goodbyes in Thess and onward to Crete

The last couple weeks in Thess were definitely a blast. The night we went out for Tina's birthday is a night i dont think will ever be forgotten. After a GREAT taverna dinner, Tina, Brit, and I met up with Panos, Mary, Roy, and the whole gang. We dranky drank for a while by Alexander the great statue which was just a fun time. We laughed and joked around until late. Then we wondered up to a university party. It was really fun because it was all outside. There was a reggae side and a hip hop side.. so we obviously hit up the dancing music. Some beers and jello shots later we were all dancing our night away. The greek girls are always shy so i showed them a good time by making them dance with me! Maybe i embarrassed them but i truly think they loved my enthusiasm and fearlessness for just letting go and having fun! The night ended when the sun came up and we all decided it was about time to get to bed... except 4 hours later we got up and got in a car to go to halkidiki.

The beach was wonderful as usual.. however we did see a jellyfish which was nasty. Then a little boy played with it and put it in sand and killed it. I was happy. But a nice couple hours later we finally made it home. Rest of the weekend was sleeping and studying for finals.. which went.. alright. Schools was officially over when my mom and sis landed in Thess. I was more then excited about showing them around this town i have grown to love sooo much.

They both struggled a lot at first because of the language barrier. I guess i have grown so accustom to not understanding that i forgot how hard it was for an outside to jump into that. We went to Taverna dinner that friday night and ended up sitting there for over 4 hours. It was great to catch up. After dindin my sis , chels, and I went to Silver for shots and then to eightball which ended up being more then a blast. We danced the night away and got home around 530am.. once again when the sun was coming up (ya i started to get good at this staying out ALL night thing) Saturday we just toured Thess but it was really rainy which was annoying. Sunday i hung out with friends while fam went to Metaora to see the monasteries.. which the loved obviously. Monday was a hard day. Time to leave Thess so had to pack, and then adventured to the old city and down to the sea for one last look at this city. Went through a lot of goodbyes which wasnt easy.

I knew i was making good friendships with people here but I didnt realize how sad it was to be leaving not only this wonderful city but also all the friends i had made. Saying goodbye to Chelsea was sooo hard. She is definitely one of my closest friends these days i hope that things will stay that way. The girl made my experience in Greece that much better and I'm so glad i have her in my life now. It was also hard saying goodbye to Irini, we grew to be very good friends and can only hope that we stay in touch the best we can. So we finally arrived in Crete and its been nothing but beautiful...

Kastoria, Halkidiki and everything in between

Soo, the 4 of us went to Kastoria, Tina's home town. It was a pretty rainy weekend but we still made the best of it! Friday we went to dinner on the lake which was beautiful and we ate little fishy things... they were really good! Saturday we walked around the city, adventured and what not. We got coffee.. as usual and just enjoyed a relaxing day. That night we made our own dinner and just chilled at her house. It was a really nice and relaxing wknd.. really nice to be out of the city for a bit.
Last Friday the 21st, the 4 of us had our greek friends over. We taught then circle of death and attempts at beer pong. It was pretty entertaining. After we went to eightball.. which was a BLAST. We danced and danced and when we left all the sudden it was light out.. and we realized it was 6am. Soo.. went home a crashed for the ENTIRE day. Sunday and monday we went to a part of Halkidiki called Athitos. The beach was seriously soooo beautiful and i LOVED it. It was like paradise and all i want to do now is be at the beach. Getting through the next week of school is going to be a struggle. All I keep thinking about is laying out in the sun and waiting for my mom and sister to get here!
Otherwise weeks have been weeks... school and hanging out with friends continues. I have gotten so close to people its going to be weird not being around them. I feel like its going to be a harder transition going home then it was coming here. I have gotten so accustomed to the way things are done and i love that. I don't miss the fast paced ALWAYS busy feeling. I have so much free time. I know it will come to an end and I'm going to enjoy my last few weeks while i can.
Tina's birthday dinner tonight and beach all day tomorrow.. should be a great weekend :) Then moms and sisttaa next friday! CANT WAIT!

Time Flies by Like Nothing..

Once again its been 2 weeks since I have written. So catch up begins now:
Soo... the week after Athens was pretty normal, hung out around Thess, chilled with people, the norm. We did go see our friend John's concert which was pretty fun although the music was WAYY to loud so we couldn't really hear him singing. Oh well it was still a good time. Saturday May 1st, may day, a group of us went to the town of Edessa. We decided to do a volunteer trip to help this man on his farm. When we got there he gave us a tour of his "farm" which we found out was not quite what we expected. He was all about everything growing together and not separating different fruits and veggies. He called it is "jungle" which was pretty unique. There were weeds and wild flowers growing right next to the celery plant. He grew over 120 different fruits and veggies which was pretty cool. This man had his own philosophy on life which was pretty cool to hear about. He was so peaceful with everything he did and believed that everything and everyone should be able to live together in peace.

After roaming around the "jungle" we went back to his home area. Here we made clay balls with seeds in them. This man traveled around the world teaching people about this technique he used to allow plants to grow in areas that weren't fertile. It was random but fun. Then we had an organic lunch and just hung out around his land. Afterwards we went to the waterfalls of Edessa. They were beautiful and HUGE. The area reminded me of Avatar which was sawweeettt. We got some ice cream and messed around for a while and then took the bus back home. It was defiantly a cool experience.

That following Tuesday chels, brit and I decided to go to silver dollar for a couple drinks. Which turned into quite the adventure of a night. We won free tickets to some rando concert (which we forgot to attend), had much tequila and hung out with Panos and Alex the bartender. For some reason it was just a carefree chill night that was a TON of fun. Last Thursday was a "recycle monster" get together also at silver dollar. Earlier that day brit and I met some rando dudes and invited them to come and they ended up showing up. We chilled with them which was really fun, along with the other american and greeks from our school. The place was PACKED and it was a ton of fun just dancing around and mingling.

Saturday the 8th I went to my first and probably only real Greek Wedding! Talk about an AWESOME experience. We stayed at her family friends house in Kozani, who happened to be the parents of the bride. We hung out with the bride when she got her hair done and the hairdresser was this gay man who was HILARIOUS. He called me Samantha from sex and the city which was funny, and he told me i was going to marry the photographer. Ya random. Anyways it was cool being in a Greek home and Tina helped a lot with the translating. anyways, So the brides dress was beautiful! So the brides family met at their house and what happens is the best man comes to the house and has to "buy" but bride to bring her to the chruch. So he puts money in her shoes until they "fit" it was pretty funny and everyone was laughing. We then went to the church and watched the ceremony. Although i couldn't understand ANYTHING it was interesting to watch and be apart of. Afterwards we went outside and got to throw rice and the couple.. haha it was sweet.

We then went to the reception which was a banquet hall. The building was so beautiful, for being in such a small town i was expecting the place to look like it did. Either way we ate a TON of greek food (which is always good :) ) and then the music began. They had authentic greek music which was fun to see and listen too. Soon the dancing began. I was in awe as the people all new the steps to these dances and they moved in circles. After a couple of songs the family dragged me up there and off i went. It was fun learning to different steps to songs and dancing around. It was sooo different from an american wedding. i LOVED it!!

Later in the evening they do this dance where everyone kneels around and claps as one person dances, as if they are cheering that person on. They do crazy dance moves but they really just look like drunk people moving, and the point is for someone in the crowd to buy them bottles of champagne. They pop all the tops to how many ever bottles are bought and drink a glass. Then the next person goes. It was pretty entertaining.

We went back late night/early morning and just crashed.

Went back to Thess the next morning and it was my BIRTHDAY :) I just chilled out during the day cuz i was soo tired and got ready for dinner later on. There were a ton of people that went to taverna because it was also Lacey's birthday. Dinner was good as usual and after brit and chels had gotten me a cake which we went and had at silver dollar. There were like 10 of us that went there and they sang for me and we ate a bomb ass cake. I decided to share it with strangers in the bar which is always funny. Boss man also let me have free drinks which was WONDERFUL. We were dancing around and playing air rock band when the rando guys we met thursday showed up. I had asked for a moped ride for my birthday on thursday and they actually showed up to take me!! talk about being EXCITED! Laura J got a ride to because i knew it was her dream.. haha. I got a ride to the next bar we were going to which ended up being closed. Soo.. we wondered into some sketchy other bar that was playing rap music. We all wanted to dance so we just stuck it out and chilled with those guys and had a blast. Ended up going home around 4am and in the car ride home we would get out of the car at every red light and we would all dance around the 2 cars we were riding in. It was HILARIOUS and one of my favorite parts of the night. haha well all in all it was def a successful birthday.. and def one I'll ALWAYS remember.

I was kinda sad not being home for the 21st but i know i'll recelebrate with my friends and family at home.. which makes it almost all that much better :)

Obvi didn't make it to school Monday and now i have spent the entire week catching up and trying to write the 3 papers i have due next week. This are starting to get a little chaotic but ohh well I'm trying to enjoy my last 3 weeks before mi mama y hermana arrive.. i CAN NOT WAITTT :)

Well off to Kastoria tomorrow to Tina's home town with Chels and Brit.. should be a good time!

On the carousel so around I spin

Soo.. I have been feeling really home sick the past couple of days. I think it has to do with my foot being hurt and trying to catch up on school work but today after school Irini and I walked around the city and by the sea for a couple hours. It made me open my eyes again and realize how fortunate i am to be in this place. It has all become so "normal" that I have almost been taking it for granted not appreciating what each day brings me.

After walking around and talking to her about life and the differences in culture I just feel so free and happy with all that I have. I see people take such great things for granted and don't want to do that. Being away from "home" makes you realize the people in your life that matter and that are truly there. I am so fortunate to have so many great people in my life and I truly appreciate those people and all they do for me. I wish there was more I could do for them.

Even though I realized it when I first started college I realize more and more everyday how much my family supports me. They are always SO excited to talk to me and hear about what crazy adventures I have been experiencing. Although there are parts missing, the parts that are there make up for whatever was lost a long time ago. Im so thankful for the mother I have. Although I tell her, I dont know if she truly hears my words when I thank her daily and tell her how much I love and miss her. Without this strong woman I wouldn't be where I am now, both physically and mentally. She's my hero and makes me want to better myself and push myself daily.

Today was a day of remembrance, thankfulness, and pure joy. I love Thessaloniki and all it has shown me. The thought of going home now scares me. I have become so accustom to this crazy greek culture that returning to fast paced America is definitely going to be a shock. The fact that everything at home will have changed when I feel like it should stay the same will be different. I'm totally up for the ride of jumping back in, catching up with now distant friends and see what else awaits me at home. The summer is going to be a blast with country concerts, sushi, beaches, and familiarity again.

Well.. now that i have rambled all my current thoughts into this message its off to bake some cookies and enjoy a relaxing evening before playing in the mud tomorrow and seeing beautiful waterfalls :)
ohh how I love Greece.

Life since spring break and Athens :)

Its been over two weeks since we got back from spring break and sooo much as been going on. It was nice being back in a"stable" place to call home. Im glad I dont feel homeless anymore and can find my way around the city with out a map. Because of my fear of being lost i defiantly became "map girl" for all of break. But thats ok i'd rather know where I am then end up lost in the wrong part of town?
Soo we got back from break and have been hanging out with Brit's Panos and his friends a lot. Its really cool becoming closer to Greeks in general. We taught them how to place kings or waterfall. They loved it.. except they decided to take shots instead of sips of a mixed drink. Ya a couple people defiantly didn't end up making it out of the house. Oh well.
We also celebrated stephs birthday a couple weeks ago and went to Taverna which is always a good choice :) Brits parents visited too which was nice to have "adults" around. It def made me miss my family even more. 5 weeks and counting until my mom and sister come. Its such a bitter sweet feeling. I can't wait to have then experience the most amazing place i have ever been but at the same time it means i have to go home. Sooo torn :(
Anyways back to happy things... its getting sooo much nicer out. FINALLY actually shorts weather.. even though i still get stared at by the greeks. Apparently this 70 degree weather is still jacket weather to them. I have started becoming more use to the heat.. high 60's and i have no problem wearing a sweatshirt.. never thought a girl from Minnesota would be doing that.. thats like beach weather.. haha. Anyways so last thursday we had a school barbecue. it was legit one of the first REALLY nice day and i definatly got some major color. It made me sooo happy.

So we painted on shirts and just laid out all early afternoon and and greek food for lunch. And whats better then free beer from the school before class. Yup one of the money reasons i love greece.
So last wknd we went on a school trip to Athens. Finally got to enjoy the city. It was fun and a lot different then Thessaloniki.. much more americanized. It made me appreciate living in a place that has a much stronger true greek culture.. not a place where everyone speaks english. That defiantly was a plus though.. the greeks in Athens LOVED when we would speak greek to them.. I'm sure the average tourist there only does speak english or their native language. Either way it was a good time. Friday we spent the evening at the beach across from our hotel.. some people decided to swim but it was WAY to cold for me to handle. That night me and Laura J went to a taverna and got some titziki and greek salad. We also met we thought to be a "greek pimp" i mean he was rocking a baby blue leather jacket and he was like 60. Balllerrr!!!
Anyways so he and his other 60 year old friend decided we needed to have wine with our dinner instead of water.. we weren't arguing but they were funny old men and made me thing of my grandpa (not in the pimp sense though) :)
Saturday we got to be the average tourist and went to the original Olympic stadium which was all marble and pretty sweet. We then went to the acropolis and saw the Parthenon and other buildings. It was nice having a tour guide to tell us about all the history. Visited a couple other places and have lunch.. then it was free time. Laura J, Amelia, and I ended up wondering threw the flee market area. We literally stopped in like EVERY store and made friends with all the owners. It was a ton of fun. Then we went to the new acropolis museum to "learn" and see the original sculptures. The top floor was my favorite because it was made as a replica of the Parthenon itself and had the original outside stone work around it. Hard to explain but REALLY sweet to see.
Sunday was probably the best day of my lifee. Laura, Amelia, my roommate Laura, chad, and I got up REAL early and took a train to the Corinth Canal to go bungy jumping. The guys that were in charge of it were so chill and cool. It was defiantly the most crazy thing i have done and i loved every minute of it. I miss that adrenaline you get from doing such scary and thrilling things. I was like 3rd one of us to go and it was the wildest feeling standing at the edge of the platform looking out and just 2 TALL walls and water 250ft down. Then they count back from 5 and its just you JUMP!! it was so wild i felt like i was flying. and then you feel the rope holding you before you hit the water and realize your not going to die. You swing back and forth and its just a crazyy ride. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!!!
This past week has been pretty chill. Trying to catch up on school work and enjoy life. We went to the cd release for Funky Monkey last night which was pretty fun. Not my usual taste in music all the time and it was SOO loud i still feel deaf but i defiantly enjoyed my time. Busy weekend ahead so I guess next week I'll have much to talk about. Peace and Love :)

End of Egypt

Ok sooo.. to finish up Egypt. Our third day in Egypt we first visited the Mohamed Ali Mosque. It had silver domes and was huge. It was over looking the whole city and we took some awesome pics of the entire city. The mosque was pretty cool. You can't wear your shoes which i enjoyed but the ceilings were sooo high. But then the lamps hung down so low.. maybe 10 feet in the air. It was cool to see a different religious place of worship. After this we went to the Hanging Church. It was a Catholic church and had really cool mosaics and wood working on the walls. Its "hanging" because its over this ledge and there is an area where you look down and only see ground... pretty cool. We also learned that the ceiling was build like Noah's ark upside down. Pretty neat. We had a quick lunch and then went to the Egyptian Museum. They had so many different artifacts it was pretty cool to see. We got to see and learn a lot about king tut and his tomb. It was cool seeing all the old things they found in his tomb. We also went to a bazaar afterward and got our bracelets made.

Soo.. the next day we woke up really and drove 3 hours to Alexandria. This was my favorite part of the trip.. besides the pyramids of course. Here we first went to the Roman Tombs of Catacombs. We learned about how much of an influence the Greeks and Romans had in Egypt. We went underground and saw the tombs... which was different from the original Egyptians. They had a lot of people all buried in one large tomb underground and they would have ceremonies under there and BREAK PLATES. ya that was sweet. We also saw Greek Egyptian art that combined Greek and roman gods with the Egyptian style. It was really neat to see. After this we went to the Roman Theater. It looked like a small Ampitheater, all made of marble. It again was neat seeing Greek and roman culture in a place like Egypt. You can truly see the history first hand. We then got ice cream and walked along the Mediterranean and saw the Qaitbay Citadel. This was like a huge castle right along the coast and was considered one of the most important strongholds for Egypt and the Mediterranean. We then drove down the coast to the Montazah Royal Palace. This palace was surrounded by 350 acres of beautiful gardens. It also over looks the sea. Here people from the community are free to walk around and enjoy the area. We ended the day by visiting the Alexander the Great Library. The architecture was very unique. It was neat to see it actually in function. We went inside and there were a lot of students studying and doing work, rather then it just being another tourist sight. We then slept the ENTIRE way back to Cairo.

The next day we visited 3 different mosques. The first two Rifae Mosque and Sultan Hassan Mosque we located right next to each other. They were very old and huge. We went inside and had to cover our heads to respect their religious beliefs. It was cool to learn all about the the Muslim religion and about these specific mosques. It was hard to wrap my head around how these people follow such a religion that makes women feel so suppressed. I understand that is their personal opinions and beliefs but even just having my head covered for 30 mins while the other men didn't have to caused me to feel as though i was not "equal" to men. It was defiantly an experience but I'm to strong headed and all about being equal to men that i couldn't handle being a women living in that country. It was ever prevalent in the city. People would honk as men crossed the road to warm them they were coming but if it was a women they better just be out of the way or they will get hit. Its sad to know that places still don't go about equality in the way we do.

It was defiantly a great experience and I would go back to learn more for sure. We woke up the next day and went back to the airport and started our travels back to Thess.

goodbye adventures in Rome and beginning of Egypt :)

sooo... because of lack of internet usage in egypt im going to divide up the last week of my trip into two posts.

Our last 2 days in Italy were quite an adventure. We said goodbye to becky so she could meet up with her family in Athens and it was just Brit Chels and I. We got into the routine of going to the McDonalds for some "real" coffee and muffins in the morning. It was apparently also the place we felt most "at home" yah dont ask. We then adventured out and saw the spanish steps, the trevi fountain (i made a goood wish :) ), the pantheon (kinda a bummer cuz it was under restoration), and ended up in the plaza called pialzza Navona. One of my favorite parts in the city that day because it was less touristy which was SOO nice, and it was filled with a ton of artists and their work. It was awesome to see the watercolor paintings, and my favorite was a man who used spray paint to create BEAUTIFUL paintings. Brit actually ended up buying one... i'll add a photo of it when i upload them all. His technique was soo original.. we stood there and watched him for a good amount of time. We continued walking through the square are ran into this man doing puppet shows with his fingers... he was QUITE the creeper let me tell you. but i recorded a video thats pretty halarious. Dancing to michael Jackson... thats all i have to say.

We got lost on our way back to our hostel but made it there eventually... also stopped at our fav grocery store (in the train station) and picked up some food to eat... lets just say we were running low on money... haha. The next day we had to be out of our hostel at 1030am... but our flight didnt leave until 715am the NEXT day. Sooo... we left our stuff at the hostel and adventured around town again. Starting our day at the McDonalds... as usual. looking back on it now those ppl must have thought we were nuts. We walked around... some dude made me pay 2 times for my lunch was put me in a bad mood. God over it though cuz it was a gorgeous day out. Went and saw more of the old city and walked to this other huge monument with big statues on the top.. inside was a museum but we couldnt read italian which was a bummer.

We eventually went and got food... but didnt have anywhere to eat it. So we went to this lobby in the hotel next to our hostel and decided to eat there... buttt... got kicked out. So we resorted to eating on the street (true definition of homeless) best part.. as we were eating a piece of newspaper blew at me.. i decided it would make a great blanket. soo.. after dealing with that situation we went across the street to a bar and had a couple drinks before we hopped on the 11pm train to the airport. As we got to the airport we realized there were NO more seats open for us to sit (sleep) in.. sooo along with many of our homeless friends we hitched up on the ground. Worst night of my life. Ever slept on tiled floors..with no heat. SOOO cold. Somehow we survived... eventually getting to sit in chairs.. but i will NEVER do that again. As we were getting on our plane to Athens we realized the flight only allowed 1 carry on... and we each had a carry on and a purse.. apparently not allowed through easyjet airlines (assholes). Only problem was that we didnt have time to catch our flight to Cairo if we checked bags.

Soooo.... as we are all freaking out i notice 2 american guys in front of us who have no carry ons... i did work and asked them if it came down would they take 2 of our bags.. they were really cool about it and said sure. Only problem was that there were 2 of them... and 3 of us. So I went 1st and somehow was able to swing my purse behind me so it looked like part of my backpack and sneak both my bags on.. haha I WIN :) the other 2 girls had the guys take there bags and we madee ittt. Such a relief.

Got on the plane to Cairo easily and were on our wayy.. when we landed it was crazy hot. I loved it. Went though and got our travel visas and exchanged money... egyptian pounds are sweeettt. Exchange rate was about 5lbs=1us dollar or 7.5lbs=1 euro. Average mean 20 lbs. I left loaded. haha. So we met our driver guy who didnt speak much english and were on our way to our hotel.

The city was huge. And the poverty was easily seen. For some reason i just thought it was sooo beautiful. You can see the history and how old this place truely is just when riding around in the car. So we eventually got to our hotel and had nooo idea what the place was going to be like. Ended up being WONDERFUL. There were 2 seperate rooms and a nice bathroom and shower which was so great. And when we looked out side our window we could see the great pyramids. It was an amazing sight. One thing that was nuts about egpyt that we noticed right away was the driving. I thought greeks were crazy drivers but boy was i wrong. Every night there I had to sleep with my ipod in because it was constant honking of cars. It was always sa jumble of MAD CHAOS. Our first night there we ate dinner and just crashed from all the traveling. We were also thrown off by the time changes between italy greece and egypt so had no idea what time it was.

We were suppose to meet our tour guide at 8:30am the first morning so we got up had our breakfast and were waiting... for 30 mins. But he never showed up so we started panicking thinking we just got scammed... so we called the mail director of thecompany we were going through. He kept talking to chelsea about the train station and calling her sally. Finally she goes, "Sir, are you awake?" I was laughing so hard. He called back 10 mins later totally confused. He didnt know what was going on either and eventually was like its only 7am... and she is llike, "sir you think its 7am... no its 9am." and we look at the clock in the lobby to find out it is indeed... 7am. So haha after a mess of times and getting up at 5:30am. we went back to bed.

Our guide met us... his name was mahmoud. He was an interesting fellow but very knowledgeable. I learned a lot from him about cairo and this history of sooo many places. Our first day we visited many things! We started out by going to Memphis.. the old capital of the anicent city. We saw many statues and statues of Ramses the 2nd.. the pharaoh of that time. We then went to a couple different step pyramids. We could see sooo many hieroglyphics in one of the tombs here. It was amazing that this place was thousands of years old yet we can see there original writing and art work. We also went under one of the step pyramids... down this small tunnel and could see to original tomb. Pretty awesome stuff... i thought about my mom and how she would have definatly been claustrophobic in there.

We then went to another larger step pyramid that we couldnt go into but it was aweomse to see... it had 7 different layers. After this we went to a store that sold papyrus's. This was authentic egyptian art. The paper is made from a plant similar to like bamboo but they cut the peices into thin layers.. soak them in water and then lay the pieces on top of eachother to form the paper. An artist then paints on the "paper." I bargined a ton with this women and ended up getting 2 of them that I loved! We then finally made it to the pyramids of Giza!!

They were huge and sooo amazing. The coolest thing i have ever seen. We took many pictures by them and got to ride camels down by them and take more pictures. We even got our camels to run... kind of. haha. Mine was awesome and i named him Micheal Jordan. He was the shit. We then went to see the Sphinx which was also an amazing sight. Seeing it with the pyramids in the background. Honestly just amazing.

After spending a lot of time there we went back to our hotel and became friends with a girl and guy that worked the front desk. They were really cool and would charge our ipods and cameras for us. I think to the people at the hotel it was a weird thing to see 3 20year old GIRLS travel alone and affording a trip. I feel like the women there arent use to that kind of freedom and to see it being done was pretty cool. We also became obsessed with a show called the mentalist. We watched it everynight we were in Egypt because it wasn't safe to go out at night... especially being 3 young american girls.