Last Week in Thess

Sorry I haven’t written in over a week—my last few days in Thess just flew by and I didn’t have time to do anything, let alone write. I’m back in the States now, trying to readjust to life here and missing my friends and my city terribly. But a quick summary of what happened:

Tuesday I had my Modern Greek Nation exam, essay questions that I whipped out in 50 minutes. I went out that night and took my Folklore exam the next morning, easy. After school I went shopping with Kelli and Bean and got some pretty dresses to bring home.

Wednesday night we had out last family dinner since people began leaving early Thursday morning. We went up to the Old City—I hadn’t gone there enough all semester and it’s absolutely beautiful. It was great but also sad to talk with everyone all together for the last time. All semester our building has been, as a unit, really close, and it was nice to be together again before saying good-bye.

My last few days after finals were spent going out and hanging out with everyone as much as possible. I don’t think there was a night I was home before 4, even if I wasn’t drinking. Thursday night we played flip cup in our building with beer from the German bar—it was so fun! (I was a one-flip wonder!) Our numbers were dwindling even then, as we had already lost two and both Nik and Jake left early the next morning. We went out afterwards and met up with lots of other ACT kids in Ladadika and Valerditou.

Friday night was the ACT end of the year party. Only at ACT can there be an on-campus party where they provide the students with beer and have students literally passing out in the grass with the teachers just kind of looking on. I said good-bye to a lot of my Greek, Serbian, and Albanian friends Friday since I wouldn’t get to see them again.

During the day, by the way, it’s pretty much a blur of coffee and boat rides and lunches out. I just tried to spend as much time as possible with the people I cared about most—Tanya, the twins, Abby, Katie, Boosa, Mike. And slowly each day the number of people I got to see grew smaller and smaller. I was one of the last ones to leave, which I’m glad for, but that meant I was constantly saying good-bye over four sad days instead of one or two. I drank more coffee in those last few days, and ate more delicious Greek food. Mike’s brothers had come to visit him for the last week, so they were with us all the time too. We rode the pirate ship several times and saw Greek bridezilla taking wedding photos by the water. We watched in amazement and a little fear as the naked bike ride rode on by. We went to the hookah bar and I was not burned again, although there was one close call. I crammed as much as I could into my days and I still have a huge list of things that I never did in Thess that I have to do when I go back.

Saturday night was Abby and Katie’s last night, which was tough since they are two of the people I was closest too. Ari took us to a delicious place in Kalamaria for dinner that we’d never been to before and I had amazing salad and seafood. We went to the German bar for a little bit since it was Abby’s favorite place, and the bartenders taught me some excellent swear words to take back to America. Katie and I left for a little to go chill with Tanya et al at a quieter place down the road. When we came back to pick up Abby, the bar was closed and she was gone! We were a little worried—not that anything had happened to her, since we had all by this point befriended the bartenders, but that she would miss her flight that she had to leave for at 5:30. Luckily, she rang my doorbell at 5:10 as promised and we got to say good-bye.

Sunday was my last day in Greece, and it was the perfect day. I got up kind of late, and then Tanya, the twins and I drove Katie and Ari to the airport and said good-bye to them, and afterwards went up to the Old City for a fairly somber but enjoyable lunch. I love talking with the twins, they crack me up like no one else, and Tanya is probably my favorite person in the building. We were the only ones left, besides Boosa, but he was getting ready to move to his new apartment since he started work on Monday. After lunch we walked four feet down the road and had coffee, Greek-style. We went back to Papa K and I finished packing, and then we drove back to the Old City for my last dinner at a place called Tioxo Tioxo (Wall Wall), which I had never been to before but the twins loved. It was absolutely amazing—we ordered a bunch of different mezzes that were delicious; my favorite was a pepper stuffed with feta and drizzled with some kind of thick balsamic. Boosa, Mike, his brothers, and Alex met us there too and we had a great dinner. I hadn’t laughed so hard since Tanya tried to float straight up at Halkidiki. The twins make me laugh anyways, but we played “Questions for Callie” (Would you Rather) and I nearly peed my pants. At one point I was laughing so hard I could say what I wanted to for a good 10 minutes, and of course when it finally came out it wasn’t nearly as funny as it was built up to be…

After dinner Rhonda, Callie, Tanya, Mike, Boosa and I went to hookah for one last time. We alternated being quiet and sad and being talkative and laughing uproariously. I stayed out until 3:30 even though I had to get up at 5:30—I just couldn’t leave everyone! I know we’re all going to stay in touch but I don’t know what I’m going to do when I can’t see them everyday.

After two hours of sleep, I rolled out of bed and left my now-bare room forever, leaving the keys on the table. I woke Tanya up for the hardest good-bye of them all—I was crying before she even opened the door. Finally I was ready to leave and I dragged my suitcases to the taxi stand. Boosa had told me to wake him up and he’d help me (Papa Boos one last time!), but it would have been too hard—I was already upset from Tanya, and he had work in a few hours and I wanted him to sleep. I freaked out the cab driver because a certain stretch of road reminded me of our car ride back from Halkidiki with Rhonda and my “singing” and I burst out laughing and into tears at the same time.

I looked like the worst form of goober tourist at the airport—since the washing machine had broken down a good three weeks before, I was wearing my “I heart Thessaloniki” t-shirt since it was the only thing I knew was clean, and my huge floppy sunhat since I didn’t want it to get crushed, dragging two enormous bags that no one in their right mind would bring on vacation. I wanted to use as much Greek as possible before I left and just shocked people left and right as my appearance didn’t match my ability to speak Greek.

Megan and Erin were on my flight from Thessaloniki to Munich and they kept me from being too upset in the airport. They were one of the first people I met in Thess, and Erin and I became really close, so it was nice to travel a little ways with them. Our good-bye in the Munich airport was pretty tough. Then, boarded a plane, talked with the old lady next to me for a good hour and a half and she invited me out to her house in Sacramento, then watched three consecutive rom-coms, each worse than the last, followed by Saturday Night Fever. I didn’t sleep the whole nine-and-change hours, and running on two hours of sleep, I was, needless to say, exhausted.

And that’s it. Greek adventure over. I’m home now and kind of miserable. I’m happy to see my family and my friends but not Weston. I miss my city and my Thess friends, and the freedom I had living on my own. It’s an incredible culture shock to come back home where I share a room with a sister who goes to bed at 9:30, and I have parents asking me where I’m going and when I’m going to be home all the time…

I thought I would just want to eat all the meals I’ve missed but all I crave is Greek food. My shower is as big as my bathroom in Thess, but the water pressure is worse at home. The fridge is huge, and stuffed with food, and microwaves and dishwashers are amazing pieces of technology I had almost forgotten about. Out to lunch with mom, I was startled when the waiter cleared out plates and immediately brought out the bill without being asked. I miss speaking Greek and didn’t realize how much I used it in everyday conversation with my friends until I’m here where no one understands what the heck I’m talking about. I’m sure I’ll get used to being back home, but right now all I want is to be cooking with Abby and Tanya in our crappy little apartments with our little toaster ovens.

So there you have it. Sorry it took me so long to get to the conclusion, and sorry the conclusion is so long. But I’ve enjoyed writing this blog—it’s served as a great way to keep track of what has happened to me. I know if I didn’t write it down I would forget things, or things would all blur together—even this past week I had a little trouble picking out what happened which day. But anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it. Thank you! Efxaristw, na ste kala!

Weekend in Thess

Sorry it’s been a little bit, I’ve just been too mad crazy busy and haven’t had the time. Saturday I went to Kalithea in Halkidiki again, but I didn’t spend the night—Tanya drove us there and back in her car. It was just a fun, relaxing day in the sun; I think it’s probably my last beach day because I don’t know when I’ll have time to go again. The water was so warm it was practically bathwater, and for once I spent less time laying on the beach and more time swimming in the water. It was crystal clear and I could float really well. I liked just floating in the water, when all the sound goes away and you’re rocked by the waves…Saturday night I went with Tanya, the twins, Mike and Boosa to Shark, a club near us we’d never been to before. It was decorated very nicely but no one was dancing and we were too small of a group to start, but we found a nice quiet corner and just talked for hours, which was really fun.

Sunday I studied for Greek 104, which I had today. I met Mike by the White Tower and we sat in the shade and went over vocab words and verb tenses…a huge Greek guy with a super-tiny dog thought we were pretty funny, even though we thought the same about him. There was a lot going on at the White Tower yesterday—there is a peaceful protest going on right now and there are all sorts of hippies camping out in tents with signs hanging all around. Additionally they were setting up for some kind of concert, there were food trucks as far as the eye could see, and a ways to the left there was some kind of zumba demonstration. I think there was a race going on because the water was filled with sailboats. It was super sunny but there was a nice breeze—just an all around great day.

After the White Tower I went home to cook for Tanya—the building planned a surprise potluck in her honor to thank her for being the best RA ever and for being in our lives. She was at the beach all day with a friend and was going to go back to her house for dinner, so the twins called her and said that we were cooking for her. Tanya still didn’t get it though—she thought just the twins wanted to have dinner with her, and when she finally figured it out an hour after she had been home she was really moved and excited—it was really funny to watch her realize the whole building was cooking for her! We dragged all our tables and chairs out again and had a delicious (if carb-heavy) meal and enjoyed each other’s company. (I made mom’s cheesy-potatoes. They were delicious, but I used weird cheese because they don’t have the type we usually use here in Greece, and while they were in the oven I was incredibly nervous because it smelled strongly of stinky feet. Never fear, they didn’t taste like feet, and everyone enjoyed them). After dinner we gave Tanya a picture of all of us together we had framed and some flowers and she nearly cried…as did I! It was quite a struggle to get all of us together at the same time for the picture but we finally did it, and Boosa had it printed and framed.

After dinner Mike, Ari and I tried to keep studying for Greek but Mike kept falling asleep. It was hilarious; at one point he wakes up mid-snore and mumbled, “What’s the word again?” as if he had been studying in his sleep. I took the bus in at 10 even though my exam wasn’t until 12 and went over some of the vocab words again, etc. I think I did really well on some sections, like conjugating the verbs in the right tense, but other were more difficult and I could have either done really well or really badly. I think overall it went fine, and I’ll get a good grade in the class.

After the exam I came home, took a nap, and then took my notes for Modern Greek Nation-State out to the Paralia so that facebook couldn’t distract me, and, truth be told, to work on my tan. I’ve spent the day working on my digitale for World of Alexander or studying. I actually finished the digitale—it’s complete crap and 40 seconds of my three minutes are credits, but it looks like I put a lot of time into it and hits all the requirements so I’m sure I’ll do fine.

Modern Greek Nation-State tomorrow, Greek folklore on Wednesday, and then I’m done with my semester! I’ve decided not to go to the Peloponnese on Thursday—it’s just too stressful. I would have to have everything packed before I left in the morning, wouldn’t get back until Saturday night at the latest and then leave Monday morning. Plus, I just can’t be away while everyone starts leaving. Though I’m disappointed I can’t go find my family, I need to be here in Thessaloniki. This way, I’ll have a few mostly-relaxing days with which to say good-bye to everyone and do anything I need to get done. I know I’ll be coming back to Greece in the future and I can find them then.

Where is the time??

I took everything down off my wall for room checks tomorrow. It looks bare and empty. I’m having a really hard time with the fact that I have about ten days left in Greece. I have so many things I need to do, so many things that I meant to do all semester and now I don’t have time. I never went to a Greek church, I never went to a football game. And I’m already missing people so much! I literally can’t imagine what it will be like when I can’t see them every day and it’s really depressing me. People have rented out the villas on Halkidiki again this weekend, but I’m not going to stay overnight—I have too much I need to get done. I’m just going to go for the day Saturday with Tanya.

We had family barbeque today. Abby, Tanya and I made all kinds of salad, tzatziki, stuffed mushrooms, barbeque sauce from scratch, and Jake, our resident Texan, was our grill-master and presided over the meat. It was great to be outside, very summery. It’s about a thousand degrees in Greece right now, I can see why they all flee the country in August!

Tomorrow is the last day of classes, and next week is finals, Mon/Tues/Wed. Thursday I’m still planning on heading to the Peloponnese. I’m a little torn, though; it means I’ll be gone while everyone starts leaving, which is literally killing me, but I know I’ll regret it if I don’t even make the effort to find my family. I’m grasping at time as it flies out of my hands, and I hate it. I can’t go home yet!

Anastenaria

The Anastenaria firewalking ceremony Monday night was absolutely amazing. Once again, my camera died before the actual fire-walking began, so you'll have to wait until I can steal some pictues. We went to the town of Langadas, only about 12 km from Thessaloniki, to watch the last of the three nights. It was actually pretty suprising--I was picturing a tiny, rural, folksy village but it seemed pretty normal, like any other Greek town. The konaki--the place where the ceremony takes place--was right in the middle of a bunch of apartment buildings.

We got there a little early and watched them prepare. The danced a shuffly, penguin-like dance in the konaki while holding icons or red cloths that symbolized their empowerment by the saints. The room was hot, full of smoke and incense as they danced in a trace to the music. We split up the group a little bit so as not to intrude on so large a scale. After a little while we went and grabbed a frappe (of course) with the class while we waited for the fire-walking to begin, and got back in time to position ourselves where we could view it best. As the fire died down some men spread the coals around and the Anastenaria came out.

The walked in circles around the coals for a while and then the leader hopped on. It was incredible to watch, as these people did their penguin-shuffle across the coals. The whole point of the festival is that they believe they are called to walk across the coals by the saints and that Saint Constantine will protect them from harm if they do so. Watching them dance, you could feel their faith as a tangible element in the air. It was an incredibly powerful experience. At one point, they brought out this little boy who had leg braces on and looked just like one of my ELEPAP kids. One man carried him as he danced across the coals and the others formed a group around him, dancing and shuffling and praying for his healing. At this point I nearly cried; it was incredibly overwhelming, and their belief was so strong that in that moment you couldn't help but believe it a little too.

One of the younger Anastenaria girls, about my age, had her shoes on and wasn't going to dance but was so moved that she kicked off her shoes and the leaders of the dance held on to her and lead her through the coals. That was also a really interesting thing to see, just as a way to reinforce the group power dynamics. There were people of all ages and genders dancing--middle-aged mothers, old men, young people, ancient yia yias--but you could definitely tell there were specific roles and definite leaders of the ritual. The dancing didn't actually last very long, but it was still an incredibly powerful, moving experience that I was glad to witness. I almost didn't go becuase I was so exhuasted from the Mykonos trip; good thing I did!

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day--at least 85 degrees, sunny, no clouds. The bus was hell; it was so hot! After class I took the bus down to Navarinou Square and then walked back along the Paralia. It was great because it was super windy by the water so even though it was a thousand degrees, it wasn't too bad. And the water, usually kind of dirty and nasty-looking, was a beautiful shade of teal.

Last night I meant to go to bed early since I had to get up this morning for ELEPAP but I ended up staying up until about four. Katie, Kelli, Abby, Boosa, Mike and I grabbed a beer or two and sat by the water, feet dangling over the edge, just talking. (For two in the morning, there were a suprising number of people still out on the boardwalk--we even saw a pair of guys out for a run!) I was tired but didn't want to leave--it was just nice and chill, and I'm running out of time to talk to these people! I figured I could sacrifice a little sleep in exchange for the friendships and the memories--I'm going to miss everyone so much, when I can't just pop downstairs whenever I want....these last two weeks are going to be tough.

This morning I had my last day at ELEPAP. It was really bittersweet; I don't know if the kids know I'm not coming back, and they were so excited to see me! All the little girls hung over me all day, holding my hands and sitting in my lap. One little boy told me I was as pretty as Kostantina, the little girl in the class he's in love with--adorable! The are all such sweet, lovely little angels, and I'm going to miss my Wednesday mornings with them. Asimi, the guy who runs the classroom I helped out in, is actually studying to teach Greek as a foriegn language and gave me a list of a bunch of helpful websites before I left. I'm going to check those out and hopfully use them to keep up with my Greek once I'm home.

That's about all for now. I'm writing this from school, waiting for classes to begin. For two of my classes, it's the last time we meet before finals. Everything is winding down so quickly! I promise pictures of the Anastenaria and of the Mykonos trip as soon as I can grab some; sorry to make you wait!

Mykonos 2011!

Hello all! I'm back from my weekend in Mykonos and it was a blast. We got back at 3AM this morning and I got up at 9 for a full day of school, but I'm not too tired because I was able to sleep on the nine hour bus ride back, and the five hour ferry before that....we spent a lot of time traveling to and from Mykonos, to the point where the amount of time we actually spent on the island was disproportionate to the amount of time we spent trying to get there or get home. It was worth it, though, for a really fun weekend.

We left Thursday night and drove to Athens to catch a ferry to the island Friday morning. It took forever--the drive from Thessaloniki to Athens is a max six hour drive that somehow took us nine hours, both there and back; I don't know if the driver was going super slow or what, because there was no traffic at three in the morning. It didn't help that we constantly stopped for up to thirty minutes at a time so that all the Greeks and Serbians could have a smoke break. They smoked on the bus anyway--it was freezing because they took shifts sitting at an open window and blowing smoke out it.

I actually got to know a lot more of the regular students here at ACT over this trip, which was kind of nice. I don't have many classes that the Greeks/Albanians are interested in taking, and I rarely hang out with them and this proved to be a rare opportunity to talk with them get to know them a little better. They're all super nice, and it was great to meet a wider range of people than just Americans, although it's a little unfortunate it happened this late in the game.

We got to the hotel around noon, jumped in our swimsuits, and headed to the beach. We spent the whole of Friday and Saturday this way. The beaches were really beautiful, and busy but not overly-crowded. We also walked around Mykonos Town and got food there a lot, which was gorgeous as well--they typical Greek-island style you picture when someone says Greece. I recognized a lot of places from when I was there with my family a few years ago on our cruise, which was fun to remember. I'm really bummed, though, because I have absolutely no pictures! I charged my battery before I left but for some reason the second I tried to turn on my camera to take a beautiful panoramic picture of a gropu of windmills on a hill overlooking the town and the water, it said my battery was dead! I'll post some for you later once everyone starts posting them on facebook and I steal them...

We rented ATVs for the weekend, which was the best thing we could have possibly done. It gve us the freedom to move about the island as we wanted, from the hotel to town to the beach, etc, and it was so much fun! They had them fixed for tourists so even if you floored it over a flat, straight surface you could never really get above 40 km/hr, but it was still fun; plus, you wouldn't want to go faster than that over the curves and twists and hills anyway. I loved it--they were a blast to drive around and sturdier than mopeds or scooters so a bit safer as well. It must be so annoying to live on the island, constantly having to drive around these slow tourists clogging the roads. Friday night we drove them into town to grab a gyro and got a little lost wandering the streets--it took us a good hour to find our ATVs again because we got all turned around!

There was a restaurant right by our hotel called Oregano that was some of the best food I've had in all of Greece. They had just about everything, and it was like Skopelos where it was laid out and you just pick out what you wanted--it was all fabulous. The pastitsiou especially was amazing! They really liked me there too--I went back for dinner just to grab something to bring back to the hotel and they gave me all kinds of free food.

Other than that, it was just a fun, relaxing weekend with a group of people I've come to care a lot about whom I'm going to leave in two weeks. There was a hint of that all weekend--we had lots of fun, but we see the fun ending soon, so we made sure to cram as much fun into the weekend as possible!

School all day today, followed by a field trip with my Folklore class to see a firewalking ceremony, which I'm pretty excited for. I'll make sure to have pictures for that one!

Haircut Fail Part II

I had another Greek hair fail. I went to the place across the street where everyone has been going and coming back looking great. I googled all the necessary words and then some relating to hair, and walked in armed with all kinds of hair knowledge. It was going really great and I successfully explained exactly what I wanted—no haircut, just side-bangs. She understood perfectly, everything was going well….until she asked me how long I wanted them. I thought she was asking me where I wanted them to start, but I think, in retrospect, she was asking me where they should finish, because that’s what happened. It’s not too terrible, just way too short for my crazy hair. Also, as she was explaining afterwards (in Greek, and I understood!), I have a weird foppy wanky bit on the left side (good description Rach) which makes it so it won’t lie flat, so next time I get my hair cut I should ask for the part on the other side and it will look much better. Helpful for later, but not looking so hot now.

Other than that, spent the day laying around recovering more. I already feel a thousand times better than before, but I’m still going to be really careful the next few days to make sure I recover fully. I’ve got a fully-stocked pharmacy in my backpack…

Heading to Mykonos in twenty minutes. I guess I’ll just look weird in all the pictures from this weekend, but so be it. I can’t wait, it’s going to be so much fun; I’ll tell you about it when I get back!

Antibiotics

I’ve been feeling pretty crappy the past few days so yesterday I made an appointment with the school doctor to take a look at me. She determined I had a bacterial infection and said that I could take antibiotics, which medically she’s required to prescribe me if I want them, but she’s morally against them and if I felt strong enough, I shouldn’t take them. She then spent a good ten minutes listing out about 6 different herbal, natural substances I could take instead that she said would clear me out in about a week. I asked how long the antibiotics would take. She sighed—three days.

Give me the antibiotics, woman! I only have about 2 weeks left, I don’t want to spend it sick in bed! Plus, I want to go to Mykonos this weekend! Are you insane?! Needless to say, it’s good old traditional Western medicine for me. I went home early yesterday, took the first dose of antibiotics and spent the day watching movies in bed, and I already feel 100% better than I did before. I also got some kind of Greek cough syrup that helped, but tasted like death—who thought ouzo-flavor would be a good idea? I’m going to do the same thing today, just lay around, until it’s time to get on the bus tonight at 8. I figure I can sleep on the bus to Athens and use that as recovery time. The doctor really doesn’t want me to go to Mykonos, but I have to go. It’s one of the last weekends and everyone is going, and I would hate to be feeling better by Friday but have stayed home and missed this last chance to be with everyone.

Time is flying by so fast. I can’t believe I’m almost done. I don’t know what I’m going to do without everyone. It’s funny, because everyone keeps saying how they are “soo done” with classes, (and yes, school is getting old, here comes summer) but once classes are done, so is our Greek experience. And I’m definitely not ready for it to be over!

“But you’re so young!”

Mt. Olympus got me sick! I woke up in the middle of the night all stuffed up, and in the morning lost my voice. I thought other than that I was fine, so I went to school but after two classes I suddenly felt really feverish and shaky so went home early. I google-translated some words relating to how I was feeling and stopped at a pharmacy. I had what I was going to say all planned out and was just beginning my spiel when she said, “What do you need?” and my whole thing was ruined. I got what I needed and asked for something to help me sleep as well, meaning Nyquil or some other nighttime medicine. I think she misunderstood, because she just sighed and said, “But you’re so young!” and then gave me the strongest non-prescription sleeping pills in the store. Whatever, it’ll work the same, I just hate how I can never sleep when I’m sick.

The new people have moved into the building. There’s a group of eight girls and their professor from Butler in Indiana who are here for some economic thing and are staying here until the beginning of June. And, since the second floor is empty except for me and the twins, they’re living up here with us. I haven’t met any of the girls, just the professor. Apparently we won’t be seeing too much of them, though, because even at night they always have some kind of activity going on.

That’s all that’s new, I’m going to take some of these pills and go to sleep and hope I feel better in the morning.

Hiking Mt. Olympus

I just got back from our two-day hike of Mt. Olympus! It was really fun and incredibly exhausting. My legs are so rock-hard right now; I’ve stretched them out as much as I can, so they’re not too bad, but one of my knees is bothering me a little from the descent. It was so worth it though, to be able so say that I’ve climbed the mountain of the gods!

The mountain had definite stages; they told us to bring warm clothes but pack light, since we had to carry everything up ourselves to the lodge. I wore my yoga pants and was really hot during the first stage. It actually reminded me a lot of Weston—it wasn’t too steep and was just really nice wooded paths and boulders, etc, and except for the occasional patches of donkey poop I might have been in Weston. It wasn’t too steep there and we were going painfully slow to keep the group together—I thought if it was going to be like that the whole way up I would go crazy.

(I know I wasn’t super prepared just because I don’t really have mountaineering equipment, but some people had no idea what they were getting into. Some girls dressed like they were going on a little walk, trying to look cute, without tennis shoes or high socks. Before we even got out of stage one they were complaining about blisters, and it was a little annoying—we’re hiking up a mountain. If you’re not prepared for what that entails you shouldn’t have come!)

Luckily, after a little bit we were able to splinter into smaller groups since we had enough guides so those who wanted to go faster could go and those that wanted to take their time could slow down. I, of course, was in the former group. I know I pushed myself a little hard, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I couldn’t, personality-wise. I was literally the third one to the lodge, and our guide said we were one of the fastest groups he’s ever taken up.

Gradually the terrain got a little steeper, the trees changed to pine and scrub. It was definitely a challenge. It also got colder the higher we climbed—whenever we took a break we put on our sweatshirts to keep from getting sick but climbed in tank tops and t-shirts. It was disgusting; the back of mine was completely soaked through with sweat to the point it was a different color than the front.

The most surreal part was when we got to the point where there was snow on the ground—I was in a tank top, sweating intensely, throwing snowballs in Greece in the middle of May. What?

It was colder up at the lodge; there was snow all around. We couldn’t really shower since there was no hot water, we could just change into less-sweaty clothes. I was disgusting all weekend, but so was everyone else, so it was fine. The food was overpriced, but what else are you going to do, go somewhere else? There really wasn’t much to do at the actual lodge but warm up, drink some hot chocolate or crappy wine, talk with friends. Sleeping arrangements were two huge rooms with rows of bunk beds pushed together. There was no heating, only what seemed to be an unlimited supply of horse blankets and cuddling with friends..needless to say it wasn’t very restful sleep after an exhausting day. Lights went out at 10:00 and don’t come on under any circumstances until morning, so my mid-night bathroom break was a challenge. If I hadn’t gone with someone who saw it during the day, I would never have found it, considering you had to go outside. It was not fun trying to feel around for the toilet bowl in the pitch black…

We got up early the next morning to hike up higher. Those who were too tired stayed at the lodge and the rest of up climbed. It was probably the most difficult climbing, because we were literally scaling rocks and snow. We couldn’t go up as far as in past years (when they’ve gotten all the way to the top) because it’s been especially cold and snowy this year and without real mountain boots and poles you could get seriously hurt. We still went pretty far. The view was breathtaking, when you could stop a moment and look around, otherwise, you just concentrated on where you were putting your feet. Going down was even worse—very slippery and nearly impossible for those without real shoes on. It was good being in the front though; we got to see a wild mountain goat before everyone scared it away!

We got back to the lodge and by 1130 were making out way back down the mountain. Once we got out of the snowy area it wasn’t difficult at all, just hard on the knees and ankles. We played all sorts of trail games and bonded. I pretty much flew down that mountain, especially at the end. Once we got the Westony-bit everyone was pretty much going at their own pace and I was by myself. I think that was my favorite part, because it was easy and gorgeous, so I could enjoy it. It either sloped down very little so didn’t hurt my knee or was flat/slightly uphill, but that’s my favorite kind of terrain to hike; and the trees were so green and it was quiet, I could hear birds and the wind…it was really nice!

We had lunch (again overpriced) at a taverna at the foot of the mountain, then the bus picked us up and I conked out for the ride. I’m home, did laundry, ate food. I’m actually feeling really great about myself—my legs and butt are going to look ridiculously good after this weekend! Plus, I just had so much fun with all the people that went; it was a really great group. The gain is completely worth the pain of the trek!

I have a bunch of pictures again, so I’ve uploaded them to Flickr. The last six photo credits go to my friend Boosa—he was constantly scrambling up the mountain ahead of everyone in order to take pictures, and they’re all amazing! I had to share a couple with you, even if I had to pull them off facebook so the quality isn’t that great. Check out the pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626728000644/

Dialects

I was having an interesting discussion with Rhonda the other night about different Greek accents. There are some people I understand perfectly and others that I know are speaking Greek but I have no idea what they’re saying. Rhonda was saying that not only are there regional accents, but village vs. city accents. Even within her island, you can tell whether someone is from the city or the country based on the way they talk—she said that she has a really village accent and the people in Thessaloniki can tell. She also said that Athens is where they speak the most textbook-correct Greek, and the farther away you get the less proper speaking becomes.

The next day in Greek 104 we somehow got on a similar topic of dialects and how people in different parts of Greece say different things. Cretans, for example, have one of the most distinct dialects. It was also really interesting because the teacher concurred Athenians speak the most correct Greek, and gave a cool example. People in Thessaloniki, apparently, always use με even when grammatically you need  μας, so that when they go to say things like, “I cook for him” they literally say “I cook him”, etc. Just a fun little fact!

Last night was one of that last school-sponsored parties at one of the new summer clubs. It was fun but absolutely exhausting. My whole body hurts and my foot was speared by someone’s stiletto. Getting up for class this morning was the most difficult thing in the world—my teacher said she was surprised even the five of us showed up. It was the funniest class we’ve ever had; the students convinced her to hold class outside so there were the five of us, the teacher, and two random kids sitting around one of the cafeteria tables outside. For an hour, all these extremely hungover kids sat outside munching on food and trying to stay awake, not even trying to take notes, while our teacher told us about Greek/Turkish relations in the 1990s.

I got home and slept for four hours, which kind of bums me out because it was an absolutely gorgeous day and I missed most of it. Abby, Katie, and Kelli tried to drag me out for lunch but I was so tired I couldn’t even concentrate on what they were saying and just went back to sleep. After my nap though, we went out for coffee with Boosa—it was nice sitting in the sunshine and being out of the apartment. We walked along the paralia for sunset and then went back, so at least I got out of the house!

Tomorrow I’m climbing Mt. Olympus! I’m excited but I’m not bringing my computer so I’ll tell you about it when I get back Sunday. It should be really fun, and quite an experience. I have no idea about the weather, though, I hope I bring the right clothes!

Even the Little Greeks Drink Frappe

This morning I went to ELEPAP again. I’m sure you’ve all read about the protests in Athens—there were protests today in Thessaloniki as well. We got an e-mail from the school telling us to avoid certain areas, and one girl’s father was flying in today but was super delayed because of all the striking. The buses were hardly running as well, so even though I got to the stop a half hour early I was still a good twenty minutes late to ELEPAP. When the bus finally arrived it was so jam packed I thought I wouldn’t be able to get on, and I’m one of those that always squeeze on no matter how crowded. Luckily I had struck up a conversation with some Greek ladies at the stop while waiting who literally pulled me on to the bus. I nearly got stuck in the door, but I made it!

The kids were super cute today, as always. One of the girls, the one who talks constantly, hadn’t been there the past few weeks but was there today. She was adorable, keeping up a stream of chatter as she offered me tea and food she cooked in the play kitchen. She pretended to drink out of a cup and I asked her what she was drinking, hot chocolate? She responded with yes, kind of like hot chocolate….but it’s frappe. She then rattled on for a good two minutes about what was in her frappe, why she liked it so much; it was just too cute and oh so hilarious! Even the tiny baby Greeks are obsessed with their coffee!

Her relationship with one of the little boys was adorable too.They were like best friends and a little old married couple—she’d give him a kiss on the cheek and then go bring him a plate and a cup with the food she’d cooked, they’d eat it together and he would “do the dishes” and put the silverware away. It was adorable!

Back at school, we had a meeting today about the Mt. Olympus hike this weekend. It was one of those ACT meetings that last forever without any real information being communicated. We kept trying to pin them down on the weather and how to dress, but they would always respond with, “It can get as cold as 5 degrees at night, but it’s supposed to be very nice weather during the day”. Nice weather? Does that mean sunny but cold, or as warm as could be possible on top of a mountain, or so hot you’ll be stripping off layers? All we wanted, really, was a specific temperature. 15? 20? But nothing. Also, we apparently can’t even get to the tippy-top, because there is still a lot of snow up there. At least we have multiple guides (I think) when we explore the second day so we can split into groups and explore paths of different difficulty levels—looking around the room, there was a lot of variation in athletic ability that has me a little worried.

I made Greek meatballs from scratch today—they actually turned out deliciously. The recipe was from a cookbook Mimi gave to Mom, so it was pretty authentic. Plus, I made way too much and so shared with the building, which I always love doing because I love the building and enjoy feeding them, and they always make me feel good about what I’ve made.

Tonight I went for hookah for the first time since my burn (the burn, by the way, is way better, it just looks like a huge birthmark and I’ve heard comments to that effect). I was a little nervous when they brought out the tea, but I have come through the experience unscathed!

Bus Food Fail

Things went incredibly smoothly this morning since I practiced only a few days ago. I went to sleep with all these Government phrases swirling around in my head and I think it gave me pretty weird dreams. The breakfast man was delighted to see me, especially when I remembered his name. I flew through this test as well—I don’t think I did as well, but well enough considering before yesterday I hadn’t looked at the material in months. Plus, I’m a pretty good bs-er when it comes to tests, so I’m sure I did fine.

There was a horse market going on in Tyrnavos that I explored while waiting for the bus to Larisa. Apparently it’s mildly famous (though less so than their penis festival). They had horses for sale but also all the normal things and kiddie rides in addition to—my personal favorite—food from a truck. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but there is something about food that comes out of the back of a dirty-looking van or trailer that makes me so hungry, because the food is always so delicious. It’s fairly common here in Greece, but I think this impulse won’t be as favorable once I’m back to the states….I got a gyro and ate it on the bus back to Thessaloniki—I’m not sure if that was really socially acceptable by the others on the bus, since it was so fragrant and I still can’t eat one gracefully, but it was delicious and therefore worth it.

Now I’m home and have been procrastinating writing an essay and studying Greek. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get to Xeimadio, but the internet has been acting up. I’m trying to visit my ancestral home in the Peloponnese before I have to go home, but I’m running out of time, plus it’s hard to figure out the busing to such a small town on websites that don’t have English translations as well. I figure I’ll just jump on a bus to Pyrgos and see what happens from there—it can’t be more than half an hour away, judging by the map.

Larisa Take Two

Back in Larisa for my AP Government Exam. Same hotel, same routine, I’ve got it all down now. I think I may have gotten Swimmer’s Ear from the beach because my left ear and left side of the throat hurts when I swallow, or I might be coming down with a cold. Either way, I thought it would be safe to buy some rubbing alcohol to take care of that. Every time we ever did circumlocution exercises in Spanish class I always thought it was really pointless; when would you ever need to describe something when you know the word? Well, when you forget the word or don’t know it, having the vocabulary to still get your point across comes in handy. I don’t know many medical words or words relating to the body, and the couple in the pharmacy didn’t speak English. They pulled out the right stuff first try though, when I said “I have water (point to ear), I need something to clean…alcohol?” The lady laughed and congratulated the man on figuring it out so quickly because she didn’t want to be here all night, and she seemed surprised when I understood and laughed.

Got my gyro at the same place across the street and it was still packed. It’s a Monday night, so it’s less crowded outside, and I’m on the side of the building away from the main square this time, so it’s much quieter. I’m just sitting in my room going over old Govt notes to refresh. Shout-out to Ali Kolbert—your notes helped me get through the class and they’ll help me pass the AP test too!

Χαλκιδική

Hello everyone! Sorry for my absence from writing the past couple days. I partly blame the impromptu beach vacation I took the other day….

Halkidiki is the closest nice beach to Thessaloniki. It’s actually a large area of land with three “fingers” sticking out that all have a plethora of gorgeous beaches. People from Thessaloniki and Halkidiki area swear by Halkidiki beaches and think they’re better than what you can find on the Greek islands. They are beautiful; the one I ended up on was a secluded, beautiful sandy beach with crystal clear waters.

Saturday my friends and I were just going to go to the closest Halkidiki beach for the day, but right after we bought our tickets we got a call from Tanya (who was already there) who said the part of the beach where we were going to meet them was windy and cold, so they were turning around. Luckily we ran into Logan, who was heading out to a different part of Halkidiki where some people had rented a villa for the weekend. I had actually planned on that originally before we decided to just day trip it. Rather than waste my ticket, I just hopped on the bus with him and headed out to the beach.

As I was sitting there on the hour and a half bus ride to Kalithea, I got a little worried and started regretting my snap decision. Since I thought I was only going for the day, I had a towel, a water bottle, and money in my bag. I had no clothes except the sundress I was wearing, no toothbrush, no hairbrush, not even underwear, since I was wearing my suit under my dress!

Not to worry though, because I had a great time. Everyone there was really great about lending me stuff so that I was less of a hobo. It was such a fun weekend! There were about 12 people there—I was a bit nervous at first because, while I was on friendly terms with all of them, for the most part they weren’t people I normally hang out with on a regular basis. I shouldn’t have worried, because they were all really cool and nice and I’m definitely going to see more of them in the future.

It was pretty much just your typical college beach party, something new for me—day drinking and munching chips on the beach, drinking games and grilling sausages back at the villa. I shot-gunned my first beer, that type of thing. It was nice, though, to have such an intimate group of people that I knew, so I never felt uncomfortable or unsafe. I got plenty of sun, as my red face definitely shows. The weather where we were at was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze that cooled you off but didn’t make you cold, strong sun, cold, crisp water. It was great fun and really cheap too—since there were few enough of us that we could cram into one villa and not have to open up the second one (albeit using every possible couch and armchair as beds), it was really inexpensive. I only spent 35 euro the whole weekend, which includes food, mass quantities of beer, and a place to stay.

We got back early last night—for a little bit we were nervous the bus wasn’t going to come pick us up, but it came right as we were trying to figure out a plan B. I made myself a roasted eggplant with roasted garlic and kefalotyri, but I didn’t realize you have to sweat the eggplant out before you roast it, so it wasn’t that great. I had a salad too, made with the freshest lettuce imaginable—Tanya had picked it from the farm that morning. It’s great when Tanya goes to the farm because she always brings back tons of farm-fresh veggies for us all, and it’s always delicious!

Question: Do we have kefalotyri back in the states? Because it is literally the most delicious cheese I’ve ever tasted. It’s going to be so weird when I get back home—at first I was disappointed I couldn’t make certain things here in Greece because the ingredients would be too hard to find (like anything Cajun—I miss my gumbo!), but now I’m thinking about how much my diet will change when I come home and all the ingredients that I use on a regular basis (like kefalotyri) won’t be available anymore. Or, they’ll be like peanut butter, in that you can find it but it’s super-expensive.

That’s all for now. I’m finishing up some work and then heading back to Larisa to take AP Government tomorrow. Whereas Lit required no studying, I think I should probably go over my old Government notes, just to refresh the details…gotta make Mr. Moeder proud!

AP Lit Exam

I had a good morning in Larisa. I woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. The old man running the dining room was really sweet—I was the only one in there that early and we started talking. I apparently have a very good accent when I speak Greek, and whenever I start trying to use Greek on people they always think I speak it much better than I actually do, which is flattering but confusing when they start rattling off words. We actually had a really nice talk in Greek—I love it when I’m able to have real conversations with people; it makes me feel like I’m actually learning stuff!

I got a bit worried when none of the taxi drivers seemed to have heard of the school but eventually I was able to describe where it was. The school is really interesting; it looks to be a fairly large building complex, but the student population, ages K-12, numbers about 50 kids. I was talking to the lady proctoring my exam and she said that they have about 9 kids in the eighth grade, while grades 7 and 9 figure in at one student. The school has something to do with both NATO and the newly formed Balkan army that has a base near by, and the students are either the children of NATO diplomats, Balkan soldiers, or local families of mixed marriages. I was the only one taking AP Lit but they did proctor other exams to other students; some kids from the school took AB Calc (seems they speak that international language much better than I do), and on Saturday they’re also proctoring the SATs to kids from the school and to kids like me who live farther away, like Volos.

It was the best AP test I’ve ever taken. Since I was the only student, she didn’t have to read through all that crap about filling out the forms wait tons of time for me to complete it and make sure I was writing in the right spot, I just filled it out. Which is amazing, because my biggest pet peeve with these things is how long everything takes because of the carefully choreographed circus you must go through. And, when I finished early with time left over, we were done and could move on to the next section; I didn’t have to sit it out and wait for everyone else. She was very impressed with me, considering I finished both sections with at least a half hour to spare, and I think was pretty excited that she got that much of her day back. I also got to sit in a really comfy, plushy desk chair and got hot chocolate while I took my test. I was taken care of!

The school was right by the Tyrnavos bus station so my proctor drove me there (it was raining—they really were great to me at this school!) and I took the bus back to Larisa. When I was packing I made a snap decision to throw in a sundress and see if maybe I wanted to go to Meteora after to see the monasteries. I haven’t seen them and they are apparently amazing, and I’m running out of time. My Friday class is canceled and I figured it would be a perfect opportunity if I could get there from Larisa. I checked, but I’d have to transfer somewhere, and the weather forecast changed from when I check in Thess—I would be hiking up a mountain while it’s pouring, so I just bought a ticket back home. Of course, I got a call that I’d left my dress in the closet (I didn’t want it to get wrinkled) twenty minutes before my bus was to leave. I sprinted down, grabbed it, and sprinted back right as the bus was starting to pull away. I chased it down and banged on the door—the bus driver was annoyed but they let me on!

I got back to Thessaloniki in time for Thursday cooking club; we made some kind of green chicken curry that was delicious but so spicy I thought I was going to die, and bagels from scratch for the whole building to enjoy. (Did you know you have to boil bagels before you bake them?) We made plain, sesame, and cinnamon-sugar, although we underestimated the demand for the sweet ones. Other than that, a quiet night in.

Larisa

My backpack, which I swore I never wanted to see again after my two weeks of traveling, has already been whipped back out. I’m spending the night in Larisa so that I can take my AP Lit Exam at the International School here. The bus doesn’t run early enough in the morning for me to make it so I have to spend the night. I’ve actually been here before—we took the bus here to get to Tyrnavos for the Phallus Festival. We didn’t actually get to see Larisa, and although it’s dark now, it actually looks really cute. I’m staying in a hotel right on the main shopping plaza, with cobbled stones and little fountains all over the place. There are tons of people out right now, having a coffee or rushing to finish shopping as the stores start to close. I ran across the street to a gyro place. The hotel is simple, but clean, and I get breakfast tomorrow before I leave. I realized that this is actually the first time I’m really traveling by myself, without any family or friends—I’ve always stayed with someone I knew but now I’m all by myself!

It’s really warm here—I wore sweats and sneakers for the bus, which is usually on the cooler side, and because it was raining cats and dogs back in Thess, but I’m burning up. I have the balcony door open (letting in all the street noise) and my PJ shorts on, but I’m still really warm.

Wish me luck tomorrow on my exam!

Quick Daily Update

I’m pretty tired from finishing up spring break, but a quick update on today:

Yesterday was the last night Abby’s parents were in Thessaloniki, so they took us out to Kitchen Bar for dinner; her parents were so sweet and the food was delicious.

Speaking of delicious, I got a care package from home that was pretty much a dress, junk food, and tea. AMAZING! So many Reeses! And poptarts—I forgot those even existed! Also, I got a t-shirt that says ‘Muggle’ on it. Beat that!

It sunshowered today, my favorite kind of rain. It didn’t rain hard and the rain was warm and the sun was shining. I didn’t even realize it when I left the apartment for class and was just walking around in a t-shirt but I was fine. When I stopped by the vegetable lady she asked if I was cold and seemed very amused when I said I wasn’t (looks like my Greek is coming back to me!)

Other than that, churned out an essay, booked a hotel in Larisa. I have to travel two hours in order to take the AP Exams, and the bus doesn’t run early enough in the morning so I have to go the night before. I got tomorrow night and take Lit Thursday morning, and then have to go back Monday night to take US Government Tuesday. What a pain in the butt.

And that’s the news!

Spring Break Stop Seven: Madrid

Our last stop was Madrid. I think we got the most we possibly could out of Madrid, but keep in mind, it’s the most we could after two weeks of non-stop motion. We were tired; gone were the seven hour walking days of Venice. We did another walking tour the first day, and it nearly killed me. We went back to take a quick nap and ended up sleeping for three hours—it was unfortunate, but I think unavoidable.

We took the night bus from Sevilla and to our hostel around 6 in the morning—our room wasn’t ready but we slept in the common room until breakfast time. We went on the walking tour, which, while we liked the tour guide less, was again something I enjoyed. You discover things you couldn’t on your own, like the fact that the Cathedral is much prettier from behind because the front faces the Palace and wasn’t allowed to compete; you would only see the back if you crossed a certain bridge. Or the fact that when they were constructing the Gran Via in the modern part of town, they wanted it to be very new and modern and so started basing the architecture off Paris, and then, as the ‘city of the future’ changed, changed it to the art-deco style of New York. Or the fact that the building Hemmingway lived in when in Madrid is now the local AA. I needed to be told these things.

We also got to see the art museums, which I’m always a fan of. In the Prado, we got to see works by Velazquez (including his famous Las Meninas), El Greco (who I’ve loved since Spanish class) and Goya. In la Reina Sofia, we saw works by more modern painters like Picasso and Dali. This museum was up and down for me—some things were really interesting, but like with all modern art, there’s only so much I can handle. If it’s something that looks like what I did in kindergarten, I’m not impressed. Picasso’s Guernica was there; I never realized how big it is. It’s literally gigantic, double my apartment wall, though that’s not saying much. Also, Dali is completely crazy. We just stared at some of his stuff and wondered what was going on in his mind. I think to be in one of his paintings would be to be in a nightmare. There were some paintings of his that blew me even more out of the water, because they were so “normal”. In a room labeled classicism meets surrealism were some works done by him in the same period of time that were so completely not-Dali it was hard to believe they were done by the same guy!

After our second day in Madrid we had our final night as airport hobos. Although this time, we were surrounded by other hobos too. We spent all day Thursday traveling, flying Madrid to Brussels and Brussels to Madrid with a three hour layover. Ryanair, since they’re so cheap, turns out to be really sadistic and makes you jump through about a million hoops just because they can. We got to sit in the front row Brussels to Thess though, and even though we were uncomfortably close to the stewardesses we were comfortably able to stretch our legs. We also ran into another ACT student in the Brussels airport who was on our same flight.

And that’s spring break. We got home around 6:00, earlier than expected, and I resisted the urge to go into a coma and instead unpacked and started getting settled back into life.

Whew! Finally done with the spring break posts! Sorry if they got a little tedious, I was getting tired writing them too! We had tons of adventures and laughs and inside jokes the whole trip, I can’t even begin to describe them to you so sadly these little summaries will have to make do. I know it makes it sound much more boring, but this is what I’ve been up to. It was a great trip, and although exhausting, I’m glad I took full advantage of being in Europe by traveling to see as much as I could.

My sense of language is all mixed up now. In Italy I kept speaking Greek or Spanish. In Spain I kept using Greek or the one Italian word I knew, gratzi, even though I understood everything people were saying to me! I was talking to a bus driver and he was giving me a detailed explanation that I understood perfectly and at the end asked me, “Do you understand?” and I responded, “Nei!”—yes in Greek, but sounds an awful lot like no in Spanish, so he started telling me again. Now that I’m back in Greece, I keep saying “Si!'” to people or responding in Spanish, even though I did a crap job at it while actually in Spain. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Hopefully it will wear off and I’ll be back to my native tongue in a day or two…

Final spring break photos, de Madrid: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626640393816/

Spring Break Stop Six: Sevilla

Number one stop: Sevilla. I absolutely loved it here. It was beautiful, and the weather was (mostly) nice, and we were there a sufficient number of days. We also got in the day before Easter and left the day after, so we got to see the famous Processions and Easter/Lent celebrations of Semana Santa, and we went to the famous Catedral de Sevilla for Easter service. Plus, perfect timing, the bullfighting season had just begun, so we got to experience that as well.

We had the best food when in Sevilla too, hands down. The most amazing tapas for the best prices. Ridiculously good paella. Once place, called Bodega Santa Cruz, was packed and you had to stand crowded around tiny tall tables, but it was so worth it—there was this spinach-cheese tapa that I could have ate a pint of. If you want the best food in Spain, go to Sevilla!

We got to see a Procession, which was really interesting. All throughout Holy Week, different Christian brotherhoods carry pasos, images of usually the Virgin Mary or Christ, from their home churches to the Catedral and back—those farther away can walk up to 15 hours! Plus, they carry the pasos, about 25-40 men for what can weigh as much as a metric ton. In one of the pictures I got a peek at their feet underneath this mammoth paso of the Virgin Mary. Those in the procession wear long robes and pointed hoods, with the color corresponding to their brotherhood. The ones we saw were white—and no, they are in no way related to the Klan. It was just really fun and interesting to view and be a part of a festival I’ve learned about in school—what are the odds I would be in the city just at the right time?

Easter morning we wore our nicest clothes (which still weren’t quite Easter-nice) and went to service at the Catedral. It was funny, though, because we were actually among some of the better-dressed people. Everyone in there was a tourist, for the most part. It makes sense, because anyone who lives in Sevilla would have their own local church or brotherhood with services to attend. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but it was just a lot of music and incense-waving and walking slowly and ceremoniously around. I understood all the scriptures, though, and the main address, which made me feel pretty good. We were there for almost three hours—we got there a half hour early and got really good seats about 5 hard wooden benches back and a little to the side, and the service lasted over 2 hours. I was just glad to be in a church for Easter, even if it was Catholic and in a different language, and it was, again, just another really cool experience to now have had.

Easter afternoon we went on a free walking tour provided by our hostel, and it was great. It was three hours exploring most of the major landmarks, buildings, and monuments of the city, and our guide was really knowledgeable. It was everything I’d been missing in all the other cities—the history! Learning! I absolutely hate visiting amazing, important sites and just looking at it, thinking, “Huh, that’s nice.” I need to know why it’s important, what happened here? I learned not only about the history of the main parts of Sevilla, but little things too, like why one street was named Calle de Muertos (round up of the Jews during the Inquisition) or why there was a tile with a skull painted on it (references a crazy story about a girl who chose her lover over her family, regretted it, became a nun and had the archbishop’s babies before killing herself and asking that her skull be displayed as a warning) that I wouldn’t even have noticed otherwise. It was great, and made me fall even more in love with Sevilla!

It had been sunny and warm all day, but right as the walking tour ended there was a sudden flash thunderstorm. We thought we were closer to our hostel than we thought, and tried to make it back. We were completely soaked, running through the downpour, but for some reason we couldn’t stop laughing! We must have looked just ridiculous. Of course, it ended two minutes after we reached the hostel—we should have just waited it out under an awning!

We stayed two feet from the Plaza de Toros so I asked the people running our hostel about bullfighting. Apparently, the opening day of the fighting season was Easter, so we timed our trip perfectly to see one. We asked about tickets. They laughed and said for Easter we could maybe find some if we wanted to spend 100 euro. We asked about the day after, and everyone we talked to said, “Pshh, don’t go, it’s bad bullfighting”. Bad bullfighting? I just want to see it, I’m not enough of an aficionado to know good from bad! (Actually, you can tell, we discovered; it often took them more than one try to kill the bull with the sword at the end (called estocada), or their banderillas, barbed sticks, wouldn’t be placed as nicely into the bulls back). Still, it was fascinating to be there. The Plaza de Toros is a big oval with rows of cement benches, and they cram you in there with all the other spectators, knees in each other’s backs and elbows all over the place—it’s very tight. Since it was “bad bullfighting”, it was either the season ticket-holder types or tourists like us; we heard every language possible around us. Of course, we had the ditzy American girls behind us that wouldn’t shut up with the “Awww, poor bull! Let’s leave, we should leave, we should protest!” Why did you pay 35 euro to get in, then? Or there was the guy who obviously had never seen a bullfight in his life but by virtue of being there knew everything there is to know about the subject and constantly critiqued everything. There were a few little old Spanish men near us who actually knew what they were talking about, and I got to use my Spanish on a couple occasions to get a better picture of what was going on.

There are many different stages, each signaled by trumpet sound. First a group of toreros wave the cape around at the bull to test it. Then a man on horseback comes in to stab the bull with a lance, I guess to weaken it. The bull charges the horse, who is covered on all sides by armor and is completely blindfolded. Then the various toreros try to stick the two banderillas into the bull’s back, further weakening the bull. Finally, the main matador reenters the ring with his red cape and sword, and makes the typical passes with the bull before stabbing it through the shoulder-blades and down into the heart. There are three main matadors, and each gets two bulls to kill. Once the bull is dead, they cut off the ear as a prize if the torero did a good job, tie the bull’s corpse to a team of horses, and trot it around and out the stadium.

It was spell-binding to watch, gruesome as it may sound. And the crowd reactions, such an important part of the fight, were just as interesting—I never knew what to do! There was generally a hush over the stadium, and you were shushed for talking. But every once in a while—and I never could pick up on the signal or event to start it—the crowd would “Ole!” together, or collectively made a “OOOSHH!” exhale of air, or even burst into cheers. Once or twice there was a clap clap clap, clap clap clap, that, when I asked the old man, meant that the crowd thought it was a bad bull and wanted it to be sent back and another to be brought out.

The expressions and movements of the toreros was fun to watch too. We had pretty decent seats, about five rows back from the front, although most of the action happened off to the side of us in front of the main gate. One bull did wander over and was killed right in front of us—it was amazing. I still don’t know quite what I think of the whole thing, but it was just such an experience! I’m so glad that I went, I know I’m not really describing it very well. I took a couple shaky videos for you to see, they should be with the photos on Flickr.

Sorry this one was so long, but it was my favorite and I had a lot to say about it! Anyone who is traveling to Spain, I highly recommend a stop in Sevilla; it’s beautiful and interesting and I had a wonderful time there!

Flickr photos for Sevilla:http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626489947105/

Life In Thess

While trying so hard to whip out these spring break posts, I’ve neglected what’s been going on the past couple days. Mostly I’ve just been trying to get back in the groove of everyday life. I unpacked, I added all my new postcards and posters to The Wall, have spent countless hours going through tons of photos, started working on some papers that are due this week and next. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I hardly left the apartment. I slept a lot. Watched Casablanca. Exercised. Everyone has been slowly trickling back and I realize how much I’ve missed them all—and just after two weeks! I can’t believe I only have a month left with all these crazies. All the guys have come back with weird facial hair. Everyone keeps telling me how tan I am, which makes me feel great. Other than that, not much is really new in real life. Everyone’s pretty excited about Osama being dead; I got an e-mail from the government warning me to be extra careful abroad as there is an increased risk of terrorist activities in retaliation.

I take the AP Exams May 5th and 10th. It’s a huge pain in the butt to take them here in Greece, and expensive, but not as expensive as a course at Vanderbilt, I guess. I have to travel two hours to Larisa, and since they’re early in the morning I have to go the day before and stay in a hotel. And, because the days are so spread apart, I have to do it twice. It’s just annoying when I have such limited time left in Thess, and so much work to catch up on!

Spring Break Stop Five: Mallorca

Mallorca, out of everywhere we went, was my least favorite stop. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Spain—it was a cheap resort for British people, or at least the area where we stayed. It was a nice enough place, but it was touristy and beachy just like a million other places anywhere in the world. If I’m going to be in Spain, I’d rather be somewhere where I can experience a culture and food and atmosphere that is decidedly Spanish. I didn’t speak Spanish in Mallorca because they all spoke with English accents. We were foreigners not because we weren’t from Spain, but because we weren’t from the UK. All the restaurants offered fish and chips and shepherd’s pie with mushy peas. Kelli got her second piercing done, and the lady who did it had a really thick English accent. When we asked her how long she had lived in Mallorca, she said she was born here, and had lived in Mallorca all her life! We literally found ourselves in Little Britain. I know there are super beautiful, expensive places on Mallorca where lots of celebrities have houses, but where we stayed it was just a strip of cheap restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops along a decent beach. Kelli really liked having another beach stop though, and I have to admit it was nice to have a little downtime from our hectic schedule before jumping into the last leg of the trip. Plus, we got to do laundry—everything in our bags was beginning to smell, and it was nice to have clean clothes halfway through.

The way the part of the island where we were staying was set up was in the shape of a tiny little peninsula, only we didn’t realize it. Our second day Kelli and I walked along the water, assuming we were heading in pretty much a straight line down the coast when in reality we were following the coast back to where we started. After walking for half an hour, we found the coolest part of Mallorca. There was bar after bar packed in, each with a cheaper drink deal than the last, and a much nicer beach full of people our own age (whereas the beach by us was mostly families and old people). We thought it was the best thing ever and really wanted to return that night, if only we weren’t so far away….While walking, we saw a sign for Prince William’s Pub, 200 meters. We thought that was so funny, since they had one right by our hotel, and decided to see if it was owned by the same people. We started walking down the street indicated, and noticed another restaurant that was also by our hotel, and another…and then we saw our hotel! It was the most mind-boggling, disorienting, semi-frightening thing to ever happen; we thought we had walked really far away, when in reality we just made a huge loop. It took a while to really believe it, but finally we accepted that, like idiots, the super awesome part of town was a two minute walk behind us. We felt like we were in some bizarre episode of the twilight zone, where two girls think they’re on a simple vacation when in reality they’re on an island that shifts and changes and grows smaller until they’re slowly driven insane…The funny thing is that it happened again later, but on a smaller scale—we thought we were headed in one direction when in reality we just wound up by our hotel again.

We spent almost three whole days in Mallorca, and I was ready to go by the end and get back to the real Spain. It’s a little disappointing that we spent so much time there and so little in Rome or Barcelona, but it was a nice vacation from our vacation. The staff at the hotel was amazing and we really had the best possible time, even if we didn’t get as much sun as we had hoped. But not to worry, we left Mallorca for Sevilla, my absolute favorite place of all that I visited—more on that next post!

A couple pictures of Mallorca (or Majorca, if you spell it Catalun): http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626613077138/

Spring Break Stop Four: Barcelona

Barcelona was definitely the busiest stop in that we went non-stop. I almost wish I hadn’t gone to Barcelona, because we saw the least there and now I have less of a reason to go for real, since I’ve already “seen” it. Whereas some cities were really easy to walk around and everything touristy was very close, Barcelona was much more spread out and we walked far to see very few things. I really wanted to see Gaudi’s Mosaic Garden but it was too far away and we just didn’t have time. We really just saw La Sagrada Familia and Las Ramblas, and walked by the water and through the park with the zoo a little. We still walked far, and got a good look at typical architecture, typical streets. Since we had no place to stay, we had to carry our backpacks around with us all day, which was extra tiring.

On the plane from Italy to Barcelona, I couldn’t help being a little excited that I would finally be going someplace where I would understand what was being said beyond “gratzi”. I didn’t know how much Spanish I would remember but I was excited to try! Unfortunately, I had no idea what was going on in Barcelona, but not because I didn’t remember any Spanish—they speak Catalan in Barcelona, the most well-known dialect in Spain. All the signs were in Catalan too, occasionally with Spanish underneath it. It’s also reflected in how people from other areas of Spain (like the South) talk about Barcelona; when we told our hostel owner in Sevilla we’d been to Barcelona, he told use “Barcelona is not the real Spain”. And when someone answered a question our Italian tour guide asked us with “Barcelona”, he shrugged it off with “eh, that’s Catalun”. I had to wait until Sevilla to really use my Spanish skills.

First off, Gaudi is all over that city. It’s his. He owns it. Everywhere you turn there’s some bizarre, wavy building and you think, “Yep, that’s Gaudi”. It’s really interesting to see all these normal but pretty buildings and then BAM! something crazy. La Sagrada Familia was insane, and it’s not even done yet! When Gaudi died in 1926 is was only about 20% done, and they’ve been working on it ever since. It was so cool to see because I’ve never seen anything else like it; everywhere you go in Europe you see some old, stately, beautiful church that’s a work of art, but it’s nothing like this work of art. We were short on time and the line was long, plus Kelli didn’t want to pay the 12 euro to get in, so we just looked at the outside. I so wish I could have seen what he had planned for the inside!

The weirdest thing happened when we were across the street from La Sagrada Familia taking pictures—this guy came up and said he was taking photos for this exhibition he was working on in which they are constructing a body out of thousands of images of people from all over the place, and he was working on feet. He asked if he could photograph our feet for the project, it would only take  a few seconds, and we foolishly said yes. It took way longer than a minute or so, and it got more creepy and uncomfortable as time went on; we really think that it was just some random creeper with a foot fetish. He wouldn’t tell us the name of the project (“Umm, it’s untitled") and was shaking a little as he took the pictures, and the camera wasn’t that heavy. The whole thing was just weird, and we eventually just told him we didn’t have the time and had to go. He tried to get us to stay so he could take more but it was just too creepy. I don’t know it he was legit or not but I’m fairly certain we had a strange encounter with a foot fetish man.

That night we had a dish of paella (first of many in Spain) on Las Ramblas, and stretched it out for another two hours over glasses of sangria. Then, when the time was right, we went into the bathroom, changed into dresses, did our make-up, and walked to the club. I don’t know how we ever got in, considering we got ready in a restaurant bathroom and were toting the very stylish mondo-backpack, but we got in no problem and checked our backpacks at coat check. We got there around 12:30 and there was no one there; we started to get a little nervous. Around 1:30 it really got going and we just danced until four, where we reclaimed our bags, walked to the bus stop, and took the first morning bus to the airport. It was way better than any of our hobo nights, but I was exhausted. We’d been up since 7:30, flew from Rome, walked around all day carrying our heavy backpacks, then danced for four hours. I don’t remember take-off or landing, I woke up when people were taking their bags down. I got such a story out of it though!

Barcelona pictures for you to enjoy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626613287226/

Spring Break Stop Three: Roma

After a sleepless night in the Palermo airport, we flew on to Rome. Exhausted as I was, my spirits were immediately revived on the walk to the hotel from the bus station. I love Rome; I think it’s one of the most beautiful cities in the whole world, and it was the first time we had really nice weather the whole trip. It really wasn’t enough to be there for a day and a half. The last time I was there with my family, we just ran from site to site exhausted before our cruise, and I didn’t get to slow down this time around either. Like most of the rest of our vacation, Kelli and I ran around the city, “seeing” everything without really getting to appreciate it or take our time and learn, which is really all I ever want to do.

We followed the directions to our hotel, which we were surprised to find was on the third floor of an apartment building. All we wanted to do was shower after our long night in the airport, but our room wasn’t ready. Luckily we could drop off our packs, and we walked down towards the Colosseum/ruins and checked those out before we could finally go shower. The it was back out into the city, constantly walking. Trevi fountain again, one of my favorites. Gelato on the Spanish Steps (Audrey Hepburn, anyone?). Pantheon. We just wandered the city, trying to hit all the places marked on the tourist map.

We even walked over to the Vatican, which is far if you’re walking. They were already getting ready for Easter, with tons of chairs set up to hold the masses already pouring into the city (we met someone in Sevilla who was there for Easter and took a picture of the Pope three feet away in his Popemobile). Kelli didn’t want to go inside since she thought we had to pay for it, but I told her if she was in Rome and didn’t see the Sistine Chapel, she would regret it for the rest of her life. It turned out to be free, but because she was in shorts and we didn’t have anything to cover it, they wouldn’t let us in. Of course, then Kelli was really upset that she had to miss it. I was bummed too, but at least I’ve seen it before.

When I mapped out how far we walked that day with a little dotted line on our map, it was crazy. I couldn’t believe two little girls could go so far in a day! We definitely squeezed the most we could out of our stay in Rome, but it just wasn’t good enough for me. I tossed the penny in Trevi again, so hopefully I’ll be back!

I’ve actually gone through all the pictures except Madrid and uploaded them onto Flickr, so *spoiler alert* you can check out the pictures already even though the posts aren’t up at www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets I’ve maxed out the number of photos I can upload to Flickr in a month (whoops!) so the Madrid photos will be inserted into the post as usual. To see the photos from Rome, click http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626613005618/

Spring Break: Hostels, Hotels, and Hobos

Our accommodations over spring break were wide and varied. We stayed in hostels, hotels, guesthouses, and airports. It’s really amazing the different experiences we were able to have, good and bad. In Venice we stayed in a legit hotel, with a nice free breakfast that we took advantage of every morning. In Rome we stayed in a Maison, which we didn’t realize was pretty much just an apartment refurbished to serve guests; it was on the third floor of a residential building and had three private rooms that shared two bathrooms, and a kitchen/office area. Our best stay for the value was in Mallorca, where we stayed in a super cheap hotel (50 euro total for the two of us for two nights) that was minimalistic but clean with a private bathroom and a great location—we even had a tiny balcony from which you could see the sea!

The rest of the time we stayed in hostels, of varying degrees of livability. The Palermo hostel was the worst. It didn’t have any hot water, was kind of dirty, and I was terrified the whole night that the two wooden slats holding my mattress up would break and I’d fall on Kelli and kill her in the middle of the night…others were actually really nice, even if we did have to share a room with strangers. Ours in Sevilla had great water pressure, unlimited hot water, was super clean, and incredibly well-located, a few minutes walk from the Cathedral, the Plaza de Toros, etc. They even gave us free sandwiches as long as we were guests. Madrid hostel was nice too—hot water, breakfast with real nutella, a nice lounge and multiple computers with free internet. It’s funny that all the hostels offered free internet access while the hotels wanted to charge you…We also quickly learned that the best and most important sign of a good hostel is an abundance of hot water—without it, you will never be able to be clean, and therefore the hostel probably won’t be clean, since it’s filled with dirty backpackers.

The people you meet in hostels just astound me. It’s really amazing to talk with them, because they all have been traveling and seen amazing things too, and they can share their stories with you. The most common introductory format was, “Hi, I’m ____, I’m from _____ but I study/live/work in _____”. I’m from Pittsburgh studying in Florence but I’m in Sicily meeting my long-lost relatives. I go to Tulane but am studying in Prague. I’m from China but I’ve been working in Finland for the past four months. I’m from Brazil, studying in Portugal. I’m from Costa Rica, studying in France. I’m from Australia, on 60 day holiday from med school. There are so many more, and it’s crazy. And of course, you meet people who have been where you’ve been or studied where you studied, or who knows someone in Greece or has a friend in Athens….instant friends. It’s such an eclectic group of people that all come together because of a shared interest in travel and a shared lack of money.

Our final type of place to stay was no where—five out of our fifteen days, in order to save money, we didn’t book a hotel. Three nights we slept in the airport, one night we stayed out all night, and one night we spent on a bus from Sevilla to Madrid. We had many jokes about our hobo lifestyle and our lack of a home, carrying everything we owned for two weeks on our back. Sleeping in airports was terrible—it was always freezing, and only once did we get an actual bench, which we took for granted at the time. Our flights were early enough in the morning, though, that it didn’t make sense to have a hotel. There were usually one or two other people doing the same thing, but in Madrid it was ridiculous—we got there at 12:30 and the floor was littered with people; we couldn’t find open benches or even wall space! And these people were pros—there were backpackers who had rolled out their sleeping bags, people who had pushed together trolleys to make a bed…we felt like we were in some kind of hobo village.

My bed in Palermo—comfy! Also, in that backpack is everything I had for two weeks of travel, weighing in at 7.62 kilos when I left (and 9.75 when I got back…)

Photos from the hobo village around 12:45—by 2:00AM it was so crowded and noisy you would have thought it was midday, and they didn’t even start to open the check-in counters until 4:30!

Spring Break Stop Two: Palermo

Our next stop was Palermo in Sicily. Sicily is absolutely beautiful and amazing and everyone who goes there falls in love with the countryside, etc, but Palermo is not. The airport flies you in there and you’re supposed to use this port city as a jumping off point for other locations in Sicily, but because we were cheap and had limited time, we just stayed in Palermo and the nearest beach, Mondello. The weather wasn’t even nice enough for the beach to be as fun as it could be—it stormed every night and each day was cloudy and overcast, though we tried to tough it out and get what sun we could.

Our first night, we got off the bus at the station in Palermo and it was absolutely pouring rain, and we had a 15 minute walk to our hostel. It was miserable, and the sidewalks were so slippery we almost ate dirt every other step. After checking in and drying off a little bit, we were starving but didn’t want to go far to find food. We were hurrying down the street but everywhere we looked we just found bars—however, as we were about to dash by one place we noticed plates and plates of food set up on the counter and jumped in. The middle-aged lady behind the bar didn’t speak any English, but we eventually figured out that if we bought a drink we could have as much food as we like. We loaded up our little plates with some of the most delicious dishes ever; it wasn’t Italian food, but it was just a mix of great stuff. Since it was early, Kelli and I were the only ones there, and we sat there for two hours enjoying the food and the warmth while the owner brought us more food, pretzels, chips, crackers—we left stuffed! When we finally got up to pay, there were two younger girls working the bar with her who spoke a little English, and we realized that we had run into a lesbian bar! No wonder they liked us so much, they thought we were lesbians too! We should have realized when we saw the sign outside, but we were so hungry we didn’t even see it, just the food. It was the funniest thing, and became something of a joke for the rest of our spring break. Whatever, they were really nice and we had mounds of food super-cheap; those lesbians really knew how to take care of us!

In Palermo we also met a British family who was staying in our hostel and saw them literally everywhere we went; they were practically family by the end. The father is a photographer who spends a lot of time in Sicily taking pictures and tries to bring his family every once in a while. He was showing us his work and talking about his business and matter-of-factly said, “And, we give a small percentage to the local mafia…not much, but enough…” There were two daughters, one tiny blonde one with a really thick accent who was adorable, and an older one who we joked was our daughter when we were one the beach. We saw them one day on Mondello, and she hung around us and talked to us, or would run into the water and wave at us to make sure we were watching her do whatever trick, and then run back. She practically buried herself in the sand and was completely coated, her skin looked like a rhinoceros, and then she said, in her little British accent, “Yeah, the worst is when you get sand in your bum. That happened to me when I was little, but I don’t do that anymore.” Meanwhile, she’s got sand everywhere, not just her bum, and we had to try really hard not to laugh.

Also on Mondello, we were getting lunch and I caved and bought this amazing-looking cookie. It looked sugary and sprinkly and had a huge lump in the middle, filled with what I assumed would be some type of pudding or custard…It was a hard-boiled egg, shell and all. Luckily I didn’t just bite into it, but as I came across the egg I was completely flabbergasted. What was it doing inside my cookie? I peeled off the shell and ate it, since I paid for it, but it was the weirdest cookie I ever had. The cookie portion was good, but it just made no sense as to why the two would be together. If anyone knows why, please enlighten me, I would like to know!

Pictures from Palermo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626612678422/

Spring Break Stop One: Venezia

First stop on EuroTour 2011 was Venice. We actually flew into Milan and then took a 2 1/2 hour train to Milan, so I guess I can say I’ve been there too now, although we really only looked around outside the train station. There was a crazy amount of traffic and although I thought we’d left plenty of time, we missed our train. We tried to switch our tickets to a later time but apparently had missed the cut-off to do that by about 15 minutes—luckily, a cute old man took pity on us (on the verge of tears) and stamped it anyway. Then there was all kinds of delays because of a burn on the track (?) and we didn’t get going until late, and didn’t get to our hotel until around 12:30. We actually stayed in Mestre on the the mainland, where it was cheaper, but it was very simple to take a 30 minute bus ride into Venice.

We pretty much walked the whole city of Venice. We spent over 7 hours walking, just wandering around, heading in a general directions towards what we wanted to see but exploring down side-streets, stumbling into courtyards, residential areas, canals. Venice is so beautiful but I can’t imagine living there; it would be so difficult! I also loved the time I spent there, but I don’t think I could have stayed for more than a day—we literally saw the whole city in a day, and everything we passed was shopping; there wouldn’t be enough to fill your time with.

Gondolas were very expensive, so we didn’t ride one, but it made me sad to think I’ll have been in Venice twice and not been on the water. Fortunately, we read about tragettos, which are sort of like gondola ferries—old gondolas that transport a bunch of people at once for 50 cents. We found one and were so excited, bouncing around happily as we loaded. We were the most excited ones on the boat, until, mid-canal, we realized that the destination was the other side of the canal, directly across! We laughed and felt a little foolish, but it was so funny. And hey, at least now we can say we’ve been on the water in Venice!

Later in the day we sat by some steps leading down into the water for a little bit. The sun came out a little, and it was peaceful and beautiful. We spent a good 20 minutes waving at all the boats that went by, and the good-natured drivers waved back or jokingly asked us to swim out to their boats. One guy even blew a kiss, which Kelli snatched out of the air and put in her pocket…

It was just Kelli and me all two weeks. Everyone told us beforehand that we would be so sick of each other by the end of it, and I was afraid we would be too, but it was luckily and surprisingly not the case. Occasionally one or the other got a little grumpy, but we got along the whole time, I think because we are both so similar, and also because neither one of us needs to be constantly chattering; we could be together but in a comfortable silence. We were very cheap the whole time and tried to spend as little money as possible, which had it’s pros and cons. Sometimes we would walk around for a really long time looking for the cheapest food, and by the time we found it we’d be starving. And then, of course, it would either be really crappy or tiny portions an d we would have been better off just eating at one of the first places we found. Or sometimes Kelli wouldn’t want to pay the entrance fees and we’d miss out; it broke my heart not to go inside the Sagrada Familia. It worked out well sometimes too—on our beach days or hobo nights we would go to grocery stores and get ingredients for sandwiches and make them really cheap, or we’d get sodas and waters there for 48 cents instead of 2 euro.

Ryanair always seems to fly to weird, out of the way airports, and we left Venice by means of Treviso. It was a good hour and a half away from our hotel, but it turned out great because we left early so we could explore the town of Treviso. It was so beautiful, and we spent a nice two hours walking around the river, looking at the architecture. It was just nice to get another flavor of Italy.

Since it’s really difficult normally to insert pictures, I’m going to try and do something new with the volumes of spring break pictures I’ve amassed: I’ve opened a Flickr account and will make albums there and post the links with the appropriate blog post. If anyone knows of a better site, let me know! I’m still new to the Flickr, thing, but I think I have it figured out. I’ll post the specific link at the end, but in general you can go to www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/ to see all the albums I’ve created on the account—simply click the one with the corresponding blog title. You can see pictures, explanatory captions on some of them; I think it even pinpoints the general location of where the photo was taken.

Whew, this is exhausting! I’m going to try and churn out these posts as fast as I can, but be patient—I’ve got a lot of material to go through. Around 2000 pictures to sort through, plus all my memories, so I can bring you guys all the best stories! Hope you enjoyed my first SB post, keep an eye out for more!

Photos of Venice: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelgoesgreek/sets/72157626485907149/

Guess Who’s Back?

Whew! After a completely exhausting two weeks, I’ve made it back to Thess alive! I’m more tired than I’ve ever been before, but I had a lot of fun. It was incredibly hectic running around so many different cities, I almost wish we had picked fewer and stayed there longer so I could really have gotten to know the cities. At any rate, I’m back, and have lots of stories! I think this best way to do this is over the next couple days I’ll upload a post for each place I visited, with what I thought, a few stories of things I did, and of course, some pictures. I have about a million things to do to get reorganized, get ready for school to start again, etc, but I’ll try to let you know what’s happened to me.

Viva Espana!

Hello all, greetings from Spain! I´ve just completed what I consider to be the middle leg of the trip, Barcelona and Mallorca, and it´s on to Sevilla and finally Madrid for the next four days before I go home to Thess. Internet access is limited, so this will be short, but again, stories and pictures to follow!

We got up at 730 from Rome to get on our plane, and arrived in Barcelona around 3. We spent the whole day running around as much of the city as possible, but it was actually really dissapointing, because the city isn´t as walkable as some of the others and we really didn´t have time to see even close to everything I wanted to see. And, we had to carry our packs around with us the whole time, which was more tiring. After dinner, we changed in the restaurant bathroom, went to a club, and at four left to catch the early bus to the airport for our flight to Mallorca. We were up for more than 24 hours straight, going hard the whole time!

Mallorca is beautiful, but it´s not Spain. It´s pretty much a vacation destination for British people. I´ve heard more English than Spanish, and every meal is traditional English food. We talked with one shop owner who had an intense British accent, but was born here and has lived her whole life here! We´ve had some nice relaxing beach days, though the weather is less than we would have hoped for. It´s been nice anyway, we got to do laundry--much, much needed!--and just readjust ourselves for the last part of the trip, when we´re staying in larger dorm-style hostels. I´m excited to see Sevilla and Madrid, but I´m definitely getting tired, and a little homesick; I can´t wait to get back to my own bed, my own shower!

That´s all for now. Talk to you again soon!