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!