The decision to break-off from everyone was surprisingly simple and took no more than 5 seconds to make. After looking at all the stuff that I'm doing completely independent from the group, I guess "bold" is a good description of what I feel and it actually makes me proud. Therefore, "bold" is the greatest compliment that I have ever gotten in my life.

I'd love to write more but I have a test to study for--it's the first one for our Classical course here. Wish me luck, everyone.

Really, now?

Here I am again in Athens, sitting in my room at Backpackers. Rooming with my second batch of rand-os (Mom, that means random people).

We just got back to Athens this afternoon from Delphi. Oh Delphi, I want to go back. The mountain views were beautiful and the town looked exactly like a Greek town does in every movie, little homes with multiple stories cut into a hill and stacked on top of one another. The locals were even funny, a group of them that we met when we went to a club insisted on calling Kristine “teacher”, so the entire night consisted of 20 year-old men chanting “teacher teacher teacher teacher”. Pretty hilarious. One other thing I’d like to note, Greeks need to start making some rules on dance clubs. First rule needed: No 12 year-olds in clubs, Delphi was the second instance where a middle school field trip took a horde of Greek children to a dance club for a nightly excursion. So this is what I have to say to all Greeks: Stop letting your children go to dance clubs, especially if they’re not in high school. Aren’t you guys worried about your children getting stolen?

I’m getting the judgmental vibe from two of my roommates at Backpackers. Neither of them talks enough for me to know their names so they shall be declared Tarzan and Jane because the only sounds I’ve heard out of them are grunts. They are definitely the silent type, so much to the point that I put away my laundry as silently as possible and avoid eye contact. Eye contact with them is a little scary at this point. Let’s hope the other three roommates are friendlier than Tarzan and Jane. WAIT, they spoke—they have accents but definitely speak English.

A few weeks back I mentioned that Greece feels more like Inception than reality. Every day I struggle with accepting the fact that this place is real—nothing happens here that would happen in the real world. Children are allowed in dance clubs with 30 year-olds. Bus drivers shout at pedestrians obscenities like “Fuck Santa Claus” (yes, it happened—our course instructor who is Greek translated his shouts for us). There are few showers that are designed to the user’s benefit. People drive like they’re in a NasCar race. People climb up three story balconies like it’s an Olympic sport. Dogs are picky. At least once a day someone does something that would be unacceptable in Lake Forest and the rest of the real world and we are all okay with it because we think “Hey, who cares—this place isn’t real so we won’t judge”.

Even though it has its ups and downs, I love this place. 

Hello to everyone! I'm in Delphi.

I spent my first night apart from the group last night, I hate to admit it but I wish I had taken this chance earlier. I met three very nice girls who were traveling, they were all English majors and one was an Education major also. The education major reminded of Emily and one of them looked just like one of my friends from Lake Forest, Liana. I actually had a great talk with them, they told me about the hostel in Paris that they stayed at in Paris last month and how they had to leave their room and go outside for the bathrooms and showers. The education and english major, her name was Andrea, turned out to like Greek mythology too so we ended up talking about our favorite stories. Her favorite was the Odyssey too.

Delphi is the cutest little town, everyone says it's their favorite and I can see why. Everywhere you look you can see mountains overlapping mountains. I'm still torn between Pylos or this being my favorite.

I get to give my second oral presentation of the program next week, I get to talk about Oedipus and Divine Justice.

I'm so tired from all of this traveling. Goodnight everyone.

Jilty?

Olympia!

Well dear followers (or just Mom), a lot has occurred since I last blogged. In fact there is so much to tell, so much excitement, so many new things that I will not tell about them.  I could very well be here for hours if I tried. I don’t want to be here for hour so, I won’t! So sorry.

Anyway, we started our second course in Greece—Classical Greece. I actually prefer this course so far, it’s not that I found the Bronze Age boring at all. Classical Greece is all about mythology and the sites connected to the stories and I love the mythology. Ancient Greeks spent so long trying to find stories to explain every scenario in life, gave every god and goddess a deity, connected every site to a story. Where else could you find a story about sons cast out or even killed by their fathers because someone told them that their sons would one day take power from them? Where else do you have one individual representing drunkenness and belligerence?  In conclusion, I love this class so far, we get to talk about what I know best regarding Greece, and we get to see more cool sites.

As you may have noticed I had an explosion of self-independence the day we left Athens. Due to said independence, I found myself booking hostel reservations for myself for the remainder of the trip. Yes, I said it—I made a long-term decision involving money and I also learned how to make room reservations. I ended up making around three or so weeks of reservations at the Backpackers hostel down the street from where I was staying. For sporadic periods while I am in Greece, I will be living with a variety of people I do not know (because it was cheaper to just ask for a bed) and sometimes I will even be moving everyday (because that was also the cheapest option). The reservation process took an hour and I’m pretty sure the receptionist is my new best-friend, but I am all booked up and I am basically living independently from the group (I won’t even be living in the same building as them for most of the time).

The bus ride to Olympia was nifty. First of all, I want to point out that no one uses nifty anymore and that’s upsetting, it’s a quality word that needs to make its comeback. Anyway, the bus ride was around 6 hours from Athens to Olympia and this was the first time we had to use public transportation for this long of a venture so we were all pretty cramped together. Somehow I ended up sitting next to Kramer, which was a fight over leg room from the start because he’s easily 6-3 the seats were less than gracious on space for legs. Kramer fell asleep right away and since I was in the window seat, I ended up banging my head on the window less than 30 seconds after I fell asleep. So I stayed awake for most of the ride and got to watch Kramer sleep in two main sleeping stances: leaning forward with his head on the seat in front of him or sitting back and leaning to the right so much that he was practically two inches from my face and drooling on my shoulder. Then we got to Olympia. It’s a cute little town, one of my favorites aside from Pylos so far.

I was sitting in the lobby of our hotel after class this afternoon doing homework and attempting to figure out my class schedule. I would love to add my classmate’s name to the following story because it’s fairly funny but since she retold this story in her own blog and named me “classmate” I feel that it is only fair to do the same!  With just one class slot to fill for the second semester, I asked for advice on what I should take. My classmate suggested that I take a Communications class because in her words “They’re all easy, that’s why I’m a Communications Major”. I sadly had to decline her suggestion and then felt compelled to tell the story as to why that would be nearly impossible for me to do. Last year, my Dad came to Lake Forest for a weekend visit. The day he left we decided to eat at a restaurant near campus for lunch and I think we were talking about majors because I hadn’t realized I wanted a History Major yet. Somewhere along the way, I got the urge to joke that I was thinking of becoming a Communications Major as one of my options. If there was any one moment that I ever thought I had killed my Dad, it was that moment right then. After he finally started talking all that he kept on asking (in near tears) was “Why are you doing this?,” “Where did I go wrong?,” and “I raised you right!” I immediately told him that I was joking and Communications was not on my list of options but he refused to accept that. Since that day I have been afraid to sign up for a Communications class because I feel like the day I do will be the day he stops paying for Lake Forest or the day he has a heart attack and dies.

Everyone on this trip has been dubbed a “bro”. Russell feels the need to give every girl on the trip, with the exception of Kristine and Caroline, a male name. He also feels the need to make up songs on the spot about people on the trip. Today he made up a song about Molly’s hair where he referred to it as a “dike braid”, luckily Molly has a good sense of humor and spends 95% of her time laughing so she thought it was great. Anyway, back to the “bro” issue. Zakea has three names even though the whole group has only picked up one of them: Zak, Zakariah, and Zakaka. Keegan is known as Keg Stand and apparently when she is sitting she’s “doing the Keg Sit”. Molly is just called bro (sometimes Kali Molly though), but she kind of does have a manly voice and was mistaken for a man in Heraklion solely because of her voice. Kramer is called Kramhole, I’m pretty sure that’s because of Molly though. I get called Allie G every now and then, not sure why but I think it’s because we call Ezra Ez G. I’m not sure why I added Kramer’s nickname in this because it’s only meant to be about the girls, I guess I just really think the name is funny.

Russell told Keegan that she was being “jilty” tonight at dinner. No one knew what that meant…. Jamie, do you know what “jilty” means and if it isn’t a word then please let me know so I can inform Russell he’s wrong. We don’t understand half the things he says though because he makes up his own meanings.

I found out I’m living in Lois next year….a girls only building. I can already see that I’ll be living with too many hormones next year. 

Kangaroo Shoes

I HAD AN AWESOME BLOG POST THAT I SPENT AN HOUR WRITING UNTIL I PRESSED THE REFRESH BUTTON. I REFUSE TO RETYPE BECAUSE I CAN'T CRY INSIDE AND REMEMBER WHAT I WROTE AT THE SAME TIME.

UPDATE:

As promised last time, I’ve gone out a bit and had some fun. What fun you ask? Shopping.

My first quest was to find the H&M at Syntagma. When I left I was told that H&M was on the side road off of Syntagma but that was not nearly clear enough because Syntagma is a square with four high-traffic roads surrounding it. I really had no clue where I was going besides Syntagma so it was bound to be an adventure. Walking there was fairly simple because we had to walk it a few times in the first few days. So I got to Syntagma safely (like I knew I would) and I took the wrong street to wander down at first (like I knew I would) and I ended up in a block of banks and ATMS. After that failure I decided to look at everyone’s shopping bags, once I found an H&M bags I proceeded to walk in the opposite direction from them until they led me to H&M. (yayyy) When I got there I guess I failed to realize that the building itself and all the others surrounding it were four stories because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I had the monumental feat of exploring four stories of clothing and apparel. Needless to say, I completed my journey and successfully returned to backpackers with a pair of shorts (to replace the pants that decided to rip before we left for Crete) and a couple of shirts. The whole endeavor only took two hours plus the half hour of walking to and from Syntagma, the walks were actually quite pleasant. I was really expecting to be bored of walking before I got back because the last time I walked it was my first day in Athens when I had all my baggage with me. Who knew that a walk of less than a mile without a hiking backpack and duffel bag would be bearable? In celebration of my monumental shopping success I treated myself to gelato. It took a long time to find gelato because I’m having this competition with myself to see how long I can last without returning to the same gelato stand twice. After wandering around a bit I found one. I chose Black Forest (I’ve also made a goal of never getting the same flavor twice unless I have to). While I was sitting down and enjoying my gelato, I met a stray dog. I named him Chester. Chester clearly wanted my gelato, but I denied him it.

Random note. I was watching Law & Order with Zak last night while dinner. I hate Law & Order but this was completely absurd, not only was Zack from Saved By the Bell one of the lawyers but the whole episode revolved around a case where one woman was suing another because she hit her in the face with a hot dog. Now that’s hard crime if I’ve ever seen it. Die Law & Order, Go AWAY.

As part of my writing a paper break I decided play my favorite game in Greece, “Let’s See Which American Site I Can Trick In to Working”. I lost the game as I always do so I settled for looking up teasers. While I was scrolling through a page of Grey’s Anatomy teasers I saw a post about a musical Grey’s episode. WOAH. After seeing something as intriguing as that in a tagline I had no choice but to YouTube the clips from the episode. Before going any further with this, I need to note that any singing I hear I get really sentimental, sometimes it goosebumps and other times its crying that results. Also, watching Grey’s Anatomy is like watching a Lifetime movie for me, I just can’t help but cry. The clips that I saw were like a beautiful union to create Medicinal Glee but I cried for a good, solid 10 minutes. I can’t wait until I can actually watch the episode when I get home.

Each time we stay at Backpackers we have the choice of who we can live with. James has made the sad mistake to live with Keegan, Zak, Nicolette, and myself for four days. Not only did he make a mistake living with us but he also made the mistake of living in the bunk bed room instead of taking the roll away and making Nicolette sleep in the bunk bed room. His punishment for the room choice came last night when his snoring kept me awake for more than an hour until he finally got up and left the room, that’s about the time that Keegan and Zak decided that we should scare him when he came back. We waited about five minutes until he wandered back in and just as he was climbing up the ladder, into his bed on the top bunk all three of us screamed “RAWR” (this is not the same “rawr” that Dave uses, the all-caps is meant to show how much more scary ours was). After getting over the initial shock of us screaming at him, he continued to repeat “I hate you all I hate you all I hate you all” for the next five minutes. Revenge is sweet.

Today was shopping excursion: part II. I visited the Plaka in search of a sweatshirt, mainly because after riding on the Artic Ferry to and from Crete I came to the realization that a sweatshirt is always needed in Greece, regardless of what time of year it is. I somehow managed to find the only shop with an American owner and she showed me the University at Athens sweatshirt that I hadn’t seen anywhere else but I really liked. Unfortunately the only color was dark grey so I decided to try it on before I made a decision. When I go to look in the mirror in the center of the shop, the American owner and her employee/family member/lazy friend behind the counter in unison said “Oh goodness, that color works GREAT with your skin tone-it’s beautiful”. It was GREY, you can’t look good in grey—that’s why people wear it because you don’t look bad, you don’t look good, you’re just there. Neutral Neutral Neutral. In case you can tell this was one of the infamous moments where in my head, all I’m screaming is “Stop Lying To ME!” I ended up buying said sweatshirt, not because of the failed attempt at flattery but because I managed to talk the price down from 30 euro to 20 euro by making up some store that had it for 25 euro. Win for Allie.

Now I’m sitting here, just before midnight, waiting for the Lake Forest College 2011-2012 Course Schedule (which is two weeks late) to be released. You’re killing me BJ White!

Athens Free Day Break

The first class is over and we're all back in Athens for the next few days before our second class.

The ferry ride home from Crete was much less eventful than the ride to Crete. Although it was unbearably cold, it was actually physically uncomfortable to sleep in the seats that we were given (we didn't get cabins again but it was okay since we only paid 25 euro for the equivalent of a first class airplane seat with their own tvs). I think I switched positions every hour until I finally laid face down in the aisle with my raincoat on to trap my breath since that was the only way to keep warm. We got into Athens at 5:45 am and then took the metra to the Plaka and then walked to Athens Backpackers from there. Then we spend a good 5 and a half hours sitting in front of Backpackers until we could check in, it was so worth it though because I feel asleep the minute we got to our room and slept for 3 hours. The wonderful nap was followed by a wonderful shower and laundry. Then I organized all my toiletries and clothes for the first time this trip because I got tired of having wrinkled clothes because I was too lazy to take time.

I ate dinner later. Kristine made it. It was pasta. I was happy.

I'm going to go now and do something fun so that I never have to blog something as boring as this was. I just felt compelled to blog because it had been four days with nothing new to say.

GWA

This trip gets more interesting every day, not just because of the course content but because of everything that happens outside of classes. Case 1: Tuesday was Molly’s birthday and so Fisher took us out to dinner. Unfortunately most of us were not hungry for dinner because we were still in a gyro coma from lunch but we all ate what we could. When it came time for Molly’s cake most of us couldn’t really stomach it and Caroline was one of them. Apparently Fisher was not satisfied that Caroline did not finish her piece of cake so he then proceeded to scoop some of the cake and then pretend the fork was an airplane and then he fed Caroline like a toddler. Best moment ever. Case 2: I have come to learn that Professor Fisher has an uncanny ability to make a deal with anyone and he always chooses the weirdest people. We got to Crete very early in the morning and walked half an hour from the port to our hotel. Along the way to our hotel, we stopped in this little square for coffee and a little breakfast but everything was closed. So, Fisher walks up to a random man in the square and starts to chat with him and shakes his hand. Then that same guy goes to a little café and starts making coffee. Then halfway through the breakfast no one had ordered food so the man continued to ask “You all want any bread?” while holding up loaves of bread. From what I remember no one said they wanted bread but probably about 10 minutes later all 13 of us had bread and jam in front of us. I still am not sure whether or not this man owned the shop or how we got the bread. As Zak said when we were getting ready for bed the other night: This isn’t reality, this is Inception. In my opinion, that is the most logical explanation of what I have experienced on this trip but I’m still loving every minute of this moment.

Our Bronze Age course professor, Matthew, made a little phrase that is quite applicable to daily life in Greece: GWA. GWA means Greece Wins Again. When has this been used? We waited an hour and a half for fish that hadn’t even been cooked when we were in Pylos, GWA. There was a demonstration on the day we needed to use public transportation, GWA. We stood in the rain at Mycenae and took notes, GWA. The archaeological museum at Heraklion was closed when our hotel swore it would be, GWA. We slipped in the mud in the dark underground cistern at Mycenae, GWA. James cuts his knee cliff jumping into the ocean the other day, GWA. The evil Greek children in our hotel scream night and day and even early morning, GWA. In case you haven’t noticed, Greece always wins and when you beat Greece it’s a really big deal. I’m beginning to agree with Matthew when he says “It’s not a trip to Greece unless you get screwed over at least once.”

The other night walking back from dinner, a group of us ran into a very cute dog sitting on a fruit stand. We of course stopped and gave the dog a little affection like we do all the stray dogs and cats. Apparently the dog loved us so much that he decided to get up off his fruit stand and go back to our hotel with us and he stuck around for a little while but then we lost track of him a little bit later. We got to our hotel and walked to the fifth floor and the dog was sitting there by the stairs waiting for us. Somehow he managed to walk in front of us, find our hotel, walk through the crowded lobby of evil Greek children, and stop directly at the floor the boys lived on. We ended up naming him Odysseus. After we got over the initial shock that he was sitting in our hotel, we decided to give him a little to eat (it’s important to know that strays in Greece are very picky, they won’t just eat plain bread until we butter it for them) but he rejects our bread. Then we realized that we’ll be in big trouble if someone caught us with the dog so we decided to send Odysseus down to the lobby in the elevator. We got him in the elevator and sent him to the lobby, then we stuck around and watched to see if he did get off. Thankfully the next elevator upstairs had only people on it.

All the sun and warm weather here has given me a nice sunburn that is slowly turning into a tan and my hair is getting blonde again. Right now, the tannest part of me is the back of my neck; actually it’s the only tan part of my body, I look absolutely ridiculous…..GWA.

Shark Week

Before I say anything else is in this post, I want to tell everyone about the awesome meal we had for dinner the first night on Crete. Normally, I have to buy cheap meals like gyros, ham and cheese pies, or sandwiches unless I go to the grocery store and I have access to a kitchen. Every once in a while though we have a family style meal where we just order a whole bunch of food for the entire table and the entire bill is split evenly. Tonight we went to this great restaurant that was next to the water and Lulu and Kramer managed to get us good deals on dessert and appetizers. So we all (Kramer, Russell, Caroline, EzG, Eddie, James, Keegan, and Zak) went to eat and we had greek salad, free bread, tzastiziki, sagonaki (fried cheese), grilled octopus, oyster mushrooms, snails (Kramer guilted me into eating one because they were his favorite and he gave me his last one), mussels, and fried dough with ice cream and honey. We got all this for 66 Euro so each of us only had to pay 7 Euro to leave a tip. I know I’m probably making a big deal out of all the food but I really enjoyed it. I’m going to be really sad when I get back in the States and I can’t find any of this Greek food. ..I’m officially spoiled.

The ferry ride was really cool, the boat seemed huge to me but when I thought about how big Titanic was in the movie, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. Everyone got a spot in a two-person cabin on the ship, which was apparently pretty special because I saw all these people sleeping in the hallway and underneath staircases. I roomed with Molly and about two minutes after we got in our cabin she wandered off somewhere for the rest of the night and I headed up to the deck of the ship. I stood up on the deck for about an hour (maybe an hour and a half) mainly because I really wanted to see us take-off especially since Fisher said that it would be awesome. I watched a few boats leave Piraeus before we did and a little firework show that went off somewhere in Athens (it looked like it came from a part of the city that I’ve never been in). The take-off actually was pretty awesome, it was fun looking at the parking lot and watching it far away. The smoke from the smokestack was neat the way that it stood out from the night sky and you could see the big puffs of smoke float up. I had to lean all my weight against the fence that I was standing against because the wind was really intense but the wind felt really refreshing overall. When we actually got out of the harbor at Athens I noticed that there were at least a dozen other ships going toward Piraeus. Watching the ships might have been my favorite part because all of them looked like floating cities as they passed by and I watched one of the liners that seemed to be going three times faster than all the others.

After I realized that I was cold I decided to go down to the cabin and get my jacket and sweater so I could watch some more, possibly the worst idea ever. For some reason I could get to my room from the deck but I couldn’t get to the deck from my room, even though I already managed it once. The boat had about 20 billion different hallways and a hundred different sets of stairs and I think I wandered around one section of the ship for about 25 minutes before I walked back to my cabin and found the right way to the deck.

When I got to the deck I sat down in a chair and just spaced out while I just listened to the motor of the ship and felt the sway of the boat. I didn’t really even notice the late 20’s or early 30’s guy staring at me for a little while, when I did see him I thought I would be nice and smile but then I looked away again. A minute later he started talking to me and I wasn’t quite sure what he was saying. At first I thought he was offering me some of the cigarette he was smoking but he kept shaking his head and repeating himself.  Then I thought maybe he thought I was Greek or something and he’s speaking the parts of Greek that I don’t understand so I said that I was American and spoke English. Still not what he was saying I guess. The guy got closer and I could finally hear the word “café” and I knew that meant coffee. I’m still not sure whether I said no out of pure embarrassment for being a dumb American or because it was 10:30pm and no time for coffee. So the guy left me alone for a while and I just sat back and kept watching the sky. A little bit later I felt like someone else was staring at me and when I looked to the side I noticed that another guy was leaning against the boat and looking right at me so once again, I smiled and then looked away. Then I noticed the coffee guy was sitting across the deck with an open chair next to me and waved me over. I got up to leave because I was really creeped out and the guy leaning against the boat started waving me over too but I pretended to not see the coffee guy and the leaning guy and just left the deck and went to the cabin. Moral of the story: don’t go up to the deck of a ferry alone, the guys are really annoying. 

There is so much more that I can say but I will save it for tomorrow night when we get to a hotel with reliable internet.

Say What?

First test is officially over and now I'm off to Crete (in three hours). We have to ride a 10 hour ferry, I'm not sure  if I'm going to like the ferry and since I've never been on one I'm not sure if a 10 hour ride is the best maiden voyage... Anyway, this trip is our last trip of the class and when we come back on April 3rd the first class will be over. (No more Matthew! :( ! :( ) I'm really going to miss his use of the term "higgledy piggledy" and his word pronunciation of "aluminum" (al-oo-min-ium), I'll miss the fun British accent too.

It's only been two weeks in Athens and everyone has witnessed all of my weird sleeping habits. Molly, Keegan, Zakea, and Nicolette have all heard me sleep talk. James and EzG have seen me sleep with my mouth hanging open and my eyes half-open on the bus back from Pylos. Surprisingly though, no one is creeped out by any of it--they're troopers.

The vendors in this town never fail to crack me up. No matter what you're doing and even if you don't make eye contact they always shout the most ridiculous things and some of them were borderline desperate. Yesterday afternoon I was walking through the Plaka by myself and I was wearing my bright yellow sunglasses and one of the vendors from a store I passed just shouted at me "I LOVE YOUR SUNGLASSES". Normally I would have tried to brush it off as him talking to someone but sadly there was no one around me walking in either direction so it was hard to deny whose sunglasses he was admiring. The other day one of the vendors held up a purple purse to Zakea and said "Buy this, the color matches your personality".

Well, I'm off to my next adventure. Maybe Crete will have more castles we can climb, if not I'll just go to a beach.hahah

Chillaxin' (Mom, that means chilling AND relaxing) in Athens

I can confidently say that I have been a complete bum the last few days. We are back in Athens right now, with a few days off from class before we have our first test and a trip to Crete.

We got back from Pylos yesterday afternoon and I managed to do my first load of laundry before I started studying and catching up with people back at Lake Forest on Facebook. Today was Greek Independence Day and I managed to somehow sleep through the parade, I blame karaoke night from the night before for sleeping so late (we take karaoke pretty seriously here). I spent most of the day doing homework and studying. This afternoon when I took a break from homework and walked to the Plaka with James and Zakea for gyros. As always, the Plaka never fails to give me a creepy experience. This time, I was walking next to Zakea (aka Zak) and one of the many waiters who try to lure you into their restaurant was staring at us. Not only was he staring at us, but he continued staring at us as we walked away (I know this because I got the stranger danger feeling and looked behind me). Normally I wouldn't care about this but what makes this experience genuinely creepy was that as we continued to walk by the waiter kept saying "Very Nice" in an accent that sounded exactly like Borat. He kind of looked like Borat too.

The highlight of the last two days was my conversation with my roommates tonight as we were making dinner. We talked about Sims! (yes, the computer game that I played religiously in middle school) I never really imagined it was possible but we were having a riveting discussion all about the Sims. About how ridiculous it was that none of the characters, even the parents could control their bodily functions. When they would cry if they peed their pants because you didn't prompt them to go to the bathroom quick enough. How building and decorating houses was the best part of the entire game. Secret codes to cheat your way into getting more money. Weird ways that our Sims sometimes died. The Sim language (voulalala and any combination of grunts were actual words to them). The thought bubbles that always told you what they were irritated about or were trying to do. How hard it was to get your Sims a promotion in their jobs after a certain point (after three promotions you need like an additional 30 close personal relationships and 7 more creativity skill points, both of which took at least 4 hours a day). It was definitely a walk down memory lane and it was kind of relieving to hear that other people also had the same problems with finding enough Sim neighbors to have as friends or how all we really wanted to do was choose really cool wallpaper. I also feel really sad knowing that   somewhere in my transition to college my dad either hid, lost, or sold my Sims games--sad day.

Anyway, this concludes a rather uneventful day for me. STUDY TIME.

I have a great news regarding the shower situation! We arrived in Pylos this afternoon to our new hotel that we'll be staying at for the next two days until we go back to Athens. Not only are the showers far better at retaining water but the water stays warm and the shower heads are also fully operational. The only downside to the shower is that it's really hard to move in the shower but I'll take what I can get. Anyway, I'm sure everyone would love to hear about something rather than my eternal struggle with Greek showers.

Our new hotel at Pylos is great, it's right on the bay of Pylos and my room has a great view of the water. It's even been sunny here all day which is a pretty nice change compared to the rain that we had the past two days. The bus ride from Nafplion from to Pylos was pretty brutal, it consisted of driving through mountains so the bus driver kept on having to double back with the winding roads. In all reality the doubling back wasn't so bad, I only got a little car sick, the worse part was the rattling and shaking from the bus each time we hit the smallest thing. Kramer's snoring also kept me entertained, apparently he's a heavy sleeper and he kept snoring to the point that James, Zakea, and Keegan couldn't stop laughing. On our way to Pylos, we stopped at this really cool  Venetian fortress that was closeby. We got to wander around the fortress, we even found the lighthouse there. Even though the fortress wasn't part of the course at all, it was probably one of the cooler things I've seen. After we were forced to go back to the bus, we took a short ride and got to the hotel and as I've said before it is AWESOME. :) :)

All in all the 5 hours that I've been in Pylos have rocked, this place is great. I got a hot shower, the room is awesome, we got to wander around an old fort...WOOHOO. Good day. I've also had one of the best meals on this trip while I've been here. A group of about eight of us went to a sit-down cafe and shared an assortment of appetizers. Tzatziki. Greek Salad. Saganaki. Meatballs filled with Feta cheese. Olives. The whole thing was totally worth the 7 euro.

Good Country, Bad Showers

Hello everyone! :) :)

It's day three in Nafplion, this place is so beautiful! Our course instructor, Matthew told us that Nafplion is like a little weekend getaway for Athenians and I honestly don't think I've ever seen a town this adorable. The town is very small and has a little bay, a lot of the pictures of the bay are on my Facebook album of Greece so far and I'd suggest looking at them since my description can't do them justice. Right now we're staying at a hostel type-thing that is full of cats (yes, cats). It's run by a very nice woman named Mama Vassaliki and her daughter Leah and its a very charming place. The rooms are very tiny but colorful and we have a balcony that overlooks the alleyway and a little courtyard that all the cats lounge in. Sometimes at night I hear cats screeching outside my window and I think it's a baby crying (which makes me think of Eli Bear back home). The worst part about this place is the shower, it's always the shower! The hot water only lasts three minutes for me and so I had a cold shower the first day. Since then a Greek God must have heard me complaining and decided to punish me because I have not gotten a shower since then. It's not that I've stopped bathing, the shower head just won't work for me. Last night I took a cold shower by crouching underneath the faucet, real uncomfortable. But there is a bright side to this story, today I took a warm shower crouched underneath the faucet so I'm keeping the fingers crossed for the shower head to work on my last night here. 

Unfortunately it's raining here, it has been raining off and on for the past few days. This means that I've taken multiple two hour naps in order to pass the time, but I do want everyone to know that I've also done a fair share of exploring. I've also found numerous gelato stands that I've tried (LOVE them, had gelato at least once a day while I've been here). I also adventured to the beach last night with Kramer, LuLu, James, Keegan, Zakea, and Nicolette last night. The chicken gyros here are awesome despite the fact that they have mayonnaise on them because I'd definitely take tsaztziki over mayo anyday. Regardless of all that, I still love this country and everything about it.

We went to the citadel of Mycenae this morning and discussed some of the shaft graves and the remains and artifacts that Heinrich Schliemann found there. I've always found it fascinating about how bones are like stories of a person's life--you can see what they ate, make inferences on what they did as a profession and their status, and even ask questions about their city when they were alive. You'd never imagine that one day, if you're lucky enough to be that important, people could be looking at your bones and wondering the same things about you. We've actually been to quite a few citadels and important cites here. We went to the citadel at Argos, Palimidi, and Tiryns. Tiryns is by far my favorite site here because of the way that our instructor taught it. Since Tiryns is an archaeological site, he told us to imagine we were walking through the palace in its peak--in other words he told us to try and walk through the remains of the door ways rather than around them and try not to walk over walls. It was definitely a new teaching style for me and this approach made me feel like this place was still real and alive rather than sprawling ruins. 

My mom tells me that she reads so I just thought I would let her know that all of the gelato I've eaten is all for her since I know she'd love every flavor just like I do. Make sure and hug Eli Bear for me everyday and don't let him grow up too much before I come back, I do still want to be funny to him when I get back. 

I'd like to finish this up with a funny thing that happened today. After retreating back to Nafplion early because of the rain we went to Professor Fisher's hotel to eat lunch and we found the news and weather. The weather report seemed pretty simple, each city has both the high and low listed over their location on a map. Then Matthew told us that the reports only tell us what has already happened even though we know what's happened and don't need the anchors to tell us. After Matthew told us that they don't project weather just recap the weather, Russel (aka Brusselsprout or Brussel) said my favorite quote of the trip so far: Them Greeks, they do weather as well as they make showers...

That seems about a good place to end, hopefully I'll get a few more updates in before I get back to Athens. 

Where's the Green?

So, it's St. Patty's Day here! Its really strange to say that without seeing any green at all, in the US I feel like St. Patty's is celebrated a month before it always arrives but it seems like no one in Greece acknowledges it (except for the bars of course). A lot of things are really different in Greece, especially the driving skills. I'm beginning to realize that Greek people are in fact the worst drivers in the ENTIRE world; there are no blinkers used, they drive when pedestrians have the right of way,and they honk at one another every 45 seconds. However, I will give them credit for their parallel parking skills, everyone here can parallel park and sometimes there are two rows of parallel parked cars on one side of the road.

Tomorrow we leave for our first adventure away from Athens for a week, Napflion and Pylos. I'm so excited to see what else the rest of Greece looks like. Most of all I'm excited to get to Mykonos and starting singing Mama Mia like a good little attention-attracting tourist. The other day, I passed someone whose cell phone was ringing and I was delighted to hear their ringtone was Dancing Queen--this only proves that the Greeks love Mama Mia too.

I keep on forgetting that I'm not in the US. The other day I finally mustered up the energy to walk down to the grocery store near the hostel to buy shampoo and conditioner. I walked toward the shower aisle, completely expecting to see everything written in English like a lot of things here but I was sadly disappointed when all the labels were in Greek. Needless to say I spent around 20 minutes deciphering labels and trying to find what I wanted but I finally figured it out--I knew APO Pledge Education classes would come in handy somewhere! If I hadn't been forced to learn the Greek alphabet last semester I would have never figured anything out and I still might not have shampoo.

My most recent adventure included going to the top of one of the taller hills in Athens (It's even higher than the Parthenon). We didn't walk all the way up the hill, we rode this thing that resembled a cable car most of the way and then walked maybe less than a quarter of the way up. I could see everything from the top, everything was clearer, the air felt cleaner; it was just a great experience. This entire town is just captivating to me, everything is so beautiful here, if I ever get the chance I'm coming back.

Farewell for a little while, internet access is not promised on Napflion and Pylos. But check Facebook for pictures of everything so far.

The Joys of Athens

I absolutely love the hostels in Greece, well maybe just the one we’re staying at because I’m not sure if all hostels are the same. Here are a variety of reasons why! 1) The invisible glass coffee table. Our six person room that all the girls share has a living room with a glass table and we all have walked into it at least three times. This morning alone I walked into it twice. 2) Bunk Beds. The room has a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping room which has three sets of bunk beds. Last night felt like the slumber party I never had. 3) The bathroom. Our bathroom is pretty nice considering that most bathrooms here apparently don’t have normal showers. The funny thing is that our bathroom has no space for feet between the toilet and shower, that’s just awkward alone. In addition to the awkward space distribution, it also floods—we were actually given a squeegee to manage the water for when it does flood. Apparently the boys + Molly’s room does the exact same thing too. 4) The Opera lady. We have a balcony that opens onto the street and the day we moved in here, which was about three days ago, there was a lady that was practicing opera. She sang really beautifully and we all enjoyed it at first until Zakea noted that half an hour had passed and the woman kept singing. Thankfully, the opera lady has not decided to rehearse any more since then. 5) The island next to the door. Since our room has a kitchen and living room, we also have a little island with two chairs and a microwave that sit next to the door. It’s actually my favorite spot to sit in here and it would be absolutely ideal if it weren’t for the door. It is physically impossible to open the door and comfortably sit at the island without getting hit and knocked out of the chair. 6) Kiosk. We have a kiosk down the street that is run by the angriest woman in the daytime and conveniently stays open until around midnight. ****In the time it has taken me to write this last paragraph the Opera Lady has started to sing again****

All the girls so far have gotten the chance to experience my sleep talking. Apparently I talked to one of my roommates the first night here and I was told this morning that I had a little conversation with one of my other roommates who also talks in her sleep. I’ve also had to find interesting ways to protect my money since we’ve heard time and time again that we will be robbed and that we need to keep on the lookout for pickpockets.  But down worry everyone, we’ve already established a group “safe” word for when we feel like we’re about to get robbed or just get a sense of stranger danger.

James wants to get a cat. Even though he realistically can’t get a cat, I still feel the need to ask him not to for the sake of my allergies.

Another funny thing about Athens (maybe all of Greece for that matter) is that no one has any sense of personal space. Over the past three days, we’ve taken the Metra a dozen times which is a very amusing experience in the morning. This morning, on the way to the Canadian Institute where we had class we took the Metra (which is actually a subway here) and the first stop easily had 250 people waiting for the exact same train. Once the train got there, people going into and leaving the train started pushing against each other (kind of like in Finding Nemo). (We didn’t even try to get on the first one because there were so many people) The doors on these Metras don’t wait for anyone so if you want to take a train, YOU HAVE TO GET ON THE TRAIN. I saw all these elderly men who didn’t know each other hugging each other for dear life just so that they could fit on the already packed train.

Enough ranting, now onto my real adventures! We went to the Acropolis Museum which was by far my favorite part of the trip so far aside from visitng the Acropolis itself. Before I go on, I must say to everyone and anyone who ever goes to this museum: PLEASE DON’T WEAR A SKIRT. The entrance to the museum, which I think is ingenious, is a glass walkway where you can look down and see real life archaeologists at work on the site underneath the museum. So as I said before, don’t wear a skirt because that glass walkway is not a one way mirror. Overall the museum was great; I got to see some of the recovered entablatures, columns, and friezes from the Parthenon and a lot of the statues. It was just overall cool to see all of it. But probably the best part to the whole museum was the little movie that I saw on the second floor of the museum where it showed (in English thankfully) how the Parthenon had changed and been torn down over time. Having a visual aide and some context to fully understand what modifications were made to the Parthenon on and how they were made really helped bring everything to life. If anyone has the chance to go there then I definitely, absolutely, 100% recommend going to the Acropolis museum. It’s an experience that would be awful for anyone to miss out on. 

Greetings from Athens

I’m officially in Athens safe and sound, I’ve had so much fun exploring Athens since I got here Saturday morning that I haven’t really had a moment to stop. The flights were very smooth; I met a very nice couple and their daughter on my flight from Kansas City to Newark. They said they were going to Copenhagen that afternoon. The flight from Newark to Greece was the BEST though!! For some reason, I’m not quite sure why yet, I was upgraded from Economy to First Class, I was so happy that I felt like I just won the lottery! I slept most of the flight since I was tired from my 8 hour layover in Newark but the first thing I saw when I woke up was mountains, it was so beautiful. Realistically, I may have been a little over excited about getting to Greece but I still thought that seeing mountains through the clouds was really cool. When we finally started the descent to land in Athens I finally got a better view of the landscape; it was mostly mountains or rocks and just a few trees and houses around the airport.

The real feeling of happiness and excitement that I was in Athens didn’t really kick in until we left the airport and started driving to Athens. Seeing the way the houses were tall, stacked up on top of each other reminded me of really old towns that you read about. Simply realizing that I was in a country that I’ve read about and studied for so many months made everything that I’ve heard so much more real to me. Not only do I get to learn about how people lived, how the country changed, and about their culture, I also get to experience life in Greece myself. That is so awesome!! In addition to being in Greece, I also get to stay in a hotel where I can see the Parthenon from my room—every time I look out the window I see the Parthenon, something I’ve only seen in slide for the last two months, and I think to myself “Wow, I’m in Athens”.

Between the ancient sites, street shops, and Greek food I will never want to leave at the end of May. I spent Saturday with the rest of the group walking around the streets of Athens, just taking in everything. We walked down streets that would easily be considered back alleys back in the United States and ultimately walked around the entire Parthenon (we didn’t go to the Parthenon though, there are so many winding streets that you can walk completely around it). Each street we walked on was lined with one vendor or the other trying to sell you sunglasses, bags, or restaurants trying to get your attention. There were also these really weird vendors who sell these toys; they’re basically squishy balls in that look like tomatoes and the vendors sit on the ground and throw the squishy tomatoes on a board so they flatten and then somehow the tomato forms a ball again and the vendor picks it up and throws it again. I really don’t know what the appeal is behind the squishy tomatoes but I’m secretly afraid that I’m going to end up owning a squishy tomato by the time I fly home. (Thankfully though, all I have spent money on so far is food and a new pair of bright yellow Ray-Bans.) Today we explored the Acropolis and Parthenon. (I want to warn everyone else that for future reference, the rocks that you have to walk on to get to the Parthenon are very slippery, FLIP FLOPS AND SANDALS ARE NOT ADVISED.) It didn’t take very long to get up to the Parthenon but that’s mostly because the majority of the path is inclined (which makes the slippery rocks even more scary). When we reached the top the view was awesome, we could see different parts of the city in every direction and it was actually pretty cool to see how far Athens extended. The mountains in the distance were also pretty awesome, you could see them on all sides and they were in that phase where they are hazy and you can just barely see them. Every part of the experience; the view, the history, the weather, it all made me feel like I was on top of the world.

So far, gyros are my favorite food (not including breakfast, I like the Greek yogurt and honey for breakfast more than anything else). There’s this awesome little courtyard near the end of the Plaka with this stand for gyros. All that I’ve managed to get from them so far are pork gyros but I still think they’re delicious even though I don’t like pork at all. I’m also in love with the fact that  I can get water for 50 euro cents, I’m ignoring the fact that I have to take the currency conversion into account. I’m just so happy that I’ve already found so much wonderful food and it’s only my second day.

Athens=Awesome, I never want to leave! The only bad experience that I’ve had was tonight when I was walking through the Plaka. I have been warned so many times about pickpockets that I am near paranoid now, every time I see someone I don’t know get too close to me or feel someone brush against me I clutch my purse. Tonight when I was walking through the Plaka with James, Zakea, Eddie, Keegan, and Nicolette I saw this older man walk right by me and then he immediately turned around and started walking right behind. The guy eventually got really close and I grabbed onto the nearest person (I think it was James) until I saw the guy walk into a restaurant a few blocks later. And good news, NOTHING WAS STOLEN! I just might survive this country without being pickpocketed.

---James says “Hi” to everyone in ResLife. He finally got here yesterday morning, safe and sound! He wants everyone to know that he is upset that he missed our adventure to the Parthenon yesterday morning.---

SPF 30 + SPF 15 = SPF 45?

The day is almost here (eeekkk)! I leave for Friday to go to Newark where I'll meet up with EzG and Keegan for a flight to Athens. I'm all packed and now all I have to do is WAIT. :) :)

It's really nice being packed after scrambling around all week spending a fortune at Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Best Buy. However, after buying everything I do have to say that the hardest purchase was sunscreen. It took three stores to find SPF 50 sunscreen! But this leads me to ask--did all the other freakishly pale people beat me to the SPF 50 or am I really the only person who burns to a crisp anytime the sun is out? All that I could find were bottles and bottles of SPF 30 or 15 no matter where I went, and despite the advice of my mom I didn't buy both 30 and 15 with the hopes that using both would be "good enough".

Anyway, now that I've overcome my sunscreen dilemma and I'm prepared to practice sun safety I am SO SO EXCITED FOR FRIDAY.
GREECE HERE I COMEEEE!