Day trips, islands, and families

I havent updated in a while. heres what has happened.

After we got back from Italy the next day we took a trip with Aphro to Peloponnese. We saw the Corinth Canal, Corinth, and then stopped for the night in Monemvasia which is beautiful. Its this cute little island town in Greece and there is a castle at the top of the island. We climbed up there and it was very windy. We ate a delicious dinner and slept in the hotel for the night. The next morning we went to Sparta, and then Olympia. The drive was long so we got there at like 6pm. We stayed in a hotel and then the next morning we went and explored ancient Olympia. The birthplace of the Olympics. that was cool and a bunch of us ran on the "track". Then we headed back to Athens.
We got back on a Friday night so we had Saturday and Sunday to do whatever we wanted and i Cant really remember what we did.

The next weekend after that we went to Andros Island. There were 8 of us that went. We got up early to catch a bus to the port and then jumped on a ferry to Andros. We sat on top and it was a bit chilly. When we got there we got on a bus to take us near our hotel. We found it and then we got our stuff together and went to the beach. But it was rather cold. Everyone decided to go walk around the town but Kate, heather and I wanted some sun so we stayed but the sun kept going behind clouds. Then we met back up and went to the hotel to shower. Then we watched the sunset which was beautiful. It was my first sunset in Greece and I can't wait for many more at the islands! Then we went to eat dinner and it was nice. Then we went to sleep. The next morning we hopped a bus to Andros Town and explored there and found this arch way near the rocks and water. It was cool and we climbed around on the rocks for a while. We met this lady named Flora and she was showing us sea urchins. And then she took lots of pictures of us which was nice of her. Then we laid on the beach for a little again it was just kate and heather and i. We met back up and headed back to the bus so we could go back to Batsi where our hotel was. We grabbed some food and took the bus to the port to ride the ferry back to Athens. It was a good weekend over all and nice to get a taste of whats to come in the islands.

The next weekend (this past weekend). We had a friday trip to Mycenae which was pretty boring. Sorry Aphro. At night I got to meet up with my sister and brother in law! they came to visit Greece. They stayed in Athens from Friday to Monday and then they were off to see some islands. They took Kristy, Heather and I out to dinner friday night. That was awesome we ate in Monastiraki. The next day I showed them all the touristy stuff to see in Athens such as the Acropolis. We went out to dinner and just hung out. The next day we saw more touristy stuff and explored Plaka and shopped for a little. Then we met up with my friends to go to the Olympic Stadium and see a soccer game. It took forever to figure out how to get there. We did and got tickets for the game and explored the complex where the 2004 Olympics were held. That was pretty sweet. Then we went back to Athens and I said goodbye to Deb and John. Thanks for coming guys!

Monday I went to the beach with Heather but I was in a bad mood because I lost my keys to the apartment when my bag ripped at the stadium the night before.
Tuesday and Wed we had class. Today I had class and went to the beach with some friends after.

TOMORROW IS PARIS. I am so excited. I will definitely write about that when I get back. That's all for now.

Italia

Oh Italy. I will just start with the fact that it was amazing. I loved all of it. We left Wednesday afternoon for Rome. We got in at like 830 at night and then we had to find our hostel, which turned out to be quite the adventure. Not. We looked for bus 62, which the people at the hostel told us to take well it only runs in the summer. So another bus driver told us he would get us close and it would be a 10 minute walk. 40 minutes later and 6 kilometers later we find it on a dark road in the middle of nowhere. A motorcyclist showed us where it was. So we get there and reception is closed so a man with a Saw 5 (like the horror movie) hat helps us but he doesn’t speak hardly any English. So we end up in this cabin thing which is pretty nice but was freezing. In the morning we went to reception and found out we were in the wrong bungalow. So we move and there are these two girls were in there. We dropped our stuff and left for Rome. It wasn’t hard to find. We started at the Coliseum and went to the Roman Forum and then this big white museum. After that we made our way to the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Then we just walked around and made our way to Trastevere Street. It was a ton of walking but everything was so awesome to see. We then went back to our hostel but we missed the bus so we had to take a taxi and the guy ripped us off. We were mad. The next day we went to the Vatican. Did you know it’s a country? I didn’t. We joined a tour group and Evan our guide was very helpful and knew a lot about the Vatican. We saw the museum, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica (unbelievable) and then we saw where the popes were buried. Then we found a cute restaurant where the waiters asked us to the disco. Haha we said no though. Then we walked around some more and we went and saw the Trevi Fountain and the Coliseum at night all lit up. Then we missed the bus again because the people at the hostel told us the wrong time so we walked that long street again in the dark. The next morning we went to the train station so we could get a train to Florence.

The train ride to Florence was very pleasant. Except, we kept getting in trouble for putting our feet on the seats. Lame. It wasn’t like it was super nice. When we got there we went into this café to find out where our hostel was. The kid behind the counter helped us along with another customer. We found it and that was a relief. So we grabbed the bus to downtown Florence to get some dinner. Which was we found this cute place and the food was awesome. Then Kristy and I rode the carousel  We went to sleep then and the next day we went to Uffizi and waited in line for forever. It wasn’t that great. Then we went in a church or two. Then we went to the Academia Museum where the statue of David is. After that we made our way to Piazza de Michelangelo to get a view of all of Florence. It was raining but still beautiful. Then we went back to the hostel and went to sleep because we had to get a train to Milan the next day.

We got on our train to Milan and met this boy and girl who were studying in Verona they had been on the train all night. When we got to Milan we went to San Siro to see the soccer stadium where AC Milan and Inter Milan play. It was sweet. We took a tour and got to see everything. After that we ate dinner which wasn’t really that good and then we went to the airport. We were going to sleep there that night because our flight out was at 6:30 AM. Oh boy the seats were soooo uncomfortable. We found these benches pushed together and set up camp. We thought we were the only ones for a while but then we saw other people. I fell asleep and then this group of people from Lebanon came and sat right next to us and were being so loud. So it woke me up I ended up sleeping on the floor later. By morning we were exhausted. Our flight from Milan to Rome was only 50 minutes but all three of us passed out. When we got back to Athens we found out that Kristy and Heather’s luggage didn’t make. They decided to check their duffel bags because they were tired of carrying them around. I didn’t check mine. It wouldn’t have been a huge deal except we had a trip the next day with Aphrodite for 3 days. So we called Aphro and she talked to the airline people and figured everything out but they still weren’t going to have their luggage in time. We got back to our apartments and we all slept. We had an amazing trip and saw so many things. Our next big trip is Paris on May 15. My next post will be on our trip to this past weekend to Peloponnese with Aphrodite.

sorry for no fb pics

i have no idea why but facebook will not upload my pictures. so i am really far behind on pictures. bummer.

Italy, here we come!

Heather, Kristy, and I are leaving for Italy tomorrow. We have our entire trip planned out. It's definitely excited. We are flying into Rome and staying there for a couple days. Then we will take a train to Florence to see the sights there. Finally we will take a train to Milan and finish our trip up there. We are going to visit a soccer museum. I can't wait!! Then we are flying back to Athens.

We went to a travel agent today to find out a little bit of information about the islands. When we get back from Italy we will start booking our trips to the islands!
Also we are booking a hostel for Paris right now. We go there on May 15. So many exciting things to look forward to.

and to the right...mountains...

This past weekend we went on a trip to Meteora. I wasn’t sure what was going to be there but it was awesome. We went to these monasteries and they are suspended in the air on mountains. We left on Friday at 730 AM and it was like a 5 hour drive. We got there and checked into our hotel. I roomed with Kari and Katie  Then we ate lunch at the hotel and got back on the bus to see 2 monasteries. We went they were gorgeous. Then we went back to the hotel and went to dinner. After dinner we chilled for a little and then went to walk around the town we were in it was cute but we were all so tired. So we went back and went to sleep. We got to shower in a shower that seemed amazing compared to the ones in our apartments. I kept the water running the whole time and the hot water didn’t run out. Amazing! We went to the breakfast buffet. It was weird though because its not the like b-fast buffets we have here in America because they have different foods. Then we went to visit two more monasteries and then we headed back to Athens. The drive seemed to last for forever but we just got back and Kate and I are watching MTV. I think we are just hanging around here tonight. We will probably go to a club tomorrow night because we are on spring break.
We actually have 4 day weekends every weekend. I know you’re jealous ;) But our spring break is 2 weeks long. Heather, Kristy and I are leaving for Italy on Wednesday and I can’t wait.

Tonight we planned our trip to Italy. It is all planned out and jam packed full of stuff to do.

we made a new friend, johnny

saturday night we went to Spirit which is a club with Dio and Peter and John. It was fun to hang out with them and a bunch of us girls went. We stayed out til like 3. We didn't stay out later because we had to wake up for the acropolis. The clubs dont really start filling with people until 12.

well last sunday we went to the acropolis. It was interesting to see and very crowded but that is the big thing to see in Athens. Sunday night Jenn, Emily, and Meg came to visit on their spring break. It was fun to see them.

Monday it was raining and we chilled and did nothing. It was raining so there wasn't much to do. Kelly came and it was awesome to see her. Tuesday we just went to class all day
Wed we went to class and took the bus to Ble Beach. It was fantastic! The water was cold but the weather was beautiful. We made a big pasta dinner that night and that was fun. That night was the first night I got really homesick.
Thursday I went to the beach with Kelly, Emily and krystyne again. I love going to the beach in April! So we met this guy named Johhny and he is kind of creepy but he doesn’t try to be. He is really friendly but like it can come off a little creepy. We met him the day before at the beach and he goes there everyday. He is like 60 years old. But he is still so nice.

i dont mean to wish trees away...

"but i just want a freaking picture" - Katlin Nolt

Well, we finished with classes for the week on Thursday. Yesterday after Greek we hung out in Syntagma Square and there was a demonstration with hundreds probably thousands of people walking in a parade type thing with signs and they were shouting stuff. I couldn't understand any of it because it was in Greek.

Today Aphrodite took us to Delphi. We left at 7:30 AM. it was dark when we woke up...ridiculous. it was about a 3 hour drive. We stopped at this gorgeous town and walked around for like ten minutes and took pictures and then it was only a ten minute drive to Delphi. We listened to Aphrodite talk for a while and then we went and looked at the ruins. It was beautiful. Then we went to a museum which there were a lot of rules ha. Then we went to this hotel to eat lunch which by then it was like 2:30. They eat their meals at strange times here. So we ate and there was this awesome view and then we made the drive back to Athens.

Tonight we were going to go out but then we decided not to. I think we are going to watch a movie in a few minutes. Tomorrow we are going to the open market behind the grocery store to get some fresh fruits and veggies and then a few of us might lay outside if it is nice. The weather gets to about 70 degrees in the middle of the day. jealous much? thought so ;) Sunday we are going to the Acropolis for the day to learn about it and such. Well thats all I have for now. Smell ya later!

enrique was playing in a store

This was our first week of class. On Mondays and Fridays I don’t have any classes. It is glorious! On Tuesdays I have Greek followed by Ancient Greek History. On Wednesdays I have photojournalism and then on Thursdays I have Greek again. Not too bad of a schedule. We also have an orientation class where we go on trips and such.

Kate and I did laundry yesterday. I haven’t ever hand washed clothes before. I think my tank tops stretched which kind of stinks. I think I will just pay to do my laundry next time! So in most of the places in Greece you can’t flush the toilet paper you have to throw it away in a waste basket which was hard to get used to and it still grosses me out a little.

Yesterday after class I went with Paige and Alanna to find H&M but we were not successful. Then we met up with a bunch of kids from the history class at this coffee shop under the school. There were some actual Greek students there along with some others from BCA. Then Derek and I ended up going shopping with Armin who I sat next to in class. At first I wasn’t sure about him because he and I didn’t talk but then I randomly asked him if he liked American music and then we started talking. He’s really cool and he lives in an apartment by himself and he is going to invite us over sometime.

It is like 7:15 pm here and its 12:15 pm at home, which is weird. Kate and I walked to find a grocery store so we could buy some junk food. We found one and bought more snacks than we need but it’s all good. Kari, Kate and I are sitting in the living room right now and House is on tv. I think we are going to heat up some leftovers in a few minutes. Bye for now!

the first week

Well we arrived in Athens last Monday so its been exactly one week. It has been crazy and my Google has been in Greek and I couldn't remember my password for this but now I got it and I'm back.

We arrived last Monday and got into our apartments then we went out for dinner. we were exhausted. The next day we had orientation all day that was fun to get to see our school which by the way is only a building with like 3 floors. Definitely different from Messiah. We went grocery shopping for the first time at Carrefour (aka Walmart). Wednesday we had no orientation because it was Greek Independence day. We went to a parade which was neat and a few of us walked around and we ended up at the ancient olympic stadium. so cool! thursday we had more orientation at the school and then we had Greek dance lessons in the evening. Friday we had orientation in the morning and then we had the rest of the day off. At night we went out with Noah from City University and some of his friends to coffee at this place by the Acropolis. It was beautiful at night, all lit up! Saturday was not so fun because we had 5 hours of lectures for our orientation class. At night we went to this Greek restaurant and showed off our newly learned dance moves. Sunday was a day of sleeping as most of us were exhausted. Then we planned our spring break trips. Italy here we come! At night, Heather, Kristy and I went to this Italian restaurant with Dio, Peter and John some other students from the university. Today we had off and we went shopping. It was fun. We also went to the grocery store again to get more food!

I'm sorry this was such a ramble. I had a lot to summarize. I will try to by more detailed. Love everyone. Talk to you soon!

At home

I am still at home. I haven't really began preparing too much! But I should. I have been learning Greek and I got a new digital camera that I am learning how to use. Tonight my momma bought me a book on Greece for tourists. So I looked at that tonight. I'll write another entry later as it gets close to the departure date which is March 22, 2009.