Ελλάδα - GREECE

Oh Greece, you are easily my favorite place in the world. If I could live on a Grecian island, I think my life would be complete. 

Two Wednesdays ago I woke up at 8:15, took the bus at 9:15 to the train station, took the train at 10:04 to the airport, waited in line at the airport for 30 minutes to check in, waited at the airport for two hours, and then flew for three hours and landed at the Athens airport at 6:00 (they're an hour ahead of Germany, so eight hours ahead of Wisconsin). An hour bus ride later, we were in the center of Athens, Syntagma Square, right in front of Parliament. And a ten minute walk later, we finally reached our hostel.

Emily, Kelsey, Kirsten, & Me at the airport

All the traveling was totally worth it though, because we were finally in Greece! Woohoo! Once we were settled in, we decided to walk around a little, and find some delicious food to eat. With a little help from our friend Walter at the front desk, we were able to find Petros, a little restaurant that served gyros. And they were absolutely amazing! Kirsten and I got swindled into buying the "portion meal", instead of the "mini meal" which was four euros cheaper. All we had to show for our extra euros though was some extra meat...We learned quickly after that, that the Greeks will do and say just about anything to get as much money out of you as they can.

The next morning, with more help from Walter, we took the Metro to the pier, bought our ferry tickets, and sailed off to Hydra, an island two hours from Athens. Hydra was absolutely gorgeous! This was easily my favorite day of our vacation. Most of the islands have cars and mopeds, but on this island, the only form of transportation is donkeys! As soon as our boat was docked and we were off, we got swindled in to a donkey ride! It was 10 euros for ten minutes, ouch, but totally worth it. It was definitely a good start to the day. Then we just walked around the island for a couple hours, and bought crepes for lunch.

Nutella and biscuity filling. Yum!

I should also mention "The Cats of Greece." There are so many stray cats in Greece, that they have their own post card. Bahaha! We even ran into a dead cat, unfortunately. I tried taking pictures of all of them, but there were so many I only got a handful. 

To really see all of my pictures, you'll have to check out my facebook album "For you, two euro - Greece." I should also explain the title to my album before I forget. As I mentioned earlier, the Greeks will do just about anything to get your money. All the shop owners (and even the restaurant owners) will stand outside trying to call you into their store. "For you, everything half off" "Come in, don't you want to try." It reminded me of the marketplace part in Aladdin, where the man yells "fresh fish," and everyone is super busy. Anyway, on the island, we went into this store, and it had bracelets, and the lady who owned the shop said right away, "for you, two euro." We continued to joke about this the rest of the trip. Many of the shops didn't have set prices, so, we were probably swindled very much on our trip to Athens. Oh well, at least now I know I'm not any good at bartering.

We also took a little swim on the island. I can't remember the name of the water we were swimming in, but it was off of the Aegean Sea I know. I shouldn't really say swim though. It was more like two seconds in the water to get a picture and hop right out again. It was absolutely freezing! So cold even, that my toes started cramping.

After swimming, we went back to the busier part of the island, but almost all of the shops were closed. I guess in the off season, they don't stay open past one or two in the afternoon. We did not know that at the time, otherwise we would have held off on the swimming. But we decided to just walk around some more and hang out by the port until our boat came.

Beef Jerky

We also ran into the cat above while waiting. We had seen this cat earlier in the day, and Kirsten said it looked like something had gnawed at its tail making it resemble beef jerky. When we were sitting on our bench waiting for our boat, all of a sudden Kirsten just said, "Here comes Beef Jerky." We were confused for a second, but when we looked and saw the cat, we all just started cracking up.

The ferry ride back was quite an experience as well. It was super windy, and the boat was certainly rocking. I went to the bathroom at one point, and I fell into the wall a couple times. I thought for sure I was going to fall into the toilet. Luckily, for me, I did not. I did notice though when we got back, that I had gotten a little color on my shoulders. I will totally take a sunburn in February any day!

Sorry everyone this is so long, there's just so much that happened!

The next morning, we woke up to take a tour around Athens. There was probably about fifteen of us, and it was definitely worth it. Our tour guide George was a little too talkative, but it was good because it gave us an idea of where and what everything was. We passed the Temple of Zeus, the 1896 Olympic Stadium, Parliament, ancient Roman and Greek marketplaces, and then finally the Parthenon.

George in front of the Temple of Zeus

Olympic Stadium

This dog followed us for almost the whole tour. (There's also a ton of stray dogs here.)

Parliament

Roman Marketplace

Greek Marketplace

Ancient theater on the way up to the Parthenon

Parthenon

Parthenon in the background

That night it was pouring, so we ended up just hanging out in the bar/common area of our hostel. It was a ton of fun though because we met some cool Australians, Canadians, Germans, and even some Americans.

The next day was pretty laid back. We just walked around a lot and went to the flea market. I bought some Grecian sandals, ate some more gyros, and then went to the Acropolis Museum. My favorite part about it was that it was built on part of the old city that they uncovered. The floors were glass so you could see right through them. It was very neat. Then that night we went up one of the hills nearby to watch the sunset. It was a bit cloudy, but still beautiful.

After the sunset, we went out to dinner. Lucky for us, we had a hard time making up our minds, so the man trying to get us into his restaurant offered us free ouzo and free dessert! Ouzo is traditional Greek liquor, but to me, it's disgusting because it tastes like black licorice. Yuck.

Chicken & Noodles (It was delicious, but there were too many bones)

Baclava. Yum! Very syrupy and nutty and completely delicious.

The next morning, we slept in a little, and then decided to walk around the National Gardens. From there, we took the Metro to the 2004 Olympic Stadium. We couldn't go inside any of the buildings, but we were able to walk around the area outside. From there, we went to the beach to walk around a little. But it was dark at that point and also raining, so we didn't stay too long. That night, we ended up just hanging out with a few people we met earlier in the trip, danced, and just relaxed. A good ending to a fabulous trip!

I think everyone needs to go to Greece at least once in their life. I will certainly be going back :)

A Little Relaxation

And relax is exactly what I did this weekend after the busy week we had. I should probably start with the Superbowl. Holy crow! (Shout out to those that get this reference) I'm not usually a fan of football, but this game was so intense, it was impossible not to get into it. It started at 12:30 in the morning, and we didn't get home until 5:00 in the morning, but it was most definitely worth it because I think we all needed that little taste of home.

Monday afternoon I had Scouts. I can't get over how cute the little kids are (and crazy). I brought my camera, but that was when my memory card decided to stop working, so unfortunately, no pictures once again. Here's hoping third time's a charm. All we did was play some more games of course, but in the woods this time. It still surprises me how hilly Germany is, everywhere. It certainly makes for interesting hiding spots when playing games.

The rest of the week was spent mostly just studying for our Prüfung on Friday, which is a big exam that counts as our only grade for the class. I wouldn't have been so nervous for it, if this hadn't been the case. But I studied a ton, so hopefully I got at least a B. I'll find out what I got tomorrow and then finish the exam with the speaking section. But that shouldn't be too hard according to all of the other students who have been here for a while.

Then Friday night, we all got together in my wing's kitchen for a Valentine's Day Party/Half way done with the Prüfung party. It was nice just to be able to hang out with each other and relax. It was what we all needed I think. Yesterday, Saturday, was just as relaxing. We went to town to go to the flea market, but it was closed unfortunately due to the rain, so we just decided to come back to the dorms and lounge around all day, which was just fine with me.

Since being here, there have been a few differences about the culture that I've noticed quite a few times. First, and this doesn't really have to do with the culture, but something that I've noticed is how many blind people there are here. I pass at least two or three daily throughout the city. I think this is mostly due to the fact that Marburg is extremely accessible for them.

Another thing I've noticed is how unfriendly the Germans are (to strangers anyway) compared to Americans. Whenever I'm out walking or running I always make an effort to smile at the people passing me, but most of the time they either keep a straight face or avoid looking at me. It's almost awkward. They are certainly not uncomfortable around each other though because I also do not think I've ever seen so much PDA (public display of affection) in my life. On the bus, in the grocery store, anywhere, and everywhere couples are mooching on each other. Yuck, keep it to yourselves people, that's all I'm asking.

Everyone smokes here too. There are vending machines for cigarettes on almost every block. The Europeans are so smart about so many things, but definitely not about this. It still baffles my mind how many people, especially kids, start smoking when they know the effects. Oh well, what can you do?

This doesn't really have to do with the culture; I just find it funny. Anytime we speak English to each other, especially on the bus, we are always stared at, mostly by the old folks. It's funny though, because they don't try to be discreet about it at all. One older lady last week completely turned around in her seat to stare at us while we were talking. We caught her smiling though, so hopefully she didn't hate us because we definitely recieve some ornery looks on occasion.

And so, the next time you hear from me will be when I return from Greece!!! Three more days until I leave! Bis dann!

Ladies Night!

This was another pretty busy week, but one of the funnest ones since I've been here. First though, I forgot to mention something that happened last week. One night all of a sudden I heard a couple of the American girls screaming bloody murder from the kitchen all the way down the hall in the other wing. I ran down there right away to figure out what happened, and I guess they had left the window open, and all of a sudden a BAT flew in (because they don't have screens here). Bahahaha! I wish I could have been there for that, but I'm sure I would have been screaming right along with them.

Nothing was stolen from me this week, but Noelle's block of butter was cut right in half, and not even down the side with the measurements. "They're always stealing people," according to Marius, one of the Germans on my floor. We couldn't help but laugh for a minute before we explained what he should have said.

A couple nights ago we watched Up in my room (in English). It was very cute, but not at all what I expected. And right before that, one of the ladies downstairs made crepes for everyone, and I had just been saying how much I wanted crepes, so it was perfect!

I should also mention of course, that I'm officially going to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day!!!! I'm so excited! And in two weeks I'm also headed to Greece!! :)

This week in class we were on the topic of love, so everyone from my class went up to the board to write "I love you" in their own language. It was really neat to see all of the different languages like that. We also added Spanish, French, and Italian, even though we don't have anyone in our class from those countries.

Spanish French

Italian Chinese

Arabic Korean

Japanese

Persian

English

German

Japanese

And now for the best night of the week...Mom, I should warn you now, that you will most likely not approve, but it is too funny, that I can't not write about it.

So Wednesday night was Ladies Night at this restaurant called Mexicali. (We had eaten there a few nights before, so we knew it was a cool place with delicious food.) I wasn't planning on going, but the other girls convinced me to go. The cocktails were going to be half off, and there was also going to be a male stripper. Gah!

So we got there around eight, ordered some delicious cocktails, and hung around until the stripper showed up. Me, being so smart, sat on the end, but I didn't think too much of it at the time. What a mistake that was...So as soon as the music started playing, he came out in his police officer get up, and the girls went wild... 

Not even two seconds later, he grabbed my hand and pulled me right to the center to sit on a chair!!! I'll just say I got one of the best shows of the night. Bahahahaha! He did pull out a couple other girls, so I wasn't the only one, thank goodness. I will say though, that I saw more naked body parts at the bath house in Wiesbaden than from this stripper, so hopefully that will comfort you some mom. It was easily one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me. I haven't laughed that much in who knows how long :)