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!

Italian Adventures!

Hey all! Im writing from the road and dont have much time, so this will be quick. (I also cant figure out apostrophes on this Italian keyboard, so bear with me). Im in Palermo right now, about to head out on my last day. Heres a quick summary of what Ive been up to so far, more details and stories (as well as pictures) will follow when I finally get home!

We flew into Milan and took a bus to the central train station. Although we had planned it so we had plenty of time, the bus got stuck in massive traffic and we missed our train by 5 minutes! We had all sorts of problems getting to Venice; missing the train, then intense delays because of something wrong with the track. We probably would have had to buy another ticket if it wasnt for a kindly old Italian guy who just sort of winked at us and stamped our ticket anyway. We got into Venice way late and had to take an over-priced taxi to our stop in Venice.

We stayed in Mestre, a 25 minute bus ride from the island, and spent the next day walking around Venice for a good 7 hours. It was suprisingly exhuasting and we slept well that night. Venice was pretty, but I couldnt have spent more than 1 day there--there wasnt enough to do, except walk around.

The next day we took a bus to Treviso, where we were flying out of, and walked around thier downtown, which was gorgeous as well. The airport there was tiny; it only really serviced RyanAir, and the bus dropped us off across the street it was so small! When we landed in Palermo, we landed to some of the darkest, most murderous-looking rainclouds Ive ever seen. As we arrived at the train station, it started pouring and we had a miserable walk in the rain to the hostel. And this is our beach stop! After checking in we ventured out for food, but it was pouring and we didnt want to go far, so we went into the first place that had food on the counter. It was a bar, but we finally figured out all the food was free, we only had to pay for drinks. We spent a really fun two hours there, the only people there, chowing down on this food and sipping a drink. It was super cheap too--as we were leaving we realized that we had run into a lesbian bar; its probably why the proprietor was so nice to us! Whatever, we were cold and soaked and starving, and they fed us really well!

Yesterday it looked like it would be stormy again but turned into a nice day on Mondello Beach. Were heading back there now.

Thats what Ive been up to, in summary. I promised more detailed and entertaining stories will come; weve been having quite the adventure already. On to Rome tomorrow morning, and then  Spain! Ill write again as soon as I can!

See You In Two Weeks!

7:30am Wednesday. My flight to Milan leaves at 3:00. Yesterday it looked like my room had exploded; there were clothes and toiletries and anything I thought I would need strewn about. Now everything I’m living on for the next two weeks in carefully packed into my backpack, weighing a tidy 7.2 kilos, and I still have a little space left at the top! I also cleaned my room so hopefully it’s still neat and tidy when I get back, and wrote myself a little note (with shopping list attached) reminding me what I need to do when I get home again.

I’m going to ELEPAP this morning, then to school to take a test/go to one of my classes, and then taking a taxi with a couple other kids at one. Even though we’re all going different places, a lot of us are on the same EasyJet flight to Milan and using it as a starting place to get where we need to go. Kids are going everywhere over this break; Spain and Italy like me, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Morocco, Israel—you name it, ACT kids will be there.

So for the next two weeks my internet access will be pretty sporadic, but I’ll try to update you every once in a while on what I’m up to. Have a great two weeks, wish me luck on my trip!

Spring Break Prep

Today I worked harder at school than I have in a while, but not on anything for my classes: During all my breaks, I worked for what was probably a total of 4+hours on making sure everything was ready for spring break. Printing out e-mail confirmations, typing up an itinerary, getting directions from train station to hotel to airport to hotel…..it was a lot of hard work but I feel much better knowing everything is organized and I know where I’m going. Tomorrow I’m packing; I have to fit everything I want to bring for two weeks, clothes, camera, purse, toiletries, into my backpack. Luckily I have some little pouches of tide stuff so I can wash my clothes in the sink. I’m only nervous that it will be cold at night or there will be a chilly day and I won’t have brought enough to keep me warn since it wouldn’t fit—I plan on bringing mostly shorts and T-shirts.

Because of spring break I really don’t want to buy food and am just trying to eat up what I have, but it’s hard to make a meal. I have tons of pasta (which doesn’t really go bad) and cheese, but not much else. I still managed to make a successful go at it; I made fried noodles with a three-cheese sauce, leftover spargel, and part of an eggplant Abby brought up to me, and it was actually delicious.

Apparently Mom sent me a package a week ago—I really hope it comes tomorrow, because if it doesn’t I won’t get it until I get back from spring break! I just got back to Thess and now I’m prepping to go away again, for a really long time. Spring break will be tons of fun, but I know I’ll be happy to come back home at the end of it. Time flies by so quickly; after spring break there is only a month left in Thessaloniki! I plan to spend most of those weekends here in the city, and I know a lot of my friends feel the same way—trying to suck as much as we can out of our last days together!

Pictures from Munich

Here are the some pictures from my weekend in Munich. My dad took a bunch of them—I gladly surrendered the camera to him for most of the weekend; he takes some amazing shots!

Churches in Munich. Dad and I climbed the tower in the first one. The last is the famous Glockenspiel.

The Viktualienmarkt, where they sold all different kinds of foods, fish, veggies, bread, flowers, jams. This is where we got the spargel, and some delicious pretzels to snack on.

Right near the hotel was a Greek place called Restaurant Thessaloniki. It’s funny!

Interior/exterior shots of the Hofbrauhaus, one of the oldest beer houses/gardens in Munich. We ate in the garden portion. This place was huge; it’s size itself was impressive. I had some traditional German dishes here, as well as a beer that was larger than my face; I needed two hands to lift it!

More shots around the city. This is the piano I was talking about—how did it get here?

Here are some shots from Dachau. First picture, one of many monuments/memorials at the site, with never again in different languages. Next shows a picture of how the barracks would have looked; they had reconstructed a few of them, but for the most part there was just the outline to show where they would have been. Third, the crematorium, and fourth, the gas chamber. It was chilling and horrifying to be in the exact spot such atrocities were carried out with such efficiency. Next, a shot of the fence and guard tower, and last, the mocking words above the gate, “Work sets you free”.

Some shots from the Residence Palace.It was incredibly ornate and large and we were exhausted walking through it. Shots of me and Dad in the mirrors!

Circus Krone! Although a little cheesy looking, it was really fun and very well done. We weren’t supposed to take pictures during the show, but during the lion taming I had to whip out my camera and try to capture a few shots before hastily putting the camera back in my bag. The guy was in there with 12 lions, and he was kissing them and cuddling them while at the same time inciting them to roar and snarl ferociously! In the last one, the lion is running up the sides of the cage; it was wild!

Ausfahrt—Oh, Munich!

Vat a vundabah veekend! I just spent the weekend in Munich, which was fun enough, but even better, my dad was there! Because he was in Europe on business, we were able to meet in Munich and spend some time together.It was so much fun—I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed my family until I was hugging my dad in person. We had such a great time, cracking jokes and goofing around the city; it was so fun after two months alone and it was really hard to know it will be at least that long until I see him and the rest of my family again. It was a very well-spent weekend!

I arrived in Munich a few hours before Dad did, so after dropping my stuff off at the hotel I walked downtown and, wandering around, stumbled across most of the famous sights of the city. Marianplatz (the main square), Frauenkirche cathedral, a couple of other churches. I walked through a courtyard that I realized was part of the Residence palace, which led me to the edge of the English Garden, larger than central park. I then walked by the Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer house in Munich, and next to it was the Viktualienmarkt, which sold fresh fruit, veggies, spices, etc. I walked farther than I thought, but I still saw a lot in a relatively small space.

Once Dad arrived we went back to the Hofbrauhaus for lunch and some traditional German food, and the largest beer I’ve ever seen. It was interesting to see; there were some old men in lederhosen at a table I thought were planted by the restaurant, but apparently they come in formal dress for the fun of it. At night it must be a riot, with the long table full of drunks swaying and singing along with the music. There was already a German man singing at lunch, beer glass drained.

We walked around some more, popping in churches, climbing towers. We came across a group of five musicians playing classical music in the street—it was puzzling to think about how they got the baby grand piano one man was playing over the cobblestone streets. We also saw some people setting up for some kind of peace demonstration about Libya. For dinner the first night we went to a delicious Italian place close to the hotel, and it was just so great to sit across from Dad and talk to him face-to-face.

The next morning we got up early and took a train to Dachau to visit the concentration camp memorial there. It was surprisingly close to Munich, and the camp was right within the city. Large portions of the camp were reconstructed in order to show what it would have been like at different periods in its history. One barrack building had three different dorm rooms that were each styled after a different year of the camp’s operation, and you could see how bad conditions got even worse as the camp grew more and more overcrowded as time went on.

It was so great to see because it makes it that much more real. It’s interesting, because we all know about what went on in WWII, we learn about it in history class, but in the US, all that stuff happened ‘over there’, and it was sobering and eye-opening to visit a place where the evil we learn about actually took place. It was incredible to stand in a room that, upon liberation, the American forces found piles of dead bodies waiting to be burned in the crematorium, or to stand in an actual gas chamber. The crematorium was unbelievable; it was a little red brick building in the middle of a garden, with trees and shrubs and little paths around. You never would have guessed what when on inside. Although it was a sobering and not overly fun start to the day, I’m really glad we got to see it; it was incredibly informative and I learned a lot, always a good thing.

We returned to Munich in the afternoon after lunch in Dachau and went to visit the Residence Palace, the seat of Bavarian power for hundreds of years. It was exhausting; we were guided by little arrows through about 90 different, incredibly ornate rooms. The size and scope of the Palace was amazing. The Palace began as a fortified medieval castle, but as time went on various kings redecorated and added on mazes of rooms, corridors, courtyards until it was just massive. Different rooms were decorated according to different time periods, but all were impressive and heavy in all kinds of riches, valuables, silks, paintings, ceramics. By the end of our self-tour we were so tired, because we walked so far! I don’t know how the royalty could have done it; plus, there were so many rooms haphazardly added on in such a weird layout it’s a wonder they weren’t constantly lost.

Saturday evening we went to see Circus Krone. We got the tickets because the concierge recommended it as an incredibly famous circus that tours Europe and always starts in Munich, where they have their winter headquarters. Plus, any shows or theatre we would have gone to was in German. When we first approached, we were a little apprehensive, since it looked a little cheesy. Once inside, it was actually really great; it was a real old-fashioned circus with the big top and sawdust on the floors. Our seats were pretty good too, although I don’t think there was a bad seat anywhere. It was a very entertaining show; I saw a guy catapulted through a flaming ring, crazy juggling an acrobatics, all kinds of animals. There were elephants, horses, seals, zebras, camels, llamas, and even a rhino, all of them doing all kinds of tricks. There were lions too—the lion tamer was in a cage with 12 lions all roaring and snarling and looking ferocious and he kissed them on the nose and cuddled them. We weren’t supposed to take pictures but I took my camera out then to try and get a couple quick shots, it was too cool. One act, with this guy leaping about a spinning wheel at the top of the tent, left me acutely uncomfortable and wishing he would stop, I was so certain he was going to fall and I’d watch someone die. Circuses in general make me very uncomfortable, but it was fun. Incredibly long, though; about three hours, and we didn’t eat before. It made their bows seem unendurably long.

This morning my flight was relatively early so I pretty much spent the day traveling and lazing around Thess. It was so hard to say good-bye to Dad; I miss him so much and, even though we had a great weekend and it was tons of fun, it wasn’t enough time! I miss dad jokes and that particular brand of goofy he gets when he’s having fun. It was a difficult good-bye, and I was embarrassingly sniffly during take-off, though the fat Greek woman I was next to pretended she didn’t notice.

Before leaving Munich, I bought a kilo of Spargel. It’s spargel season in Germany, and this white asparagus is everywhere—sold in the markets, on booths that pop up out of nowhere, and every restaurant features some kind if spargel special. I had some while I was in Germany, and it was delicious, so I decided to bring some back and try to make it for my friends. Almost everyone is still in Rhodes for the weekend, but Tanya, Abby, Katie, and Kelli were all here. I made spargel while they made a garlic-butter sauce, spinach, and boiled potatoes to go along with it. It was really delicious, and a good way to catch up with everyone and how their weekends went. The only problem was peeling; spargel, unlike normal asparagus, has to be peeled or the outer parts taste all woody and hard. For the most part I did fine but on a couple there were a couple sections I didn’t peel well enough, and it was a little tough. It was still delicious, though, and everyone agreed that the spargel head was the best part.

Overall, Munich was a charming little town, and very easy to see all the sights in a short time. Although, I think I would have had fun wherever I met Dad this weekend, just because he was there. This trip reminded me how much I miss my family, but I’m still so glad that I got to see him, even if for much too short a time!

Pictures will follow, I am just having trouble uploading them right now!

Mini Thanksgiving

Not much happened today—exercised, read in the sun, went to class. Tanya, Abby and I continued our Thursday night cooking with gravy, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and roasted chicken. It was quite delicious, and so much easier to make than yemista it was ridiculous; we didn’t know what to do with all the downtime. Although, the fact we were cooking for three instead of 15 might have had something to do with it…

Flying to Munich tomorrow morning! Excited to see the city, excited to see my dad! I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Ρείτσελ

Today was another amazing day at ELEPAP. I always feel like I don’t want to go when I get up at seven, but it’s always so amazing once I’m there. I used so much Greek today—a lot of the kids can’t speak that well, but there were two I spent a lot of time with today who are really good at speaking and comprehending language but who can’t really walk. I talked with them so much; it was awesome. At first I was so nervous I was going to say something wrong and mess these kids up, since the school is trying so hard to teach them to speak well in the first place, but after a while I started using all kinds of vocab to talk about giving the baby doll a bath, which clothes we wanted to dress them in, the colors of different things, where they wanted me to sit. It was really cute, I was having entire conversations in Greek with these kids! At one point, one of the little girls had kicked off a shoe and I didn’t notice, and one of the little boys who spoke well said, “Ρείτσελ”, and when I turned he said “τα παπόυτσια”, the shoes, and I fixed the problem. As I turned though, I realized he said my name! I didn’t realize they really knew me, and I know some of them probably don’t, but it was the sweetest moment, this adorable little boy calling me by name. I felt like I was really communicating with them, and they were obviously having fun with me too, so I just felt really great.

I got my Greek midterm back and I got a 95! A lot of them were educated guesses, but still! I did better than the Greek-speaking kids in my class, which I teased them about. They are way better at speaking than I am but when it comes to writing or sitting down and learning the grammar rules they just don’t take the same amount of time to study it as I do. Although to be fair, I would rather be good at speaking Greek than be book-smart with Greek, but I’m working on it.

We had a nice family dinner out tonight. We went to a street off Aristotelous square where there are all these little tavernas, and when you’re in a big group they fight over you to get you into their restaurant. We got a meal with four appetizers, a meat dish, kalamari, and wine for five euros a person. A lot of people in our building leave for Rhodes tomorrow, but Tanya, Abby and I are going to make mashed potatoes and roasted chicken for dinner. And of course, Friday morning I fly to meet Dad in Munich! I’m so excited to see him, it’s been too long!

Spaghetti Weights

Pretty slow day today. I set my alarm to 9:15 but didn’t roll out of bed until 10:20. I exercised this morning with one of the DVDs mom sent me and ended up using boxes of pasta as weights—they were the only things that were easily grabbable that I had two of! The pasta inside is probably all broken but that’s OK.

I had to present a chapter from the novella we’re reading in Greek. And by novella, I mean an easy- reader with page long chapters about a girl who works at a radio station. I have noticed my Greek improving though, which is very exciting. I can understand much more than I could before, and my speaking ability is definitely getting better. Of course, now I’m going to go to Italy and Spain for two weeks and will speak no Greek, but I think I’m going to bring my flashcards just to make sure all this vocab stays fresh in my mind.

I just had a little salad for dinner and was feeling so proud of myself for exercising and eating well, and then Abby made pull-apart cinnamon bread and Callie made brownies. Game over. I’ll have to exercise even more than I planned tomorrow, especially since I’m visiting Dad in this weekend Munich and will be eating all kinds of heavy German food.

I spent the rest of the evening obsessively cleaning my room as a way to procrastinate studying for my last midterm, and when I was done I still found stuff on my floor; it was so aggravating! I then spent forever doing Greek homework that’s not due for a few days and then studying Greek—can someone explain to me how I could procrastinate with more studying? As Tanya put it, “Classic scruncher!”

ΑΘΗΝΑ

The school took the study abroad students to Athens this weekend. It was fun, but not all the time—something I ate day one made me sick all weekend; I’m only now getting fully over it. Plus, the bus ride to and from was almost too long to justify what we did, which was surprisingly little.

We spent Friday on the way to Athens and stopped at the New Acropolis Museum before going to our hotel. It was a pretty cool museum in that it was built over ruins and has glass floors, so as you look down you can see the remains of ancient buildings below. It makes you think, everywhere in Athens there must be something amazing hidden below the surface, but what are you to do, tear up a whole city to find it? Additionally, it has an amazing view of the Parthenon from the top floor. It was interesting to see the Friezes on display next to the copies—one of the main reasons the New Acropolis Museum was built was so that there would be a suitable place to house those in the British Museum, and it was interesting to see the feud from inside the Greek museum.

That night the school proposed anyone who wanted could go out for a night at a traditional taverna and should meet in the lobby at 1030, and for 18 euros we would have unlimited food and drink. After waiting for an hour, during which everyone was getting more impatient and grumpy, they finally announced that they didn’t have a taverna and were still in the process of trying to find one. I was so upset at this, I couldn’t believe I just spent one hungry hour, having already paid, only to be told to keep waiting. Most people didn’t. My group of friends went out by themselves, but I stayed in Friday because whatever I ate that was bad that day suddenly hit me.

Our hotel was located right beside Monastiraki and Plaka, two really nice, cute, touristy districts that were really fun to walk around. Unfortunately, Athens is much like New Orleans in that there are really nice areas of the city right next to really bad areas, and on the other side of us was Omonia, where there are a lot of illegals and crime and we were warned not to head over there. (And on the other side of Omonia is the nicest and most wealthy neighborhood in Athens). However, a group of five girls went the wrong way that first night and they were jumped by about seven guys. They were all fine, but it was just a scary thing to have happen.

Day two we stopped at the first modern Olympic Stadium and then went on to the Parthenon. It was cool, but I’d already seen it and the weather wasn’t that great while we were up there—it was warm enough, but cloudy and windy. I’ll post a couple of pictures, but they really aren’t that great and it would be better if you just googled it. Afterwards we walked through the Plaka to visit the folklore museum, and then had lunch in Monastiraki. It was so delicious, with live music, but there was just too much food brought to the table; it was impossible.

Afterwards, we had free time and my friend Abby and I walked back through Plaka and Monastiraki, popping in stores to look and pick up a few souvenirs. This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip; the areas and stores we walked into were so cute and fun! I only really bought a pair of gladiators and some postcards, but it was fun to just look around. The best was in Monastiraki, on the way back to the hotel. Monastiraki is sort of like a big flea market where they sell antiques (or things that look close enough to antique), and we found this little tiny store on the far side that was just filled with old crap, but the best kinds of old crap. This old man’s store was filled with old books, pictures, postcards, posters, toys, knick-knacks, pots—you name it, he had it. I got two really cute posters and Abby got some old black and white family photos that were so cool; it was just fun to look around. We also got some drachmas and more old postcards walking along the streets.

Abby started bartering with one guy for this handmade pipe with a drachma on the bottom, and the vendor kept pointing out the drachma as proof it was old—we just kept pointing out the pile of drachmas he was selling to indicate it meant nothing. He was getting frustrated and said, “Look, it’s handmade! My friend made it….twenty years ago and left it for me….” Which just goes to show you all the stuff we got was probably made this year, but I’m OK with that!

We also walked through this park where all there people were making/selling jewelry. There was one guy running a stall who was from Argentina. He didn’t speak English and asked if we spoke Spanish. I said “Nei”. He kept talking to me in Spanish and I understood what he was saying, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember any words in Spanish and gave all my answers in Greek!

That night we went to a club not far from the hotel that was really fun, but the next morning I was up way before everyone else. I was starving to I went into Monastiraki and, craving a waffle, found this cute little ice cream place run by this old couple (Greeks only seem to eat waffles with ice cream, and I think they thought it was weird I wanted one so early until I said I didn’t want any παγωτό). I got to practice my Greek and then sit outside and watch as all the shops got ready for the day. The old couple loved me and called me κούκλα, doll.

Once everyone was awake we went to see the changing of the guards at the Parliament building. I wish we had skipped this and just gone straight home. The bus ride took forever and we didn’t get in until 930, and we I really could care less about that kind of stuff. On Sundays they have a little parade of soldiers and a band that accompanies it, but I don’t need to hang around for an hour to peep through some other tourists’ elbows to see guys in funny uniforms take really big steps.

Athens was fun and I’m glad I got to go again, but the school-trip setting wasn’t the best. We didn’t really have tour guides to explain things properly, and because we were such a large group even simple things took forever and we didn’t do nearly enough with our time to make it worthwhile.

In other news, we found a kitten today at school. There was a γατάκι under a car that some girls tried to get out for ages and finally managed, but then couldn’t find the mother. We spent a while cuddling this dirty, mangy, adorable kitten and feeding him milk-soaked bread, asking all the Greeks who passed if they could house a kitten. We finally found someone whose parents can take her, but until then Panepistimiou building will have a secret visitor for a few days…

Here’s some pictures! Not many, because I didn’t take many and also there aren’t that many good ones.

The top floor of the New Acropolis Museum, with all the Friezes and a panoramic view of the city and the Parthenon (I wasn’t supposed to take pictures inside, you’re lucky I snagged this one!)

On the way up to the Acropolis, an adorable little boy in the Greek old man hat.  The view by the amphitheater, Abby and I together. After that is a shot of the Coryatids on the Erechtheion (those are copies, we saw the real ones in the NAM). The next four are just shots around the Parthenon. I didn’t mean for the one of me to be so cheesy, it was just really windy up there!

Someone setting up their wares in Monastiraki. I loved walking around there and could have spent a whole extra day just there, looking at all the “antiques”, bartering in Greek with the vendors.

Shots from the changing of the guards. They took ridiculously huge steps with shoes with pom-poms on the end. Not super tough-looking. Lastly, some friendly αστυνομία in front of Parliament.

P.S. Do you like how much Greek I snuck in this one?

Yemista—That’s Some Yummy Stuff!

Today was yemista day! It was so delicious, and I am exhausted right now and going straight to sleep. Five hours of prepping and peeling and mixing and stirring and cooking. We made 35 yemista, two different types of salads, tzatziki from scratch, and served bread as well. When we bought the tomatoes and peppers for stuffing, we told the produce lady that it was because we were cooking for 15 people and she laughed and said, “you three?” We have some left over so we’re bringing it to her before we go to Athens tomorrow morning.

It was really nice, because we dragged everyone’s chairs out to the common room and all ate and talked together for a long time. It was much nicer than when we do family dinners at actual restaurants because instead of sitting at one long table, we were cozily clustered together and everyone could talk with everyone else, even at opposite ends of the table. We charged everyone just enough to barely cover the cost ingredients, so it really was a steal, considering all they had to do was was their own plates; doing the dishes afterwards was no picnic. In total, the whole process used 26 pots and pans (although we washed and recycled). We want to keep cooking on Thursdays but maybe not for the whole building; it’s just so much work! Nik was really sweet about it; he thanked us really nicely and told us that even though we might just get weak “thank you”s from a bunch of people, everyone really appreciates it and it’s the best dinner he’s had in forever, he understands how much work we put into it…it was really nice to hear that from someone. We did get applause, though. We’ll probably do it again, just not every Thursday. Too much!