tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167706821028330362024-02-19T04:42:43.959+02:00Macy Goes GreekMacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-55196512598585883922011-12-20T21:19:00.000+02:002011-12-20T21:19:32.831+02:00it's over?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I can't believe 4 months have passed and I am back in America. It's so strange to me to be here and I think readjusting to life back in the states is going to take some time. Le sigh. Anyways, I wanted to give a brief review of my final days in Athens.<br />
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I finished my finals on Tuesday, and had the rest of the week to explore my city and spend time with the friends I had made in my program/Greek friends. Sakina and I decided to check out what was formerly the Gas Works of Gazi. It was a really neat area, in terms of architecture and use of space. Apparently they use the buildings now to hold conferences for architecture. We went in the later afternoon, around 4, just when the colors in the sky were beginning to change and the sun fade. It was so peaceful just sitting there, recounting all the experiences we had while abroad. I felt extremely fortunate to have met Sakina and be able to create such a wonderful friendship. I'm currently experiencing Sakina Mou withdrawals.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the clouds are always incredible.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">graffiti <3</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">gas works.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">create into a cafe.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sat at the top of these stairs.</td></tr>
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The rest of the week included last minute shopping, a concert wednesday at one of our favorite bars and lovely dinners at some wonderful tavernas. It was nice to end things in a relaxed manner instead of coming directly off stressful finals. Our last nights we said our good-byes to our favorite bar/club owners in the Gaz Gaz. Our favorite bar owner, George, at Soho sent us off well and it was sad to have to leave. I had created such beautiful relationships with the people of the city and country that I felt as though I was really leaving home. </div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-37971076807684183772011-12-11T15:34:00.000+02:002011-12-11T15:34:25.206+02:00blog link and picture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">here's the link to Alex's hair blog and a photo he took of me!<br />
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hope you enjoy<br />
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<a href="http://alexscissors.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/macy/">Hair Blog</a><br />
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</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-86207962926749433162011-12-10T15:51:00.002+02:002011-12-11T15:35:45.910+02:00hair cut anyone?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">As many of you know, I take great pride in my hair, so I always seem to have a hard time deciding what to do with it in terms of cutting it. I'd like to think that one day I will take that huge leap and chop it all off, but we all know that day is far from today. Anyways, my good friend Yiota from CYA showed me this blog of her friend who cuts hair and takes photos of his work. He's a hair stylist as well as a photographer. Talk about amazing in art. I saw some photos of others and of her that he had done and thought he was amazing. After mentioning to her weeks later from seeing the blog that I wanted to cut my hair, she asked me if I would want to have Alex cut my hair. Heck yeah! I was so excited but also really nervous. There have only been 2 people that have actually styled my hair when cutting, so it was going to be a big step for me. As the days came closer I played with the idea of cutting it short, keeping it straight or going with something in the middle. At last I was on my way to his place where I was meeting him and Yiota. It was after a really stressful Greek final, so in a way it was a nice shift in moods.<br />
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I arrived at his beautiful loft and immediately we got down to business. I threw out the idea of cutting it short and immediately he said "no". Haha. In a good way of course. He explained to me that with my hair, he was going to respect the length because it is just too "beautiful" as he said. I was really relieved actually because I didn't know how well I was going to deal with chopping it off. Ha, go figure. As we talked, he mentioned to me that he would really like to shoot me for his photo blog. I was ECSTATIC. Because I had agreed, he told me I would have my make up done by his make up artist friend, Renny, and that he had an idea for clothes to put me in. This had gone from a hair cut to a full blown photo shoot and I was not complaining.<br />
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The styling began and he did the most amazing job. He took off about 4 inches, which to many might be a lot, but with my hair you can barely even tell it's been cut. He also did a few layers that made my hair feel a lot lighter and look really healthy. All the dead ends and dry parts were gone. Next we talked about what to do with my bangs. He wanted to give me this new fringe. I was scared because I've always done side bangs, but began to grow into the idea. In the end we decided to keep the side swipe because it works well with my face. Whew! In total it took about an hour and a half to style and cut my hair because this head has a lot of hair. During the entire time we had some hilarious conversation about Greek life, relationships, zodiac signs and pretty much anything you can think of. The three of us enjoyed one another's company and I really started to feel comfortable.<br />
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Next we moved to the make-up and photo shoot. Romy is this beautiful German who has lived in Greece 18 years. She came here when she was 4, so she considers herself Greek. She was lovely and so pretty. She told me that my eye shape was easy to work with and that made me happy because I call my eyes big ol' fish eyes. Haha. She works in the fashion and film industry doing make-up for the productions. At last Alex showed me the "outfit" he had planned for me. It was a fun dotted type, bubble-y top with strings in the back. It was complicated to put on, but once we figured it out (3 of us), I really loved it. I was placed against a white wall with lighting, shadows, etc. So awesome. I had tons of fun being a model for a day. He's going to post to his blog and send me the link/pictures from the shoot. I'll be sure to post that link late.<br />
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Overall I had one of the most amazing times since being in Greece. Alex and Yiota were so fun and kind to me. We shared music, talks, advice and laughter. It still amazes me that I have been able to meet such genuine, wonderful and beautiful (inside/outside) human beings here in Greece. I'm so grateful that I can make positive impression on people to the point where they want to introduce me to their friends. I'm glad I have a friendship with Yiota and now Alex. We've planned to get drinks on Tuesday :D</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-90947004127506774372011-11-25T12:05:00.002+02:002011-11-25T12:07:20.468+02:00People and Opportunities.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">A few years ago, I was asked, "What do you have to be thankful for?" I was first thrown off by this question because you normally hear it during the holidays (i.e THANKSgiving and Christmas), but this was just an ordinary email from an old friend. I thought about it, gave a quick answer and continued with my day. However, I continue to think about my answer then and my answer now. While there are enormous differences, one thing remained constant: the people in my life. I have had incredible luck in being able to call certain people in my life "family", and not in just the literal meaning of being blood related.<br />
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I come from a very complicated past, one that resulted in a very slim number of blood-related family members being a part of my life. As a result, I found myself making my OWN family, one that included the people in my life who most wished to see me succeed and more importantly, be a part of that success. Even though I don't have my own set of parents, at Bowdoin I have found more pairs of parents that any other person I know. I like to think I'm the lucky one because most people have two parents, sometimes four with remarriages, but me, I have double that. In addition to that, I get to CHOOSE my siblings. Yeah, talk about winning! There are countless people in my life these days that I consider family and man, do I have a great family. So, I'm grateful for what happened in my past because I was presented with an amazing opportunity to create my own family.<br />
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I'm also most grateful for the opportunities that have come my way. Thinking about my past 6 months alone, I have to really take it all in. I often lose sight of everything I've done. From living in India this summer working on a project with the most amazing students I've ever met to traveling all around Europe/Greece this semester. I never imagined that at 20 I would have done the things I have done. I forget to slow down and embrace that sometimes. I am grateful because what I've been through has made me the incredibly strong person I am today.<br />
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I wanted to give a few shout outs and thanks to the following:<br />
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Casey Family<br />
Amaez/Purnell Family<br />
Kitch/Cooper Family<br />
Elmer and Nicole<br />
Rhoan<br />
Scott, Claudia and the Admissions staff<br />
Matoin Family<br />
Otrickey Family ;D<br />
My Bowdoin Lovelies<br />
Caron Family<br />
Dean of Student Affairs office<br />
McKeen Center<br />
Sakina</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-51671526343248680882011-11-16T20:22:00.000+02:002011-11-16T20:22:51.528+02:00Sakina Mou<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wanted to take this opportunity to write a bit about someone who has become my foundation and inspiration here in Greece. Her name is Sakina, but I call her Sakina Mou (my Sakina in Greek) or 'Kina for short. We met on the first day because we both arrived late, and she was to be the roommate to the other girl to arrive on the last day. Little did I know that our friendship would blossom into one I see lasting til the end of time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Her birthday was towards the beginning of our program, so we decided to go to Santorini. After all my travels up until now, that is still one of my favorite weekends to date. Sakina is one of the most genuinely, warm hearted people I have had the opportunity to meet. She constantly thinks about others' feelings and is quick to ask, "how are you?" In a place where we're all struggling to get the most out of our time, I think it's so vital to ask that question in order to maintain sanity. It's a small gesture, but one I don't take for granted and neither does she. We've gotten to the point in our friendship where we can look at each other and already know the mood, ideas or feelings of one another. It's something I admire in our friendship.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwB4kB3kwniJNdfXb6-VJAAeLTaok_Au8oxhqRQYxRazpxIa9mgvKssnBsYK43Vd2-7gpSTmQoFk67XktKvV2aVkp88Wxx7rj1a3GJdWhotr9kSIogI_FizU-e_1EHlJFditC2T8hnWGjM/s1600/IMG_0307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwB4kB3kwniJNdfXb6-VJAAeLTaok_Au8oxhqRQYxRazpxIa9mgvKssnBsYK43Vd2-7gpSTmQoFk67XktKvV2aVkp88Wxx7rj1a3GJdWhotr9kSIogI_FizU-e_1EHlJFditC2T8hnWGjM/s320/IMG_0307.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Not only do we connect well in terms of where our heads are at, she is always up to dance. I love dancing and never thought I'd find someone who loved it as much as me, or someone who'd be willing to dance at any time: weekday, daytime, anywhere. Sakina is my main dance partner. We can go out, just the two of us and dance our happy butts off into the wee hours of the morning and do it again the next night. #Awesome.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvWhrRiHW1PL0vzhVKbCNdK-KYOBB5YdqXwN0qSd9-9rMiQvVVeegLRdMMZUuHCnNh6GYeS0Nwel5szfXMP0Sfd36w8CK6jiXuMffvrlYPzw9pzVZudkSNlTW01G6wk_t5yr4RYILaE_b3/s1600/IMG_0392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvWhrRiHW1PL0vzhVKbCNdK-KYOBB5YdqXwN0qSd9-9rMiQvVVeegLRdMMZUuHCnNh6GYeS0Nwel5szfXMP0Sfd36w8CK6jiXuMffvrlYPzw9pzVZudkSNlTW01G6wk_t5yr4RYILaE_b3/s320/IMG_0392.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Not only do we share our passion for dance, Sakina and I spend a lot of time talking about serious things within our lives. I've found it amazingly easy to open my heart to her, and in return she has been able to gain the same trust and confidence. Whenever I have a problem, big or small, I know I can turn to Sakina to get a REAL, honest answer or opinion of the matter. Her rawness is something I think is hard to find no matter where you go and no matter how long you've known someone, it's never easy to be brutally honest. I would die here without her.</div><br />
</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-42283857548879937212011-11-08T22:28:00.001+02:002011-11-08T22:30:42.230+02:00is there a bar near by?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today Greek class got real hands on. Believe it or not, my Greek professor played wing woman to me. Yeah, I know. AWESOME! We were in class and all of a sudden she tells us all to get up because we're taking it to the streets. Ha, I felt like I was in Step Up 2. Anyways, the objective was to ask random people on the street if there was [fill in the blank] near by. I got mine quickly out of the way asking an older gentleman if there was a pharmacy near by. Whew, thank goodness I was able to mutter the correct question. Believe it or not, I also understood the answer! Aw yeah.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A few more people continued to find other people and ask their own questions. Then while at a bus stop, our professor spotted a cute, hazelly blue-eyed gentleman and gathered us to ask which girl was going to be brave enough to talk to him. Clearly I jumped at the opportunity. When would I ever had the chance again? So, I walked up to him scrambling to think of the Greek word for 'bar'. I freaked and that was the first thing that came to mind. Keep in mind it's not even 2 in the afternoon at this point. When I ask, he immediately replies, " A bar? it's in the afternoon". Of course it was in Greek- which I also understood! He looked at me funny and continued to chat and I said, "yeah, a casual beer". Bah, it was hilarious. My professor began to laugh and told me it was time to go. I was into the conversation so I was bummed we had to skiddadle.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As we were walking away, I asked her how to say, "what's your number" in Greek and she began to laugh saying, "Now, you are too advanced, Macy!" Bah, it made me cry with laughter. It was hilarious because when we were back in class, she started saying other things I could've said to him INCLUDING: "when will you be back at your house?" and "when will you be at MY house". Greatest. wing woman. ever.</span></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-12644397656317980682011-11-07T22:50:00.000+02:002011-11-07T22:50:33.524+02:00Prague in Pictures.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEzMgwey3FQ-fAyHwtHwwv-x6hRBWOrYmlVX9jpuE5BhSu6ontLMShh9uQ-gRFjrlGE-BgNf3MHhvoHb8AZYMgkd1ZERX3eU5q9YhTOCC0ToNuNXoUCbtIYiUz-Pzp9fhochtKNaPl5PA/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEzMgwey3FQ-fAyHwtHwwv-x6hRBWOrYmlVX9jpuE5BhSu6ontLMShh9uQ-gRFjrlGE-BgNf3MHhvoHb8AZYMgkd1ZERX3eU5q9YhTOCC0ToNuNXoUCbtIYiUz-Pzp9fhochtKNaPl5PA/s320/IMG_0003.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">love the architecture :D</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5iXye9KiL7NBDIr4MpLdKaez9OL3qM2tRbh6rcfZFGlTNHE9Xnxg07-2YUVOFU_d3U-jAicenEHvAMJpX1SqsGX9E5KaUx3XoBlV5mIg7BmFtltZllzymvxi79XLM4J9kRcofpTVD95tp/s1600/IMG_0017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5iXye9KiL7NBDIr4MpLdKaez9OL3qM2tRbh6rcfZFGlTNHE9Xnxg07-2YUVOFU_d3U-jAicenEHvAMJpX1SqsGX9E5KaUx3XoBlV5mIg7BmFtltZllzymvxi79XLM4J9kRcofpTVD95tp/s320/IMG_0017.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">charles bridge anyone?</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3YvN0j_zWEQ08rrDS1ekPG41iDMoiUAFEDqHX9zaCvjbGBifD4ALxfxZQdCmVyfnFBjA_n9TrNwHvXvBMec1hf76_ED01son5A9vHzoIfc52qoCyMAoP05XEgrST1dH1O_EII1Yt14PZj/s1600/IMG_0018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3YvN0j_zWEQ08rrDS1ekPG41iDMoiUAFEDqHX9zaCvjbGBifD4ALxfxZQdCmVyfnFBjA_n9TrNwHvXvBMec1hf76_ED01son5A9vHzoIfc52qoCyMAoP05XEgrST1dH1O_EII1Yt14PZj/s320/IMG_0018.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">green domes :D</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-Vj-X1lZnA8IaV_oXQOL3KP1p4MoLPSe5ZNQrAddXyJ3Ov9yUEn0frGMjhdAwe4Jwk38BdRnwgZM8VLCaqP0BZeLYZs6nQle5DaeZtozy_QMH8Wdt0BHHOIqTtdHDAjMIOp_LBgl6zQZ/s1600/IMG_0031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-Vj-X1lZnA8IaV_oXQOL3KP1p4MoLPSe5ZNQrAddXyJ3Ov9yUEn0frGMjhdAwe4Jwk38BdRnwgZM8VLCaqP0BZeLYZs6nQle5DaeZtozy_QMH8Wdt0BHHOIqTtdHDAjMIOp_LBgl6zQZ/s320/IMG_0031.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">favorite picture from the whole trip.</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1xMrcrr42zep2DzMvhxbdFDgaK8U9qOmshELEH54BYmvqkGAZGUVXF0lP32P0a0gjsxpepN7Ng1F1Vu5azjPRDYkiZVd3Bf5i2vip_CbDI59-iIXjhbSZRtJjekG5gxxG-YyLv6XzYAI/s1600/IMG_0035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1xMrcrr42zep2DzMvhxbdFDgaK8U9qOmshELEH54BYmvqkGAZGUVXF0lP32P0a0gjsxpepN7Ng1F1Vu5azjPRDYkiZVd3Bf5i2vip_CbDI59-iIXjhbSZRtJjekG5gxxG-YyLv6XzYAI/s320/IMG_0035.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-KTVWPaZq6Tk2wzYyyr0H9-SAPT6oLJCyO03UeWu38yRsnJZC8n7N8aHLUP-Ui5wLCnIdYr631rLDNiGMg5O5Zu-v2zbYSUY3JNfAmHPpsnEx40rGP1CZEB6PUzC1aaeFnGitcxEpLL7/s1600/IMG_0050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-KTVWPaZq6Tk2wzYyyr0H9-SAPT6oLJCyO03UeWu38yRsnJZC8n7N8aHLUP-Ui5wLCnIdYr631rLDNiGMg5O5Zu-v2zbYSUY3JNfAmHPpsnEx40rGP1CZEB6PUzC1aaeFnGitcxEpLL7/s320/IMG_0050.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hi.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd405R5ZipK2ydsFYZnMnivUL9aPwu_Xzgz711Ok7ZEHbiazwF3ibj6TCt54ukxegiQMVX1y0hXD65pc5JxJt0uEhR7Ih4CcGJppWQEJ6FwVIJykGb2Jpri92DBhFvza_cNcipFaRrQTsQ/s1600/IMG_0078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd405R5ZipK2ydsFYZnMnivUL9aPwu_Xzgz711Ok7ZEHbiazwF3ibj6TCt54ukxegiQMVX1y0hXD65pc5JxJt0uEhR7Ih4CcGJppWQEJ6FwVIJykGb2Jpri92DBhFvza_cNcipFaRrQTsQ/s320/IMG_0078.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lenon wall!</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCXGaA2RgWEQ5dXU0LhGSi-Vuk_XqXd9aQKzsriOcVo1q3gHgpiGrmRqguOcjePrHQyxVLR_PfZfYicbkpivgVvQvl5Oi97mtyEnaFaQWTu0l11CPXDv6jaalDS-ApJ37g4Ow6hlzwynnO/s1600/IMG_0103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCXGaA2RgWEQ5dXU0LhGSi-Vuk_XqXd9aQKzsriOcVo1q3gHgpiGrmRqguOcjePrHQyxVLR_PfZfYicbkpivgVvQvl5Oi97mtyEnaFaQWTu0l11CPXDv6jaalDS-ApJ37g4Ow6hlzwynnO/s320/IMG_0103.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeMWalq7XRr4W7NpY4ZQ00Jc7ZbuYX9ENc_PjyRFHu6tef9ArO2xg0pwo2lpR8lBlC06edzR-jVs9Bjg7_Qip4g9ATg2CUyoOdP5Jq7i3g_7ugTWMkK1Jdp6tcRfvdudB4hiS2Q1NU0wv8/s1600/IMG_0127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeMWalq7XRr4W7NpY4ZQ00Jc7ZbuYX9ENc_PjyRFHu6tef9ArO2xg0pwo2lpR8lBlC06edzR-jVs9Bjg7_Qip4g9ATg2CUyoOdP5Jq7i3g_7ugTWMkK1Jdp6tcRfvdudB4hiS2Q1NU0wv8/s320/IMG_0127.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stretch!</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIs7v9ZLmVNsf71pjet3K6XlSvjSqexwEHa1T5uuxNq4TrT_L0-tCVJatq3ruooIskzDkX638ZLSqopsMtf8Yhu2Ceyec7Zrk3UdyIA7JZRRPfTeZbRcOJgXRCSxb1atRjnOPYxcCH7WJn/s1600/IMG_0129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIs7v9ZLmVNsf71pjet3K6XlSvjSqexwEHa1T5uuxNq4TrT_L0-tCVJatq3ruooIskzDkX638ZLSqopsMtf8Yhu2Ceyec7Zrk3UdyIA7JZRRPfTeZbRcOJgXRCSxb1atRjnOPYxcCH7WJn/s320/IMG_0129.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vuD0EV8xjmccpBNNswsoJoe56tY3unW8g2vMJhIkdPulKXEIYKcGQjjd2lLi7InqS7B6ED6MTeqG3DqwKxJh2jpw7WCvjTMQR-Rjm3IPA-OHr5mUoRhdCHsfBk0GbyI2Ahb_mho980W6/s1600/IMG_0145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vuD0EV8xjmccpBNNswsoJoe56tY3unW8g2vMJhIkdPulKXEIYKcGQjjd2lLi7InqS7B6ED6MTeqG3DqwKxJh2jpw7WCvjTMQR-Rjm3IPA-OHr5mUoRhdCHsfBk0GbyI2Ahb_mho980W6/s320/IMG_0145.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prague Castle.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhghoRu5SEKk6W1zzF95H9dPa3N1pYdkj9y6osJ8cSih5Pu5CR1DRTCyJrmVDOtyjweXsVZWJr-hpqcma1gBcYmtVOwhDDoa-bPvnnHR_tlKPF7r9d-T1IbifpYJnQ3LLUkJJFFoNYeJ3FW/s1600/IMG_0153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhghoRu5SEKk6W1zzF95H9dPa3N1pYdkj9y6osJ8cSih5Pu5CR1DRTCyJrmVDOtyjweXsVZWJr-hpqcma1gBcYmtVOwhDDoa-bPvnnHR_tlKPF7r9d-T1IbifpYJnQ3LLUkJJFFoNYeJ3FW/s320/IMG_0153.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">violence...tisk tisk.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHMeDAGLdAZSssQnrWyDp5Jl6YYea5B34i5grdaeYuSNU-yZ449r2jZK8Ccxd_Y1tbzuvY45OMZ_rKlaZZgdGA28dEQJTBtEi32UfyCiq87re9WOEAXpOz9QuUmc26abnN_xiCTA-OUi7/s1600/IMG_0168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHMeDAGLdAZSssQnrWyDp5Jl6YYea5B34i5grdaeYuSNU-yZ449r2jZK8Ccxd_Y1tbzuvY45OMZ_rKlaZZgdGA28dEQJTBtEi32UfyCiq87re9WOEAXpOz9QuUmc26abnN_xiCTA-OUi7/s320/IMG_0168.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">would you like some h2O?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrXqdAIz_2yCKEIldVH52FNnme5HkjmKacevKldqMFOuSzvE2CFa41xKstEpuSRMgR_XgzJ_RZdkKnUnQjugGx2aW9IxTGH_OSTS2VuDU1nZxiS9dxbjcru9auTUi6zPtkwr82pr-dan9/s1600/IMG_0187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrXqdAIz_2yCKEIldVH52FNnme5HkjmKacevKldqMFOuSzvE2CFa41xKstEpuSRMgR_XgzJ_RZdkKnUnQjugGx2aW9IxTGH_OSTS2VuDU1nZxiS9dxbjcru9auTUi6zPtkwr82pr-dan9/s320/IMG_0187.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">streets :D</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_x0Dc0FvN_Z_8Ctitynhdf_WQNX9Ct-tV7hhHhPZfFCmtuGkrfuDInG18aZXNRP20Q24A-C2IHqXWuZONjbvS6mAVgbVh2LbEV-X_s9VcAVOnihLy6tw4BmZpMIHTc-og22CLS5dgEJB/s1600/IMG_0205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_x0Dc0FvN_Z_8Ctitynhdf_WQNX9Ct-tV7hhHhPZfFCmtuGkrfuDInG18aZXNRP20Q24A-C2IHqXWuZONjbvS6mAVgbVh2LbEV-X_s9VcAVOnihLy6tw4BmZpMIHTc-og22CLS5dgEJB/s320/IMG_0205.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">night scene.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLA-LfyplcrKl0P6W0UBjQ8hq7amd5GTxTsPuWPKWWAjmRPnv898F8x23cKdaH74EtIUe7Pbcg6zSQU2ygTzV3gn1fDwiwMXB2MrQieWZ8IH4fK3tawT9R_jgtvh1pOJQ8L0LaXOMa00J/s1600/IMG_0214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLA-LfyplcrKl0P6W0UBjQ8hq7amd5GTxTsPuWPKWWAjmRPnv898F8x23cKdaH74EtIUe7Pbcg6zSQU2ygTzV3gn1fDwiwMXB2MrQieWZ8IH4fK3tawT9R_jgtvh1pOJQ8L0LaXOMa00J/s320/IMG_0214.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bridge at night :D</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO9rbAP-hKanW9rE0OV319qJk_qlMs1-IIjQtH_BByPy_fnQDh6eTp2S9ktJvK8PsWhqqjxJjEhTdnFC-DP71_8i_nYaNJQ65udzSUvOIV1Qchpljm4twvu4ExFoo114xO8q_BYTds0jJI/s1600/IMG_0258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO9rbAP-hKanW9rE0OV319qJk_qlMs1-IIjQtH_BByPy_fnQDh6eTp2S9ktJvK8PsWhqqjxJjEhTdnFC-DP71_8i_nYaNJQ65udzSUvOIV1Qchpljm4twvu4ExFoo114xO8q_BYTds0jJI/s320/IMG_0258.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">petrin tower!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0VhJ_lmueONS3DxpXEFYyvqjpEb4WIv31PicjU9BaCU1868TxTLzYjeGf5Bj-P37LJnE9SMyLCq-FyEzw6C1zzTl9E5A80G44ywGfStNcj4xX96rPQSvTCCP4vS8JNVqrGpXB_9ofj4_/s1600/IMG_0277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0VhJ_lmueONS3DxpXEFYyvqjpEb4WIv31PicjU9BaCU1868TxTLzYjeGf5Bj-P37LJnE9SMyLCq-FyEzw6C1zzTl9E5A80G44ywGfStNcj4xX96rPQSvTCCP4vS8JNVqrGpXB_9ofj4_/s320/IMG_0277.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipt-V9p-c1kbhhvlOfjVbYTVs-iqyWXxOKl6htzDoMKWSypiOYW04G7K1XHU7lAellMe_FiuQCPte1VaunDZ_nC7MnEg_iAxi8P_KCwOvAPASz5i_tkMAJMNdnvTl5Ov0u3KEI8YiZeTuJ/s1600/IMG_0278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipt-V9p-c1kbhhvlOfjVbYTVs-iqyWXxOKl6htzDoMKWSypiOYW04G7K1XHU7lAellMe_FiuQCPte1VaunDZ_nC7MnEg_iAxi8P_KCwOvAPASz5i_tkMAJMNdnvTl5Ov0u3KEI8YiZeTuJ/s320/IMG_0278.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">spooky castle at night.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwjZTMqJxL7XVsBnRtqXJnWCHcygydyZ8NaCSIulJ4LZ4id4tDo5wkxaGRV7JwWUag6ab-vn0-c6a2sFYL3JrrQLHVD9H3h2flqpqoOv5Y6Eywd4uLfA7191iTki3X8cqDb-B4YbE5HgJ/s1600/IMG_0309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwjZTMqJxL7XVsBnRtqXJnWCHcygydyZ8NaCSIulJ4LZ4id4tDo5wkxaGRV7JwWUag6ab-vn0-c6a2sFYL3JrrQLHVD9H3h2flqpqoOv5Y6Eywd4uLfA7191iTki3X8cqDb-B4YbE5HgJ/s320/IMG_0309.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">goulash: aka awesomeness :D</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-57159628065864624812011-11-01T02:56:00.000+02:002011-11-01T02:56:34.053+02:00halloween?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Rosie the Riveter: yes we can :D</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nNpRU_lbeiw8syKLE8uKUYvuC2oZ0lJNN2A-hG8flEhpgYHbBtH2OY8H_orHYU1mvuHE7cHhz0PPdPQL5zp2BZy1VBVKGovZGkaxDLIRnPYiTMvMhrQ1GwWiv7b0piMkRVqWbamyZpum/s1600/Photo+on+2011-11-01+at+02.41+%25232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nNpRU_lbeiw8syKLE8uKUYvuC2oZ0lJNN2A-hG8flEhpgYHbBtH2OY8H_orHYU1mvuHE7cHhz0PPdPQL5zp2BZy1VBVKGovZGkaxDLIRnPYiTMvMhrQ1GwWiv7b0piMkRVqWbamyZpum/s320/Photo+on+2011-11-01+at+02.41+%25232.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-19895980329628033332011-10-31T17:28:00.001+02:002011-10-31T17:42:12.650+02:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">France was an absolute blast! As soon as I returned from the Peloponnese, I began to prep for my journey- washing clothes, quick trip to the hospital and packing! Wednesday finally arrived and I was off. On my first leg, I was unfortunately seated in the middle between two people- a super burley, wide older man and a super fashionable middle aged woman. What differences, right? It wasn’t too bad, but my leg space was mildly invaded by the man on my left. After 2 hours we arrived in Switzerland. The view just before landing was amazing and the Swiss Alps were just breath taking. I had a short layover before heading to Lyon as my final stop. I arrived in Lyon and immediately went to search for the bus that would take me to Grenoble where my love Jessica would be waiting for me! It was an hour bus ride, but the scenery was amazing. The sun was just setting, so I snagged a nice picture of it. There was a man on the bus who kept staring at me even though I was sitting behind him. I’m often glared at more than usual by minority men in Europe- something I took notice to a lot more while in France. Maybe it’s the golden brown skin or long head of hair? It was weird at first, but by now I am so use to the staring I didn’t give it much thought after a bit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The bus finally arrived and there she was! My beautiful darling Jess was sitting in the station waiting for me. She just had surgery from appendicitis so I had to be gentle when hugging her, otherwise she would’ve been crushed! I was so excited to see a familiar face. We’re both at the 2 month mark, so it was refreshing to be with someone who knows me in and out. We began our journey to her house via tram. There was not a single moment of silence. Right away we started chatting about our different experiences and just enjoying being with one another. After a 45 min tram ride, we arrived to her neighborhood. It was after 8 and the house was waiting for us to start dinner. Upon entering the house, I met her host mom, Nicole, and host dad, Robert. I also had the pleasure of meeting two of her good friends from her program, Molly and Hannah. They were actually the ones who cooked dinner. One word: yum. I miss home cooked meals, especially since I cook most of my meals here in Greece. They do things quickly in her household. Plates are cleared after each course and no time is wasted before dishes get started on. Literally. They would wash dishes during dinner! So weird. Very different from Greece. Jess says it’s just their household that functions that way. In any case, the dinner was superb and just what I needed after all my travels. Both Jess and I were exhausted so it wasn’t a super late night. We chatted a bit more than crashed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmb14PCF0cGxqmF3oJ5TAsh8G3cULcVvtKW7jUqM-yyhSV1v75iGy6nXVSRE_oMn41A2xb5WQkNDWfBQxbgGpqmxXpy6_ijR_j1PZzK46jSCW5jSqDhfpCq2tRp9mclXZIF2pBzctRWeDj/s1600/IMG_0001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmb14PCF0cGxqmF3oJ5TAsh8G3cULcVvtKW7jUqM-yyhSV1v75iGy6nXVSRE_oMn41A2xb5WQkNDWfBQxbgGpqmxXpy6_ijR_j1PZzK46jSCW5jSqDhfpCq2tRp9mclXZIF2pBzctRWeDj/s320/IMG_0001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">swiss alps!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4sLulGNUQIx8hRc2jGKPBZyTeN3qCODQBi58jDffbxxaVXqtwZl3DLoZ7P7q8NLnUDd_L8vXhYdC-tkE3hWHgu661q8Wa0B-93vkvUW1oDDJdFjVVUad8VG2uyhRT2mXwCpfJqdRbxlw/s1600/IMG_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4sLulGNUQIx8hRc2jGKPBZyTeN3qCODQBi58jDffbxxaVXqtwZl3DLoZ7P7q8NLnUDd_L8vXhYdC-tkE3hWHgu661q8Wa0B-93vkvUW1oDDJdFjVVUad8VG2uyhRT2mXwCpfJqdRbxlw/s320/IMG_0003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sunset fresh off the plane!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTgAlOStc00UuHP_7Ovna6r7XpSrRfr7STNaDwbCepbjLg2ceMCQ_0_OK2SgEVopYbfgpbP4ICkcFI2dI9BdL8BEayPgLQgWYN4uld2TI6kR8Z6_jHRVnjjUy2NGFg7DYx1gYQrUQXLRL/s1600/IMG_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTgAlOStc00UuHP_7Ovna6r7XpSrRfr7STNaDwbCepbjLg2ceMCQ_0_OK2SgEVopYbfgpbP4ICkcFI2dI9BdL8BEayPgLQgWYN4uld2TI6kR8Z6_jHRVnjjUy2NGFg7DYx1gYQrUQXLRL/s320/IMG_0006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cute home.</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The next morning we had to wait for her nurse to come and clean her wounds. The first guy was a total hottie ;D After that, we headed to the tram stop to begin a day of shopping and exploring. We both really wanted to get some boots, so she took me to a store she thought I would like. When we didn’t find ones we had liked, we decided to grab lunch before trying again. Hello creperie! I opted for a non-crepe dish and Jess went with a crepe. It was good, but way more pricey than I’m use to in Athens. After we finished, we again attempted to shop. It’s tough staying on a budget! We looked around some more and decided we needed sweet crepes to up our drive. Yummy Nutella and banana #ftw. Jess showed me a beautiful church and courtyard, then took me to the most incredible view of Grenoble. It was right off the river and the views were insane. We went on a bridge to snap some photos and enjoy the wonderful weather. We both decided we wanted to nap/rest so we headed home. Before we hopped on the train, however, I saw a pair of boots I just couldn’t resist. Success! Once home, we got a nice little surprise of none other than CREPES! Her host aunt made us mini crepes and tea for a snack. So many crepes. Post nap we watched my favorite movie, <u>The Other Sister</u>, then ate dinner. Again, so yummy. Guess what dessert was! CREPES! Bah, what a crepe kind of day. We finished the day with a wonderful skype session with our lovely Amilia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">chickens in the yard.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdivVaQk0kZ8sC4LsDEAh5A4oQvJBBiJSkRTZ7zdAl3tT6UBIgze80a2xImjaXO1Ib89T6Bpakey_F8c4gvpeOc9IwEh9NkefRMEPPkeBKE9WMSS4SigUhqjbKseg9TPJ8ArenHHamFqGV/s1600/IMG_0010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdivVaQk0kZ8sC4LsDEAh5A4oQvJBBiJSkRTZ7zdAl3tT6UBIgze80a2xImjaXO1Ib89T6Bpakey_F8c4gvpeOc9IwEh9NkefRMEPPkeBKE9WMSS4SigUhqjbKseg9TPJ8ArenHHamFqGV/s320/IMG_0010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bunnies.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEK3MbWcPj_HLIfp5pn9UVcOzJZ5i63bYq5DvILJWOMsFeVr858QW5PhbxUB52aT-5kgzblqgQ9FYpHzitlM0keIO_UcZFR9_C6ewFXh7s6wWOHj3O_apd7kd6tdHf6iZ3GBqwghj6OM8m/s1600/IMG_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEK3MbWcPj_HLIfp5pn9UVcOzJZ5i63bYq5DvILJWOMsFeVr858QW5PhbxUB52aT-5kgzblqgQ9FYpHzitlM0keIO_UcZFR9_C6ewFXh7s6wWOHj3O_apd7kd6tdHf6iZ3GBqwghj6OM8m/s320/IMG_0023.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">first day out.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lpE5vEh1gVVXeFFI8u_Nk40djxu52r-Fvo6kQScHvZChoeiD5TVyxDBRGRxvjaXHypxlE1BWpFuJieaJcisH27ghfoOzB81op8CtgceWF4ipwFqmTzis4rPp8A2WHDzm0CuobksgvsUr/s1600/IMG_0033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lpE5vEh1gVVXeFFI8u_Nk40djxu52r-Fvo6kQScHvZChoeiD5TVyxDBRGRxvjaXHypxlE1BWpFuJieaJcisH27ghfoOzB81op8CtgceWF4ipwFqmTzis4rPp8A2WHDzm0CuobksgvsUr/s320/IMG_0033.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">st. andres church.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzo-ILzeaSgGNpqaJ7THCrEWLYKnIDrVeW5kZ5cB5jilJHBi8hqLKHknsUtOWXGDt1Q6m1D4ISKq6egaOO5_-PyKgD7lQm3TF7L0leu38a9TRp9XZXP1_Z5EeiGc0gr0xn49JkcaeLjkJJ/s1600/IMG_0042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzo-ILzeaSgGNpqaJ7THCrEWLYKnIDrVeW5kZ5cB5jilJHBi8hqLKHknsUtOWXGDt1Q6m1D4ISKq6egaOO5_-PyKgD7lQm3TF7L0leu38a9TRp9XZXP1_Z5EeiGc0gr0xn49JkcaeLjkJJ/s320/IMG_0042.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">clouds!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp09_MWxKQY65KZXcqmrfDaR41Ev7DR-ynMrr7Kl0qKZmz3KuesYl5oGp7QsIfq_9J9goUcHdCRXyfxzJ1NzMjkjIrwsNVPJ0iDG-XmnstnpWghrdwWxviS2ezphwCQP_RtkkW0zYbffc3/s1600/IMG_0043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp09_MWxKQY65KZXcqmrfDaR41Ev7DR-ynMrr7Kl0qKZmz3KuesYl5oGp7QsIfq_9J9goUcHdCRXyfxzJ1NzMjkjIrwsNVPJ0iDG-XmnstnpWghrdwWxviS2ezphwCQP_RtkkW0zYbffc3/s320/IMG_0043.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">quaint. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ybDwZtRktKOdy0ium2a5jydU_WSC92NHV7TcWAVwZGXJbfMb6QwZ1uwuWdEWDPj0ug-9reQSuNiiMjk9qAqFD2yoSxjNgf6pVPZZtn5tlo6QiudSn_FV4_ICQAGok-vv-xiKZbU53k3B/s1600/IMG_0048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ybDwZtRktKOdy0ium2a5jydU_WSC92NHV7TcWAVwZGXJbfMb6QwZ1uwuWdEWDPj0ug-9reQSuNiiMjk9qAqFD2yoSxjNgf6pVPZZtn5tlo6QiudSn_FV4_ICQAGok-vv-xiKZbU53k3B/s320/IMG_0048.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">first bridge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi35chqiBDaJPeeOtfUBH6HTIdubdW1cyh5ADJINuH5eVBhemzqtmuKrIpUeTmtG6DWffF_N-GHln-JomSJ4BLj1CI1WnrrUlVwWKTFHyeaApeP2G4SaHBdb9WXNI1hFnGSbD3k_3-IAbpz/s1600/IMG_0053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi35chqiBDaJPeeOtfUBH6HTIdubdW1cyh5ADJINuH5eVBhemzqtmuKrIpUeTmtG6DWffF_N-GHln-JomSJ4BLj1CI1WnrrUlVwWKTFHyeaApeP2G4SaHBdb9WXNI1hFnGSbD3k_3-IAbpz/s320/IMG_0053.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fave spot.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvU-8tPk1B7rMzUMNkXE-1gebX36F_sC85k2Tc6uuk_AxAcZU-jYojo0dCsOH_YHP173POT3rUbVlPUw09zLCqqudAmg72PvuuQKB5mAf3cf2mFOhrR4phmz85tprZEmSbyYzhWUIYr7uf/s1600/IMG_0058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvU-8tPk1B7rMzUMNkXE-1gebX36F_sC85k2Tc6uuk_AxAcZU-jYojo0dCsOH_YHP173POT3rUbVlPUw09zLCqqudAmg72PvuuQKB5mAf3cf2mFOhrR4phmz85tprZEmSbyYzhWUIYr7uf/s320/IMG_0058.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">miss these colors.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQi1zGOd1G1GdN3_B37ZK03AtLzSveoFOFYJKc2JMlMwVoeDoGiuc9hwhoG0tBRIARu3tsex-zC3-Q2JpEkTge9jwOgp0sv51yZemw_JDPD6_IBtI6HsJvU_A6v9YAU7N_Ho3QVhK4bcdq/s1600/IMG_0061.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQi1zGOd1G1GdN3_B37ZK03AtLzSveoFOFYJKc2JMlMwVoeDoGiuc9hwhoG0tBRIARu3tsex-zC3-Q2JpEkTge9jwOgp0sv51yZemw_JDPD6_IBtI6HsJvU_A6v9YAU7N_Ho3QVhK4bcdq/s320/IMG_0061.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more crepes!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Friday was another beautiful day. Again after waiting for the nurse, we headed back into town. This time we were going to ride these mechanical ball shaped things to the Grenoble Bastille. Before we made it up though, we hit up the farmer’s market for sweet fruits/veggies then we ran into one of Jess’ friends from her program named Travis. He was nice and we all went to eat kebabs at a place called Batman’s. It was here that we met the owner who, when he saw me told me, “You’re Mexican”. I was kind of thrown off and when we continued to say we were all from America, he responded (pointing to Jess and Travis), “You, yes” and then to me, “You, no”. Bah, thanks for telling me what I am! NOT. We tried to explain that I was mixed with Native American as well as Latin American roots, but he wasn’t having it. It was interesting and mildly upsetting for him to immediately label me the way he did. It’s not uncommon in America for people to judge by looks, but it was just annoying that he continued even after I explained my roots. We left there and separated from Travis. At last we were on our way up in the bubbles! Everything was beautiful and so incredible to see. We spent about an hour there, then decided we needed some rest before dinner with Jess’ friends. Before we hopped on the tram, however, we made a cool friend named Jonathan. He was talking to people in order to raise money for this program he works for, but looked like he was failing. I had initially tried to avoid him because I don’t particularly like to say no, but I could see he was struggling so decided to stop and chat. We stuck up a friendly conversation that included names, where we were from and what we were doing in Grenoble. He had been there for a year so far, so I thought he was a good person to ask for places to dance/drink. I asked for his suggestions and decided that since we were pretty much buds, we should get his number. So I asked. He was more than obliging and excited. I told him that with Jess being here until December, it would be nice to have a contact into the younger crowd in Grenoble. Win.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant (fitting right?). A few of her friends came out with us and that was nice. We had some tequila poppers as well as margaritas. So yummy! After dinner Jess showed me her favorite pub called London Pub. We also made a swift entry into Plan B- so offensive. They had shots called ‘Abortion’. Gah, so wrong. We then went to the bar that Jonathan recommended to us. It was playing great music. Jess began to feel crappy, so we called it a night and headed home. I had a nice night.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiaj9XrEOL5LiGbnDUZzsYhZukJIhEbwF1FUlv3yJ55lXcFnJ4Okyc73ZKrTXyfnN9cuR-HRy8wpmr-S9c3kh1YmmPq7du5tOYV_Z4f_pZv2weCsK4VnCBQO_FI8AlBmxevlVnoLaBO3T/s1600/IMG_0073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiaj9XrEOL5LiGbnDUZzsYhZukJIhEbwF1FUlv3yJ55lXcFnJ4Okyc73ZKrTXyfnN9cuR-HRy8wpmr-S9c3kh1YmmPq7du5tOYV_Z4f_pZv2weCsK4VnCBQO_FI8AlBmxevlVnoLaBO3T/s320/IMG_0073.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">farmer's market.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuxRqGhg2DJMfG1eCLfAsStSo8REYugN1VohD9lg8BhodErlAmvezX7MgnVZwBDNJisH1NjhZqT1D8Ip4hdrBf1D6Jmhkv-8qSmaaiol1S-1H08V7Sf9xZ9XDi5CthodMnWEXImQxn2ko/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-31+at+5.36.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuxRqGhg2DJMfG1eCLfAsStSo8REYugN1VohD9lg8BhodErlAmvezX7MgnVZwBDNJisH1NjhZqT1D8Ip4hdrBf1D6Jmhkv-8qSmaaiol1S-1H08V7Sf9xZ9XDi5CthodMnWEXImQxn2ko/s320/Screen+shot+2011-10-31+at+5.36.43+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">craving mangoes forever.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrQSwyJQzv-DL_K3CLBch4Yzcpd6HlMaG__H6bltDSvescuUsOapiVf6wdwOh6mE1QsDIYtfD4g8Xa2KfacjYEfs7ttQPg_53qwQDGd6C-ICWDi3CytlgRzAYR7VypFwc9jENDTTvvurg/s1600/IMG_0075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrQSwyJQzv-DL_K3CLBch4Yzcpd6HlMaG__H6bltDSvescuUsOapiVf6wdwOh6mE1QsDIYtfD4g8Xa2KfacjYEfs7ttQPg_53qwQDGd6C-ICWDi3CytlgRzAYR7VypFwc9jENDTTvvurg/s320/IMG_0075.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fountains=everywhere.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kBKTP6fhvcZHAupnRu5nNfiBT4r7lP6N90wmKIDO8b29AQP28_olQSOn6DB4XsKShKoAqoWyyjfhiteowbuPjp4iyVgnkqBJGmVAH3QLsBSnfA1Ed9qMDN7Z-6wVsZT2r9jVleIrdql0/s1600/IMG_0080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kBKTP6fhvcZHAupnRu5nNfiBT4r7lP6N90wmKIDO8b29AQP28_olQSOn6DB4XsKShKoAqoWyyjfhiteowbuPjp4iyVgnkqBJGmVAH3QLsBSnfA1Ed9qMDN7Z-6wVsZT2r9jVleIrdql0/s320/IMG_0080.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">baby-sized coffees.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gJ3n668G55GETcoZ8cN3DlpZOfNNr84gW8gkJBTK_wrFZsAR2h2V5dIaSnU9uGvnhWjkSOd7TLUv0yvx5wGD3uZEC7C9dFxbzjYzpXy9lnxhEmWOM3DmZowxUVKIVHnYkhqsheJfYKye/s1600/IMG_0086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gJ3n668G55GETcoZ8cN3DlpZOfNNr84gW8gkJBTK_wrFZsAR2h2V5dIaSnU9uGvnhWjkSOd7TLUv0yvx5wGD3uZEC7C9dFxbzjYzpXy9lnxhEmWOM3DmZowxUVKIVHnYkhqsheJfYKye/s320/IMG_0086.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bubbles.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0gNLspPpZjJTOq1_vs7ixCfZ5QjAzfx3WWFZjCLks9afDCwFwBcc-hMfMjeiruIHYVNffUMk4YzlWN_gl7-OfpMN2Y5j0-vxj08KDoDUihKVRoTIdD49hHMYIm2Bao2sSsM6hn3LqjUb/s1600/IMG_0092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0gNLspPpZjJTOq1_vs7ixCfZ5QjAzfx3WWFZjCLks9afDCwFwBcc-hMfMjeiruIHYVNffUMk4YzlWN_gl7-OfpMN2Y5j0-vxj08KDoDUihKVRoTIdD49hHMYIm2Bao2sSsM6hn3LqjUb/s320/IMG_0092.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">view from bubble.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj87SbsU8VZrVlpADlIfStEK9AMk-3hZx2Ak8kDGJ3ldQ8xEOSxgdbFdrdFCbSvMsJmtvMr7lQZWLS46f4-rvFpNNe76uXAzCxbJ7e81aJDxLzmKtwXANXscwwMGnd2zWScdvgBRNhAZLv9/s1600/IMG_0096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj87SbsU8VZrVlpADlIfStEK9AMk-3hZx2Ak8kDGJ3ldQ8xEOSxgdbFdrdFCbSvMsJmtvMr7lQZWLS46f4-rvFpNNe76uXAzCxbJ7e81aJDxLzmKtwXANXscwwMGnd2zWScdvgBRNhAZLv9/s320/IMG_0096.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">heading up.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJDSQdiybR5jWcYrNZO2AR6Vk2e02oeXcTeKPCLQA2Kc-JSomH4W0gwCvI-UnHg8iIcKhbYrm_6jD163Au2GvWlE9xiYDTtRppVjrEaVvKKTYyupKSARB3J1nLrBxwUhkP2iJ7qQ_vbDx/s1600/IMG_0101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJDSQdiybR5jWcYrNZO2AR6Vk2e02oeXcTeKPCLQA2Kc-JSomH4W0gwCvI-UnHg8iIcKhbYrm_6jD163Au2GvWlE9xiYDTtRppVjrEaVvKKTYyupKSARB3J1nLrBxwUhkP2iJ7qQ_vbDx/s320/IMG_0101.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">awesome.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmlwUfuH6rT7TwrvV5M22Zn99b0ubuOdSjFGltVoXyxNTVrd0ulIKOjfwhyphenhyphen9pPW76OeSOQNN48425xHKeA24RbwjGa_aD5NSEu0GyoR3b-767tWOoiqf46dqsw08oEq-o-5OFCDjeu3uf/s1600/IMG_0105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmlwUfuH6rT7TwrvV5M22Zn99b0ubuOdSjFGltVoXyxNTVrd0ulIKOjfwhyphenhyphen9pPW76OeSOQNN48425xHKeA24RbwjGa_aD5NSEu0GyoR3b-767tWOoiqf46dqsw08oEq-o-5OFCDjeu3uf/s320/IMG_0105.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">best friends.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5hroQ_uaBqkwdn1liLOhLH7H5f4-yoITn-uGOmgyrIzdZl8gn0VVZztbpJANWWlE3YbPecDE0XoBMQTJNyzFVqTwC0N9RAod46G2M1WXIzredZ1AJTSMDoyqJ0Rrsru8jLHNJiFmEOFx/s1600/IMG_0110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5hroQ_uaBqkwdn1liLOhLH7H5f4-yoITn-uGOmgyrIzdZl8gn0VVZztbpJANWWlE3YbPecDE0XoBMQTJNyzFVqTwC0N9RAod46G2M1WXIzredZ1AJTSMDoyqJ0Rrsru8jLHNJiFmEOFx/s320/IMG_0110.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">yellow!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5E-JpXWJaI2XqerxnHQOsi7MTGLAUeJB2m6GeDc2R660vEgS1LblU4qzUZ1NTqxxkuKNsQt_oLStXhI66IJkKWfB2bRSBIYacjEC4bwVgZlhmpW_F95Dk2YSMZ13mSz75D7Eq0XcpqOya/s1600/IMG_0123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5E-JpXWJaI2XqerxnHQOsi7MTGLAUeJB2m6GeDc2R660vEgS1LblU4qzUZ1NTqxxkuKNsQt_oLStXhI66IJkKWfB2bRSBIYacjEC4bwVgZlhmpW_F95Dk2YSMZ13mSz75D7Eq0XcpqOya/s320/IMG_0123.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bastille.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqBKwEqyMRMl9aZp4_g5oiXH4_wvkMKdk6iJ69EIDNBE_hS7tRd2GdWjwryO-m8dQbt3-yoEc-QyxeypfvhWb8od5Qi7kds12468ZimBTPBiiOWepDxzgh3dFVdeA68NPn6_uWunmTCVY/s1600/IMG_0135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqBKwEqyMRMl9aZp4_g5oiXH4_wvkMKdk6iJ69EIDNBE_hS7tRd2GdWjwryO-m8dQbt3-yoEc-QyxeypfvhWb8od5Qi7kds12468ZimBTPBiiOWepDxzgh3dFVdeA68NPn6_uWunmTCVY/s320/IMG_0135.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hey, grenoble.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgen8evSX-20_EmSWzCia-cL88jmaGtMLHJJjPC5I-8Y8KJ2TdX05W6jbZAKMonODS8rU4FQYdygS-fs41aaCN7vm0WCSh4W8gN0MI0yhhOrKkO42ZBNubXVdJV1S9_X3PEfoit7_SDcSmx/s1600/IMG_0143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgen8evSX-20_EmSWzCia-cL88jmaGtMLHJJjPC5I-8Y8KJ2TdX05W6jbZAKMonODS8rU4FQYdygS-fs41aaCN7vm0WCSh4W8gN0MI0yhhOrKkO42ZBNubXVdJV1S9_X3PEfoit7_SDcSmx/s320/IMG_0143.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">barberousse!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcW192LPmIodxF5YQrMZngbmZrQpEh_5Eylea4DJzu-O8psyJ7WoAv1GvhnCdAp8qCGlDojuKsUTfNCANpYYCUKP5GA6RZXFOTu04zMPfhZQcmKaUkGaE9sMyQ4xvJ87wsZgwEuGMo58N/s1600/IMG_0153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcW192LPmIodxF5YQrMZngbmZrQpEh_5Eylea4DJzu-O8psyJ7WoAv1GvhnCdAp8qCGlDojuKsUTfNCANpYYCUKP5GA6RZXFOTu04zMPfhZQcmKaUkGaE9sMyQ4xvJ87wsZgwEuGMo58N/s320/IMG_0153.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">london pub.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">We spent Saturday being bums. This included laying in bed most the morning, watching movies and a quick little walk into her neighborhood shopping center. While there, we bought desserts and a baguette. We sat in a park eating avocado (bought at the farmer’s market) with the bread. It was nice to sit and have chats about life. It’s awesome to see the ways we’re growing. I’m so blessed to have her in my life. We then headed home with a quick trip to the store for Jess to buy me millions of airport snacks. Before we arrived home, Jess showed me the park where she usually runs. There was a random circus going on, so we got to see some cute animals and enjoy the wonderful sun setting in the clouds. We watched Bridesmaids after dinner and waited for 9:30 to roll around for my departure. I had a 7 a.m. flight the next morning, but since it left from Lyon, I had to take a bus the night before since there wasn’t one that left early enough the next morning to get me to my plane in time. PROBLEM: I read the schedule wrong and thought the last bus left at 11…when in reality the last bus left at 9! We looked for every possible option: trains- all were gone and like the bus, none left early enough the next morning, taxis- cost an arm and leg. We had hoped that when we told her host family what had happened, they would offer to drive me in the morning since they had a car. When Jess explained to them what happened, there was no such offer. We were both really upset because we thought they would offer since I had limited options. Her host dad instead insisted that my ONLY options were to pay for a taxi or switch my flight to later in the day when I could take a bus to the airport. It was frustrating since host families, in my opinion, should support their kids. This wasn’t the first time they had failed Jess, so she was disappointed. Luckily her real parents are freaking incredible and came to our rescue. Her dad managed to get Swiss on the phone to switch my flight to a later time. Thank goodness. I am so grateful for them. In the midst of everything, Jess and I kept positive and made a list of everything positive from missing the bus: more time together, no waiting in the airport for 7 hours, an extra hour due to daylight savings ending and of course a snuggle session. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGJVUI0fKCBP70RTMEKXJPQmoafk_ncakpYJM5U63ChdGPhrohtUWLAjrM6X1hw6Z-B7GYuD0Sa215dkJEBtb4T18Ss7u-Pi1Tp0iUTCSQqWV78p2JnaHnfDfNOADd4HxqQqRw5mGfAyp/s1600/IMG_0155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGJVUI0fKCBP70RTMEKXJPQmoafk_ncakpYJM5U63ChdGPhrohtUWLAjrM6X1hw6Z-B7GYuD0Sa215dkJEBtb4T18Ss7u-Pi1Tp0iUTCSQqWV78p2JnaHnfDfNOADd4HxqQqRw5mGfAyp/s320/IMG_0155.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">view from jess' window.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilEf0MVMm42jNgms9cJVP9GuiIqtOx94gPOOZfyK4QMDkkrk0VPA-l33UugZhiKzFtCtZO54WceX4zKq5hd38ukqUecyRb3c-AZ2VbuIey9fU2AAmeBJ5rFHktu9j3aU6ZeyYNyKblHG86/s1600/IMG_0169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilEf0MVMm42jNgms9cJVP9GuiIqtOx94gPOOZfyK4QMDkkrk0VPA-l33UugZhiKzFtCtZO54WceX4zKq5hd38ukqUecyRb3c-AZ2VbuIey9fU2AAmeBJ5rFHktu9j3aU6ZeyYNyKblHG86/s320/IMG_0169.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">marshmallows. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9wyhwrJTF71vU6jy1cEv1KvaRjKPPoL6OC42_Q83wqj9NPTcVXtP4vLrlgpSUDAZyXYOLL1KF6kuRO01Z-aoXTRo7Ww0XCaNJnBfuBPCPbe0P3epAIY5IOqySd-KlLqGtwVKh0Xn8GNw/s1600/IMG_0176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9wyhwrJTF71vU6jy1cEv1KvaRjKPPoL6OC42_Q83wqj9NPTcVXtP4vLrlgpSUDAZyXYOLL1KF6kuRO01Z-aoXTRo7Ww0XCaNJnBfuBPCPbe0P3epAIY5IOqySd-KlLqGtwVKh0Xn8GNw/s320/IMG_0176.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">amazing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuh5DORI2P8TTifryJcS0z0VO_mmcdI8tEKZ52PV4iPfFLYPotgoBGgM2PNjtAisCRsdfUpIHFQ8eHYiJxRIZPjvAA44ZZf7hg4Qr4FEHoRhaNWXUSuFjspp3g-UezBpIeN6kn8A46Zjd_/s1600/IMG_0183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuh5DORI2P8TTifryJcS0z0VO_mmcdI8tEKZ52PV4iPfFLYPotgoBGgM2PNjtAisCRsdfUpIHFQ8eHYiJxRIZPjvAA44ZZf7hg4Qr4FEHoRhaNWXUSuFjspp3g-UezBpIeN6kn8A46Zjd_/s320/IMG_0183.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">puff puff.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamF9E242ncqZP55moS8qe17CEAQP2uTJJE68-cvo6rg2lmS2B-fWixMANf-kkeXOARMyym7diJyDnaWOU_BB2u2u3_AtC2ZARSVSWqlAy35vYSl_ieUSpbORBjCkk8E3eXZPoLEbwvcoy/s1600/IMG_0197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamF9E242ncqZP55moS8qe17CEAQP2uTJJE68-cvo6rg2lmS2B-fWixMANf-kkeXOARMyym7diJyDnaWOU_BB2u2u3_AtC2ZARSVSWqlAy35vYSl_ieUSpbORBjCkk8E3eXZPoLEbwvcoy/s320/IMG_0197.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">host parents.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UUo3AWInPdV2iM23xyV5jWXDthBmG4LV-tea6vHDI4dNKNOcr1lQ48eVaAKkKi8BzsGaiXlhlaAGxWVRj7zj4NE4AJUP7cKuP1m0Z3edtIg8_25lbXGcI9nY9NFZm_bnJ9XBo0pXDyuH/s1600/IMG_0199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UUo3AWInPdV2iM23xyV5jWXDthBmG4LV-tea6vHDI4dNKNOcr1lQ48eVaAKkKi8BzsGaiXlhlaAGxWVRj7zj4NE4AJUP7cKuP1m0Z3edtIg8_25lbXGcI9nY9NFZm_bnJ9XBo0pXDyuH/s320/IMG_0199.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">jess stuffed my purse with snacks for the airport.</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">We woke up the next morning, hopped on the tram and began my departure back home. We made the bus with time to spare so we grabbed a quick croissant and a final chat session. There was a cute guy looking at us in the bus station, who after I boarded the bus began to talk with Jess. I found out later he’s Egyptian and been in Grenoble for 2 years. Another connection for her. Score. All in all, my trip to France was splendid. I was able to spend time with one of my best friends, rest, EAT and meet some new people. I’m grateful for situations that challenge me and even more grateful to have such wonderful people in my life. I was happy to return home to Athens though :D <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-86965304266028227582011-10-26T00:58:00.001+03:002011-10-26T00:59:15.433+03:00delphi and the peloponnese...check!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">is this real life? I've returned from a wonderful week of traveling in southern Greece and I am still convincing myself it really happened. I'll give you a basic outline of the week and where we went. We began with the site of Delphi. It is here where the Pythian games were held as well as the site of the Oracle mentioned in most of Greek history. The views were absolutely amazing, but a task to hike up the steep mountains. I almost fell coming down, but luckily there was a huge boulder on the side of me, so my hand slapped down and caught me. It stung for a bit, but definitely better than falling completely on my butt! Anyways, we hit the first portion of the site and then the bottom half where the athletes would bathe, oil up and practice. During the break in between, we ate a picnic lunch on this awesome cliff [see below]. It was so surreal to be sitting there like it was no big deal at all, when in reality it was something so absolutely incredible. I need constant reminding that this is all real. That night we stayed in the small town of Delphi where the weather was a bit cold, but felt great.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEido7Sbg3ts8e6xyDdObhy80407PUaSPSlJCsfF7OFJeyDXSEJ_ZTyQcSmkSrbb5uPwOqgmYPzXZ1Lat0slhyMQEWSeupqlefaf6vY96uqJqLNVWnK_1di0C_U9b2P0l-IMjYhA1o7SZKZl/s1600/IMG_0002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEido7Sbg3ts8e6xyDdObhy80407PUaSPSlJCsfF7OFJeyDXSEJ_ZTyQcSmkSrbb5uPwOqgmYPzXZ1Lat0slhyMQEWSeupqlefaf6vY96uqJqLNVWnK_1di0C_U9b2P0l-IMjYhA1o7SZKZl/s320/IMG_0002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">site of Delphi.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJIxJm84MyLnmIOuocBVj1EpFwFRYSoTtqbR-FXs_bCKtH5nHHgf-GaeEJn85C2hjbC4bYCPftwHR4O6B_caPDv69XCujhgNj8zdx9mtjero10S4rc1z3S9wkqutJDOKQ198guQVBX9wH/s1600/IMG_0011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJIxJm84MyLnmIOuocBVj1EpFwFRYSoTtqbR-FXs_bCKtH5nHHgf-GaeEJn85C2hjbC4bYCPftwHR4O6B_caPDv69XCujhgNj8zdx9mtjero10S4rc1z3S9wkqutJDOKQ198guQVBX9wH/s320/IMG_0011.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stadium for the games.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3im4LSgi9z1TO63AWrSGHaLAFMbcK-N5L69-KQ_Lsr8Q8LkzOR_zRmOz1G7Mc01V80gPeg-zEhEy-IN8g5GT6gDakmhsARCofTNspTs1og3WDEZxANgW9RXtpyRCFt5KIOodZTVAwigk/s1600/IMG_0019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3im4LSgi9z1TO63AWrSGHaLAFMbcK-N5L69-KQ_Lsr8Q8LkzOR_zRmOz1G7Mc01V80gPeg-zEhEy-IN8g5GT6gDakmhsARCofTNspTs1og3WDEZxANgW9RXtpyRCFt5KIOodZTVAwigk/s320/IMG_0019.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">temple of Apollo cont'd.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgA0FXYiQB1kQ56XzC5QKJX5jS0a7ItPoSyC8DRGkm6IdiKe3AmldTksms142K1jPr0C-eOZ5B0Hbbl4uWK56835PWcdX5nXnDAZcO0XYCvc22zmWjxj-G9Fj3BLzn31X6fMCCNnYArsD5/s1600/IMG_0022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgA0FXYiQB1kQ56XzC5QKJX5jS0a7ItPoSyC8DRGkm6IdiKe3AmldTksms142K1jPr0C-eOZ5B0Hbbl4uWK56835PWcdX5nXnDAZcO0XYCvc22zmWjxj-G9Fj3BLzn31X6fMCCNnYArsD5/s320/IMG_0022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SUN.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1Rbxt0LiNfXY46mngL1reLQd11BOn9fNf8H93UEyPGswxVpF60vO8sVOR7uTY4z_H5fkNJsBZRRZMjXlh0KRIFqj9fwnZnbVOFZFSCgqyuwgZ9PJ96jIVuuIsn9y6v5ew5XVXAvwtc3u/s1600/IMG_0029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1Rbxt0LiNfXY46mngL1reLQd11BOn9fNf8H93UEyPGswxVpF60vO8sVOR7uTY4z_H5fkNJsBZRRZMjXlh0KRIFqj9fwnZnbVOFZFSCgqyuwgZ9PJ96jIVuuIsn9y6v5ew5XVXAvwtc3u/s320/IMG_0029.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">reppin' cali all day.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXgRZTk27E1GpGF9d8AT7-ZU6RivhnU4_vnpJOEQUU7T8wUVJ1N10750sTdXYkAebX3RuRfPQvxcK-h15svYsDkvPY4RDzxIv4576hSuSCBDdKWrHcMXmu26pzLzXsrMdCcO9kIVClX-A/s1600/IMG_0040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXgRZTk27E1GpGF9d8AT7-ZU6RivhnU4_vnpJOEQUU7T8wUVJ1N10750sTdXYkAebX3RuRfPQvxcK-h15svYsDkvPY4RDzxIv4576hSuSCBDdKWrHcMXmu26pzLzXsrMdCcO9kIVClX-A/s320/IMG_0040.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">location of lunch.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqxz1FHGaZmX4X2oxxn5c7NGDYRlQjnHqbcmagsqa548LZqKzBQThw_uU9GjwJVNqXXiQ4-hxwta9-ks55-gjcRMUXUBw36-ScTutdc1xMAk6ATYWpNf4vAALPB92i_FaAU3YuhgjNkqv/s1600/IMG_0053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqxz1FHGaZmX4X2oxxn5c7NGDYRlQjnHqbcmagsqa548LZqKzBQThw_uU9GjwJVNqXXiQ4-hxwta9-ks55-gjcRMUXUBw36-ScTutdc1xMAk6ATYWpNf4vAALPB92i_FaAU3YuhgjNkqv/s320/IMG_0053.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">temple of Athen in delphi.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div>The next day we hopped into the bus and drove a few hours to Olympia where we were strongly disappointed because the site was closed. That day [wednesday] and the following day all of Greece was on a general strike. This included transportation and site workers. Yay for us! It was unfortunate we weren't able to go onto the site, but there was a road that gave a decent view. This is where I gave an on site presentation on cheating and other shennanigans that took place during athletic competitions. I was nervous because not only was it for a grade, but it was in front of a huge crowd of tourists/ people not usually in my class. It would've been in front of 10 people back in school, but this topic had to be given on site. After my initial shakey voice, I managed to get through it and a huge weight was lifted. After looking from a far, we met with a local woman to discuss efforts made by the community to clean a river near by. We walked through some bamboo, caught frogs and had the Greek national anthem sung to us by our group leader. #winning.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZNBa8XKguIaVcneU2mqL6xVeEPUdn4zzQPuTMhntOpzJYrmEuMyvGz6HSrGbpY3a9DfmIpSbEFYp3GGAtU8-5lfTSwzoYGN3lsNUsALceNwNg01M6I8iGRMqu9ANspMyRpWvB8UhVQpbM/s1600/IMG_0072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZNBa8XKguIaVcneU2mqL6xVeEPUdn4zzQPuTMhntOpzJYrmEuMyvGz6HSrGbpY3a9DfmIpSbEFYp3GGAtU8-5lfTSwzoYGN3lsNUsALceNwNg01M6I8iGRMqu9ANspMyRpWvB8UhVQpbM/s320/IMG_0072.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olympia!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzhe6saBZlfH3CALGMq6WCrdNkqleHp4D9ce4EZjey8-A8JM__rnWV9wxznf7fLpXHCMEqiNctoOx4lsi72YMb4w_wLIby7en9eVg-nFB7QLbrqtQh6gGb_Q2QefFMzvJqZkSdgIhFMap/s1600/IMG_0078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzhe6saBZlfH3CALGMq6WCrdNkqleHp4D9ce4EZjey8-A8JM__rnWV9wxznf7fLpXHCMEqiNctoOx4lsi72YMb4w_wLIby7en9eVg-nFB7QLbrqtQh6gGb_Q2QefFMzvJqZkSdgIhFMap/s320/IMG_0078.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stadium for the first olympics. #nbd</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4sAjkdzVPWRQFgg8VVyFxRn62lldKe_JyS_O37yrj3LdBm3jrp8dzcf9QUymqAjZLQVNBcZbPITtSWASzCpObwecGvSKLt32SAulYtxg6MHfkjcoLEm8mvuB8S45hAheekJc3r2mBuZw/s1600/IMG_0089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4sAjkdzVPWRQFgg8VVyFxRn62lldKe_JyS_O37yrj3LdBm3jrp8dzcf9QUymqAjZLQVNBcZbPITtSWASzCpObwecGvSKLt32SAulYtxg6MHfkjcoLEm8mvuB8S45hAheekJc3r2mBuZw/s320/IMG_0089.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">jungle baby.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Our next destination was Sparta. Ilove the movie 300, so naturally I was excited. Despite the movie not being 100% accurate [what movie is?], it was still cool going to Sparta. We even had a "this is Sparta!" moment on the edge of a cliff. I decided to rock my Bowdoin B that day and I think it was pretty fitting. The surrounding town is built on pretty much the ancient city, so it was interesting to think of being on Spartan soil.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5u0yW5Vl5W64oe-QNXTBp2887w4l1P6w5HqiQdXGHUG8Rjfr42OyewaTXVUX9eFXNnRb8WRF_0Qd5F4y7mhofCW8QL-czdI21GEaxuUIFidP8Z4qGGfFN1Sg3bHt-iLnD19FOK29-EOXA/s1600/IMG_0104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5u0yW5Vl5W64oe-QNXTBp2887w4l1P6w5HqiQdXGHUG8Rjfr42OyewaTXVUX9eFXNnRb8WRF_0Qd5F4y7mhofCW8QL-czdI21GEaxuUIFidP8Z4qGGfFN1Sg3bHt-iLnD19FOK29-EOXA/s320/IMG_0104.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">views driving to sparta.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjAjbSBa-Th2UjnSfr94wZWwYo1HjwzewErzGethlFQMqP8iOi9H3MrtRmqdopJnZhvRUdwyYrsMXSLAau8WQ-71SuXmKpeenNz4TjYeUlSZcsdr3F4uPVtvIxPtOzn48ytcJpPZRgGs-q/s1600/IMG_0128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjAjbSBa-Th2UjnSfr94wZWwYo1HjwzewErzGethlFQMqP8iOi9H3MrtRmqdopJnZhvRUdwyYrsMXSLAau8WQ-71SuXmKpeenNz4TjYeUlSZcsdr3F4uPVtvIxPtOzn48ytcJpPZRgGs-q/s320/IMG_0128.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">reppin' Bobo all day.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHjLdwIKl2fV5-dAazUPcjl3j4uu7pR9ZGYZ-6uqcEOkGdMYZ42eOBOr4QHAdhT4M1euOa6ndp3LmxivZYUo2P_sYEPT2frrvCWkJiQzTHl6dYKw0YJN6t-E7aiLWq_T_IXaxDEuqvytq/s1600/IMG_0140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHjLdwIKl2fV5-dAazUPcjl3j4uu7pR9ZGYZ-6uqcEOkGdMYZ42eOBOr4QHAdhT4M1euOa6ndp3LmxivZYUo2P_sYEPT2frrvCWkJiQzTHl6dYKw0YJN6t-E7aiLWq_T_IXaxDEuqvytq/s320/IMG_0140.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">spartan-sized ladybug.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyi_u1WdeeAAmRkuct4tYsjXGVWua5Rdkj3pGMwjryLy9g2u-U4_1cmOnWtKYxMtU6PH9-lDcKOWlwEfS_QeAVpXYpYP7vByJIWdSZ1ZuHuD0RbzhpX_w8q2jg6gY71yXxLrJMKiIlU04m/s1600/IMG_0147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyi_u1WdeeAAmRkuct4tYsjXGVWua5Rdkj3pGMwjryLy9g2u-U4_1cmOnWtKYxMtU6PH9-lDcKOWlwEfS_QeAVpXYpYP7vByJIWdSZ1ZuHuD0RbzhpX_w8q2jg6gY71yXxLrJMKiIlU04m/s320/IMG_0147.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
While in Sparta, we visited Mystra- a now monastery that is believed to be the ancient palace of Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon. This was by far my favorite site we went to during the whole trip. The buildings were amazing and the views the best from all week.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNT21jopGCvf6oqNXJL_W2pMh7cdZDiUsyvWrHYMh_D8et4n1tlbiWZ8tV0I_n2S6nHBm7oLgFFEN1pXnLR6GLh5fa5jdiUHFUzHaYnM16fb6H22tAvPK_8_LRh9Go4dmzXpcr7DHdxWs/s1600/IMG_0152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNT21jopGCvf6oqNXJL_W2pMh7cdZDiUsyvWrHYMh_D8et4n1tlbiWZ8tV0I_n2S6nHBm7oLgFFEN1pXnLR6GLh5fa5jdiUHFUzHaYnM16fb6H22tAvPK_8_LRh9Go4dmzXpcr7DHdxWs/s320/IMG_0152.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mystra in sparta.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXiI57VlXSMAPQxwsPCtYih8LxzunEb0W1eSYU593w-eXm0SYoSQklKTTK7rC8warqxzvLEK11l9azRWIBOFdgv1_-Tj33Lf7MV3GwZaJ26EaClAX29soSA0-Nx7yTQwrR4eYRm0lvzuC-/s1600/IMG_0162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXiI57VlXSMAPQxwsPCtYih8LxzunEb0W1eSYU593w-eXm0SYoSQklKTTK7rC8warqxzvLEK11l9azRWIBOFdgv1_-Tj33Lf7MV3GwZaJ26EaClAX29soSA0-Nx7yTQwrR4eYRm0lvzuC-/s320/IMG_0162.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">views all around.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1X2R7mtaMLaoTj6GIrqcb_aMHQhKp8cScZdRBR22ruDazvZuSF59Lrji_UA9UrGYgjuwSDzkXIiS4gTM77kCVdekMfMp2SOcbcofiPvxJ-fjbUM4jNn2nGmNXaRYxt3wVGG_I0whLBTXn/s1600/IMG_0177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1X2R7mtaMLaoTj6GIrqcb_aMHQhKp8cScZdRBR22ruDazvZuSF59Lrji_UA9UrGYgjuwSDzkXIiS4gTM77kCVdekMfMp2SOcbcofiPvxJ-fjbUM4jNn2nGmNXaRYxt3wVGG_I0whLBTXn/s320/IMG_0177.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">tunnels <3</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv7gpo5TptBGu7goIhrlqeuy-wbFKdg8-lt9Fru4psbYjCIDL8QKRGSUGSyFGodNsPBST8jDmWnrp4oVtNQQqjm4dlgydBao7y-zUj6fFPQ_X_X0jfK6bqbCiR1oKwD5msTs6Mqv5SwbEt/s1600/IMG_0201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv7gpo5TptBGu7goIhrlqeuy-wbFKdg8-lt9Fru4psbYjCIDL8QKRGSUGSyFGodNsPBST8jDmWnrp4oVtNQQqjm4dlgydBao7y-zUj6fFPQ_X_X0jfK6bqbCiR1oKwD5msTs6Mqv5SwbEt/s320/IMG_0201.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">church.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9rui-sLcy2cVjhkQQTI9YsVV97287uRWUcFId9gjx9fBWj_C6oY_yPVPb0rjBJFgGVUfp6a8BttlhS1qtVZSpSg8FnbHHSMQwB8hNlp_vW_iaVgFzqSXRpoKGIrtJqyiSI7QQnEeiUNx/s1600/IMG_0219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9rui-sLcy2cVjhkQQTI9YsVV97287uRWUcFId9gjx9fBWj_C6oY_yPVPb0rjBJFgGVUfp6a8BttlhS1qtVZSpSg8FnbHHSMQwB8hNlp_vW_iaVgFzqSXRpoKGIrtJqyiSI7QQnEeiUNx/s320/IMG_0219.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">chillin' with elizabeth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
AFter our Mystra visit, we headed to Nafplion where we would be for 2 nights. This city was so awesome. Our professor told us it was almost the capital of Greece. Thank goodness it's not, otherwise it wouldn't be as beautiful. I can speak from experience with Athens.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5NaIP91mu6xZgx3ZXrUrqdT5VS8IXM25l_SEgNnrRd3SRL7fEagU1XZRGPnA9RgKowoRS7X-_2_PnLn2w-4UDMi6QtnrEsE_zSp5QtKoFNwvk_Pw7M722nKj8NkiISMzVq6hqeFPaE4P/s1600/IMG_0221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5NaIP91mu6xZgx3ZXrUrqdT5VS8IXM25l_SEgNnrRd3SRL7fEagU1XZRGPnA9RgKowoRS7X-_2_PnLn2w-4UDMi6QtnrEsE_zSp5QtKoFNwvk_Pw7M722nKj8NkiISMzVq6hqeFPaE4P/s320/IMG_0221.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oh, hello bug.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfFmjWQIXAYgCJKXKO6BCNyOxtfunVun9W5qPvllwgcxl95pEtu_NSBHpmjL0u6SiN08Ann_XTWIgXvTXmxr0A7xqSez0yNMNu2NS9ENgasojB-fKb7NTUIg5yN915KDmPeiYv4knOsrxK/s1600/IMG_0240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfFmjWQIXAYgCJKXKO6BCNyOxtfunVun9W5qPvllwgcxl95pEtu_NSBHpmjL0u6SiN08Ann_XTWIgXvTXmxr0A7xqSez0yNMNu2NS9ENgasojB-fKb7NTUIg5yN915KDmPeiYv4knOsrxK/s320/IMG_0240.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">naplion.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8HZZuA1GVFyfV3GVIMJuM-HRi0yawuHUiXL2Y4C7bnJt_1MOo25DrN8r73Jdl96Q6ir5B-Ql52hutvTtem9dem-L7_etgelxzEDvFcbyg5BOS8ss6f6rHRHEVcJVBmNXCcVtET4Qb9AyS/s1600/IMG_0244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8HZZuA1GVFyfV3GVIMJuM-HRi0yawuHUiXL2Y4C7bnJt_1MOo25DrN8r73Jdl96Q6ir5B-Ql52hutvTtem9dem-L7_etgelxzEDvFcbyg5BOS8ss6f6rHRHEVcJVBmNXCcVtET4Qb9AyS/s320/IMG_0244.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this is what i love about greece.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDO_uVOIkBnNrm5dXAIapz56IoIqJ45inob_t_rmlLPrIU40AuECOADMwsbZMqR8etKlzMkZ19KaDyRqF10eM9K0I_YT0dkv64ENfyZUGN1I0du6Q9s8dEqI1pDMvXXGmnwvEX6XjGjLlX/s1600/IMG_0247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDO_uVOIkBnNrm5dXAIapz56IoIqJ45inob_t_rmlLPrIU40AuECOADMwsbZMqR8etKlzMkZ19KaDyRqF10eM9K0I_YT0dkv64ENfyZUGN1I0du6Q9s8dEqI1pDMvXXGmnwvEX6XjGjLlX/s320/IMG_0247.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mine one day?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1pQyJw2XuIGN3Md_a3mKP-QTIpCkGO43MipGawXik0ooAVoofF_TYSBbIPgGj8OfMkXHmrlYUix1JOFiDnpH4RTTOyIEeJQxATubLZg3lR9708KBouz9vLOimPG5CsdSWNRT6TiCaidM/s1600/IMG_0250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1pQyJw2XuIGN3Md_a3mKP-QTIpCkGO43MipGawXik0ooAVoofF_TYSBbIPgGj8OfMkXHmrlYUix1JOFiDnpH4RTTOyIEeJQxATubLZg3lR9708KBouz9vLOimPG5CsdSWNRT6TiCaidM/s320/IMG_0250.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i miss the ocean.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> From Nafplion, we went to Nemea. This is also a site of one of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhellenic_Games">Panhellenic Games</a> held during antiquity. The site was small, so we made our way through it quickly. The stadium was neat to walk on and some of my classmates reenacted the ways the athletes use to have foot races. It was also neat to see a Temple of Zeus. I love seeing the tall columns and imagining myself living back in those times. I like to think I would be a super awesome Greek.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbalXbIKyDbmXvmctlGfoU-P97sbhMfi1p11oSn73Ax4qy63cp6ykRW8NyHIsLamZZq8Qj8qPaVRcmvMRCgdCPkzJbVClt-rak_RPTHgMvUOh3wTsG8lZUjJikwgQywOmxcHrqpsmA4Ula/s1600/IMG_0262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbalXbIKyDbmXvmctlGfoU-P97sbhMfi1p11oSn73Ax4qy63cp6ykRW8NyHIsLamZZq8Qj8qPaVRcmvMRCgdCPkzJbVClt-rak_RPTHgMvUOh3wTsG8lZUjJikwgQywOmxcHrqpsmA4Ula/s320/IMG_0262.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nemea stadium.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMj2mf5oEZGgFsn8x4GaYHgk1_6kteUeVQvugPzywlgs9Sy-lx0CGHTAY0SqMNexJUuAacBauWuZXLWFKPsHY3inMRaGLD8jtSqAFpWLuG6-FHuFfwC7JyfnpzqicnAGEpYC7CROfuoWOU/s1600/IMG_0271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMj2mf5oEZGgFsn8x4GaYHgk1_6kteUeVQvugPzywlgs9Sy-lx0CGHTAY0SqMNexJUuAacBauWuZXLWFKPsHY3inMRaGLD8jtSqAFpWLuG6-FHuFfwC7JyfnpzqicnAGEpYC7CROfuoWOU/s320/IMG_0271.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">aw yeah, covered this area.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5RFyBndt0mAK8zOpqgOy6fBPMFokX0om31LKMrV7vAvF1RUBuXnXfpI727B8meLxbQL_rSHG-QitY9UobfzJgvxl6HO-oCuh2TO50SiRi4VYFatga0xmk7HKuxGMfDYe2bhf5_BhqiBKX/s1600/IMG_0279.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5RFyBndt0mAK8zOpqgOy6fBPMFokX0om31LKMrV7vAvF1RUBuXnXfpI727B8meLxbQL_rSHG-QitY9UobfzJgvxl6HO-oCuh2TO50SiRi4VYFatga0xmk7HKuxGMfDYe2bhf5_BhqiBKX/s320/IMG_0279.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">temple of zeus in nemea.</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpgLgwLrY159vp-KoUUlMs7M0sYrL2iFvFDtVKejYEj6kA_k3JhXb0EJenrwLNRYuGwZ_V4udh2uykGkWyyxUAYeD_ibekL9yrWFNuE5zx5WuUSRETQrkLkGpeVOCW8NyfWXFk_4EhhWe/s1600/IMG_0289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpgLgwLrY159vp-KoUUlMs7M0sYrL2iFvFDtVKejYEj6kA_k3JhXb0EJenrwLNRYuGwZ_V4udh2uykGkWyyxUAYeD_ibekL9yrWFNuE5zx5WuUSRETQrkLkGpeVOCW8NyfWXFk_4EhhWe/s320/IMG_0289.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKkEfhL6sbuFzXtRpS8vi76CalSTcbh4qI-g_47AFB5-ZbtXguHS1rSTNHFUSSRQGVbqtDhO9zU7IyKc9gzXcU80tuNJJOMTfzEEXOMmoh3ZsCTmVlFcPNxdyV7cOpv6glmkRlQPFpRxh7/s1600/IMG_0294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKkEfhL6sbuFzXtRpS8vi76CalSTcbh4qI-g_47AFB5-ZbtXguHS1rSTNHFUSSRQGVbqtDhO9zU7IyKc9gzXcU80tuNJJOMTfzEEXOMmoh3ZsCTmVlFcPNxdyV7cOpv6glmkRlQPFpRxh7/s320/IMG_0294.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">been working out ;D</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Our last night we returned to Nafplion and went to the top of what use to be a fort for fighting. I'm blanking on the name at the moment, but it was insane to be at the top of the city. We walked down over 800 stairs to get back down. My knees were so shaking afterwards. A friend and I were comparing leg shakes. Ha, it was quite the experience though and I'm glad I did it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFNDqHnIoZEdm_0X460PBtRvCJn_i6NF0Pj7_XBVSKhsjBy9fAeb7Z8KXaBLLCeLQMhQyD-4cuNgDnPVvESuwaQCBX0wn7j5pjEN2owuy3g6mKgnpDGGHeaOu66m74GTTzIvkIXct_UdS/s1600/IMG_0303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFNDqHnIoZEdm_0X460PBtRvCJn_i6NF0Pj7_XBVSKhsjBy9fAeb7Z8KXaBLLCeLQMhQyD-4cuNgDnPVvESuwaQCBX0wn7j5pjEN2owuy3g6mKgnpDGGHeaOu66m74GTTzIvkIXct_UdS/s320/IMG_0303.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fort on top of naplion.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrNfIGeB8vK8zs9NhZRG7uH4XcV1i8eU1Ju2lE9OKk7ibo25ouuqICAYL8EjFGXq9ZWAUShGLvk3nUpot7CCz7ni5aWtd77W8ZIN03p0tpj0OUAFu2xghwXfd2QotvtVgVWKtb-EWiH8L/s1600/IMG_0305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrNfIGeB8vK8zs9NhZRG7uH4XcV1i8eU1Ju2lE9OKk7ibo25ouuqICAYL8EjFGXq9ZWAUShGLvk3nUpot7CCz7ni5aWtd77W8ZIN03p0tpj0OUAFu2xghwXfd2QotvtVgVWKtb-EWiH8L/s320/IMG_0305.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">see the sailboat?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQVBePAmGy-rGvGqv-nfpIkDMEWbkrBBI8_sjxpHIrzkmdpcGyPn76TQr_eI06n9j9Afn5YCd4DKCJ7fiRPf3VCpuqRVZbW2JXBOL-hdUrR9AtP_pcTNsFjEapNd8gaZM6kVTqaSogXTh/s1600/IMG_0308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQVBePAmGy-rGvGqv-nfpIkDMEWbkrBBI8_sjxpHIrzkmdpcGyPn76TQr_eI06n9j9Afn5YCd4DKCJ7fiRPf3VCpuqRVZbW2JXBOL-hdUrR9AtP_pcTNsFjEapNd8gaZM6kVTqaSogXTh/s320/IMG_0308.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">herro.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMP5zaQXzLrzCwmBYj0JU3UpRGKRZdBic6zktRjh1wHLMh2JLV394cDdAidtWdIcR4T4VpMaxgN17gOQeqMT7uEhKQikbMR3yhzrxHLs7JQEpIWhbQko9gQ5QJa2pvESmNrwBAyiSY8vgC/s1600/IMG_0309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMP5zaQXzLrzCwmBYj0JU3UpRGKRZdBic6zktRjh1wHLMh2JLV394cDdAidtWdIcR4T4VpMaxgN17gOQeqMT7uEhKQikbMR3yhzrxHLs7JQEpIWhbQko9gQ5QJa2pvESmNrwBAyiSY8vgC/s320/IMG_0309.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">views <3</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkw38KPlm3ls0neEmzYy-0kL7RgYG_QC-e-37G20fZYji4M7dtM1f5FH0Opn9N0yLJpa2BZsBpLPBPRBGQtNhyphenhyphenYaaF3aZ1oDK7kpaKCyfArGRouCwIi89YbVvwQVDP4u5Fmq1d0bDkvsAA/s1600/IMG_0317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkw38KPlm3ls0neEmzYy-0kL7RgYG_QC-e-37G20fZYji4M7dtM1f5FH0Opn9N0yLJpa2BZsBpLPBPRBGQtNhyphenhyphenYaaF3aZ1oDK7kpaKCyfArGRouCwIi89YbVvwQVDP4u5Fmq1d0bDkvsAA/s320/IMG_0317.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I am absolutely in love with Greece and it was this past week that helped to confirm the fact that Greece was the right place to choose for my study abroad. </div></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-51711116350239865982011-10-25T22:26:00.001+03:002011-10-26T00:59:33.652+03:00who knew a beetle could be so much trouble?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">yup, the beetle that gave me trauma this summer has left a lasting impression on my ear- and not in a good way. for those of you who don't know, before coming to Greece, a bug dug its way into my ear and caused me to go to the hospital. after flooding my ear, suctioning my ear and tweezing in my ear, the little buggar finally came out. after that, my ear was pretty sensitive and I couldn't sleep without the fear of something climbing in my ear. When I came to Greece, my ear still bugged me, but I tried to put it in the back of my thoughts, I mean I'm in GREECE! However, I couldn't do it while I was in Crete because my ear began to really bother me. So, after telling my coordinator, we went to the pharmacy thinking it was just an ear infection that could be treated with some drops. While the drops mentally helped, my ear continued to bug me, but once again I put it in the back of my mind. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">I wish it went away, but during my recent trip to the Peloponnese (which I will blog about after this post) I slowly began to lose my hearing in my right ear, as well as having some pain whenever we climbed to different elevations. I finally started to think there might be a real problem, so I told a friend and she convinced me to seek some help. Today I went to the hospital, but before I could get a diagnosis, I had quite the adventure. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">My director Aleko told me which place to go and showed me on map where I was going. It was a straight shot to the hospital and I was sure I wouldn't miss it. Boy was I wrong. I first walked into the wrong place, but didn't know it was wrong until I stood in a line for 30 minutes with screaming kids biting each other, a janitor waxing the floor around me, and impatient Greeks. Once I finally got to the counter, I said my ear hurts and the lady said, "Speak Greece". Um, yeah. So then I was directed to a different window only to be told I had the wrong hospital. Win. I had a few more blocks to go. It was partially my fault for not asking the name of the hospital, so I couldn't get too mad.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">So after leaving there, I finally find the right place. I get directed to the first floor. That's the problem here though, my first floor does not equal their first floor. Naturally I go to the wrong area. I can't read anything and I am just utterly lost. It was like and American ER though- crowded, old people and chaos. When I get to the counter and start speaking English, the lady automatically says, "There" and points to yet another window. A guy next to me tells his friend what happens in Greek ( I sort of understand as well as being able to read the situation because he looks at me/points in my direction). They start laughing and that makes me even more frustrated. At this point I want to cry and I'm just so frustrated. The entire situation was emotionally draining.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">At last the lady at the next window reads the note Aleko gave me that said 'ear specialist' in Greek and I am sent to their first floor (so my 2nd floor). here is where the waiting starts. a few people are in front of me, so I journal a bit, write and email and read. I keep waiting for about another hour and a half until finally the doctor comes back to me. I go in, give him my info and am taken to a chair. This is when 4 different doctors take a look into my ear and I explain to them what happened with the bug back home. Their faces were priceless. Ha, it was funny. The last guy who checked my ear then grabs this long suctioning tube. NOT AGAIN. gah, my experience with this ear is just terrible. He tells me he needs to clean it and begins the dreaded suctioning. I can hear everything and I absolutely abhor the sound of the device and it hurts a little as well. He decided he needs one with a wider opening and goes at it again. Then, it happened. He got some huge piece of funky, nasty, goodness knows what out of my ear. I breathed a sigh of relief along with a huge, "What is that?!"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">He explained to me that there was a huge build up in my ear from a small piece of cotton getting stuck. It was the reason my ear had felt clogged and why was experiencing pain. He also mentioned that there could be a possible fungus, so I need to go back for a check up when I get back from France. I was prescribed some ear drops and told to keep it from getting wet when I shower. Augh, what an experience. It's all thanks to that darn japanese beetle. Sheesh. I was able to leave with a prescription. But before I could be happy that it wasn't more serious, I eat it so hard on the pavement walking back. I get a nice little scrape on my right leg and a huge audience to the fall. At this point, all I could do was laugh. That's all. My day had already been a mess and to add the cherry to the sundae, I fall. Win.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I make it to the pharmacy and get my drops. The entire cost of this hospital trip was € 1.96 ( = about $3). Yeah, for being in a crazy economy the medical expenses here are extremely minimal. Talk about cheap. After going through this, it made me realize how messed up the system in the states is. I can't imagine how much this trip would've cost me. They charge for the visit as well as the prescription and don't even get me started on what happens if you don't have medical insurance. I paid $3 to have some nasty thing sucked out of my ear and the drugs to make it better. They didn't require insurance at all. I was impressed as well as extremely relieved it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. I am also more appreciative of my ability to hear. I was so scared that there was possible permanent damage from the suctioning done with the bug and had all these possible scenarios running through my mind for if I lost all hearing in my right ear. I am grateful for the ability to hear and I will not take this ability for granted. It's unfortunate how easily we can take things like hearing and seeing for granted. It was a good lesson and I am glad I had this opportunity to have my perspective checked. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></span></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-41102888402313107162011-10-14T22:45:00.002+03:002011-10-15T23:09:17.967+03:00just don't speak.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I love Athens. I full heartedly love this place. It's amazing. Today while walking in the open air market (greek version of a farmer's market+ flea market) with Sakina, I stopped, looked around and realized I am in love with this place. The sounds, sights and even the smells-including the garbage. The mounds of garbage are daily reminders that the people of Greece are standing up to their government in order to have better lives. If this means garbage collectors on strike as well, so be it. I know at first the smells of the trash annoyed me, but being here and talking to the people in Greece, I have a better understanding and appreciate for the strikes. Speaking of which, there has been a 48 hour strike of all transportation in Athens. Pretty intense and weird to see the streets full of cars but nothing else: buses, trams, and taxis. I have enormous respect for the people of Greece. Do your thing :D<br />
<br />
On a different note, I had a wonderful evening today with Rahmat from volleyball and his Greek friend Areti. She's a lawyer who met Rahmat when they were working with minorities in Greece to get them better treatment. He translated for her. I absolutely loved chatting with her. We discussed the lack of appreciation for work with less fortunate and how if we had it our way, volunteering would be our careers. We all know we can live off volunteering, so it becomes a difficult path when there doesn't seem to be jobs in this field. Talk about my entire emotional roller coaster during the summer in India. It's so amazing to share views on these kinds of things with people in different parts of the world. We also had an enormous chat on the increase in immigrants to Greece from the Middle East. Because Greece is the eastern border to Europe, it gets so many people coming in from abroad looking for work and a better life. Sound familiar? I'm in a European version of America. So.many.similarities! It was intense, but also refreshing to be able to honestly talk on the subject. She touched on the fact that Greece, right now economically, can not, as she said, absorb the large amounts of immigrants. I've craved this kind of conversation and boy was I pleased after it all. She is extremely intelligent and I can't wait to spend more time with her. When I asked her what she thought I was ethnically, she said I could pass as Greek- as long as I just don't speak. Ha, I was happy for the compliment and encouraged to work on my Greek. She said that my round eyes, golden skin and wonderful hair make me appear like a natural Greek. Aw yeah! #winning.<br />
<br />
The dinner was so delicious. After weeks of having to cook for myself, having a homemade meal was so wonderful! What made it even better was that Rahmat opened his home to share with me a little of his Afghani culture and ways of cooking. We had incredible chicken with rice and then a chicken based soup that packed a punch. I MISS SPICY FOOD! India totally spoiled me in that realm, but here in Greece, I don't think they believe in spicy foods at all. I haven't had one spicy Greek dish. Maybe I just haven't found any? Anyways, I was in heaven. It was the funniest moment though when Rahmat brought our a Greek salad! Here we were having a Middle Eastern meal and then BOOM! Just goes to show the ways in which living in a different culture for a while begins to have its influence. Overall, the meal was ever so yummy.<br />
<br />
After dinner, the 3 of us bonded over music- each showing one another which songs we liked. I totally passed on showing American music and opted for my new love of Bollywood music. It brought back a flood of memories from India and prompted me to share stories from the summer. Areti thought I was well spoken and versed for being so young. She's 26 and said when she was 20, she had no idea about stuff going on in the world. Shout out to my liberal arts educations and the opportunities it has granted me to travel! I felt proud to be able to hold my own with this well-educated woman who has done so much for the people around her.<br />
<br />
Rahmat also had things to share with us other than his amazing cooking skills- pictures of his family back in Afghanistan! He has 6 siblings- 2 older sister, an older brother, 2 younger brothers and a baby sister. They're all 3 years apart. INSANE! I told him his mom is my hero. Haha. It was so nice to hear him tell us all about them and shows us his parents/siblings/nieces/nephews and people from where he grew up. I thought, "Wow, here are 2 genuine people sharing pieces of their lives with me". I don't think it could have been a better night. We continued to chat, drink coffee and listen to music. Soon Hussein (another guy we play volleyball with) came over for a bit. He's one of my favorites from the group, so I was happy to see him and hang out. It was getting late so Hussein offered me a ride back to my house. His English isn't as great as Rahmat, so we struggle communicating with one another, BUT he did know enough to say, "Now, we are friends". Gah, these wonderful human beings. I wanted to melt.<br />
<br />
I'm really proud of myself for taking that first step to play volleyball with them. From taking that step, I have been blessed to meet some amazing people. They are kind, funny and easy going. It's a true blessing to meet people that honestly change your life. And I can whole heartedly say that they are changing mine. How beautiful, don't you think?</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-68720380367045779992011-10-13T11:24:00.000+03:002011-10-13T11:24:27.911+03:00pancakes?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I've decided that for some odd reason, I miss pancakes the most out of any other food I have back home. Strange, I know. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful Greek host mommy that made me some yesterday! well, the kind they have here at least. They came in a frozen package that required an oven. Yes, I know- strange. Despite the weird method of preparing, they were actually quite yummy! I would describe them as a thick crepe with similar traits as a pancake. On top of that, she had like 4 choices of jam, including:<br />
<br />
strawberry<br />
<br />
fig<br />
<br />
apricot<br />
<br />
orange<br />
<br />
I went with the strawberry and apricot. Boy was I one happy camper. Not only did I get fed something I've been searching for since being here, but my darling Alex told me all about his friends from school. He even has a girlfriend! 6 years old and already has swag. We're coming to a good spot in our relationship where I can tell he's really getting comfortable and when that happens, it also means kids start to tests some of their limits. For example, not wanting to clean up the games we were playing before going to the next one. I held firm in that no new game would be played until the mess was clean. So far, we're pretty good together and he's slowly making his way into my heart (per usual with children).<br />
<br />
In other news, I've made it through my week of midterms. I have to admit, I didn't give studying as much attention as I shouldn't. I feel etsy-ketsy (greek for so-so) about one of my tests that I took yesterday. I guess I'll find out later! We head to the Peloponnese on Tuesday for a week then it's off to France for my to visit my love Jess. Pretty much school's out for the next 2 weeks. Aw yeah!</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-10058072802013413622011-10-09T22:30:00.002+03:002011-10-10T01:48:39.386+03:00service?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This weekend a few of us "volunteered" for an event called Dance for a Cause. People would pay 10 euro to participate in as many dance/aerobics courses as they would like for a day. The money would then be donated to two separate cancer organizations that specifically work with children.They even had a kids area where the kiddies could play, hear stories, get their faces painted and many other fun activities. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful event and soon was chosen to be the leader/organizer of the other students in my program who signed up to volunteer. I was SO stoked to be able to sign up to volunteer because this past year, volunteering has become an essential part of who I am. I had the responsibility to get everyone together in order to commute to the location and divide the team into groups to work the different shifts- one in the morning and one in the afternoon.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>When we arrived, we were instructed to hand out flyers and stand around the stadium directing people. It was really tough and frustrating for me because these tasks required interactions with the people we were trying to inform about the event- and they all spoke Greek. My Greek is not even close to being good enough to understand substantive conversations, so we all had a hard time with this. I felt as though my abilities as a volunteer were not being used to their proper capabilities. There was a lot going on, and I felt as though I could have contributed more if I was asked to complete manual labor or some form of activity that required me to really do something. There weren't many people to hand flyers to in the area because the stadium was located in an awkward area and the language barrier just proved to be too difficult. I didn't know what the people were asking, so most of the time I just pointed while they stared at me aimlessly. Our shift was from 10-3p.m. and I have to admit that I didn't feel as though I contributed at all. I was really frustrated and almost left early. I recognize that big events are stressful and a lot to handle, but the woman in charge didn't listen to what I had to say about what I could contribute and as a volunteer, I didn't feel put to good use. It was a tough day and I was really challenged to stay positive.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ1engNCVtFmrFSXqmDI4mh5p56rQZ4mQqJQ02M7xQUyvyKXHmkANMAb7edJ16vds85qoU9vDKbvKhS7mhdiIKnI4eR5ahn39m8A0npQFUHh0p2p6iYf9HijjZfesYo87Y8kVfb3pKAv4a/s1600/IMG_0001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ1engNCVtFmrFSXqmDI4mh5p56rQZ4mQqJQ02M7xQUyvyKXHmkANMAb7edJ16vds85qoU9vDKbvKhS7mhdiIKnI4eR5ahn39m8A0npQFUHh0p2p6iYf9HijjZfesYo87Y8kVfb3pKAv4a/s320/IMG_0001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my team!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">lovelies waiting for the tram <3</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsO1IYpdMwLgjaldC0pvjMPxS20NpNUhDq4rJx00pHysfrc5pwiU2372owyWiNdYdp5hKd7mnRBohlJJ_8nan1OBxaRcB4QL8vnLa3bik27L5V-UcRK5Ll3f63nMY2o88diQn9rdG0Zg8j/s1600/IMG_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsO1IYpdMwLgjaldC0pvjMPxS20NpNUhDq4rJx00pHysfrc5pwiU2372owyWiNdYdp5hKd7mnRBohlJJ_8nan1OBxaRcB4QL8vnLa3bik27L5V-UcRK5Ll3f63nMY2o88diQn9rdG0Zg8j/s320/IMG_0003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">peace and friendship stadium</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGTMc5-fAOyOVigGY2FLuwqU_Uqj1XfxTupPoOJ79iNxoh74S9MzsvSFvSK3Fr3PLzI2BEey1d5YDKlQbyk3X_N_PzX1p8TSnVc3nBiXeFrz9SZDadbTRtQfz4EGVSEI8HvA-36Po0zRq/s1600/IMG_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGTMc5-fAOyOVigGY2FLuwqU_Uqj1XfxTupPoOJ79iNxoh74S9MzsvSFvSK3Fr3PLzI2BEey1d5YDKlQbyk3X_N_PzX1p8TSnVc3nBiXeFrz9SZDadbTRtQfz4EGVSEI8HvA-36Po0zRq/s320/IMG_0006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">area for the kiddies.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8CWRXFWMjznhbkUZ8272XR7PFzuC_ywctXEtBDD12zr0sOaF5qHrJQmloMC_iBjx1JF6qxGoRt939e_HYbx3njdBT-KnpHIFz38xPrk5zRwTNyOY78vhtuDPq2mO3o3jNJVchTTwkkZO/s1600/IMG_0007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8CWRXFWMjznhbkUZ8272XR7PFzuC_ywctXEtBDD12zr0sOaF5qHrJQmloMC_iBjx1JF6qxGoRt939e_HYbx3njdBT-KnpHIFz38xPrk5zRwTNyOY78vhtuDPq2mO3o3jNJVchTTwkkZO/s320/IMG_0007.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i wanna jump!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwuyR8CR9d9BunTIE6_NcWDszM5uiGWJM9CxUY7Rf9FQaTQUK8GwlRm0JP-poqKEIKr80WR4KhPGLvXddO88rTIOEb90FB0ENTUgfe6B_e4PiMshzqG5HynOOCsrTqBQA3sS5BqvCV5TcC/s1600/IMG_0010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwuyR8CR9d9BunTIE6_NcWDszM5uiGWJM9CxUY7Rf9FQaTQUK8GwlRm0JP-poqKEIKr80WR4KhPGLvXddO88rTIOEb90FB0ENTUgfe6B_e4PiMshzqG5HynOOCsrTqBQA3sS5BqvCV5TcC/s320/IMG_0010.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">face painting :D</td></tr>
</tbody></table>While our actual contribution to the overall event seemed to be not as great as I had imagined, we were able to meet some great new friends. The students pictured below all go to the same school and made our day that much better. They were telling me how their school requires 150 hours of 3 things: </div><div>1). action- i.e. sports/exercise</div><div>2). service-i.e. Dance for a Cause/ beach clean up</div><div>3). creativity- i.e. arts/music</div><div>I thought that was absolutely amazing! Having such requirements encourages students to be more well rounded and connected to their community in a way that doesn't really happen during the high school years. I'm glad we had the opportunity to share experiences and have first hand encounters of internationalism. I spent a greater amount of time with the two guys in the front- Frank and Chris. They were some funny characters and really brought me back to my high school days. Ha, how long ago that actually was!</div><div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHdTQSL0cDg2jMig4TwnVxYxOhniMjMAsFRcTVr0B4Rb3plrUVjfwiieZfycBOWoR12ORso8UOS-F9tx_u829XRcAKvkVDCg8X0hnGjNWkRDyQOXp-0lATRj3iAaT1I2omUYDGfH-XvnLD/s1600/IMG_0012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHdTQSL0cDg2jMig4TwnVxYxOhniMjMAsFRcTVr0B4Rb3plrUVjfwiieZfycBOWoR12ORso8UOS-F9tx_u829XRcAKvkVDCg8X0hnGjNWkRDyQOXp-0lATRj3iAaT1I2omUYDGfH-XvnLD/s320/IMG_0012.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">new friends! [bffl Frank on my right and Chris to my left]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I think it's experiences like this that really make me look for the positives in anything I do. The day was trying, but I met new and wonderful human beings. </div></div></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-27501430346325635682011-10-07T15:32:00.002+03:002011-10-09T22:31:39.233+03:00Sights, Smell and Sounds of Greece.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">There exists so much in this city it’s hard to write about everything, so I’m going to touch on some of the more interesting sights, smells and sounds of Greece I have experienced. I want to begin first with the constant sounds that surround me. Every morning, I wake up to the pleasant melody of my neighbor upstairs playing the piano. I’m not sure who it is in the building, but it makes me super happy and sets my mood for the rest of the morning, especially when all I can think about is how I can squeeze 5 more minutes of sleep in before I’ll be late for class. Another sound comes from the traffic on the main street of my apartment. I am located right on a busy intersection that is part of bus routes and so many motorcyclists. Our balcony barrier is made of a light metal sheet, so when traffic is booming, so is the metal on our balcony. It’s as if there’s a storm going on outside. At first I was super aware and mildly annoyed, but it has become something I rarely even notice anymore. A final sound that I have come to familiarize myself with is the tone in which locals speak. Back home if people talked this loudly and with such emphasis, people would assume there was an argument. Here, in most cases, people are simply chatting. I find myself starting to raise my voice when I talk and really get into the conversations. I like it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Smells. Yikes, these smells have been some of the most amazing scents and some of the most disgusting odors. It’s the worst when they’re combined! The one thing that stinks the most is the areas near the trash collections and the trash trucks themselves. I guess being at Bowdoin I’m not ever really aware of where the trash is. Here, it is right outside my apartment building. This area holds the trash of an entire block on my street. I’m not positive about how it works, but I’ve heard some people say the trash is building up because the workers are on strike-go figure. Others have said that there’s only one day for pick-up and days are sometimes skipped. Either way, it is very present in my day to day. Another thing, the millions of dogs around have to use the restroom, right? Yeah, near my apartment there’s a little walk way that is super popular for walking dogs. Yay! Except it’s at the expense of my poor little nose. In this same walk-way, huge numbers of stray cats get fed by locals. What do cats also do? Yeah, unpleasant. On a happier note, I live close to a wonderful bakery! Yummy smells come from there as well as the smell of fresh coffee. Ah, so wonderful. Another scent that I find to be so great is the smell of olive oil. I realized that I make a huge mess when it comes to using it on my bread with feta, so it has started to seep into my hands and make them smell of olives all day. I absolutely love it and it’s a great way to moisturize on the go! <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Finally, the sights. Now I could write for days on the things I have seen, but I want to give attention to the demonstrations/protests and my time at volleyball. I will begin with saying that the demonstrations are no joke. They involve throwing rocks and other objects, tear gas, shields and a ton of Greek version of SWAT teams. I went into the main center located near my house in order to catch the metro, however, when I got there the ‘peaceful’ demonstration had turned into a more hostile one and had a first hand account. Protestors were throwing stuff at the SWAT to the point where one was bleeding from the nose from being hit in the face with a rock and the lingering tear gas was making my eyes water. That’s one thing I actually didn’t smell, I just felt the effects of it. My eyes were burning and the gum in my mouth tasted disgusting. My nose also started to run a bit and I was afraid I would get a bloody nose like a lot of the people I saw were experiencing. Our program does stress to us not to go there if avoidable, but curiosity got the best of me, so I stayed a bit to see a little more of what was happening. In the pictures below there are people advancing on the steps of the plaza, while the SWAT retreat for a more united front. It’s interesting to see the passion of the Greeks during these demonstrations in comparison with how things happen in America. From the recent events on Wall Street, we can see there are enormous differences to how much people can actually express before police brutality begins to happen. Woes of the world. Also, here's some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7U7TDcc4U">video</a> I got of the events taking place. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVWiEE9JAUpV-OdT4frJCsKqk2AEs_8IJ7EVMihrmy_hv6f1xjdaxcz7mBwYts_Y2zCXEV3nLH123S2ZO6jk1f-WD_XxgZZBR5d4zinAVaP905vAKK8S6v-lUYIXhXyoPogTPnYqyhq0b/s1600/IMG_0002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVWiEE9JAUpV-OdT4frJCsKqk2AEs_8IJ7EVMihrmy_hv6f1xjdaxcz7mBwYts_Y2zCXEV3nLH123S2ZO6jk1f-WD_XxgZZBR5d4zinAVaP905vAKK8S6v-lUYIXhXyoPogTPnYqyhq0b/s320/IMG_0002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">people moving up the steps.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ymsh2klJGwwCyP40qyHkTr91zfaC01_ulOJUjojD9pJSx2BDHPcfqqAR_hA4FZCMinZZcDrVR_fo_1y1in0zDMW6WqMMJ5oMuambLXXfh6Mn27xdgqkn6eBEfILeeitvdhhsO5IajV8x/s1600/IMG_0007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ymsh2klJGwwCyP40qyHkTr91zfaC01_ulOJUjojD9pJSx2BDHPcfqqAR_hA4FZCMinZZcDrVR_fo_1y1in0zDMW6WqMMJ5oMuambLXXfh6Mn27xdgqkn6eBEfILeeitvdhhsO5IajV8x/s320/IMG_0007.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">coming together at the top of the stairs.<br />
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A better sight that I’ve recently experienced has been the happiness and joy of the men I play volleyball with. They all come from Afghanistan. Some are married, while others are single. Some have jobs, while a good amount don’t. And even with being away from home, their families and jobless, they all continue to smile. They are constantly poking fun of one another and calling each other “malaka” (Greek for a**hole). I understand this word from spending time with my other Greek friends, so they think it’s great that I find it to be funny. They’ve started to teach me some of the other bad words in Greek as well as how to count in Arabic! It’s awesome. Hopefully I can leave here having learned 2 new languages. Speaking of learning, my friend Ranmat has asked me to teach him English. We’re beginning lessons today. I’m so excited. It’s like India all over again! Whoo hoo. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOIzFiEbu0RGYi6UzDwTCiCdlBh5mnsh1WHY9IheSW4DNfVkibHpVQZzx-5J0EkPd9h4pcczUy7fqb9dt1LLHgdr4Q1YuYzfwNHnFAVBmnGRE__arVhsPG5mZ7NZC753rJB82bvpqEppi/s1600/IMG_0001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOIzFiEbu0RGYi6UzDwTCiCdlBh5mnsh1WHY9IheSW4DNfVkibHpVQZzx-5J0EkPd9h4pcczUy7fqb9dt1LLHgdr4Q1YuYzfwNHnFAVBmnGRE__arVhsPG5mZ7NZC753rJB82bvpqEppi/s320/IMG_0001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">some of the guys playing while I snag pics.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhmZIqwJ8-Ytc09TVm0xrT3Zf_f0qDHAR29e58Wqkl3dSnLm7y9VZqrD-1Hlvd99CBYQPEWAJEZqTpBW_K6cvVpmsOAE1BNCq1Q-8368Vez0XihWKd4sWFV1QDfs1owGRvhdC0rMsaNmRb/s1600/IMG_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhmZIqwJ8-Ytc09TVm0xrT3Zf_f0qDHAR29e58Wqkl3dSnLm7y9VZqrD-1Hlvd99CBYQPEWAJEZqTpBW_K6cvVpmsOAE1BNCq1Q-8368Vez0XihWKd4sWFV1QDfs1owGRvhdC0rMsaNmRb/s320/IMG_0003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">he crushed this ball.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUnM3pcyxKLg82oU4g0Mcl32xmZAyZuPvtWKFm-QZ84r-PYuSKaiBhwsW7lTRvDBm_UhnexzzuNc6FZLZb1iqaPUV7fTAg2Nxwm3aa-FsOnB5axhqkw_5VKYC6AhlGW_zfeEENMS8lm8L/s1600/IMG_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUnM3pcyxKLg82oU4g0Mcl32xmZAyZuPvtWKFm-QZ84r-PYuSKaiBhwsW7lTRvDBm_UhnexzzuNc6FZLZb1iqaPUV7fTAg2Nxwm3aa-FsOnB5axhqkw_5VKYC6AhlGW_zfeEENMS8lm8L/s320/IMG_0006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sunsets never let me down.<br />
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">All in all, I’ve been exposed to so many incredible (and stinky) things since being in Greece. I’m excited to see, smell and hear more and even more excited to share them with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-65000532836490842592011-09-30T00:08:00.002+03:002011-10-14T22:46:38.231+03:00Go for it.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today brought me so much happiness, it's ridiculous. For starters, I met the family that I was paired with after notifying my director I was interested in being matched with a Greek family. The original cause of the pairing was to get in touch for babysitting gigs. I know this is going to be so much more. After calling Valia in order to let her know I was interested in spending time with her son, Alex, she quickly gave me directions in order to get to her house. Now, I'm pretty comfortable doing things on my own, especially since my experience in India, but this was to be my first solo adventure since being in Greece that required leaving my immediate neighborhood. I actually had no clue that I would have to take a 40 minute commute in order to get to the family's home. However, it wasn't too bad. I caught the right metro (these ones aren't color coated like the ones in Boston or New York in order to differentiate between the green and blue line). I was worried I kept missing the one I needed to get on, but I soon found out that I was indeed waiting for the right one. Whew!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alas I arrive 10 stops from my original starting station to meet the lovely Valia. She is beautiful and so lively. Her and I immediately clicked and began talking about where each was from, what I was studying and more about my experiences so far in Greece. I loved her the moment she started talking. I've had my fair share of babysitting and meeting new families. I don't always know what to expect and this was no exception. I was so grateful that I was put to ease when we began talking. After a little drive from the metro, we ended at her beautiful apartment flat. It's enormous without being too much. I walked into a goofy little baby named Paul and a super energetic 6 year old Alex. I'm always worried the kids will be super shy or totally against a new person coming into spend time with them, but Alex quickly put that worry to rest. He was fast to show me his school work, drawings and his room. Before Alex and I scampered off, his mom told him, "Alex, we're Macy's Greek family because she doesn't have her family here". My heart melted. It was in that moment that I knew this was going to be more than me just watching Alex or helping him with his English. I felt absolutely comfortable and so happy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alex and soon began to vibe one another and it was an instant connection as his mom said. She told me later that she had never seen him get to comfortable so quickly. I got even happier. Ha ha. After about an hour and a half of playing trucks, dinosaurs and reading, it was time for me to go. Alex was sad to see me leave and asked for me to stay or come back tomorrow. We decided on once a week, on Wednesdays. I am so excited. Soon Valia walked with me to show me the buses I will take the next time. I'm happy to be challenged to find my way to and from her house. It also gives me some time to be alone and get away from the same thing day in and day out. I am beyond ecstatic to spend more time with my new Greek family :D</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once I finally got off the metro and started walking home, I came across a game of volleyball. I have been looking so hard for games and people to play with, so I immediately become psyched to see it. I almost walked by, but I decided that I was going to ask to play. One side only had 5 people, so it was perfect. I gathered my courage and went for it. They said yes! I jumped in and got right to settling in. I guess they were pretty impressed because every time I made a move, they cheered and gave me a high five. I guess they underestimated me at the start. My side won :D I was mildly bummed that it had ended so quickly, but my new friend made it better by asking me to pepper. Gah, so much fun. In between our reps we exchanged names and where we were from. His name is Rahmat and he's from Afghanistan. He was super sweet and very good at volleyball. He was excited that I had the fundamentals and could actually maintain consistent peppering. He had no idea how happy I was and how much I had felt in my element. We set up another time to play and I'm seriously so excited.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To finish my awesome day, I made a quick stop at a little market across the street from my apartment to buy some milk. When the cashier told me the total in Greek, I understood! I was so proud of myself and completely content with my day. A shower and bowl of cereal to finish off the greatest day this week. Going on my own adventure today and putting myself out there to the strangers really pushed me to go for the things I wanted. This new family is going to offer me a nice change to my daily life and playing volleyball with the guys allowed me to enjoy something I love to much. I'm grateful that I can take these risks, but also grateful that I have the opportunity to test my gully :D</span></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-56487895937885786332011-09-27T15:21:00.001+03:002011-09-27T15:22:24.357+03:00Not everything's perfect.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">including this program. Today I had a conversation with some of the girls in my program, and I'm glad to say I'm not the only one who has been feeling not so great about our program. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm spoiled by a liberal arts school education where classes are based on student-teacher interaction or if I excel in an environment where conversations with the professors are constantly taking place. Either way, I find that my program lacks a lot of this. I find myself struggling to want to go to class because I am so uninspired. On top of that, my Modern Greek class moves in a speed that I think is unreasonable. We cover a chapter in about 2 days without many explanations of what's going on other than here it is, we'll look over it, do enormous amounts of hw on it and keep going. There's SO much vocab that I still have no clue what it means and today we learned a topic that I still don't know when we use it, yet we're moving on. Tonight I have to create an entire dialogue with another person to recite tomorrow in class. I haven't taken a language class in a while, but I know that intro classes don't just tell you to run before you can walk the way this course is commanding us to. Sigh... I enjoy the field trips and hands on aspects of the program, but as soon as we enter the classroom, I'm immediately discouraged and quite frankly, frustrated</span>. </div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-44391178947497392382011-09-26T16:06:00.000+03:002011-09-26T16:06:16.032+03:00The Land of Awesome.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This past week has been so absolutely amazing. Crete was more incredible than I could have ever expected. And the best part? It was part of my school’s program. They organized everuthign from the buses, ferries and hotels. They really did a great job too. Every place we went to was nice, clean and in the center of everything going on. To begin our trip, we explored Heraklio- the port our ferry dropped us in. It was so beautiful. We began with a walking tour followed by a visit to the site of Gortyn. Here we saw some pretty insane ruins. Everything is just crazy to look at and think about all the history that exists in one spot. The people of Crete are pretty amazing-past and present. Our next stop was Phaestos. Talk about huge. This was the oldest site we went to during out entire visit. I felt so cool being in the same spot where Greek civilization started and continues to hold an enormous amount of importance in the Cretan community. I feel so blessed. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibykdGDcpFOYL62i-cWsCWJsJl_wodppyBXck21OReLxE2BHMeAAfEPACmnylKh85uE449YW03lvrVsF38DkX4ZqsyQ3wg644Ph2twtwrEJf_Bg7oZXsw4kGrMXX1xQO4lbm8zVIwnNlna/s1600/IMG_0010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibykdGDcpFOYL62i-cWsCWJsJl_wodppyBXck21OReLxE2BHMeAAfEPACmnylKh85uE449YW03lvrVsF38DkX4ZqsyQ3wg644Ph2twtwrEJf_Bg7oZXsw4kGrMXX1xQO4lbm8zVIwnNlna/s320/IMG_0010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">right off the ferry at 7 a.m.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heraklio port.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4XDSvyS4Khab_qRrAk_t1Y25cT39aRlSwmTJMiIKG-IPHPHqoVv7mcvRNiymWLxWbpAa1jxRJRSlKt3gTIq_sNyHnNCX5X4ksoo87FKzvfyAIhMXuK0vMihoaCa1teop4E-f0pKC_P3fv/s1600/IMG_0017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4XDSvyS4Khab_qRrAk_t1Y25cT39aRlSwmTJMiIKG-IPHPHqoVv7mcvRNiymWLxWbpAa1jxRJRSlKt3gTIq_sNyHnNCX5X4ksoo87FKzvfyAIhMXuK0vMihoaCa1teop4E-f0pKC_P3fv/s320/IMG_0017.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beginning of tour.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhl64BOeGuAc-bl8dBvfYX3Awts1YzUNMUpZzTVRiP-rt_6iO61n6w38UlxZS_E91PvX3yGe00-R0xHrARxoLvxQj2hZrhikq3wuEU3wi2aaVfK0ZRjhrFg1FJJvkNIeq-0B6Cgy-J2TbU/s1600/IMG_0024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhl64BOeGuAc-bl8dBvfYX3Awts1YzUNMUpZzTVRiP-rt_6iO61n6w38UlxZS_E91PvX3yGe00-R0xHrARxoLvxQj2hZrhikq3wuEU3wi2aaVfK0ZRjhrFg1FJJvkNIeq-0B6Cgy-J2TbU/s320/IMG_0024.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">love the buildings!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTlVoSHawAgVcOwimElL22YDYJFend4QC8Y5ZE73NxX3muUqjlKp-Vb5qS4TJZYaX4cr6Z7T3N_Ym176ehIZukVhyphenhyphenO-HiFaCEtqqwq1GBc6TQ1tA9eDN3ZLLs_gePimEkHTHJe9uSi4nbL/s1600/IMG_0029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTlVoSHawAgVcOwimElL22YDYJFend4QC8Y5ZE73NxX3muUqjlKp-Vb5qS4TJZYaX4cr6Z7T3N_Ym176ehIZukVhyphenhyphenO-HiFaCEtqqwq1GBc6TQ1tA9eDN3ZLLs_gePimEkHTHJe9uSi4nbL/s320/IMG_0029.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">church of Ayios Titos.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0ZTbg6AAgBBHX225-zLoiEqv-qKg575aXh4QRlDI6gbaP1IaDljR1aKVC7HsQOiIHzSolorJndBa93xk0tJRJRIGHieaw-GdsPJTBZh5F4tXPm1v7r0-nkR5pKf_f9cSNVK1hA_3XkRU/s1600/IMG_0035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0ZTbg6AAgBBHX225-zLoiEqv-qKg575aXh4QRlDI6gbaP1IaDljR1aKVC7HsQOiIHzSolorJndBa93xk0tJRJRIGHieaw-GdsPJTBZh5F4tXPm1v7r0-nkR5pKf_f9cSNVK1hA_3XkRU/s320/IMG_0035.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">colors!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morozini Fountain.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaN88mQHGMfuAZdBiK5nq4Sx7qdjzQLkE3up3qZ1NDVa1FO-PnKdLnNbaCWFyh2zXGTsN2r2JZ5U6OrOgzx0OnSI08co85-kmJU829-gy3K0yXDyj1snXQXj9FTWmD_PfIyyvGQDD_8uZl/s1600/IMG_0047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaN88mQHGMfuAZdBiK5nq4Sx7qdjzQLkE3up3qZ1NDVa1FO-PnKdLnNbaCWFyh2zXGTsN2r2JZ5U6OrOgzx0OnSI08co85-kmJU829-gy3K0yXDyj1snXQXj9FTWmD_PfIyyvGQDD_8uZl/s320/IMG_0047.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fresh errrryday.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE4VTbGmt9uUjLSIrlaqqzmG1wwmj16XoEFYG75B-njIKRt7hbs1LPs69SMyoF9RQYc4Sqzriq_Do_PqzEKv6GUM8S8Wv8Y7jlXy58UAS1Lb7QYSbSf4JcFRcSYMbXBO170We0cNJGdI8W/s1600/IMG_0048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE4VTbGmt9uUjLSIrlaqqzmG1wwmj16XoEFYG75B-njIKRt7hbs1LPs69SMyoF9RQYc4Sqzriq_Do_PqzEKv6GUM8S8Wv8Y7jlXy58UAS1Lb7QYSbSf4JcFRcSYMbXBO170We0cNJGdI8W/s320/IMG_0048.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ew, rabbit.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhnhRdSQSN4THCuYcxUMB_secqN05pNmD9wdyW9yqDOYU4jXldEU6djRG9wWzYjkZ4mM2jDiKd052rAV0QmVCEePG7C2okG-n8VaeTPj32HwdchKGFHPWWYhLtVln5i3p7wScJei_rnNI/s1600/IMG_0050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhnhRdSQSN4THCuYcxUMB_secqN05pNmD9wdyW9yqDOYU4jXldEU6djRG9wWzYjkZ4mM2jDiKd052rAV0QmVCEePG7C2okG-n8VaeTPj32HwdchKGFHPWWYhLtVln5i3p7wScJei_rnNI/s320/IMG_0050.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">center of town.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihf_qnPa_zNy00mVDIjDEvdnN_TaW3tH9TAnCLw3SP0ah4UVVFLlYOpz0KzDZkF72w2167NZ62Xj70RzWUafCuAMaPw3rW4shgAhFCtW6t7vg_cU4eKtfkRybtYQGBRwQM_xEneVrqQnBx/s1600/IMG_0067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihf_qnPa_zNy00mVDIjDEvdnN_TaW3tH9TAnCLw3SP0ah4UVVFLlYOpz0KzDZkF72w2167NZ62Xj70RzWUafCuAMaPw3rW4shgAhFCtW6t7vg_cU4eKtfkRybtYQGBRwQM_xEneVrqQnBx/s320/IMG_0067.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">view from end of tour.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">little town we took a stop at.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUryY-6TCoxL3rq6EmqxFhZk9MgkiyYp5AIHxilVgVYrLq0C8CetMh4hDdGYyvhEM8Pohio7674tKgfyGODMsdPwTh6pdX_xb1d3mKg1mUkU_VxxMfDFttDBzf6mRWAppBYqFKBg01ey3/s1600/IMG_0084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUryY-6TCoxL3rq6EmqxFhZk9MgkiyYp5AIHxilVgVYrLq0C8CetMh4hDdGYyvhEM8Pohio7674tKgfyGODMsdPwTh6pdX_xb1d3mKg1mUkU_VxxMfDFttDBzf6mRWAppBYqFKBg01ey3/s320/IMG_0084.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of oldest Cretan churches. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8E_dVuwd3M3VaN-lS4_LZPLdF3IOfuVuCB8T9j5Jgx4jp_gxMwDf6B0qEmvfnYflLLq4w_CVQ-IOrvENrcPXnOOQvjdOaM3TXZCdE3mR3hhaWmBlGbBi5LpB-N42AqEgEKG-dQzlhq2qT/s1600/IMG_0085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8E_dVuwd3M3VaN-lS4_LZPLdF3IOfuVuCB8T9j5Jgx4jp_gxMwDf6B0qEmvfnYflLLq4w_CVQ-IOrvENrcPXnOOQvjdOaM3TXZCdE3mR3hhaWmBlGbBi5LpB-N42AqEgEKG-dQzlhq2qT/s320/IMG_0085.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">rockin' the scarf as a belt ;D</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPnNGbUNAH57Yiq3KmwklwT0eqzWtfAnxfixgTgwhR8yXYUvemCVHOYIXyPZxSmxBOcM3V44N29xJx80BHwtPyPfCReA6hMa571_Dhpi3rHrhMHqM_-wYI9oxJalXepfyhcc-UH7TMXXLc/s1600/IMG_0096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPnNGbUNAH57Yiq3KmwklwT0eqzWtfAnxfixgTgwhR8yXYUvemCVHOYIXyPZxSmxBOcM3V44N29xJx80BHwtPyPfCReA6hMa571_Dhpi3rHrhMHqM_-wYI9oxJalXepfyhcc-UH7TMXXLc/s320/IMG_0096.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">brian and i snagged some fresh grapes, sshhh!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3PduoNKj3I9rutxlMHxo27kBeauAja1x871GVjFk5IlkGBT0mOMXGXfdsFI9sAjZNatoFw5O-ajym-pQEoo7fwaoe0WwTwlqhnDGxndyJewgkmyLXEiKRh8inJJ8CX8YtCHFvX4_Og4-/s1600/IMG_0100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3PduoNKj3I9rutxlMHxo27kBeauAja1x871GVjFk5IlkGBT0mOMXGXfdsFI9sAjZNatoFw5O-ajym-pQEoo7fwaoe0WwTwlqhnDGxndyJewgkmyLXEiKRh8inJJ8CX8YtCHFvX4_Og4-/s320/IMG_0100.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gortyn.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXdIsY2ZsqCGahT8AVfJxVNvPeHJkJq9K7PpVELWZxYqB9ZzWjuuPARoqFI_9u7btKL3AHfef47xu1DVS5RpDnduAa5FqONKFbEWpVp95XDGcMIj0HBoZ0dnBtfOrfuxp_cGdWIqIw7wX/s1600/IMG_0111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXdIsY2ZsqCGahT8AVfJxVNvPeHJkJq9K7PpVELWZxYqB9ZzWjuuPARoqFI_9u7btKL3AHfef47xu1DVS5RpDnduAa5FqONKFbEWpVp95XDGcMIj0HBoZ0dnBtfOrfuxp_cGdWIqIw7wX/s320/IMG_0111.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance to Phaistos.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7B37y_GVjufXa0b3QrVh5yfnKeoKs_SlmyrweFF6YpptTdzJ7WEahN7Fs7BzzZz85Hp9h3VfEwNpc7-yUnplOk9uGPNWfN6xxH6Fh3Fulk-kWGKIqXR_AYh5e1slp9IFZoUHjPt0tLIc/s1600/IMG_0116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7B37y_GVjufXa0b3QrVh5yfnKeoKs_SlmyrweFF6YpptTdzJ7WEahN7Fs7BzzZz85Hp9h3VfEwNpc7-yUnplOk9uGPNWfN6xxH6Fh3Fulk-kWGKIqXR_AYh5e1slp9IFZoUHjPt0tLIc/s320/IMG_0116.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Views all around.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8MhUo10MQkdPVDDsSnA-qPBmJuVQhmLZFmK5I3_nm2tyg-X4FaM9pw0V8w0iO9M3Yc3l5fckv1bFC0ruiAqqq6WEP3WQ2NKae6YVoJgM42h8FUhRPsKOQfLHopTOuRIXdaTsA1eavu6a/s1600/IMG_0123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8MhUo10MQkdPVDDsSnA-qPBmJuVQhmLZFmK5I3_nm2tyg-X4FaM9pw0V8w0iO9M3Yc3l5fckv1bFC0ruiAqqq6WEP3WQ2NKae6YVoJgM42h8FUhRPsKOQfLHopTOuRIXdaTsA1eavu6a/s320/IMG_0123.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ruins.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">After learning all about the Minoan communities that lived in the area, we had a free afternoon to explore <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matala,_Crete">Matala Beach</a> . This beach is Hippie Central. I loved it. Everything was so colorful and you could feel the carefree atmosphere from a single conversation with the storeowners. We had lunch and enjoyed the beautiful water. I bought my bffl Jesse a knife from there that is SO cool, I thought about keeping it for myself. Alas we made our way to Olympic hotel for our first night’s stay. The day was long, but everything we saw and got to do was more than words can describe.</span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Day Two started with a HUGE site- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knossos">Knossos</a>. Now this is the mamma jamma of Crete history. It was the palace to the Minoans who while not the official first Greeks were the community that existed before the first Greeks called Mycenaeans. IT IS MASSIVE. Even more incredible is how much of the site is still holding up. It’s interesting comparing it to the buildings we live in today that can’t stand earthquakes, but here we have thousand year old palaces still holding up. Ha, I think it’s kind of funny when we think about it. Anyways, the site was extremely busy so it was difficult to maneuver the area in a slower pace. Again I was filled with happiness knowing I was standing in the presence of remarkable history.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuIXvR6BcHxuXWKbkhlTiAsiQBHHFOxeiF5GpjTDECSSosNiPhEbb5Vit422d448goDExLqtmsTp_ZctP0GWOKkrp5IHRJeLsG5lhJ4KuKRFgP8Vlhg8Z4LXJ6znSx1f7H_-Z0_056XEl/s1600/IMG_0156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuIXvR6BcHxuXWKbkhlTiAsiQBHHFOxeiF5GpjTDECSSosNiPhEbb5Vit422d448goDExLqtmsTp_ZctP0GWOKkrp5IHRJeLsG5lhJ4KuKRFgP8Vlhg8Z4LXJ6znSx1f7H_-Z0_056XEl/s320/IMG_0156.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After Knossos, we went to Heraklio Museum that houses most of the artifacts found at Knossos. It was small in size but large in importance. Seeing everything in the hard form made everything that I was learning in class come together. I appreciate the way that I am getting a genuine first hand encounter with the lessons being taught in the classroom. It’s one of the greatest things about the CYA program. Once we finished there and grabbed lunch, we began our trip to Rethymno. Here we did a walking tour and enjoyed the ocean’s beauty. The following day we visited the Rethymno Museum followed by a visit to another site by the name of Aptera. The weather started to get nasty, but this meant insanely awesome clouds. [see below]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtzAZC7z5JQi_WwbbRefue8Syw2Gin5D6-zDJpDlPOSSJlt2JREhnN2njPLDFjDiloNXvxXhakBS922cK8KUXqwZhUf8_gzHaiighaRxMHH0klZt1GE4d2MjZ9P-Yp1G9pt1qEef-xt3j/s1600/IMG_0328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtzAZC7z5JQi_WwbbRefue8Syw2Gin5D6-zDJpDlPOSSJlt2JREhnN2njPLDFjDiloNXvxXhakBS922cK8KUXqwZhUf8_gzHaiighaRxMHH0klZt1GE4d2MjZ9P-Yp1G9pt1qEef-xt3j/s320/IMG_0328.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">To conclude our day we made out way to what was my FAVORITE town out of everywhere we had been on the trip- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chania">Chania</a>. A walking tour of the old town had me smitten and I had fallen in love. The Venetian style architecture took my breath away as well as the generosity of the people in the town, and all over Crete for that matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were supposed to hike Samaria Gorge the next day, but since it rained and made it unsafe, we had an extra day to fill with other activities. So on Friday we went to another site near a wonderful beach. It was a quick site review and an afternoon in the water. I love the beaches here. It was warm, but because of the wind it seemed a lot cooler than usual. Either way, it was a beautiful way to end out trip. Soon after the beach, we hung around Chania a couple more hours then started our treck back to Athens. I really really love Crete and suggest everyone to go there one day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><!--StartFragment--> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am not currently planning my Thanksgiving break- Cairo. I’m going to do it. I found a small group of people from my program who I'm going to travel with. I can't wait. This is too awesome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment--> <br />
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</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-50328464587837447792011-09-19T19:08:00.002+03:002011-09-19T19:08:22.883+03:00Crete...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">for a week on a school "field trip". I'm so darn lucky :D Pictures to follow.</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-23575683900664440032011-09-16T19:18:00.000+03:002011-09-16T19:18:46.450+03:00Ice Cream Covered Waffles You Ask?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Greece continues to get better and better with each day. This past week following Santorini has been quite eventful. I shall begin with the riots that took place on Wednesday because nothing really cool happened Monday or Tuesday. During the early evening (around 6ish) a bus full of crazy soccer fans got a little out of control- at least that's what our program wants us to think. I'm hesitant to believe that because there are constant riots taking place in Syntagma Square throughout the week and the extent of what went down was way too extreme to just be some fans who got out of control. Anyways, tear gas cans were thrown, people were throwing rocks at windows/police and all hell was breaking out. Pretty much it was a raging mess and something that I had never experienced before. While the following pictures are not taken by me, they are ones taken by a fellow classmate. I think they capture some of the emotion that was among the people involved as well as the overall craziness of the situation. It's taking some time to get use to the police being everywhere ALL the time. We can't walk more than 5 mins without a group of police being posted somewhere on the sidewalk. SO different than Brunswick, Maine!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fire in the hole!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuKDBaQjhKxMThJuNvwVKY6gqKh70S-dzri-TQGhsNr1YSbaz2k4qL-G2PHPqsxoVGzRjPIuKyIkA85DVS3eZsiFTd_lNrdvmkv3uQMsUmi7-zu-NVjBGH0manz5JhTy8Iow6fy13s4zA/s1600/298418_10150292830236485_518611484_8364164_1070543242_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuKDBaQjhKxMThJuNvwVKY6gqKh70S-dzri-TQGhsNr1YSbaz2k4qL-G2PHPqsxoVGzRjPIuKyIkA85DVS3eZsiFTd_lNrdvmkv3uQMsUmi7-zu-NVjBGH0manz5JhTy8Iow6fy13s4zA/s320/298418_10150292830236485_518611484_8364164_1070543242_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of the crazier peeps getting detained.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZJMym7eMZa3VwR6tfG0YrKQ13TynBhEhyphenhyphenL4x2TFF-yWieBPMal7NE5aoMjaTNdBdlbUikCI6n0VRDv2QR8xAN-_EH7YrzmCk2YcT9QcuEeagvvSkMVsJS2L-VSYU_9E9xtFRW6gy8Up9/s1600/300767_10150292823561485_518611484_8364069_452936399_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZJMym7eMZa3VwR6tfG0YrKQ13TynBhEhyphenhyphenL4x2TFF-yWieBPMal7NE5aoMjaTNdBdlbUikCI6n0VRDv2QR8xAN-_EH7YrzmCk2YcT9QcuEeagvvSkMVsJS2L-VSYU_9E9xtFRW6gy8Up9/s320/300767_10150292823561485_518611484_8364069_452936399_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">enormous amounts of police.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJt2oLAEhtCj15yRYc-NSzTaaZsGGj88vEQy1fuWsHQqR_dfRaQsUgaUzGus9IAVpkHdfZBJKcNN6LIjdiImJIdLRBUsT6qMN3dfNrOYns4UjOm3TPD9Yn1Ag7Kkbd2-WUsgUfcaCqV9MW/s1600/302652_10150292857436485_518611484_8364411_1021829125_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJt2oLAEhtCj15yRYc-NSzTaaZsGGj88vEQy1fuWsHQqR_dfRaQsUgaUzGus9IAVpkHdfZBJKcNN6LIjdiImJIdLRBUsT6qMN3dfNrOYns4UjOm3TPD9Yn1Ag7Kkbd2-WUsgUfcaCqV9MW/s320/302652_10150292857436485_518611484_8364411_1021829125_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bloody noses from the tear gas.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdspLEfdy6H4a6Ey3GsP-WzdaYRB5RR1kJ4voNQwWrb9bj5UnhxgPMDULuAa1mbFRYhnxSJLD2KG2oA5l08GdKIq3AbuH1OsPYyXvCTYmt9gocv1gaIpplE8A5q6pDl0FZ02zJPJVcsB6E/s1600/310512_10150292825411485_518611484_8364106_544469819_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdspLEfdy6H4a6Ey3GsP-WzdaYRB5RR1kJ4voNQwWrb9bj5UnhxgPMDULuAa1mbFRYhnxSJLD2KG2oA5l08GdKIq3AbuH1OsPYyXvCTYmt9gocv1gaIpplE8A5q6pDl0FZ02zJPJVcsB6E/s320/310512_10150292825411485_518611484_8364106_544469819_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greece "swat".<br />
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</tbody></table>Moving away from that kind of craziness to another- Thursday night was Vogue Fashion Night in Athens! It was absolutely amazing. A few of us girls decided to get dressed up and hit the town to preview some of the new fall and winter designs for some ritzy fashion places. Immediately we were offered lovely champagne and different kinds of games in order to win free prizes. The companies here do not play. One of the girls in our group won a free perfume for hitting a bullseye on a dart board. A few of us made some purchases- I got a sweet tote and the others got some sweet shirts. It was an interesting experience because Athenians are already well known for being stylish and Thursday night was just an extension of that stylish living. Everyone was so gorgeous and dressed like they had just walked off the runway. Camera crews were covering all the new styles and the atmosphere was very fun. They gave out a ton of free booze, so us college kids capitalized on the hospitality and took it all in. I'm not usually into that kind of scene with fashion and whatnot, but it was fun to experience it while in Athens with all the fabulous Athenians.<br />
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After all the photos and drinks from fashion night, Amy and I were invited by a local Greek our age to hang with her and her friends at this waffle house 30 mins from Athens. It was SO nice to get out of the area for a while and escape the CYA bubble with some locals. We met Alexandra around 9 and went out with her friends Nikkos and Stella. They are incredible! Nikkos is hilarious and Stella is a riot. The 3 of them were absolutely hilarious together. At one point we were driving and Nikkos reached over to whisper in my ear, "When we stop, get out and let's dance". SO at the next stop light, we unbuckled, hopped out and danced to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8">Party Rock Anthem</a> in the middle of the road. I absolutely enjoyed every second of it. As soon as the light turned green we jumped back into the car and continued on our way. We arrived at the Waffle House and I was blown away by the selection. We had waffles and ice cream. I went for Ferrer Rocher flavored ice cream. It was so glorious! I thought chicken and waffles was an interesting combo- try waffles and ice cream. SO.MUCH.WIN.<br />
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After we finished our food, Nikkos thought we had to see the marina. He was right. There were the most amazing yachts and beautifully colored water. They had put in lights in the surrounding walls that showed the fish in the water and created this purple-blue glow for the water immediately on the edge. Beautiful. Here is where we learned about Greek culture and got to witness the bustling life that exists at 2 in the morning. I swear, people here barely sleep. I'm starting to get use to it though, which can be good and bad. I was definitely tired for my class this morning, but it was so worth it. Finally we headed home and called it a night. Nikkos invited us over for a roof-top garden party on Sunday. I can't wait!<br />
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Today I experienced why I chose this program- on site classes. My monuments class was held at the National Archeological Museum of Athens. After a nice 20 min trolley ride to the site, our professor spent the morning showing us everything we had discussed in class. I was wowed by the preservation of such ancient artifacts and I really appreciated the opportunity to witness the greatness of Greek history. Below I share some of my favorites from the day. I am so happy I have the chance to not only learn more about this amazingly interesting country, but to see the artifacts first hand. Yay study abroad!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEZPhGMsKuKjwwsoyNLQBSonoCxh6ish48z6MI2EYQ6ifbbDKYDPJT4Sc3oiKHnrmPrn4M5jka-7BtxA4mYD12eqraOD-6e27pTXczHdGhLXXoXqD2Z5fLqvyvape4oM09qv5pmbaWXIy/s1600/IMG_0475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEZPhGMsKuKjwwsoyNLQBSonoCxh6ish48z6MI2EYQ6ifbbDKYDPJT4Sc3oiKHnrmPrn4M5jka-7BtxA4mYD12eqraOD-6e27pTXczHdGhLXXoXqD2Z5fLqvyvape4oM09qv5pmbaWXIy/s320/IMG_0475.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">prof. explaining the swords found in graves.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xvNvpwVDIkNUbbwtP6UG25oZopW0OiLxz9W6fQHL4542IbocJo1FHbnfTWkKT9bglvzv0CgSuEbp3vp_XRf7S72CIGtxAAPI0Frj0jsYWDgE5JJFjbzj9jJJsBnq5e5zimLOT56y_-bM/s1600/IMG_0482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xvNvpwVDIkNUbbwtP6UG25oZopW0OiLxz9W6fQHL4542IbocJo1FHbnfTWkKT9bglvzv0CgSuEbp3vp_XRf7S72CIGtxAAPI0Frj0jsYWDgE5JJFjbzj9jJJsBnq5e5zimLOT56y_-bM/s320/IMG_0482.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mycenean cauldrons. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcD6VpZQWcH3RG7GEsr5FwtsnPaIMsGqmVzYmZOAEzFSUeeNQs8rh5jC2xXIXGWhITspYirz04XWXf_bx2rAkREWoO7VbxRY66VWrxd8UtxU-VK5RceukDJFRMCoIv-pEfaXIhFI17Jj9A/s1600/IMG_0489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcD6VpZQWcH3RG7GEsr5FwtsnPaIMsGqmVzYmZOAEzFSUeeNQs8rh5jC2xXIXGWhITspYirz04XWXf_bx2rAkREWoO7VbxRY66VWrxd8UtxU-VK5RceukDJFRMCoIv-pEfaXIhFI17Jj9A/s320/IMG_0489.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">death masks-full gold.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3nPMaPZ4giypldqzSHDfnL0x8WCF5UN_eSTvW_OmOpMLqWw8r_prQS1XkLywjb_Z2jtQsP7shD3tKb3BbXCyiBQ35kwpNWl9xZ4Yp-O59FzdeiUs-Y6EhGXB4OB4sQeVS2dMubyw-825/s1600/IMG_0499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3nPMaPZ4giypldqzSHDfnL0x8WCF5UN_eSTvW_OmOpMLqWw8r_prQS1XkLywjb_Z2jtQsP7shD3tKb3BbXCyiBQ35kwpNWl9xZ4Yp-O59FzdeiUs-Y6EhGXB4OB4sQeVS2dMubyw-825/s320/IMG_0499.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pillars to the entrance of cities.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim3h37YShRUuKDqSR9-ZO3SfdUBVHhdJgSJcLz2h4jCHKlVR0bV4fy5DCs70TGSTnbfajJPIk2IvWnTs6l3IWUPL-2eamuka0arfcMXrmhLj1dXTgoZIFHbdLZBLzPesBLN5HwAIkXLa4n/s1600/IMG_0508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim3h37YShRUuKDqSR9-ZO3SfdUBVHhdJgSJcLz2h4jCHKlVR0bV4fy5DCs70TGSTnbfajJPIk2IvWnTs6l3IWUPL-2eamuka0arfcMXrmhLj1dXTgoZIFHbdLZBLzPesBLN5HwAIkXLa4n/s320/IMG_0508.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">greek style decoration (mild nudity ;D )</td></tr>
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</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-83196777565188996592011-09-12T20:20:00.000+03:002011-09-12T20:20:56.158+03:00The land of "Where you from?"- Santorini<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I don't think I've ever been happier than I was this weekend. I took a trip to the beautiful island, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini">Santorini</a>. There are no words to describe the beauty that I cam across while there, but more of that once I share with you the interesting journey that got us to the island. In order to catch the morning ferry, Anna, Sakina and myself had to be walking to our bus stop by 5a.m. That was a tough accomplishment seeing that I stayed up later than planned getting my trip to France in order (which was successful and I am France bound to see Jess the last week in October!) Anyways, I didn't actually get to sleep until around 3 when my roomies came in from a night on the town. I was dying for more sleep, but totally stoked to begin my wonderful adventure to the wonderful island.<div><br />
</div><div>Once we finally got to the port- after an hour commute between 2 buses- we had to go to a kiosk in order to print our tickets. It was really happening! Boarding the ferry was chill and didn't require much but to hop on. I was looking for lines and whatnot, but it was hop on as you come! We arrived an hour early, but was totally worth it! The economy cabin filled up so quickly and and many people had to sit outside. We were lucky enough to snag a corner booth inside with a nice set up for the three of us.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">port at 6a.m.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvYRmUVDSY7Js6HNMBrbUDXqkGLQyyWaIv3FALdZe6UlKdV12x5eizfT1i32_0coc8l90XRdTIv59OJ3Mboe7VQatS5bfltQN6KC14gbIaecyrQsyCEQDBTMm4qiYzGBvW2oYaz7Gvc645/s1600/IMG_0245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvYRmUVDSY7Js6HNMBrbUDXqkGLQyyWaIv3FALdZe6UlKdV12x5eizfT1i32_0coc8l90XRdTIv59OJ3Mboe7VQatS5bfltQN6KC14gbIaecyrQsyCEQDBTMm4qiYzGBvW2oYaz7Gvc645/s320/IMG_0245.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">port before we actually left-7:30 a.m.</td></tr>
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<div>This is when we met our lovely Greek friends, Teti and Liana. They were on their way to Santorini as well after having grabbed a sweet deal online that gave them a trip to the island pretty much for free. As we began to get more comfortable talking to them, the real fun began. They told us that they were sisters, a bit about their marriages (and divorces), showed us pictures of their kids, and even taught me how to roll a cigarette! Smoking here is huge. They also helped us so much with things to do once we had gotten to the island since this was their 2nd and 3rd time being there. Not only did they give us suggestions and ask us questions, they gave us some great life lessons. For example, if your relationship with your partner isn't going well and looks like it won't be, leave. It will be better in the end. Amen. We also talked about the position of Greece internationally right now and Liana said there's nothing greater than being Greek. In addition to that, Teti gave us a lesson on the importance of life and how no matter what happens- even if you're fired from your job and without work for the past 9 months- the most important things in life are family and happiness. It was incredible to have these complete strangers open so much of who they are with us. Not only did we touch on serious topics, we joked about what celebrities we looked like: I looked like Pocohontas (spot on?), Anna looks like Elen Hunt and Sakina looks like Beyonce. I was cracking up. There was also a time where someone bumped Liana and when she got a little loud about it, Teti apologized to the woman who bumped Liana and explained, " She wasn't making fun of you", which Liana soon interrupted to say, "NO, I DID make fun of you, just in a nice way". Her bluntness and honesty was something I was very fond of. They were definitely people I am so happy to have met. While we were unable to get together while on the island, I know if there's anything we have questions about we can call/email them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFsRcz_zDe_4lfzKiLQuAbZNrETMiOTYBrB1tMWRmuV7SFgbsgqsbTUOzJVjqtbii5IJqGvx6NNrIGBMKDbKXJAUtzcf-GOLJVewAm11s7R_UckAzcfz-U1S17SgTmpj2EBSV7preipJf/s1600/IMG_0267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFsRcz_zDe_4lfzKiLQuAbZNrETMiOTYBrB1tMWRmuV7SFgbsgqsbTUOzJVjqtbii5IJqGvx6NNrIGBMKDbKXJAUtzcf-GOLJVewAm11s7R_UckAzcfz-U1S17SgTmpj2EBSV7preipJf/s320/IMG_0267.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teti showing me how she rolls her own cigarettes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_Yd2uJFaDkJ2I3tK5a4cqsgI_puQjxk4a3Ej6fyamY6dRrXai0cdMTM_vi3QTP3DkyLmIj_47gQc7eu7vaA3NqSI2jmYfwWMNDUX9Nsm6hNpdK5yeeGnvgQWJdgP-tEMxu66-c4fes2c/s1600/IMG_0262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_Yd2uJFaDkJ2I3tK5a4cqsgI_puQjxk4a3Ej6fyamY6dRrXai0cdMTM_vi3QTP3DkyLmIj_47gQc7eu7vaA3NqSI2jmYfwWMNDUX9Nsm6hNpdK5yeeGnvgQWJdgP-tEMxu66-c4fes2c/s320/IMG_0262.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paros Port.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjKaUX_pJSr1I9HL1_tOArKvHOB_ft0-fPWmGzhk8gIGPUFJRSK4LDHYDnmCFMDnC146YDoCTwfK8oEzmmnIstEvdab4UomfXxX1myo1sa8LNFBYequ2Zw_6HjdmhENKatcAjlchNjNQum/s1600/IMG_0264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjKaUX_pJSr1I9HL1_tOArKvHOB_ft0-fPWmGzhk8gIGPUFJRSK4LDHYDnmCFMDnC146YDoCTwfK8oEzmmnIstEvdab4UomfXxX1myo1sa8LNFBYequ2Zw_6HjdmhENKatcAjlchNjNQum/s320/IMG_0264.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Naroix Port.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><br />
<br />
Finally after minimal sleep, playing bingo, chatting with the girls, and 8 hours of being on the ferry, we had arrived! I still couldn't believe that I was there. Everything I had seen in the movies was coming to life and I just couldn't grasp all of it. After waiting to be released, we made our way to find our hotel manager that would be picking us up from the port. George is one character that definitely made this trip so unique. After traveling up the high mountains to get to the hotel, we arrived at a cute, little hotel that was so beautiful and homely. George wasted no time to make sure we were comfortable and had everything we needed- he brought us iced coffee, gave us a map of the island and made suggestions for clubs and bars. When he found out we were there to celebrate Sakina's birthday, he brought us a nice bottle of wine to celebrate such a wonderful occasion. He was super generous the whole weekend and really made our experience that much better.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpXZS1yYTIHgpy_Sn6Z_dZa-0Bab5H5JuA2GWjENRUEcCBYIYaGDR27wg5njiQInAZYN8gwdxNQXFXfzStx4G9HhvUnro2q4UWJBrEVqJTqvd8rpycTA1ZpHYl7W7VthtVB4NTAcaWAAE/s1600/IMG_0286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpXZS1yYTIHgpy_Sn6Z_dZa-0Bab5H5JuA2GWjENRUEcCBYIYaGDR27wg5njiQInAZYN8gwdxNQXFXfzStx4G9HhvUnro2q4UWJBrEVqJTqvd8rpycTA1ZpHYl7W7VthtVB4NTAcaWAAE/s320/IMG_0286.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First sight off the ferry.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_MQN2mmU5QRnHzGa_IsM8LuZHee-C4NqMAitg4NSq9wV1CLudjHWaxawMMiu27o4lxldJk76pAiUNFVVjFly6b2kldI1NZFmoGUd2Sp8mPmgSOBLPiG_AMgZfIdRt54eLoM6IK2mi7yE/s1600/IMG_0295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_MQN2mmU5QRnHzGa_IsM8LuZHee-C4NqMAitg4NSq9wV1CLudjHWaxawMMiu27o4lxldJk76pAiUNFVVjFly6b2kldI1NZFmoGUd2Sp8mPmgSOBLPiG_AMgZfIdRt54eLoM6IK2mi7yE/s320/IMG_0295.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stella Pension- hotel.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCuInhR-Q8XAEdCUfeXueAdhm0Gj_hPQbi5jHYSdG1Pk53fOkWkaYftUHdoIFODNa32rLEhnEsBR3varCbDDJuNTnAOClrH0o8mdjUyGiuaAwwSgrx7jmAC0E1IpKgGPk7q42FCnGc40AN/s1600/IMG_0301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCuInhR-Q8XAEdCUfeXueAdhm0Gj_hPQbi5jHYSdG1Pk53fOkWkaYftUHdoIFODNa32rLEhnEsBR3varCbDDJuNTnAOClrH0o8mdjUyGiuaAwwSgrx7jmAC0E1IpKgGPk7q42FCnGc40AN/s320/IMG_0301.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Porch view :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ko1yJlYqrpVcmT7W5N5-aAWzcUG1I6DEpUfHDhyeMF2KcZFOOYLU9QTwPgBjkfFz5aejGjTQfp7dtnK-CvtKsA9cIa6aik3S9dB2KuKcfIU3ZUZOVkcC0nfqWDdOxU9_fJTw82vpYBM1/s1600/IMG_0299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ko1yJlYqrpVcmT7W5N5-aAWzcUG1I6DEpUfHDhyeMF2KcZFOOYLU9QTwPgBjkfFz5aejGjTQfp7dtnK-CvtKsA9cIa6aik3S9dB2KuKcfIU3ZUZOVkcC0nfqWDdOxU9_fJTw82vpYBM1/s320/IMG_0299.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sakina showing off our lovely room.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Soon after popping open the wine and sitting by the pool a bit, we decided that we needed to go to Oia (pronounced Eee- AH) We had heard from several people that the best sunset could be seen from this spot. Our bus ride to the tip of the island was very nerve racking seeing that the buses are really tour guide buses just strolling on the edges of the cliff. Whew. Who knew such big vehicles could maneuver the cliffs that way! Alas we reached our destination and went to explore the area and find a lovely spot for dinner. We decided it was a fancy night, so we got dolled up. We found a wonderful place called the Seagull Restaurant with a view of the beautiful ocean and all the white washed/ blue buildings. The food was amazing and the view unbelievable.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOErDgvyocnSK0fU75JYXJNC7a4WA0D48781viAHtp_A5efgEJxajh0tBkLjWMDaGoW92tIbeYSLkVGpnaRvUDA9xWgZcIIXolRmkpzpyI9dpSkLvS3WCuFjeknhxZfXF1N6J2H3LQObG/s1600/IMG_0306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOErDgvyocnSK0fU75JYXJNC7a4WA0D48781viAHtp_A5efgEJxajh0tBkLjWMDaGoW92tIbeYSLkVGpnaRvUDA9xWgZcIIXolRmkpzpyI9dpSkLvS3WCuFjeknhxZfXF1N6J2H3LQObG/s320/IMG_0306.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">so crowded!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FkpgiU9WY5YgpCZfcjtT3D1T9cStmqt72S2_hR0sVWkAwMdJf5b2D9wKIr1irWVBhipmaKUuUJEnXAMcd3LgUy_jqC9apE2eofhErZ7J1naZn9hN1ycGR3AYv-8Bv1bPm1SOUYwGS277/s1600/IMG_0305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FkpgiU9WY5YgpCZfcjtT3D1T9cStmqt72S2_hR0sVWkAwMdJf5b2D9wKIr1irWVBhipmaKUuUJEnXAMcd3LgUy_jqC9apE2eofhErZ7J1naZn9hN1ycGR3AYv-8Bv1bPm1SOUYwGS277/s320/IMG_0305.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">night out!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzcpKVfbMTgu3lSzYXB6etM4Gz8hiXQ0j9f6bRv8jegQSc7v097iqBMWJPrWmrTG8LqCd5zCEDBt2w0iJsADos8xNiJxMq9GtFvdOnFYecDhfeZXBBhgdSPolQDabQFzUhSsOs-Rf6xg3K/s1600/IMG_0334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzcpKVfbMTgu3lSzYXB6etM4Gz8hiXQ0j9f6bRv8jegQSc7v097iqBMWJPrWmrTG8LqCd5zCEDBt2w0iJsADos8xNiJxMq9GtFvdOnFYecDhfeZXBBhgdSPolQDabQFzUhSsOs-Rf6xg3K/s320/IMG_0334.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">:D</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaJNx_ppHDOMCPzz0otHFFp9rIMLTf0lEdQytUIzw9nU4OLSOY5NEzXQwEvUZJC_RVh-rkqtTEfcgbEUPggUHpE8Xqf9T_ao3cdaLPS-32kEyeyW7Mf8pwhq3U2jysFCq2JVtw8CnJtrmr/s1600/IMG_0340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaJNx_ppHDOMCPzz0otHFFp9rIMLTf0lEdQytUIzw9nU4OLSOY5NEzXQwEvUZJC_RVh-rkqtTEfcgbEUPggUHpE8Xqf9T_ao3cdaLPS-32kEyeyW7Mf8pwhq3U2jysFCq2JVtw8CnJtrmr/s320/IMG_0340.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">island special- tomato balls. SO yummy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoTMK61uQVzPdGAQI_Ssw9Anojoxw3fuIO078ew7g2zwWrJfOOsgMxvfLRDqZ0GgZ3GPh5F_u8-bfv0aVPSmnfnYkD-ZFxoO5lMF3WjD45qHugRq6-bRho3Ob05XVctOxgelQFNLQV882/s1600/IMG_0345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoTMK61uQVzPdGAQI_Ssw9Anojoxw3fuIO078ew7g2zwWrJfOOsgMxvfLRDqZ0GgZ3GPh5F_u8-bfv0aVPSmnfnYkD-ZFxoO5lMF3WjD45qHugRq6-bRho3Ob05XVctOxgelQFNLQV882/s320/IMG_0345.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">view from dinner table.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
After dinner we went around the area snapping pics and taking in all the beauty around us. I still can't believe I witnessed the beauty that is Santorini. Here are a few of my favorite shots.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4LnykJ2OiNpdTGWyi2uxnW7DSfKMDLlenPZoAa7yOFZM4MewfZfzJslO-WqopIwARsm48bkEEl0QUJq9qL9-3vTvgtQloh_ZcmOoU0g3nv4EfgCYtiedbbLSeR0Jzc7Hoekxiu3wd46Od/s1600/IMG_0315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4LnykJ2OiNpdTGWyi2uxnW7DSfKMDLlenPZoAa7yOFZM4MewfZfzJslO-WqopIwARsm48bkEEl0QUJq9qL9-3vTvgtQloh_ZcmOoU0g3nv4EfgCYtiedbbLSeR0Jzc7Hoekxiu3wd46Od/s320/IMG_0315.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">church.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQ8c68Ta3S5xo6Mdhdjc4moYMBqZVnjw4fCnFsPTUxRFsrqae9PdfX__DFji4EUNnnXRrav9gXU0h09DtFSJNOG0tRhioBKZZ7AWB1PArlj6N0IGPWOY6S2d_PCcbLB3OJpOndIxPkTOH/s1600/IMG_0317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQ8c68Ta3S5xo6Mdhdjc4moYMBqZVnjw4fCnFsPTUxRFsrqae9PdfX__DFji4EUNnnXRrav9gXU0h09DtFSJNOG0tRhioBKZZ7AWB1PArlj6N0IGPWOY6S2d_PCcbLB3OJpOndIxPkTOH/s320/IMG_0317.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sun beginning to set.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxT09rholPifL1jUKfoXxMOukBmAvub_H4Ksvm9vYm15RU0fgH0k1VspXIRI2wuFKja-ySvF-HtWaxDBNWfnd4-WnPH9IfzTpoquwyKIzLAzPkDEzRlKu-yWl1Y7QDFTgFoDJAxXNS7BD/s1600/IMG_0319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxT09rholPifL1jUKfoXxMOukBmAvub_H4Ksvm9vYm15RU0fgH0k1VspXIRI2wuFKja-ySvF-HtWaxDBNWfnd4-WnPH9IfzTpoquwyKIzLAzPkDEzRlKu-yWl1Y7QDFTgFoDJAxXNS7BD/s320/IMG_0319.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">top of mountain.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2MlJ_4AvUXmyvihJTUV4l6QMWQMzEKRmbQaTos8QwgMvzV5bKX2qgqy_tHNcqSKGuNe2jMitLXBU6BbgzO_SiRtd7sOgKbh3LTOewmoJ0RuhjdUh_mMjbFDUIby6-YUSsw8NzYYcNh9X/s1600/IMG_0320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2MlJ_4AvUXmyvihJTUV4l6QMWQMzEKRmbQaTos8QwgMvzV5bKX2qgqy_tHNcqSKGuNe2jMitLXBU6BbgzO_SiRtd7sOgKbh3LTOewmoJ0RuhjdUh_mMjbFDUIby6-YUSsw8NzYYcNh9X/s320/IMG_0320.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">had to ;D</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7tWH_a67T97UVuTFIOewDFMMIW_ZKbW6u-I5ZQdl0m3MJVJVUJu0EJQqxy9sR85B7VPQMmCzgctXKgeWC5oO1gB6GuzsYZlwXOgWTZOyItq69iqhN4C8ffgq2UzIm2l4dp7ehsIHkuja/s1600/IMG_0353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7tWH_a67T97UVuTFIOewDFMMIW_ZKbW6u-I5ZQdl0m3MJVJVUJu0EJQqxy9sR85B7VPQMmCzgctXKgeWC5oO1gB6GuzsYZlwXOgWTZOyItq69iqhN4C8ffgq2UzIm2l4dp7ehsIHkuja/s320/IMG_0353.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">layers of beauty.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU-lkbKYML8o-lihMK4GTAXYy75v_2_sXEUVTaAvYdXkyLHSqXbIE-s_Ktf2EAbO1o36GmK8Tgc3T5mkGa9j9ypIyIoJWTYnZ15BS9uzqd21DaCEd18uKXZcGynQi0qPa1PA7DokoNSkpS/s1600/IMG_0354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU-lkbKYML8o-lihMK4GTAXYy75v_2_sXEUVTaAvYdXkyLHSqXbIE-s_Ktf2EAbO1o36GmK8Tgc3T5mkGa9j9ypIyIoJWTYnZ15BS9uzqd21DaCEd18uKXZcGynQi0qPa1PA7DokoNSkpS/s320/IMG_0354.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">boats <3</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSFBCElzs_uowEs4t71kzf2PwIy_1bflJoOMy6gjdl8U6cPAglOA3sJuZY1d_R5Z9HZ8V45eFxHVlwmQfZnZ-jnGyhRaKsgeXD4suC0o8DmCdwu_Bdi-oE2JfNdjLzjOH4DNME5lLn1mSo/s1600/IMG_0366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSFBCElzs_uowEs4t71kzf2PwIy_1bflJoOMy6gjdl8U6cPAglOA3sJuZY1d_R5Z9HZ8V45eFxHVlwmQfZnZ-jnGyhRaKsgeXD4suC0o8DmCdwu_Bdi-oE2JfNdjLzjOH4DNME5lLn1mSo/s320/IMG_0366.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">unbelievable sunset.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVMnr-pK5mV3wv_AMW-_KwTxbOmPtAbyfdz4lGWj7-U9OcPXg9zoqWkN9hmXTReIeaGEWIcBjj_pIGCCHB0exR5C5OBcgwaKrxSichITgS2Pd15T71l1cXDayk83VCoHN3GLXA_VJmeil/s1600/IMG_0371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVMnr-pK5mV3wv_AMW-_KwTxbOmPtAbyfdz4lGWj7-U9OcPXg9zoqWkN9hmXTReIeaGEWIcBjj_pIGCCHB0exR5C5OBcgwaKrxSichITgS2Pd15T71l1cXDayk83VCoHN3GLXA_VJmeil/s320/IMG_0371.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">what every postcard I've seen captured- I was there!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After thoroughly enjoying the cobblestone town that is Oia, we hopped on a bus back to our hotel in order to get ready for a night on the town. We wanted to do some major dancing so we asked for a recommendation from George. Without hesitation he told us about The Highlander Scottish Bar in Fira- the town next to where we were staying. We were so excited to get out and see what the island had to offer for nightlife. We were not swayed in the wrong direction at all! The bar/club played awesome dancing music, drinks were reasonably priced and the people who worked there were super nice. On our way into the area, another bar promoter made us promise to come check out their bar after Highlander. This bar, 2 Brothers, was also very fun. Both of the bars we went to allowed us to dance on the bars and we definitely took advantage of the offer :D The men here function in a very interesting way. We soon discovered that each interaction had to begin with the question, "Where are you from?" After that they would follow with, "What is your name?" and " How old are you?" It was quite the experience to be constantly watched because they knew we were foreigners, but to have the intensified because we were Americans. I think it's so interesting how we as Americans fantasize about coming to places like Santorini and people from Santorini fantasize about coming to America. I love being able to compare the views of myself and of the locals I meet. It reminded me of my experience in India when everyone was looking to buy skin whitening products, and how Americans are always in search of the perfect tan. I love the learning I'm doing! I think we danced until 3 in the morning and couldn't have been more content.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bC7JMw_1eTt99_dWrG6JrC4wsz-BsRQbgPJhIXvIDLKKuL4xof6p9VtB4HB739LSZ9DYTdjH6eYKSPY9dMX5E0PLJRrhBI0afzSRv9s8Zn0f_uJiTwFxpAU6bhIU8LGlnGAy-0cWAkNA/s1600/IMG_0398.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bC7JMw_1eTt99_dWrG6JrC4wsz-BsRQbgPJhIXvIDLKKuL4xof6p9VtB4HB739LSZ9DYTdjH6eYKSPY9dMX5E0PLJRrhBI0afzSRv9s8Zn0f_uJiTwFxpAU6bhIU8LGlnGAy-0cWAkNA/s320/IMG_0398.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the bar at 2 Brothers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Saturday was a lot more about relaxing. After a nice breakfast at a local cafe, we headed to the beautiful black sand beach, Monolithico. On our bus ride there, I met the most adorable boy named Marco. He was collecting bus fares as the bus moved (this was the way to ensure each person paid). When I asked him what his name was in Greek, he gave me the most puzzled/excited expression. I overheard him tell the driver about the encounter and he was teased for "wowing the woman". It was so adorable. When we reached the beach I was in awe. Wow, what an amazing experience. The weather was warm with a wonderful breeze and the water incredible. Having this been my 2nd experience, I was curious to see how it would mirror my Athens experience, or even if it would. It did. The people are confident and proud of their bodies. Every woman, regardless of their age, wears a 2 piece. Love it. We lounged on some chairs in the sun and under umbrellas for most of the afternoon snacking on fresh fruit from the market. It was everything I needed and more.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-EpiAZPYzkGqxdSoSDgL-ASctZYck7YPrW_laGes-RXXDlgmVAiSUVriFLHbxMWpchM5oqFo_hgKLCY6QsbfoXVLmN5LVHdEXIO_d28jn_C3HQmhWkhAgKMj0ksNLLioKDf3DDLpUuGP/s1600/IMG_0404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-EpiAZPYzkGqxdSoSDgL-ASctZYck7YPrW_laGes-RXXDlgmVAiSUVriFLHbxMWpchM5oqFo_hgKLCY6QsbfoXVLmN5LVHdEXIO_d28jn_C3HQmhWkhAgKMj0ksNLLioKDf3DDLpUuGP/s320/IMG_0404.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marco!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5eGvtaoO6WExXdWup0VpuvID6TyHyzf9kTxcNzQgblmU646DoSmOYubOP-SAvZ48mLiai8UFkFIXy5sZ2OiX9RyEBJPan_B6ZqQyHGK8gxMZthmM7y9kCucmMUmxu1iZFKi0yB2H6ILq/s1600/IMG_0406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5eGvtaoO6WExXdWup0VpuvID6TyHyzf9kTxcNzQgblmU646DoSmOYubOP-SAvZ48mLiai8UFkFIXy5sZ2OiX9RyEBJPan_B6ZqQyHGK8gxMZthmM7y9kCucmMUmxu1iZFKi0yB2H6ILq/s320/IMG_0406.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monolothico.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzHkTZIxrC5YzHB8LFnTJFb3ISoPFGv91-7B0yH2xdKStSsHjzPS5zat50sJv91IhwIEsWOGEMyXzJIcTYRTQSY8B9kPSVp_Gx-A0nrprrjm7K-38Sgp315Ba53tOC8y7WqQhiHOxwJhJb/s1600/IMG_0414.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzHkTZIxrC5YzHB8LFnTJFb3ISoPFGv91-7B0yH2xdKStSsHjzPS5zat50sJv91IhwIEsWOGEMyXzJIcTYRTQSY8B9kPSVp_Gx-A0nrprrjm7K-38Sgp315Ba53tOC8y7WqQhiHOxwJhJb/s320/IMG_0414.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Repping North Haven fo' life!<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our last night on the island had to be a good one. We had been told by the women on the ferry AND George that we needed to experience the wine tasting of the island's own winery. Boy, were we in for quite the experience. Not only was the wine impeccable, we got to witness the most amazing sunset I had ever seen. Now that's a pretty large statement seeing that I live for North Haven sunsets. I had no words. I had only the intense feeling of being in the right place in my life, with the right people and having the biggest joy that my life had lead me here. I've been through a lot and I don't think I could have ever imagined that one day I would be privileged enough to experience the things that were happening to me in that very moment. I was overwhelmed with happiness. </div><div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8S5_WEBNyY8WBMSYHRjx8noNl7mO4kPh7LRy33sGw1f5ipUAT-qwdHYSg1FD0wBFXWEYYbX64JW6ufCKT8pdJ51oVeZhsX8tzrcTZyabU_Tx5INcxpfUJRDSR11HoSvi8ITx-Wp5gOvYx/s1600/IMG_0419.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8S5_WEBNyY8WBMSYHRjx8noNl7mO4kPh7LRy33sGw1f5ipUAT-qwdHYSg1FD0wBFXWEYYbX64JW6ufCKT8pdJ51oVeZhsX8tzrcTZyabU_Tx5INcxpfUJRDSR11HoSvi8ITx-Wp5gOvYx/s320/IMG_0419.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">drive up to the Winery.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCTjQvqjyzjMxual_oNmu6RjszGUQmfIhlyXyRGLsLbbuEN7KdIN09xuq5vF3-MFlf9wl9N3GMBkW_XaPgx4pNgmf6_esL_9JYvTNNP4uOR5Xf9cXClytJRatBpqQWxo7hO2dWsDivQVw_/s1600/IMG_0421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCTjQvqjyzjMxual_oNmu6RjszGUQmfIhlyXyRGLsLbbuEN7KdIN09xuq5vF3-MFlf9wl9N3GMBkW_XaPgx4pNgmf6_esL_9JYvTNNP4uOR5Xf9cXClytJRatBpqQWxo7hO2dWsDivQVw_/s320/IMG_0421.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">entrance to Santo Wines.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXKKf3ZYTymtqpm0gqte5LIQNGL4lUIsU2OfCVHLUVEg9hXCYAoVqD3Okjb1IxjDbtqIBUjrpHzGBnG6A_d2buSBy5Rhy-b5A-EcLcZiutr7cSOk7g4Uh15p93UwZAXTsWYBbINuF06gY/s1600/IMG_0428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXKKf3ZYTymtqpm0gqte5LIQNGL4lUIsU2OfCVHLUVEg9hXCYAoVqD3Okjb1IxjDbtqIBUjrpHzGBnG6A_d2buSBy5Rhy-b5A-EcLcZiutr7cSOk7g4Uh15p93UwZAXTsWYBbINuF06gY/s320/IMG_0428.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wine tasting, yummy :D</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ywue_nji2027TqPuzzKhUrAFrb6KIWvjpwy0TCgGjJ7R6Sex2aUU9rAvT-Sq57svmyFYpZ_u-W4sSxeGuTcl321b6n_gTh25d9_2YGVCT4_kSnlUudHIlCAawO1QsmyI_xelkdReKpvm/s1600/IMG_0423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ywue_nji2027TqPuzzKhUrAFrb6KIWvjpwy0TCgGjJ7R6Sex2aUU9rAvT-Sq57svmyFYpZ_u-W4sSxeGuTcl321b6n_gTh25d9_2YGVCT4_kSnlUudHIlCAawO1QsmyI_xelkdReKpvm/s320/IMG_0423.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">breathtaking.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRV44lZv8mQWSo1rPYntAoiUFZC_7e-PemYlcA9iflJmi1nLE502Zf4dtB_ETXZ3enA5VPXdLwK_127ZOpqGDDW8yMBth4R3mD_QzxT6k3RMI_1Mxbwb4iGY0aBjnZhYSjLJcQ1MqF1ImQ/s1600/IMG_0429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRV44lZv8mQWSo1rPYntAoiUFZC_7e-PemYlcA9iflJmi1nLE502Zf4dtB_ETXZ3enA5VPXdLwK_127ZOpqGDDW8yMBth4R3mD_QzxT6k3RMI_1Mxbwb4iGY0aBjnZhYSjLJcQ1MqF1ImQ/s320/IMG_0429.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fave picture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>We concluded the night with another trip to Fira to explore the nightlife. We were already known on the main strip as the beautiful girls who needed to come to all the bars. We decided to look into more bars other than the two from the night before, so we hit up Enigm- a local favorite, Town Club- had a cage, and another in which I didn't even learn the name because it was kind of boring. After making friends with all the bartenders and promoters, we called it a night and began our stroll back to the hotel. How lucky we had been to enjoy such an amazing place and with such hospital people. The next morning we woke up, shopped a bit and finally went to the port to begin our journey back to Athens. Our way back was much better than the one to get to the island- it may have had to do with the fact that we were in business class ;D</div><div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYb5uilw_FbqBDUWS-Yo-otkKBGU6kIG28c1pm_k2edc12r_4Z6yDNK5js9xsIx5-O2NUviON8Q8hZVqzpSpNbVH3xO75KFwGtZOUMmmSWTDR_Jb2Rr2KyZr8NW-6e52R7wcTKoWqpKnt3/s1600/IMG_0463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYb5uilw_FbqBDUWS-Yo-otkKBGU6kIG28c1pm_k2edc12r_4Z6yDNK5js9xsIx5-O2NUviON8Q8hZVqzpSpNbVH3xO75KFwGtZOUMmmSWTDR_Jb2Rr2KyZr8NW-6e52R7wcTKoWqpKnt3/s320/IMG_0463.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more space and couches!<br />
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</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I love my life <3<br />
<div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-60352213716834091152011-09-07T21:42:00.000+03:002011-09-12T18:22:24.673+03:00and things you will learn.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I'm learning Greek! It's actually quite difficult with the professor I have teaching it to me. Her philosophy is "sink or swim". During certain activities all she will say is, " SWIM!" I appreciate the intensity of the course because it really does force me to learn the words, but at the same time it's very intimidating. There's no time for catching up and my homework doesn't contain a single word of English in it. There are no explanations of what to do, all I can do is swim! Although it's proving to challenge me in ways I haven't really had to deal with since it's been over 3 years since I've taken my last language class, I'm liking the challenge.<br />
<br />
I talked with a friend about this the other day and he made a really great point. He said that because I was fully immersed in a place where I have the language being spoken all around me, I'll constantly be practicing. He was right. The shop owners and even the women who work in the dining halls all speak Greek or have a hard time trying to put their English together. Challenging, yet also very helpful. Most the people who I try talking to are super nice and will help me figure out the right words. I've made friends with a wonderful woman at my favorite cafe and she helps me to learn Greek through conversation. She's patient and makes the best shakes. I spend so much time there working on classwork that she'll bring me free pastries and chat with me. I'm glad that there are people like her who are so willing to help.<br />
<br />
On top of the language, I'm learning tons about the Greek culture. For example, there is no Greek word for the term "privacy". This is often proven when the men on the street come very close to my face to say hello. I think my time in India kind of prepared me for the gender dynamics, so I'm not too thrown off by them. Although the Indian men did keep a distance, haha. I've also learned a lot of the importance of the family to the Greek culture. In each of my classes I have read about how family always comes first, no matter the context, and even being around the cafe I see how the family works together to successfully run the business. It makes me feel very close to the people around me because they are making an effort to bring me into their families. My Greek professor considers us all her grandchildren and is constantly giving us advice in order to keep us healthy, safe and happy- or as she says, "Full of joy!" Another importance lesson I've learned about this culture revolves around their identities. It was only last year that people who were born in Greece could legitimately be Greek in terms of citizenship. For the longest time it has been blood that makes you a Greek, not whether you were born or raised here. There is so much pride in being Greek. It's amazing. Coming from America has definitely taught me that to be American has so many definitions and pretty much everyone can be an American. To see that blood makes you who you are is something so new to me and while to some people I'm sure they don't agree, I find it extremely interesting.<br />
<br />
While these lessons have been incredible to learn, I think the most important lesson I am learning and will continue to learn during my time abroad is how to be a citizen of the world. It's one thing to go to a place, visit and leave, but it's a whole new game when you're living in the community as a member. We must take the time to learn before we assume and even more importantly, we must learn before we get too comfortable in our own ways that we stop learning from the community around us.<br />
<br />
</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-46235866833460836332011-09-05T21:34:00.000+03:002011-09-07T21:44:01.594+03:00and the people you'll meet and miss.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I have officially started school here in Athens! I have 3 classes on Monday/Wed and 2 on Tues/ Thurs. They're early every day, but it's nice to be done early in the day and have time to wonder/sleep. I'm going to plan on naps everyday. Haha. But, before I get into the first day, I want to share about my first real adventure!<br />
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Sunday a few girls of us decided to conquer the public transportation and head to the beach. Well, getting to the metro/bus station was the easy part, finding the right ones to take came with a tad more difficulty. It wasn't too long before we found the right bus, but it took forever to come. We opted for the metro instead. What do you know, the one we need to connect to isn't running that day. There have been a lot of strikes with the workers, so it was down for the weekend. We then saw an alternative bus route. By then we lost some of the girls because they were over the whole thing. NOT ME. I was dying to get in the wataaa! Alas we meet out first wonderful stranger. As we asked for the right bus, he came up to me and asked where I was headed. When I told him I wanted to go to the beach, he quickly began telling me the routes and how he would show me where to go. When my friend, Sakina, came to me he asked if we were sisters. As we kind of laughed he began to say, " The most important thing in life is to respect one another". He then asked where we were from and upon learning we came from the states, he replied, " Ah, the same planet, so we are all human. All humans deserve to be respected". As we continued to walk toward the bus stop, he explained to us that education is the key to living a valuable life. He stressed the importance of having the strength to think and how many ways that skill will help us in our lives. I fell in love with this older man. I genuinely enjoyed meeting him and was glad that looking a little lost meant he was kind enough to offer his help.<br />
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Once we were headed in the right direction, we could relax a little and enjoy the bus. There's limited sitting space so we mainly held onto the bars and rope things. I'm not a city kid, so my terminology is not the best. Anyways, the scenery of Athens is absolutely breathtaking and so busy. There are buildings everywhere and cars all over the place. I really enjoy the balconies and roof top terraces. Falling in love for sure. Our bus stopped at the ferry port, so we had to jump on yet another bus to reach the coast line. FINALLY, we arrived and I don't think I've been more happy to see a beach. And that says a lot since I was practically raised in the ocean. The water was beautiful and warm. The people, very proud of their bodies- something I really admire about them. Coming from America where you have to have the best beach bod in order to rock a 2-piece, it was nice to see full figured woman and men flaunt their bodies. Truly something so different from home. After walking through a pathway with men whispering, "I want to f**k you" and " You want to experience Greece, do me", we finally got to a spot where we wanted to make camp. This beach, I never learned the name, was really rocky and I ended up slicing my toe. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the scene.<br />
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That was until I saw the creeper in the abandoned hut thing in the hills above the cliff we were located on. I looked up from the water to find this man naked and masturbating! I was so ridiculously appalled and thrown off. I shared with the girls who I was with and while we were all really grossed out, we decided we weren't going to let him ruin our time. We had finally gotten to the beach and we not in the mood for it to be tainted by this perv. We ignored him and continued to have a nice time. It was so relaxing and I was super happy that we decided to stick with the plans even though the journey proved to be harder than expected. I liked to be challenged and I liked to figure things out. I know the major bus stations/ bus numbers and I know how to navigate the metro. It was so worth all the ups and downs to be able to learn that in such a quick time. I'm glad I was with girls who were down for the challenge.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Spot where creeper hid</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-RkRzuULvCANDWcSko8E3XlJHl_s2xEDJsS1COmU39TYLqNo8ZXdnGHCf7VD8aTpdVD3hrjWU5Ya2BbF6E5nTVYQRdOE3jSxZxxQeCyUsZw9txCZixF6IEbm6MuPVoutv7ytqnwPhYnc/s1600/IMG_0226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-RkRzuULvCANDWcSko8E3XlJHl_s2xEDJsS1COmU39TYLqNo8ZXdnGHCf7VD8aTpdVD3hrjWU5Ya2BbF6E5nTVYQRdOE3jSxZxxQeCyUsZw9txCZixF6IEbm6MuPVoutv7ytqnwPhYnc/s320/IMG_0226.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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The next person we came across was Nikolas- the man in the cafe we ate at for dinner who is from Cyprus and absolutely gorgeous. Too bad he's older (high 30's low 40's). He joked with us and chatted with us about what we were up to while here. He didn't work at the cafe, but since he's there a lot he took our order and even brought it to us. He's good friends with the owner I guess and so he's comfortable talking with the customers. I was happy that he was willing to chat because to my surprise, not many people actually know English. Boy was I wrong. So being able to chat to him was a nice break from the non-English speakers who just smile and kind of shrug whenever we are talking. I ran into him today as I was walking to my next class. This space is right next door to the school, so I hope I run into him often and get to chat more.<br />
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I miss my brothers Elmer and Rhoan. I was, and still kind of am, super upset that I missed Elmer's wedding. Even now I'm tearing up just thinking about it. It's really hard knowing that if I wasn't in Greece I would've been there. But then I know I can't think that way. Studying abroad is such an incredible experience and I am so grateful I have this opportunity. It's just one of those things that hurts, ya know? I know with Elmer being in Columbia and Rhoan starting school at the University of Washington, it's going to be a lot harder to communicate and stay up to date with things. I'm so proud of both of them and even happier to know that their lives are headed in amazing directions. Love you <3<br />
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</div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-36389876392192082452011-09-04T03:41:00.000+03:002011-09-04T03:41:57.359+03:00Oh the places you'll go.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">25 hrs, 5 modes of transportation and 1 hurricane later, I have arrived in GREECE! man, my journey leading up to this was quite the adventure and I'm grateful for the lessons it has taught me. For one, don't be friendly to the Syrian guy who uses the phrases 'estas bonita' on the airplane. Or don't meet up with friends from your program who say they live on a hill that takes 25 minutes to climb. And my favorite, try the local drink </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouzo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ouzo</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, but don't feel obligated to try it more that once. All that and I've only been in Europe for a day and a half! I'm excited for all the lessons I will learn while here.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The time it took to get here was ridiculously long and tiring, but I was able to meet my first classmate, Anna. We're pretty much the best of friends already. It's unfortunate we don't live together, but she's only a 5 minute walk away. She goes to Wheaton and we're already planning trips to visit each other when we get back to the states. We were literally the last students to arrive to our program. I found comfort in knowing I wasn't the absolute only one. We quickly jumped into save money mode and opted for the bus instead of a taxi to drive us to our program. We paid </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> € 2.5 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">instead of </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;"> € </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">35 and man were we stoked on that. Plus, we got to learn a little more of the bus system. The walk to find our intended location came with a little difficulty, but it was a time to test our gully (as my brother Rhoan would say). Alas we found it and were given a super fast intro to everything.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Once we were given our packets, they took us to our apartments. Mine is located in Pangrati- literally 2 min walk from my school. score! I live in a quad and within the quad, I live in the double. It's nicer and bigger than Bowdoin doubles, so I'm happy. The apt overall is snug, but cute. Here are some pictures.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Anna and I were super hungry so needed some food. There's a darling place right next to our apts that sold the tasiest baguettes and cheese. Yay for first meal in Europe and Greece! Soon enough it was time for a dinner at the president's house- Garden Style! His house was insanely gorgeous and we all sat in the garden. SO awesome. The food was amazing and the wine here is incredible. LOVE IT! A few hours there went by then a bunch of us wanted to go out in the city. After deciding we found a sweet bar outside where we learned more about each other and had a wonderful time. I didn't get home until 3- way different from Bowdoin where everything is done by 1. I slept 13 hours before I woke up the next day at 4p.m. but never left my bed until 8p.m. Talk about jet lag! We had a dinner at the most wonderful roof top. They gave us a sweet college deal that meant we had about 7 different dishes for </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;"> € 10. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was so content and everything I tried was delicious. Some dishes were pork, spring rolls, potatoes, beans and the most tasty watermelon! Gah, I love the food here. It's better than most things I've had back home. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a 4 hour dinner- even long for a Bowdoin student- we headed to a bar called Absinthe. I stayed away from drinking tonight, but my roomies went for the Absinthe. That stuff is no joke. I tried a baby sip and it burned my lips. Yeah, I shall be staying away from that stuff. I've already tried Ouzo and that's gross enough for me. Hey, I've tried and now know I don't like it in the least. Tomorrow I think I'm going to do some grocery shopping and exploring the area. I really love where I'm living and it's so fun getting to know people from schools all over America. </span></span></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716770682102833036.post-12494001228483859902011-08-28T21:44:00.000+03:002011-08-28T21:44:27.151+03:00Hurricane Irene<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's 2 hours since my plane was suppose to leave for Greece and I'm here in beautiful Brunswick, Maine riding out Hurricane Irene. Guess what happens when we get hurricanes? I CAN'T leave. I have been rebooked to leave on a flight Thursday Sep 1, 2011- missing orientation and the first two days of class. I am slightly comforted by the fact that several others in my program are facing similar setbacks. This means I won't be that one girl who walks into classes two days late. Yay!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In any case, I'm really excited to begin my adventure and finally be in Greece! Hope you all enjoy the blog :D</span></div></div>Macyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00734783345632091865noreply@blogger.com2