Day 10 :: Going Home Day

Today we left Athens. It was sad, but exciting.

I am ready.

and I am not.

Athens was spectacular. I loved Greece. It is such a beautiful place.

I will miss the comfort of built in community, European hospitality, no real responsibility.

I will not miss language barriers, lack of movies, seeing the same people everyday

Day 9 :: Last Day--Athens!

Athens is a really neat city. It seems so much more genunie than Rome to me. I feel like in Athens there are real people living here. It is not just all tourists and merchants. Its a nice feeling. We saw so many cool things in Athens. We began the day seeing the first modern Olympic Stadium. It was really cool. Totally not what I expected, but beautiful nevertheless. It was built for the 1896 games.

After that we went and saw the Acropolis and the Parthenon (not to be confussed, but often is, with the Pantheon)! It was pretty niffty. Although, I think it in someways was too bad we saw that on our last day. I think it would have been more exciting if if had been earlier. At this point, some stuff just looks like more ruins. You lose the awe factor a bit. The Parthenon has a bunch of scaffolding on it. It used to be that you could go inside the Parthenon, but just within the past several years, that is no longer an option.

I would say that if we could have seen the whole thing or gone inside it would have been more exciting, but oh well. It was cool to be up there, the city of Athens is huge. You can't really even describe it. Its like nothing I have seen before. I really liked it!

We also went to the Plaka district which was really cool. It was sorta like a farmers market, meets flee market, meets mall. I donno. It was just really cool. Rachel and Rebecca went back to the hotel early in the day, but Bethany and I stayed. It was fun. We got to see some churches and stuff. Beautiful Beautiful Greek Orthodox Churches. I guess thats to be expected...

It was nice to not be traveling around the area in a giant pack.

I can't believe we go home in the morning. I am ready...I think. But sad still. Tonight, as it is our last night, we are going to a Hookah Bar. I am sorta excited. Hookah is a big deal in greece...apparently.

Day 8 :: Dephi and Athens

Wow. I had no idea that the Oracle of Delphi was going to be so impressive, or so important!! At the Oracle is the Temple of Apollo. It was just so impressive. The temple of Apollo was actually a place in which God communicated with people for many years. I also learned that Delphi, according to Greek Mythology, is the center of the universe. It sure was beautiful up there.

We also leaned that unlike Rome, Greece does not rebuild ruins like Rome does. That was fascinating to me. That basically meant then that everything we saw was real. It is crazy to think that people would come there to praise Apollo and hear words of wisdom. Its...I don't even know...mind blowing to me.

From Delphi we once again got on a bus. I have to say that there is a lot of travel involved in this trip. Almost too much if you ask me. I am basically ready to just get somewhere and stay put. It makes me really thankful, looking back on it, that I didn't go to Florence. I think it would have been fanstatic, but also really a lot more travel.

We arrived in Athens about 6pm. We had dinner on our own, so the Trinity group found this little place and Gyro. It was so good. I really really like greek food. We had the best meal for lunch today on our way out of Delphi. It was so good. Y-u-m-m-y!

Then after everyone ate individually, we took the metro into the city and took this little rail car up a mountain to look over the city of Athens. It was beautiful. Hard to take picture of this though. but it was super spectacular!

Day 7 :: Arrive in Greece

Finally after many hours on a ferry we arrived in Greece. Our first stop in this country was Delphi. In Italy we went from big city to small town, and in Greece we are going from small town (Delphi) to big city tomorrow (Athens). Delphi is the cutest little town. I just love it here. It sorta reminds me to Sitka. Just two short streets with tourist little shops. All the owners are super excited when we come into town, because they don't see a lot of business in the off-season (winter).

We learned that Greeks speak a lot more english than Italians. The reason they say, is because Greeks don't dub american television like Italians do. I don't know why but I find that fascinating. I think in my short time here, I believe that though.

It is hard for me to believe that we go some so soon! This day is all gone and then we just basically have tomorrow and the next day, and then we leave. This trip has gone by so quickly.

I hope I like Athens!

Day 6 :: Pompeii and Ferry

So out of the blue... I think today was my favorite day! I didn't expect Pompeii to do so fascinating. It was truly fascinating! WoW! I just...yeah...wow. It was so cool to see the ancient city. The things that were thought of so many years ago that are still in use in some way today. The Romans were hecka smart. I was so impressed. Yup. Favorite Stop. Hand down. (at least so far!) How cool is it that all that was preserved. I have to wonder and awe in the fact that God protected all that stuff. Things are destroyed everyday, but despite of that, for whatever reason, Pompeii was remained intact. It was really neat to see it.

After Pompeii we had lunch, it was pretty exciting for lunch. Rebecca got to eat her first bowl of pasta because they actually had rice noodles. it was pretty fantastic! The rest of us got soda, fries, pizza, and ice cream. It was delicious. Then we got back on the bus and headed to the ferry that would take us to Greece.

We arrived at the ferry and boarded. Like 3 hours early. Which seemed sorta like a waste of time but whatever. The boat has internet, so thats exciting. Also, we get rooms. I totally didn't expect that. I was pretty sure, after my alaska ferry experience, that we would have to sleep in chair and whatnot. It was nice to have beds. The ferry ride was very rocky and stormy. Water was splashing up all over the sides of the boat. It was pretty cool. I really like sleeping on a boat. It is soothing. Also, because we had nowhere to be in the morning, just more time on the boat, we got to sleep in a little which was nice.

Day 5 :: Sorrento

Today we left Rome. It was sorta exciting, and sorta sad. I realized after reading over my last entries that I never threw any coins in the Trevi. Oh well. That just means I will have to come back! For sure! Today we went to see Mount Vesuvius. Vesuvius is an active volcano. It was really cool, but the hike up nearly killed me. It wasn't super long, but it was really steep and like sand. Yup...nearly died. The views and the volcano were so cool though. I have only ever been to one other active volcano, in Hawaii. It was really a cool experience, and one that will be fun to talk about because all the people I know who have been to Italy have not done the Vesuvius hike. After the hike we went into Sorrento. Rebecca, Jennifer and I got like the "honeymoon sweet" It was on its own floor and everything. We have a balcony that is huge and overlooks the ocean. Its beautiful. Love, love, love it. We found this great little bar that has internet, so that was nice. The owner was super nice to us. It really does make the experience for me when I am able to interact with locals. Sorrento is famous for the Limoncello...yummy!

Day 4 :: FREE DAY!

Today is my free day in Rome! Yay! Unfortunatly, Rebecca went to Florence, but fortunatly Bethany and Rachel didn't, so that was helpful. I have to say that they have been such a saving grace for me here. Last night we went out and had a blast. We met these locals at a restaurant, and they took us out. Before that, we hung out "after hours" in their restaurant. It was super fun. I think it was good to be out, it made it seem more realistic that we were really in Rome. I had a good time! This morning we slept in a bit, and then headed in, via the subway, to the vatican...to SEE THE POPE! wow. it was so exciting. I didn't expect to be able to understand anything he was saying, but he actually did speak in english as well as Italian, Latin, Spanish, German, English. It was so cool. Wow. Yeah...the whole thing was super cool. Today was cool too because we got to see such a wide demographic of people. Plus we were traveling with just a few of us (Rachel, Bethany and I mostly) and so we didn't stick out quite as bad. At the pope's apperance there was a huge demographic of people. I wonder if the pope ever laughs at all the people after the appearance. There were people with flags and all sorts or signs and stuff. It was funny. Like a low-key sporting event almost. We bought all day metro passes so from the Vatican we ate lunch, I bought 6 rosaries, and then we got back on the metro and we back to Trevi Square. We wanted to try to do some shopping and just have a low-key day. It was perfect. We ate at this place the hotel recommended, it was not so perfect. I feel like nothing i eat has been that satisfying. I was up all last night, so basically, I was exausted. Went to bed...really early!

Day 3 :: Vatican City (and Rome Part II)

Today was Vatican Day!! The most exciting thing for the only Catholic and Trinity to see! It was glorious. So much more beautiful and impressive then you could ever imagine. The tour was a bit slow, but it was still...wow...breath-taking. I took some pictures of the "touch" in the Sistine Chapel. Its illegal, but I am pretty sure just about everyone from our group did that. It was impressive. St. Peter's was beautiful. They had like tons and tons of catholic goodies. Unfortunatly the time we had to look around was short, but I just took tons and tons of pictures. I am super excited to see some of my picture on a computer screen rather than on my little camera screen. I forgot to bring an extra memory card. Luckily, I think that Rebecca said she has an extra, so thats good...hopefully. The Vatican was....just so cool! I can't even vocalize. From the Vatican, we went to the Colosseum and then to the Forum. I knew stuff about the Colosseum, but not so much about the Forum. I think that the Forum was actually one of the coolest things. It was neat because there were giant pieces of ancient marble and you could stand and touch and whatever with the things. It was cool, because very little was roped off. The Colosseum was super impressive too. I think that its been kinda challenging being here, and feeling like what we are seeing is "real". We are only sightseeing, so we don't really see any "locals" who are just constantly trying to sell things. I wish that there was more interaction with the "real world" of Rome.

Oh, and I found out that the Pope is making an apperance tomorrow, on my free day. I am so excited! EEEE!!! I can't believe my luck in this!

Day 2 :: Arrive In Eternal City

I can hardly believe that we are in Rome!! The Eternal City! How crazy is that?? It was so excited to get off the plane today. We had about an hour to kill while we waited for the other group. We got money out of the ATM. It was especially exciting for me. I have never used foreign currency before!! People were sorta concerned with how excited I was. We left and began driving through the city, it is unreal. I can hardly believe it. Its so unreal. I know I keep saying that, but its so true! I am so excited to finally be here. We were unsure what we were going to do the first day. We met our tour guide, David. He is from England. He is pretty legit. He took us to our hotel, which is right across the street from the main metro station in Rome. From there we had a little down time and then went, via walking, to the Trevi fountain. In some ways I wish we would have not started with something so cool. (Although I don't know what that would be). It was just super unreal to me. We had lunch there. It was yummy and a fun first meal. I had pizza! haha. Ordering was sorta challenging. The menu was like 1/2 english. I ordered "safely"! The Trevi Fountain was impressive. I didn't throw any coins in. I guess maybe I should have? I donno. Tonight we are talking about maybe going out and seeing the fountain at night. So maybe throw the coin(s) in then? Who knows. From the fountain, we went to the Pantheon. I didn't realize that the Pantheon was just right around the corner from Trevi Square. I didn't really know anything about the Pantheon, truth be told. We learned some really cool thing about it though. I didn't realize it, but the Pantheon is a church. The dome is the second biggest dome in Rome. It is huge. It was built in the dimentions of an EGG! how cool is that? It was a truely beautiful building. There was beautifiul Catholic-esque decor. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. There was also a nativity still set up inside! From there we walked to the Spanish Steps. All the way there is a street with designer labels. It was pretty impressive. Finally, we took the subway back to the hotel, to get ready for dinner...which was good. and involved wine.

GREAT FIRST DAY ABROAD!!

Day 1 :: Departure to JFK!

Today we leave.

Today we fly.

I can hardly believe that we leave for the airport in just a few hours. I am so ready to have a break from everything. I am a little nervous about the trip. I think it will be fun and fine, but it is my first time abroad. I am not looking forward to our long plane ride across the Atlantic. It about a 9 hour flight I think. Thats rather intesnse. Especially since its 6 hours to JFK. Or something like that. We had a couple to pre-trip meetings in the last few days. It has been helpful to learn some more about the area as well as communications/rhetoric. Rebecca and I packed super light, so that should be really nice for the trip. I will be able to carry everything on, which ensures that nothing will get lost!