and break begins...

Soo... This week began with 3 midterms before spring break truly began. Actually having to study was not fun.. especially because its finally starting to get nice out. Buttt studied away and got through those THANKFULLY and feel alright about it. But it's now break so all is good. Nothing to worry about for 2 1/2 weeks. So wednesday night we all went out for one last worahh with the people who hadnt left for break yet. Its always an adventure going out to silver dollar. Feels like our comfort zone bar. So me chels, brit, and tina went down there with the 2 ponos'. These guys are great and always have a good time. Decided to do a goblet for the 1st time. two shots balanced on top of a glass of beer. Take the wiskey, vodka drops in, and chug. Just a "wonderful" experience. Haha. Tina and I then adventured over to sknipa.. where the rest of our friends were. We danced, listened to greek music and woundered home later that night.

Thursday was the Greek Independence Day where they had a parade. Rich, laura J, Jenna, and I went down to watch it. Of course it started late (I love greece :) ) and it made us all realize how much better our parades are.. haha. well not better but much more entertaining. The parade was a number of different groups of different military units marching. They had pretty authentic outfits which were cool to see but no loud music, floats, or candy :( afterwards everyone was packing and getting ready to go.

We left thessaloniki at 11pm for our train tide to athens. overnight+cramped=not fun. Eitherway we got there.. at 530am. Attempted to sleep in the train station for abit but got poked. That was annoying. So we just went to the airport... slept on and off there but did get chicken curry which always makes me happy. Finally got on our plane to rome. Arrived and went to the train station to go directly to Naploli. Had to take the slow train so didnt get there until around 10pm. It was one WONDERFUL day of traveling.

Friday brit, chels, becky, and I went all over Napoli. We saw many different Beautiful churches along with different historical sites. We had to do a little shopping as well, things here are pretty dang cheap!!! and the pizza is AMAZING!! so thats what we did for lunch. Our hostel owner, Giovanni, is awesome. We pretty much live in his house... there are 24 ppl that stay each night and last night he decided to cook us all dinner. It was really fun hanging out with everyone and having a "family" dinner. After din he took out his guitar and starting playing us songs and making us sing the chorus. It was a HOOT. we also sang hey jude (LOVE IT) and he had a man from spain play and a guy from japan. It was definatly an experience.

Soo today, sunday, got up and made our way to Pompeii. Its amazing to see the ruins and how their city truly was built. Its huge!! The amphitheater was really cool and seeing the casted people was awesome. It is kind of sad to see the positions these people laid in as the volcano erupted but the history is fascinating. I have been taking tooo many pictures but i have to remember everything.

Off to Capri tomorrow for an island and tanning day wootwoot :)

frazzled

This week has definatly been full of ups and downs. Classes and time are flying by its amazing. Midterms next week then spring break starts on thursday! All of our planning is finally going to happen. Brit, Chelsea, Becky, and I are off to Italy for 8 days! im so exited. Then becky's meeting her family and the three of us are heading down to egypt. That is definatly one place i never thought i would go.. but now i am! Although were not doing the typical, all over europe, spring break im really excited to spend some time in both of these places and maybe get a dose of the culture's in these 2 other countries. All i have is 3 midterms to get through and then its 2 and a half weeks of vacation.. Wootwoot!

St. Patty's day was on wednesday. We all found an irish pub and had the time of our lives there. We all wore green, had green hats, and danced the night away. It was a great night where everyone was just happy and enjoying themselves. No drama or anger or crazyy drunkin people doing dumb things. And best part was no hangover for school on thursday. i was actually productive. haha

As good of a week as its been it has definatly thrown me into a shock. Yesterday i found out about a friend of mine from Eau Claire had passed away in a tragic accident. It was very sudden and I still dont know how i feel about it. I wish i could be there supporting my friends who were so close to him. It's a weird feeling being in a place that brings me so much joy knowing about all the pain thats going on at home. That on top of not knowing how to deal with this myself. I have many close friends here but talking about death is always such a sensitive subject that no one truely understands. I'm just going to stay in touch with people at home the best I can. Just letting them know how much I am there for them even though im not physically there is the best i can do and i know it means a lot to them. It makes me realize again that nothing is forever and not to take these friendships as well as past friendships for granted.

Soo... on that note im going to try and go out this weekend enjoy my time in Thessaloniki before leaving for Italy. We were thinking of a day trip so we'll see if that one happens.. I hope so.

Ioannina, Meteora and then somee..

Sooo.... with the crash of my computer :( sad i know its def been a while since i have updated this thing. I think im slowly starting to figure out that this blog thing is deff not the thing for me but im going to keep trying.


So lets rewindddd time.

The wknd of the Feb 28- march 1st we went the visit a cave in Ioannina. It had awesome formations inside. The bus ride also showed some amazing views. When we were going from Ioannina to Meteora we were literally driving on the edge of a clift... and our bus driver was crazzyyy. He was speeding past semis and stuff so i just closed my eyes. The view however was awesome. Meteora is definatly the most amazing place I have ever been. This city has monestaries build into the top of sandstone piler rocks. The way they are built is amazing, having the monks build them up soo high suck a long time ago. It was very cool being able to go through 2 different monistaries and seeing the similaries and differences. I learned a lot about their culture and religion when there also. Their mosques have amazing art work inside that all tells a story. You can just feel the sense of faith when being there. It was so peaceful. I also felt bad at some points because this is these monk's home and place of worship yet there are so many tourists and people just wondering around. It's a shame that such a religious place has been turned into a tourist spot, however I did love being able to be there and understand that part of their culture.

Sooo... besides that trip the following week brought more school and life. Everyday is a new adventure. I love getting up and going for runs by the water in the morning. its a great place to just reflect and have some time alone (which I love :) ) We also go to the open market every week which has become normal now. Its nuts that after over 6 weeks im already becoming so accustom to the way things are done here.

Greek culture truely facinates me. Everything is very laid back which is def a nice change of pace, especially for this girl. Im so used to having to plan out every minute of my life to fit everything in. In Greece though, I feel soo much for relaxed.. and no anxiety at all. Homework gets done at school and then its just being in the city and going where the day takes you. The changing economic issues here also facinate me. The greek economy is definatly not doing well and there have been a lot of cuts to the public sector, and these people have such a different way of voicing their anger. Strikes are just a common everyday thing here. Buses going on strike or taxi's. It's a once a week occurance that you learn to work around.

I also love that when you go to coffee of dinner it is NEVER a rush to leave. You can stay as longg as you want and just enjoy the time you have with the people you are with. Again its just a much more laid back atmosphere.

Ok im going to try really hard to make this a weekly thing from now on!