GREECE

γειά σου! Apparently that means hello in Greek…

This weekend started a little early with a Thursday morning flight to Athens. Normally our flights take off on time, but this week we took off an hour and 30 minutes later than planned.  Luckily, we had time to spare and neighbors to keep us entertained. We got split up on this flight and each ended up in the middle of a row. This flight was our first taste of Grecian hospitality. Katie learned all about Mykonos from her seat mate. Brynne learned about Greek history, specific spots in Athens and the guy's whole life history. Meagan also learned all about her seat mate's life and some specifics about Athens. Needless to say, we were well informed before we even took off, and Brynne continued to have a three hour conversation about the guy's life.

When we finally landed in Athens, we had to take a taxi to the port. For the ride, we found the most delicious fresh Greek chocolate milk and hopped in a taxi. Our driver was another great example of Grecian hospitality and we enjoyed learning about his favorite spots in Greece. We don't know what we were expecting, but when we arrived at the port and saw cars driving onto the ferry, we were a tad bit surprised. It was a miniature cruise ship. We spent the next five hours learning even more about each other's lives and dreams if you think thats possible… Late Thursday night, we arrived to Mykonos, which is one of the Greek Isles. The sweet hostel owner picked us up from the port and took us to our hostel, which was a typical white Grecian building with blue doors. Exhausted from our day of traveling, we went to bed and woke up ready for a day of exploring.

Friday morning, we had our first view of the city. From the window of our hostel, we could see the ocean and all the beautiful white buildings. We walked to the seaside and ate breakfast at a local café along the water. Then, we decided to browse down the shopping street of Mykonos.
Our first stop was in a ceramic shop with locally painted pottery. The owner invited us in and proceeded to give us life lessons for the next 20 minutes. It's an experience we will never forget and a wonderful example of how welcoming the Grecians were to us. From there, we continued to wander the streets, but everything was pretty pricy. We found jewelry, but that was the extent. When we reached the end of the street, we followed the path toward the ocean, and we picked up a new friend along the way-a dog. He followed us all the way to the ocean and explored the coast with us. It was nice to have a 'pet' with us for a while. Brynne also made friends with every cat on that island, and let us tell you, there were a lot of cats on that island.

We eventually made it to Venice Beach, but sadly, the shops and restaurants  were shut down for remodeling, so we continued on to the windmills. At this point, we were hungry, so we went back to the ocean-front cafés and ordered Greek salads in Greece, in case you forgot where we were. We enjoyed the rest of our day exploring the island, eating another Greek salad and finished our night by watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. For those of you who don't know, this movie takes place in Greece and we loved watching it while having the same views right outside of our window.

Saturday morning began with the most delicious croissants you could ever imagine. Following breakfast, we went to Mykonos' beach that is famous for its 24-hour parties during the summer. However, it was deserted because tourist season has not started yet. Our time in Mykonos came to an end and the hostel owner took us back to the port. This island was full of the most hospitable people and one of the most welcoming places we have been all semester! Our 5 hour ferry ride back to Athens was interesting to say the least. We started with an empty ferry to ourselves, but at the first stop, picked up many new Grecian 'friends'. They do not have a personal bubble AT ALL and invaded our space while we tried to study for our finals. See picture for proof. They also ate disgusting smelling food and smacked in our ears. for. four. hours. However, we were very productive and finally arrived in Athens where we got on a bus to the city center and arrived at our hostel, which more like a hotel. As we drove past the original Olympic Stadium, we also got our first view of the Parthenon. We were in complete shock and had no clue it was going to be on a huge hill in the middle of the city. We spent the night in a famous square and on popular streets enjoying the energy and eating gyros. The nightlife was lively with people enjoying the night on every street.

Sunday began with more yummy croissants on our way to Melissino's-The Poet Sandalmaker. He has made sandals for Sarah Jessica Parker, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jackie O and Bob Saget. We each bought a handmade pair of Grecian leather sandals that they custom fit to our feet. From there, we got on our hop-on-hop-off tour bus, which took us to the Acropolis.

On the way up to the Acropolis, we found the rock where Paul preached to the ancient Greeks about the new Christian faith, and we were in awe that we were standing right where Paul had once stood. As we continued on, we saw the Theater of Dionysus where theater began. Then, we went up the hill to the Acropolis and Parthenon. This view of the city was breathtaking, and it was very surreal to be within the columns of the Parthenon.

We quickly descended in order to catch our bus to head to the original Olympic Stadium. As you've probably picked up by now, we are all so intrigued by the Olympics, so we loved this site! We got to walk the entire stadium, run on the track, hear the history and even see the old locker rooms which now hold all of the Olympic torches! After this stop, we got back on the bus and enjoyed listening to the history of all the famous sights we passed. We returned to our favorite square from the night before and got frozen Greek yogurt in Greece, in case you forgot where we were. We wandered the streets looking at the numerous jewelry and sandal shops. It started pouring down rain, so we had to dodge from awning to awning because we were too stubborn to buy umbrellas from the men selling them on the streets. The rain eventually stopped, and we made it back to the hostel to grab our backpacks and take the train to the airport. Luckily, our flight wasn't full, so we moved and got sufficient room to sleep and work on some homework before arriving back in Barcelona at 12:25 a.m.

It's officially finals week, so we are studying like crazy! Our time here is winding down, and we are getting very sentimental with every step we take. However, we are very excited to see all the familiar faces back home!

Here's the video! http://youtu.be/eFAPgqdmvdo

We love you all!
Brynne, Katie & Meagan