Class & Tummy Aches (July 22)

This morning when I was getting ready, my new ring broke! It had a little kink it in, and when I bent it a little to resize it, it snapped there. Woops! IF ANYONE HAS a soldering iron, I want to use it when I get home to fix my ring! It should be a pretty easy fix.

I took all my new meds and headed off to class. The first thing Brittany asks when I walk into psych is if I can eat- why? Because it’s TACO DAY. Noooo! We only have 2 taco days the whole voyage, and this was number 2! And I can’t eat. :( Bummer!

Now fast forward to lunch- you have to understand how long it’s been since I’ve had even mock Mexican food. Like, way too long. I knew it was probably a bad idea, but I REALLY wanted just a little taste! I got a taco and got through not even half, then realized (felt) how stupid it was and stopped, moving onto cup of noodles and Sprite like a good girl. And I think I got some fro yo…that seemed to make my stomach feel the best. The pool bar guys thought I was a fatty, ordering so often from them!]

Because I can eat such a limited list of items, I got soooo hungry. In the afternoon, I had to get another cup of noodles. Those things really don’t fill you up! These next few days will be a hungry few…

Before dinner, I napped and blogged a little. Then at dinner, I got my cup of noodles and tried half of an open-faced peanut butter, honey, and banana on toasted bread (and was thinking of you DAD!!). After half it was time to stop. I just wanted some substance! I was so darn HUNGRY!

Our dinner conversations tend to go on for…oh, about 2 hours or so (we’re always the last to leave) and tonight’s conversation was about how all of our parents met. It was a fun story time! Then after dinner we watched the sunset, and just as it was getting dark we passed through the Bosphorus Strait- right through Istanbul! We passed under a really pretty lit bridge that was doing a light show, AND we saw fireworks! To our right was Asia, and to our left was Europe. We could even see the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque from the ship! It was like a little teaser for Istanbul. It’s so much prettier and more colorful than I ever expected! I think I’m going to like Istanbul! Did you know Istanbul is located on 2 continents? I didn’t! Maybe I’ll get to go to Asia in a couple days!

When it got even later, I went up on deck and had some alone time with just me, the stars, the ocean, and God. It was refreshing. This was one of the first times I was really alone, and not in my room. It was so refreshing!! Once I got tired, I headed to bed.

Gyros & Changing of the Guards (July 21)

Today was more of a take-it-easy, wander around type of day. We’d all seen and done what we wanted to see and do, so we were using the day to just hang out in Athens. We didn’t plan to meet until 11 at the gangway, so I got to sleep in until 10:30!!! That was EXACTLY what my body wanted. I skipped breakfast (sleep > breakfast) and met the gang at the gangway at 11.

We didn’t know if the taxis were still on strike, so we decided on the bus. It turns out the taxis weren’t on strike anymore. As we were walking out of the port, a group of taxi drivers were standing there advertising their taxis. Since we already had decided on the bus (and it was a lot cheaper), we said no thanks and kept walking. Well, the taxi drivers decided they would follow us- they clearly thought stalking was going to work. I can’t even tell you how long they followed us, yelling at us telling us to take their taxis. None of us turned around or acknowledged them, and they STILL wouldn’t leave! We were wondering if they’d get on the bus with us!

The busride into Athens was interesting as always. At times, it was extremely which my sensitive tummy didn’t appreciate very much. I was sitting on an aisle seat and was apparently a roadblock for bags and purses- as deduced by all the whacks in the head and shoulder I got from them. It seemed longer than I remembered, but finally we got there. Oh, and plenty of feet and suitcases walked over and rolled over my bug-bitten feet! Anyway, we got off and brought Brittany near the Acropolis. She was the only one who hadn’t seen it, so we showed her where to go, made sure we had phones to communicate if we needed to, and decided to meet back in an hour. After we sent her on her way, we stopped at a Pharmacy (for Katie this time!). She’s been having knee problems and all the walking was hurting her, so she got a knee brace. Next stop: mini market to get Greek yogurt and Sprite for Julia (really—I wasn’t kidding with the whole new diet thing!). I had some water earlier and it just didn’t settle well. It’s so weird that I can’t even drink water! When we found the mini market, everyone decided they wanted to try Greek yogurt so we got enough for everyone—and honey! We found a little shady area to sit and enjoy our snacks. Then on the way back, we visited George’s store again. We looked around, got what we wanted, and then met Brittany. By then, everyone was really hungry. We set out to find a place to get Gyros. I had decided that I needed to have authentic Gyros at least once before I left Greece…I had to! We all ordered them, and I got halfway through and realized it was a bad idea and stopped. At least I got half of a Gyro! Then I picked up my 1.5 Liter Sprite and started sipping away. After dinner, we decided to go BACK to George’s again (3rd time, 4th for some) to get more souvenirs. We just loved it there! We went back, bought some more things, and said goodbye for real this time.

We took the metro to Syntagma Square and got there just before 3 to see the changing of the guards (every hour, on the hour). The other girls saw it when we were in Mykonos and said it was something we HAD to see. They were guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was a very serious thing, but it did look a little goofy! Their outfits and their routine for changing guards is just so……….unique. These 6-foot-tall men have tap-shoes with HUGE black cotton ball puffs on the end of them, tassles hanging from behind their knees, and skirts, and do this kicking and stepping routine that looks a little bit awkward with their height- it was definitely something to see! They would tap their shoes, then kick their legs out horizontally. It lasted about 7 minutes! The commander would walk up to them, adjust their uniforms, hats, and guns, and would even wipe the sweat off of their faces! They were not allowed to move at all. After they were done, we took pictures with them. Brittany slipped on the ground and almost slide-tackled the guard! She missed him by about an inch, but we wondered what would happen if she had hit him since he isn’t allowed to move! After taking pictures, we took the metro back to Piraeus and made our way back to the ship.

Since we’ve been back on the ship, cup of noodles, fro yo, Gatorade, and sprite can pretty much sum it up. I bought them at the pool bar and brought them to dinner with the gang. Darwin had made a sign that said Reserved for Darwin’s “Angles.” He brought us all chocolate puddings for dessert- my favorite on the ship! Too bad I couldn’t have it. :( When I told him, he said he was sorry, leaned over to look in my cup of noodles, and told me I needed to drink more broth! Yes, sir! I ended up being really hungry still, so I put some spaghetti into the broth and letting it soak, then eating it. Yeah, my stomach didn’t like the idea and I found out later. For the rest of the night, back to the strict diet!

We were out on deck later, saying goodbye to Greece as it grew farther and farther away into the sunset. Let me just tell you- this sunset was AMAZING (as usual)! We are seriously so spoiled with them. Ocean sunsets are incredible. The colors were so deep that when I stared at them I felt like I couldn’t even take in all the color. Such deep reds, pinks, purples…amazing.  

Diagnosed! (July 20)

Today was kind of lazy. Even though I hadn’t eaten anything in the morning, my stomach still really hurt. We were planning on waking up at 9 and renting 4-wheelers to go to Paradise Beach before our 2:00 ferry left, but we were exhausted and woke up at 11. We just went to that private little beach again and relaxed. It was nice to relax! My stomach was ridiculous again, and I spent most of the time on the beach curled up in a ball. At this point, I decided to go to the medical clinic when I got back on the ship. It was the 5th day of crazy pain—if we didn’t get back when the clinic was open, the girls said they were making me go anyway and see the on-call doctor. Even if I didn’t want to disturb the doctor (I grew up with on-call parents and know how it interferes with relaxing and doing fun things), I had no choice. Anyway, back to the present. We had a nice lazy day on the beach (with lots of sunscreen on!). It was finally time to head back, but we HAD to stop and play with the little kittens right outside our hotel for the last time. They were SOOOOOO cute! Oh my gosh, I miss them. And they made me miss my little doggie Chloe!

Our hotel “parents” drove us to the ferry port and we got on. Instead of paying the extra fee, we found a table to sit at in the food area because we were early. We stayed there the whole 5 and a half hours. Since it was midday and we couldn’t sleep comfortably there, we realized it was going to be a long 5 and a half hours! We had literally nothing to do. Just our clothes in our backpacks. And each other. So...we chit-chatted the WHOLE way home. :) It was so nice! Michelle and Brittany are great girls. And my diet the whole way back was (again) bread and Sprite. And it was painful.

Once we got back to the ship, it was about 8 pm and the clinic was closed. The girls made me go straight to the clinic anyway (and walked/forced me there) and the nurse was surprisingly rude. I told her I’d had really bad stomach pain for 5 days now, and she said come back at 7 when they’re open. I said okay and started to walk away, but the girls made me stay. She said come back at 7 am unless it’s an emergency. I was like oooookay…and then she starting listing things that counted. And I fell into those categories. So then she was mad at me for not coming in sooner- well, I was kind of on an island when I realized it wasn’t just a stomach bug. She was annoyed and told me to go up to the registrar and call the medical staff on duty (she was just as capable- in fact, she was supposed to do it for me) so I went up and did that. Just as I was leaving, 4 girls also came in. So when they called the doctor on-call, they had 5 “emergencies,” which was a little hard to believe. Thankfully, I got to go first. It was the Physician’s Assistant on duty, Diane, the woman I saw on the first day. She was great and super nice, and thanked me for coming in because these are the things she is happy to see patients for. I think the other girls might have been in for alcohol related things, so that’s why she was annoyed. So…my diagnosis? Mom and Dad were right! She checked my organs and blood pressure to make sure it wasn’t my organs, and to see if I was dehydrated (all the Sprite was a good idea- I had good blood pressure!). I have a bacterial stomach infection. So something along the lines of e. coli or salmonella, but we aren’t exactly sure what. I started antibiotics (again) and will hopefully be feeling better! And doctor’s orders- my diet for the next few days is: Cup of Noodles, yogurt (and frozen yogurt!), Sprite, and Gatorade. Oddly, water was still hurting my tummy. The only downside to my new diet- well, not the only one- is that all that is really expensive at the pool bar. I’m talking $2 for a can of Sprite, and $3 for a bottle of Gatorade. But if it’s all my stomach will accept, so be it. I’m just glad to know what it is and to be doing something about it!

Mykonos! (July 19)

Rise and shine, it’s 5 am! Sadly, I was already awake when my alarm went off thanks to my very upset tummy. In fact, it hurt so bad that I honestly didn’t know if I would be able to do Mykonos. I was planning on going up to breakfast at 5:30 to tell the girls I couldn’t go with them. As I got ready, I started to feel a little bit better and realized that I was going to be in pain either way—and who knows if and when I’ll be back in Greece…so might as well spend the time in Mykonos. Yes, it would probably be painful and slightly miserable, but Mykonos is better than no Mykonos! We met up at breakfast and I had a little bit of toast—that did not settle well and I paid for later. We grabbed all of our stuff and quickly left to buy tickets for a ferry. Michelle and Brittany were going faster to make sure we would get there an hour before ferry left so we could get the tickets, and I lagged behind and pushed myself to get there. We went from kiosk window to kiosk window, and the only tickets left were for the high speed ferries (more than double the price of normal ferries). Finally we found a travel agency that could give us slow ferry tickets—we lucked out!! We got our tickets, jumped on the ferry, and found out that we had to be outside. We found some seats inside where the food was, and asked how much the seats inside (like airplace seats) were. They were 2 extra Euros if you bought them while you bought your ticket, and 4.50 Euros if we got them right now. We got them right now. It was a 5 and a half hour ferry and we were exhausted! We paid the extra money and got our assigned seats.

Michelle and Brittany were together up front, and I was a little further back in a very random seat. I’m not sure how I managed to be the one to get the seat, but I was sitting smack dab in the middle of a HUGE Greek family. I’m talking probably well over 40 of them. Let’s see if I can describe this to you. You know in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the family is huge and extremely loud and some people in the movie find them slightly obnoxious? This was that, in real life. Let’s just say that 4 grandmas were present, and ALL of their kids and grandkids. Old, young, you name it and they were there. Luckily for me (not), the young kids chose right next to my seat to play with their trucks and cars and dolls and play tag and yell at the top of their lungs. Now don’t get me wrong- I love kids. And normally, I don’t think I would have had much of a problem with this. But with being on 4 hours of sleep and having excruciating stomach pain, let’s just say it wasn’t the most pleasant 5 hour situation. Thankfully, mom suggested earplugs to bring this summer, and those finally came REALLY in handy. However, they cut the sound about in half. The other half of the sound was definitely still there, and loud, no matter how far I shoved those bright pink earplugs into my ears. Yes, if you haven’t caught on- I probably did look like the annoyed insensitive American we’re stereotyped to be. I have been trying to disprove all stereotypes this whole trip, but this one time I couldn’t do it. All I wanted was a tiny nap without being woken up by a truck being driven on my armrest and a loud “OPA!” in my ear- by either the kids or the grandmas. I think the grandmas were being little gossip queens, but I can’t be sure. But they stood up in their seats and had long and loud conversations with every member of their family, one by one. You can only imagine the looks I got (and what was being said about me) when I would get excrutiating stomach pain and double over with my head between my legs for a good ten minutes. At that point, I couldn’t care less. All you Pfohls out there, let me try describing this family another way. Imagine OUR family, but ten times louder (try hard to imagine), four times as many of us, and Greek. Yep, that pretty much does it.

The ferry stopped at a few islands before Mykonos, so I took the opportunity of people leaving (people were also getting on) to find a new seat, but I only had 30 minutes before the ferry got to Mykonos. At least I got a little nap. About 15 minutes before we arrived, I went to the food area and got an overpriced (what isn’t?) and set out to find some plain bread. What could be milder than that? Finally, I found somewhere that might have it and asked if they had plain bread. When I asked, they looked bewildered- “Bread?” Yes. “Just bread?” Yes, please. “Eh, bun? Bread?” Yes, I’d like bread please (don’t forget the language barrier). “Uh, bread. Okay.” When the guy working in the back brought out my bread, he looked at me just as oddly as the first guy. I took my bread and went back to my seat. I ended up going back and getting another bread (imagine the scene with the word “again?” tagged onto the ends of everything) and some more Sprite. Turns out I would pay for this bread later, too. Bummer.

The ferry got into Mykonos and we were faced with our next mission- finding a place to stay! Well, right when we got off of the ferry there were SWARMS of people trying to convince us to stay at their hotel. We would talk to one person, find out their price, and tell them we’d think about it and find them if we wanted to stay there. Let’s just say that at one time, we had about 7 of them following us around to the next person we talked to. It was like we were growing a fan club, and they all were trying to talk to us at once! If you can imagine chaos, just do that and you’ll get the picture. And in the middle of the chaos, imagine 3 confused girls trying to figure out what in the world to do. We finally ran into a very cute older couple offering 15 Euros per person. That was much cheaper than all the other places! The cheapest we got before that was 70 Euros total for the 3 of us. We talked to the couple some more, and they said they’d drive us to their place now, and back to the ferry the next day when we had to leave. They told us we could see their place now, and if we didn’t like it they’d bring us back to the port. They seemed sincere, so we got in their car and the wife drove us to their hotel. We got there really soon, and got out to look at the room. It had two beds, and she was going to bring in a third. There was free internet, and breakfast in the morning was 5 Euros if we wanted it. They showed us their bar, their wi-fi/eating/living room, and told us about their family and their family business they’d been running for 40 years now (the hotel). We heard about all of their kids, and at the end (once we’d decided to stay here) we were instructed to call them “Momma” and “Poppa.” How cute! They said we’re all family here. When Brittany asked if they had shampoo, the wife replied with “Yes, I do- you can use!” Later, she brought us her own shampoo to use! We heard Paradise Beach was the place to go, but it was pretty far away. They gave us a map and showed us where everything was and gave recommendations, and for the afternoon we just decided to go to this cute little private beach right across the street. When we got there, there was one other person on the beach. Talk about private! We sunscreened up and laid out for the next couple hours. We climbed on some rocks that were nearby, explored around, and then took naps on the sand. It was really hot, but there was a really strong breeze that made it the perfect temperature. We went down to the water for dips every so often, too. The water was so blue and clear! We strolled along the water’s edge, looking for pretty shells and rocks and each got pretty big collections. The ONLY negative about the beach was that the wind was so strong, it would blow sand at us that really stung! At first, we made a fuss and “OW!”-ed every time, but then we realize it was going to keep going and that it was pointless to complain. So we sucked it up and only commented when it was an especially long or painful one. Imagine us three girls in our bikinis on our private little beach in Mykonos, ducking our heads and stinging with pain when the sand came! Oh, I shouldn’t say that was the only negative. My stomach definitely was a bit of a downer. It would come in waves, though, so there were times that I did feel okay. When it would start hurting, I’d have to curl up into a tiny ball for awhile. My stomach was something I just had to deal with on the trip, and I knew it going into it. I’m glad I was able to enjoy the trip despite all the pain.

After a long afternoon at the beach, we walked back to our hotel and saw kittens galore! The neighbors of the hotel had so many kittens and they came over to our side of the wall- they were SOOOOO cute! I’m not even a cat person, (dogs all the way!) but OHMYGOSH. These things…they couldn’t have been more than a couple weeks old. They were tiny and so cute. Some would come up and rub on your legs and purr and want to be picked up, and some were more scared. Then we saw them on the other side of the wall NURSING! Mommy cat with all her babies piled on top of each other getting milk…it was so cute!!! They were just the sweetest, cutest little things. We named on Callie, because she’s a calico. :) Another one was black and didn’t like when I got close- I soon realized it was because he was missing an eye. :( So sad! We could not get enough of them!

When we were about to go to dinner, we asked Momma and Poppa for suggestions. They wanted us to order something and have it brought here so they could eat with us and they could take care of us! They were so sweet! We wanted to go into town though and see what it was like there. We walked there as the sun was setting and went to the coast where we “HAD TO watch the sunset..best ever, don’t watch anywhere else!” At that point, my stomach was acting up a whole lot and I couldn’t really walk for long. I was texting my Mommy and she recommended Greek yogurt with honey. I went to a mini mart and got some Greek yogurt, honey, a 1.5 liter bottle of water, and a 1.5 Liter bottle of Sprite (all for me!), and brought it to the restaurant Michelle and Brittany wanted to eat at. It was so pretty, right by the water! And there was a huge pelican not far. I’m talking HUGE! I have pictures. They ordered their Greek food, and I ordered pita and hummus. I ate some of the bread on the table and some yogurt too, and thought I’d be good. Well, my stomach still hurt. As we were sitting there the waitor came over to our table and we asked for tap water (they rarely give it to you in Europe- they charge you for bottled water). He looked shocked at our question, and replied by saying that he does have it and he can give it to us if we really want it, but that it will make us “guaranteed sick, no question.” Guess what Brittany and I had had to drink before we went to the beach? You guessed it—tap water. The feeling that came over us can’t even be explained. We figured it took about 6-8 hours for something like that to set in, so we calculated how long it had been. For her it was about 4 hours later, and for me it would be….6, in just a couple minutes. Really?! That was the last thing I needed on top of whatever horrible stomach thing I already had. I guess the feeling was just like a layer of DOOM. Well, the good news is we didn’t get sick from the water! My bad news of stomach pain still persisted, though. Turns out, dinner wasn’t a good idea for me. Not even that bland food. This night was definitely the most miserable by far. I could walk for about 2 minutes, then I’d have to sit doubled over in so much pain for about 5 minutes, then run into a restaurant asking if they have a bathroom and barely making it in in time. Over and over. And this is nighttime in Mykonos, where the rest of the world is all dressed up, enjoying nice meals and starting to go out for the night. Romance, fun, relaxation—and then there was me, miserable and doubled over in pain the majority of the time. Just like on the islands yesterday, people would try to get Brittany and Michelle to come to their restaurant when they would walk by, and when they’d see me it was a “You look so sick! Feel better!” type of thing. Seriously! Well, with my mom on the other end of my texts, I got some suggestions of medicines I should look for in pharmacies there. We set out to find them and it took a pharmacy visits to find what I needed. What I needed most was Ciproflaxin, but that needs a prescription. I was proactive and did bring it—but it was on the ship, and I was in Mykonos. Bummer! We couldn’t figure out where to buy bus tickets, so luckily we ran into some guys from SAS who were heading back to their hotel close to ours so we walked back with them. It was a painful walk, but I didn’t want to get left behind so I pushed myself to keep up with them!

When we finally got back to the hotel, all the little kitties were out PLAYING. I’ve never seen little cats play like that! They were rolling around, chasing each other, climbing up trees and falling out, pouncing on each other…so cute! One kitty took a liking to me- she was white with lots of grey so I named her Ash…Ashley to make it prettier. :) One of the kitties- the tiniest, babiest little one- had such a bad eye infection. It was so sad, and it looked like it was in so much pain. :( We hung out with the kittens for a good hour or more, then finally went in and went to sleep!   

Hydra, Poros, Aegina (July 18)

Today I went on a Semester at Sea trip with all the girls to three Saronic Islands. We went to Hydra, Poros, and Aegina. It was fun, but I was feeling SO sick so it’s kind of a blur! Even though it was an SAS trip, it was organized through another company.

We were all ready and met out at the buses like we were supposed to- only, there was one minor problem. Two words: TAXI STRIKE. If we were taking a bus, why would we care about taxis you ask? Well, the taxi drivers didn’t only refuse to drive their taxis anywhere, they lined up all through the streets and parked. Just parked. So not only could we not use taxis, we couldn’t use the streets for any kind of transportation. We were waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and finally after an hour or two one lane of the road was partially cleared and our bus was able to make it. We got on and went to the ferry port, then boarded the trip ferry.

First, we went to Hydra. The entire way there, Michelle and I took over a table and passed out in the booths for 2 hours. Hydra is known for donkeys! So naturally, we rode donkeys around the island. :) Then we walked around a bit and saw a bunch of adorable cats all over! We got back on the ferry and were served lunch- I’m pretty sure I only ate the bread. And even with that, I was loading up on Tums and Pepto Bismal. Once we finished lunch, we were in Poros, the second Greek island we visited. On Poros we just looked around as we walked, shopped, and explored. I honestly don’t remember much of Poros at all because I was feeling so bad. When we got back on the ferry, I laid down in one of the booths and passed out again until we got to Aegina. We had a lot longer on Aegina. They’re known for their pistachios there, so a bunch of the girls got those. Then we headed for the beach- except we didn’t have bathing suits! We looked in some shops to see if we could find cheap ones, but didn’t find success so we just waded around up to our knees. We saw a cute little crab! Aegina was really cute- there were horse carriages all over and it was so tempting to take a ride in one!! All of the islands looked so Greek (as they should!)- bright white walls all over, with colored accents (like blue roofs and shingles).

After leaving Aegina, we got back on the ferry and were headed back to Piraeus. Well, we were in for a treat! On the bottom deck of the ferry there was a big dance floor. The way home consisted of Greek dancing! At first, it was Greek music and two Greek dancers performing, and we were all just clapping along to the music. But then they started pulling people from the audience up to dance! Everyone who knows me will be so surprised—I, Julia, was one of the first to go up and dance, with no hesitation! If that’s not proof that taking all my opportunities and expanding out of my comfort zone, then I don’t know what is! Eventually, a bunch of us SASers were up on the stage dancing to the Greek music and it was so fun! Then they put us in a circle and asked us to kneel down, and one by one took us and danced with us. The first girl, the lead Greek dancer just danced with and spun. Then the second girl, he spun a little more. Then the third girl, he did a double handed spin. Then it was my turn. I figured it would just be lots of spinning. No. He got me, got a different guy who didn’t know how to Greek dance either, and kind of showed us what to do as we went. Since we were a little oblivious as to what we were supposed to be doing, the audience loved it. Then the leader guy put his arms up and was tapping his shoulders. I was SO confused. I thought I was supposed to pat the guy on the shoulder or something- no, he wanted the guy to throw me over his shoulder and spin me around! Both of us refused at first, but the lead Greek dancer wouldn’t take no as an answer so there was me, flung over some guy’s shoulder, SPINNING around in circles. QUITE the show, let me tell you. I wasn’t sure if I’d live to tell the story, or if I’d get dropped and wake up in a hospital bed! I’m actually glad it was a random guy, because the guy in charge who was dancing with the girls himself earlier was VERY, VERY drunk. At least my dance partner was able to see straight! Luckily, I wasn’t the only one who had to do this. Every single other person had to do the same thing- random guy, random girl, flung over shoulder and spun. And I was lucky to have a normal sized guy—later down the line, the leader picked a really tall girl and a TINY, puny guy about half her height!!! We were all a little worried about that one. The whole way home was a blast. Luckily, we got most of it on video! When I can, I’ll post it here. :)

We got back to the port at Piraeus, and came back to the ship exhausted. Michelle, Brittany, and I really wanted to go to Mykonos for the next 2 days, but had NO plans. We went to find internet (and had trouble), then at 1 am decided to wake up at 5 and wing it!

I’m so glad I did the island trip through Semester at Sea- there is no way I would have been able to visit all those places otherwise! Even though I didn’t feel very good, it was amazing to see the beautiful islands! And I can look back now and really appreciate all the pictures. :)

P.S. Happy birthday Chloe!!!

Heard about Athens on the News Lately? (July 17)

Today, we arrived in Athens!

At preport last night and in Global Studies yesterday, we learned a lot about what’s going on in Athens currently (we are completely out of the loop of world news here on the ship). We were told that there were 5 options for Greece, and that they were having some kind of important meeting over the weekend and would announce the new plan either the first or second day we were there. In other words, be wary of riots, because there’s no way to satisfy everyone. Also at preport, we were told how to use the metro since it is the best mode of transportation, and the taxis will likely be striking.

Back to today. About an hour after the general clearance announcement came another announcement- “Attention please, attention please. We have just been informed that the metro is NOT working in Athens today. Please keep this in mind while you make plans to travel.” Oooookay, so now what? We knew they had buses, but we didn’t know WHERE we could buy tickets or where any of the bus stops were. We knew we wanted to go to the Acropolis today, so since it was SO hot (another heat wave- surprised?) we waited until a little later to head out. On our way out of the port, we ran into the crew doctor (different than the SAS doctors). She’s the cutest thing. She’s Croatian, and walks around the ship every day in heels, little pencil skirts, and always has her sparkly lip gloss on. We hadn’t ever met her before- just seen her- but we were all looking for the darn bus stop and ticket stand and had no idea where to go, so we bonded over that. We had all walked all over and didn’t know where to go! (I was with Michelle and Kelsey.) We decided to all walk together and look. The doctor stopped a motorcyclist with the wave of her hand and got directions- kind of. She kept stopping people going by and using her Spanish and Italian to communicate. None of us knew any Greek! She’s Miss Independent and has this little I’m-not-an-idiot attitude. She finally got us to the bus stop, and said goodbye as she took a bus to the beach! She was all set in her swim suit, wrap, sparkly lip gloss, cute hat, and big beach bag. I hope she had a nice day sunbathing! Anyway, that left the three of us there. Our bus stop was somewhere else, and we had to buy the tickets somewhere ELSE because the stand she bought them at didn’t have any more tickets. Lovely. So we set out to find another place. Found it! Now to communicate what we want…Michelle and Kelsey did that while I was crouching down in pain (remember the stomachaches?). While I was down there, I studied some magazine covers like Glamour and Cosmopolitan to see if I could figure out what sounds any of the Greek characters made. I know the Greek symbols forward and backward from all my math, physics, and engineering classes, but none of us knew what sound they made in words, which left us helpless when even attempting to pronounce things. I figured maybe I could figure out what something was in English, then relate it to the written Greek. ZERO luck! It was like trying to read jibberish.

Once we had our tickets, we looked for the bus stop and found it. We all sat on the bench to wait. Once the bus 040 came, we jumped on, validated our tickets (if you don’t validate them, you get fined 60 times the price of your bus ticket..1.40 Euros!), and sat down. I was facing the back of the bus, so I was moving backwards. After awhile, this plus all of the bumps made my stomach even WORSE, so Kelsey switched with me so I could be going forward at least (thanks Kels!). As we were sitting there, one of the girls pointed to my leg that had bright orange on it. How weird! I rubbed it off and it was gone for the most part. A couple minutes later, I went to cross my legs and Michelle’s face was priceless. After a jaw drop and a point to my leg, both of the girls were shocked. What in the world? I had orange ALL over the back of my legs, in the little dot pattern of the bus stop bench. I couldn’t see so Kelsey took a picture. Picture to come….it was bad! And of COURSE that would happen to me. We went back and looked at the bench later and it was just rust. Sooo apparently either my skin or my sunscreen has a reaction with rust, and then rubs off with baby wipes? Beats me. Once we asked the bus driver about ten times if this was the Acropolis stop and finally got the answer yes, we hopped off and looked for somewhere I could fix my legs. We went into a little bookstore, walked way in the back, and used a wipe I had THANKFULLY brought. Of course then I had to put more sunscreen there.

Alright, now we were set. We walked around the area of shops and restaurants, and found this little shop down in a basement. There were a few pieces of jewelry outside on display, but once you go downstairs it is HUGE and there is SO much stuff! AND it was nice and cool down there. We were sold! We spent about the next hour in there. We got a couple things, and then as we were buying them met George. George is one of the owners- a typical Greek old man, with his shirt completely unbuttoned. He was SO enthusiastic about what we were buying. We all got these pretty silver-plaited rings that he made. They stood for long life, love, and friendship. Since he made them, he said he had to pick out the best one for each of us. Good thing we loved them! After we got them, he was so excited to bring us back to his workshop and show us where and how he made them. He showed us a some similar, thicker pieces of jewelry like the ones he made, and said they were from China so we could have those really cheap, but they aren’t the same because they’re not handmade! The ones he made were a little thinner, and we got to see exactly how he did it. It was so cool! He told us all about how he was on CNN and how we should watch for him there. After about an hour at George’s, we figured we should head up to the Acropolis. It was SO hot! Luckily there was a little breeze by the time we went up.

Side note: Can I please mention how many COPS were everywhere? We knew they were there to keep us safe, but at the same time we wondered if they were expecting something and that’s why there were so many. We saw some walk by all decked in heavy duty bullet-proof gear and huge shields, and later we saw a huge bus unloading police officers. We later found out that a protest was supposed to happen on one side of the Acropolis, so that’s why they were there. Thankfully we weren’t there while there was a protest!

Anyway, we bought our tickets (only 6 Euros with a student ID!) and headed up. It was sooo cool! Knowing its long and complicated history made it so interesting, and I was so intrigued with its perfection. I have to admit, I did eavesdrop on a bit of another tour. I just wanted to know more about how it was built! It is built purely of marble, with no material to hold it together. Instead, column drums were stacked to create each pillar. Each drum had a square cut out, and an iron rod was put in to hold the drums together. We also got to see the Parthenon while we were up there. It was really cool seeing it, especially because I remember learning about it in 8th grade geometry. Mr. Timm talked about it a lot and how the Greeks were geniuses (genii!). We learned about how its shape is perfect, and ideally aesthetically pleasing- the “golden rectangle.” I always wanted to see it in person and am so happy I finally got to. Apparently within the hour we were up there, Hilary Clinton was as well. We must have just missed her, because just after we got down, we ran into SAS people who couldn’t get to the Acropolis because the road was blocked off for her. And when we were up there, an Asian man was asking about Hilary Clinton and we thought he was asking if we knew her- we later figured out what he really meant.

After that, we walked down and went to the New Acropolis Museum. The entrance is one of the coolest parts! There is a glass ground with the archaeological excavation right below it, so you can see it all. Inside the museum was cool too. No pictures allowed, though. :/ It was huge and open and there were statues everywhere from the ruins. On the descriptions of one of the building remains, I learned that the Greeks kept track of important parts of the building process ON the actual building! We saw a part of wall that had the finances chiseled into it. What better place to keep important information that ON it! After leaving the museum, we went back to George’s. We couldn’t help it, it just had so much stuff! We got some more stuff, and he was thrilled that we were back. As we were leaving, we asked for a suggestion for dinner. He told us a great place, gave us his card and theirs, and sent us on our way. He promised they’d take care of us!

We went there and immediately as we walked up, the owner brought us to a table and offered us wine on the house, asking what kind we wanted. We said any kind of red would be great. Unfortunately, I knew my tummy wouldn’t be able to handle any wine so I just took a little sip and was done. Then for dinner, Kelsey and Michelle ordered Greek salad and Moussaka. I tried a little bit of each of theirs. I ordered a stuffed baked potato, and it was really good. I didn’t get to eat all of it, though. Darn stomach. We did some more shopping, then realized it was dark so we headed back to the ship. Well, the buses had stopped running so we couldn’t do that. We didn’t want to take a taxi because they’re more expensive. We asked a police man about the buses, and he told us to take the metro. We told him we thought they were closed but he assured us they weren’t anymore. After telling us which lines to take about 5 times, he found a map and showed us there. Ooookay, that made a lot more sense. We had to take 3 different metro lines. We could do that, we were metro pros! We did the first two fine- got our tickets, hopped on. Then when we were trying to find our third platform, we noticed that all of the signs for Piraeus (the port where our ship was) were covered. Uh oh. We still tried to get there, but there were security guards stopping people. THAT metro wasn’t running. Okay, thanks cop! We should have learned our lesson after the Italian cop told us to take the metro and it was closed. So…now what? We had to leave the metro station and we figured we’d take a taxi, even though it would be expensive. We walk up the stairs our of the metro…and are definitely somewhere we DON’T want to be. It was kind of like the Placa in Barcelona, where the protestors were all living and hanging out, and it just wasn’t all that safe. Only here, it was worse. There was a bit of a stir, and we knew we needed to get out fast. There was graffiti EVERYWHERE- more than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Well, I guess we found the heart of all the protests! SAS had advised us that over anything, STAY AWAY from protests. We wanted to take a taxi, but we didn’t have cash. So…we had to do what we didn’t want to do and get money out of an ATM at night in a sketchy area. We did it fast and were all watching carefully. We went to find a taxi, and got in after negotiating a price (we didn’t negotiate long, we wanted to get the heck out of there!). On the drive, Kelsey was trying to make conversation with the taxi driver in the front, like she usually does. Nope, he wasn’t going to have it. He was so rude! Okay…so then we’d just be quiet. About two minutes in, he lights up a cigarette and starts smoking away. Who happens to be directly behind him? Your truly. Lucky me got smoke blown in my face by the wind the wholeeee wayyyy home. Back to the graffiti, I thought I’d seen a lot in that square we were in. Nope, I hadn’t seen a fraction of it. For the next 15 minutes I stared out the window and the ENTIRE left side of the road (I didn’t even look at the right) was COVERED in graffiti. There was literally not an inch of building material showing, no matter how high the buildings were. I have never ever seen that much graffiti ever ever ever before. It was actually really pretty, with every single building covered in colorful graffiti! I thought it was really cool to see some effects of all the protests and riots in Athens, since I’ve been hearing about them on the news for so long. I was right in the heart of it.

The taxi got to the port, but the port of Piraeus is HUGE. We showed the taxi driver our “green sheet,” that said our ship was at berth 4. Well, he told us berth 4 didn’t exist. We had to tell him where we wanted to be dropped off. Just at the port? It’s huge. Okay…well then berth 4. It doesn’t exist. Okay, then 3. Fine. We got dropped off at 8. Thanks dude. Whatever! We paid him and went on our way, three girls SPEED walking around the port at night. Not so fun. Finally after about 20 or 30 minutes, we got back to our ship and were safe and sound. By the time we got back, the other girls had been worried about us for awhile. They had texted, but almost as we were back. Point of the story: we got back safely, even though it was much more complicated than we anticipated (but what ISN’T when traveling?)!

Well, later on we talked to someone who had been in that sketchy square at 8 pm. We were there at 10 pm. While she was there, someone came up to her and told her to GET OUT FAST because it was NOT somewhere she wanted to be, and a protest/riot was about to start. She booked it out of there, like we did. So sometime between 8 and 10, there had been a huge protest/riot, or maybe it hadn’t happened yet and was about to right when we went through. And when I saw “square,” I mean yes there was a smallish square where people were gathered, but the large surrounding radius was still just as scary. It wasn’t like we had to just walk out of the square- we had to drive 20 minutes away. Glad we got out of that!

Oh, what I didn’t mention is how attractive and non-touristy we were today. OH wait, we were just the opposite! We heard the walk up to the Acropolis was really slippery, so we decided to wear running shoes. And since we were wearing running shoes, we figured we might as well just “COMMIT.” As in, wear full running attire. So when we ran into other SASers dressed all cute, we justified it by saying that we committed, and that was that! What a day.

Sea Day (July 16)

Today’s post will be very short.

The only thing really prominent about today was the stomach aches I got after eating. I even ate plain pasta for one meal, and it got really upset. I’m definitely not going into bodily function details, but just know things weren’t working right. I knew something was going on, but I figured it was a little stomach bug that would pass in a bit. I was hoping it would be gone in 24 hours, but I figured anywhere up to 2 or 3 days.

This is called foreshadowing...