A Final Note

As I am now in the tundra my focus will shift to green things, mountains, and heavy, gravy filled meals. I am still running on my Greece high and I believe I have offended Lukas with my despondency to all things not Greek. As my final Greece-related note I shall inform you that I went to the movies in Athens, outside on top of a building within view of the Acropolis. It was an odd and pleasant moment. Also, I was aggressively accused of shoplifting and I shared a hostel room with a bald man with a pugnacious skin condition. All of that, mixed with being separated from Mattie and my 40 Euro taxi ride to the airport led me to be in a foul mood whilst in Athens, sitting alone in the terminal on my birthday.

In other news, it seems the sun is coming out this morning which is quite the big deal in these parts. I shall supply you with Welsh pictures and stories once i get good and settled in. Today Lukas and I are hiking up to an old castle. 12 miles he says. I sure hope there's a cafe inside.

Well...

it's all over. I have successfully made it to Wales after much standing around, siting, and waiting. Lukas surprised me and met me in London to endure the four hour bus ride to Cardiff with me on my birthday. Brownie points. Cardiff is very very pretty however it is currently experiencing a very rare summer cold front complete with wind and rain. Needless to say I am not prepared for this in any fashion and despite Lukas's company, I would like to hightail it back to my warm sunny Greek beach. Hmph! Enjoy these last few Greek scenes.

Oh No!!

I'm mourning my last few days here.

Kid Folk

I'm so sorry my colorful posts are few and far between. My main excuse is that the internet connection in my little place is only usable for about 2 hours everyday and I am usually in class during these peak moments. My other excuse is that I am so thoroughly distracted by all the excitement here that I've been moving and shaking full throttle and just crash when I finally get home at night. I admit I have not been taking care of myself. I'm not sleeping or eating my veggies. I am mostly consuming potatoes (in various forms) and fruity beverages.
I have however, developed quite the firm fanny from all the uphill climbs. All of us kids are becoming more muscular in strange places and flabby in new ones. It's mildly amusing to watch the progression. Speaking of flabby, all of my clothes are dirty and shot. Though I am provided with a washing machine here, the entire island seems to be barren of a dryer. On account of having no dryer with which to shrink my clothes, everything I wear flaps in the wind, gets stuck in the straps of my bag and or falls off when walking.

Anyways, I took pictures of my fellow delinquents (though actually I don't think I took any of these photos).

Here is everyone. Artfully gazing at the sea.

Here we are attempting to climb up hill (pre-frim fanny), only to climb way way down into a cave. 

 Here we have Alex and Frank. They are friends from New England. They are the only ones who came here knowing someone. Frank is very kind and watches over everybody. He is genuinely concerned for everyone and will do anything for you. Alex mostly sleeps all day, but she has a great sense of humor.

 Here we have good ole Mattie. Mattie has taken to constantly photographing me in an attempt to capture my numerous unattractive expressions. She must have close to 80 offensive pictures of me that she posts online for the world to see without a second thought. Mid-yawn, pre-sneeze, blatant confusion etc...

 Sitting here with Mattie and me is Colin, the least photographed one of us on the trip. Colin can best be described by the term "lugnut" which accidentally slipped out of my mouth during dinner one night and has now become his nickname. I really feel terrible about this however the acceptance of this theory was unanimous.

 The Three Stooges. Added to the group of gigglers is Karissa. The three of us are constantly being scolded and glared at by our professor and the other kids. Usually you will find the three of us on the ground, either doubled over or on all fours, shaking violently from our own simpleminded comments. Though we know the other kids like us, we also know that we are very annoying and often obnoxious. We just can't help it. Karissa has a contagious laugh that is set off by the simplest things and once one of us gets going...well...

 On the left here is Devon. She is probably the cutest person I know. She has so much zest for life and screams with excitement over the littlest things. She is the youngest of us, 18, and she has somehow managed to hang on to her childish enthusiasm. On the other end there is Kelsey, a fiery gal from southern California. She too is very funny though mostly in the scary "I don't know if you're kidding" way. Kelsey tells it like it is and will be the first one to raise an eyebrow at your behavior. Us gigglers get a big kick out of her sass though secretly I'm afraid of her.

Lastly we have the Lindseys. Well, Lindsey and Lindsy. These two have become quite close and spend most of their time together. They seem more serious than the rest of us though I know that Lindsy is here as a fun break from a bittersweet home life. Lindsey II (as we call her) seems to have the Male Dial-Out Feature. I've gotten many-a silent responses from her when she is doing other things and for my own peace of mind I pretend she just didn't hear me.

Santorini

We just got back from a 3 day trip to Santorini. It was most exciting. We took a sailboat all around the island, climbed a volcano, swam in a hot spring, rode donkeys, and had a dance party on the docks.
I believe I am getting too much sun. I'm especially giggly and woosey. An odd mix. I woke up with a big time fever yesterday that got increasingly worse as the day went on. Last night about 10 Abby took me to the Hannibal           Lecter-esque Greek emergency room where upon we discovered, through much broken english, that I have a bacterial infection in my throat glands. I am currently on antibiotics and I feel much better except for an immense headache that is following me around. Have no fear though. This has not in the least ruined my trip and I still don't want to leave.

Mykonos

A couple of days ago we took a sailboat to Mykonos.

It was just us on the boat and Yannis, the bubbly captain that prepared us a traditional greek meal in his tiny boat kitchen. Luckily the water was so smooth that no one became sea sick or nauseaous. I was very worried about this for myself after witnessing Mom's Caribbean Blow Out. The gentle rocking of the boat lulled me to sleep for both of the 3 hour rides. I was teased for this but they were the most wonderful two naps I've ever had.

Mykonos was conveniently experiencing the hottest day of the year so far and it did take its toll. We were mostly in a humid stupor as we wandered through the windy white streets. It was so hot that I couldn't even convince myself to pull my camera out of my bag.  I believe I took four pictures.

Back on Paros we wandered back to our rooms and heated up our usual grub. After spending the entire first week in Greece eating out for every meal, we were all suddenly slapped with the reality of our dwindling bank accounts. Now it's every man for himself up in our roof top kitchen where we can all be found boiling water for various pre-packaged pasta bowls. Quite the demotion from fresh souvlaki.

I regret to inform you that I have acquired the attention of a 5'5 bald Albanian fella who has become a Where's Waldo figure throughout my days. Now don't worry. He's harmless and many locals tell me he is very very stupid. Also, I'm pretty sure I could beat him up.
Last night he showed up at the little pub where Mattie and I do most of our late night socializing. Here we have met three of the most lovely guys who have become our go-to Help Bureau and temporary best friends. They provide us with laughs, directions, and greek translations. Also included is sass, sarcasm, and Dad style cheap shots. Anyways, the five of us did our best to ignore the little Albanian who kept trying to ooze into our conversation. After an hour or so the little guy tried to get me to follow him outside and something snapped within my new buddies. All three of them stood up, literally the music stopped and they all began shouting in Greek. Mattie and I stared at each other, our eyes bugging out and mouths open. I'm sure some greek slurs were exchanged and then the Albanian slunk out door and never came back. It was silent for a second after he left. The guys looked at each other, clearly pleased with themselves and then there was an Oooo-Pa!!!!! and the music started again, like nothing had happened.
It was like a scene from a movie and Mattie and I began giggling like small children. The whole thing was really embarrassing and I still don't know what they said to him. They won't tell me. Though I did see the little guy at the grocery market this morning and he more or less ran away from me.

I'm off to class in a little bit. I believe we are driving up to the top of the mountain to photograph a monastery. It's a tough life. Think how crabby I'm going to be when I get back to real college. School in a classroom? Truly appalling.