Greece wasn't my favorite place

things I forgot!
I played dodgeball! it was short. also I attempted one of the Insanity workouts, I got through the warmup and gave up. don't judge me! it was rough, and I haven't done any kind of workout since like... March!
I got some gum in Croatia, it's black mint flavor. based on what it tasted like, I think it's licorice and mint. it's weird.

two more days of class down! now we're in Greece! my first day I have spent doing approximately nothing so far. I was up late to watch us dock at like 230am. it takes aaaages. but coming into port at night is really nice. it's a lot easier to stay awake at night than it is to wake up at 6 in the morning to watch :P  So anyway Sam and Emily abandoned me to go on an SaS trip and I am chilling. I might go roam around Piraeus in a bit, apparently it's a pretty nice city. :)

I went to fill up my water bottle a few minutes ago and there is like, no one left on the ship.

At the diplomatic briefing this morning it was pretty empty in the union. I think people are starting to think that all of them are pretty much saying the same things. which they are.

Ice Age 2 is on today. <3 Scrat! :3

and now to catch up:

I went out by myself for a little bit and ended up catching up to Amanda and Casey. we walked around and browsed some shops and generally had a pleasant time :) I bought a pretty blue dress ^-^

that night I went out and had some fun with friends, it was crazy!

Delphi Day
I went to Delphi! and a  monastery! I was really tired that day, so I don't have a lot to say about it. It was really pretty, and there was a cool museum at Delphi. and there was a mummy in the monastery. woo!

Also, there were GIANT spiders at Delphi! they looked practically prehistoric.

that night I slept for a very long time.

The Next Day
We went to the sea turtle protection society of Greece! I learned about sea turtles and rehabilitating them and I got a cool t-shirt and I hung out with Peter :)

THEN! Sam, Emily and I took an overnight ferry to Santorini :) It was a good adventure, but pretty awful during the experience :P first of all, we were nearly late for the ferry because we had the wrong gate, so we RAN to the right one and juuuust made it! so then we had to find a spot to sleep and we ended up in this hallway on the floor right where the door to the deck was and also the guys' restroom. so that was awesome with doors opening and closing and sending drafts all night. AND we had an old dude right next to us that was like, sick or something and kept gurgling mucous and talking in his sleep. bluh. and that morning the couple that was also in the same hallway started talking loudly at like 630. >:| needless to say, I was not a very happy camper.

So when we finally got to the island we went out on the deck to look at it... what a disappointment. Santorini is an island of cliffs. the ferry port is not very attractive at all, it's all of about ten buildings advertising accomodations and taxis and rent-a-car services.. along with a couple restaurants and like 2 souvenir shops.

we thought we were going to be hiking to the beach, but that would be a bad idea given the cliffyness of the area and also the lack of sidewalk along the tiny switchback road up to the next town. and yes, cliffyness is definitely a word. :P

anyway so we took a taxi up to Messaria, which was a cute little town. from there we walked to Fira, which was a slightly larger cute little town. there we found what was, to us, the best part of the island. A little shop with handmade and hand-painted ceramic plates and bowls and the nicest lady I met in Greece. I even got a picture with her when were leaving :) we bought some stuff there and she wrapped it all in bubble wrap to make sure it didn't break and even gift-wrapped it :) she was SO NICE. ^-^

after that we got some noms and had some fun with the guy who worked there, he kept picking on Emily. it was pretty entertaining. and next to us was this german guy who was trying to talk to us in very, very broken english. at one point he said "I am speak like.. Tarzan.. yes?" or something like that. we laughed pretty hard. :P

then we went to Monolithos beach, which was my first experience with black sand.. it was HOT. and the water was gross and filled with debris. pretty sure I saw a fish head floating in the water. XP I got the heebie-jeebies! definitely the grossest beach I've ever been to. I promptly got out of the water and off the sand.

then we went back to the port and had a smoothie and got on the ferry back to Piraeus! this lovely 8 hour trip wasn't much better. I pretty much read the rest of Life of Pi as I sat, uncomfortable, in a small chair in a narrow hallway.

we were glad to get back to the ship and shower and sleep.

Last Day in Greece!
We walked around Piraeus a little bit and internetted a little bit, then got on the ship and took off for Turkey. woo!

Turkey Day
I don't know why they decide to host a bunch of programs when they know that all the students want to do is catch up on sleep. I went to some though. one about Turkish music, which was interesting, one that was just to meet other people on the ship, which was fun, I went to the bible study on the ship for the first time, which was good, and that night they showed a movie called Midnight Express. It was pretty scary. Mom, don't watch it, at least not until I leave Turkey. After that movie, since most of us were horrified, we decided to watch a happy movie. It ended up being like, 9 girls in one cabin and we were singing and chatting and we didn't actually watch a movie at all! we bonded until like, 3am though, haha.

Today!
we had the diplomatic briefing. they stamped our passports! out of all the countries I've been to now, I only have stamps from Canada, Greece, and Turkey. LAMESAUCE. I have other proof of being there though :P

I had an SaS trip today, it was for my Energy and Society class. We had a lady from the University here come and talk to us about Turkey's transportation issues and stuff. then we actually went to the University and had lunch there, which was pretty tasty. :) we were going to go to the Princes' islands (a car-free place!), but then it started raining (for the first time in a month!) and apparently it's pretty open on the island and half of us didn't have umbrellas or rain jackets on us. So we stayed and had Turkish coffee instead!

We came back to the ship and got some rain gear and I walked around the city with a couple other girls. Now I'm just waiting for Sam and Emily to get back from their city orientation! I really like Istanbul so far, I have high hopes for it. :)

There are probably a dozen things I forgot to mention, but I wanted to get you updated real quick on the important stuff.

love and kisses!