This weekend was OOC!

Out of control. OOC.

Be jealous. I just spent the weekend on a Greek island for the first time. I'd bet that when I first told people I was coming to Greece, they pictured a sea-side village with round, white buildings and blue rooftops stacked on top of each other on the side of the mountain. I can tell you right now, I had thought something like this, too...only to discover that you find that on the island of Santorini, not Athens! Goodness, not Athens. Greek islands are where people want to go! The weather is always better, the scenery is composed of beauty, and...well, it's a Greek island, what can I say?

I didn't go to Santorini, actually. I probably won't go to Santorini. I don't need to go to Santorini, I've seen so many pictures, I feel like I've already been there, seen that. This weekend I went to Crete!

Now, Crete is a giant island, and it's the farthest south of Athens you can get while staying in Greek territory. Needless to say, the ferry ride was super long and uncomfortable. Our cheap trip leader booked us roundtrip overnight ferries, but didn't even get us beds. After having to sleep on freezing cold hard floors less than a week ago for Spain, I wasn't really up for that. Actually, since this was a hiking trip organized by the school, I was in no physical condition to even be going on a hiking trip less than a week after Spain, since my feet were in such a painful situation. I didn't complain about that NEARLY enough here. However, I had known about the trip for a while and really wanted to come, since this would be my first Greek island, and my first time hiking in months.

We got there really really early in the morning on Saturday, and were expected to embark on an 11-mile hike after, like, one hour of sleep. We started at the top and descended into the Samaria Gorge and then toughed out the entire length of the rocky gorge under blazing sun. I wonder if I can even convey to you just how huge this Samaria Gorge is. It was impossible for me to believe that I was on an island, because the mountains were just massive.

It looked like this for a lot of the way, sometimes we would come across running water, too, which we could drink!

The thing I love the most about hiking is how it gives me so much time to just think about random crap. The thoughts pop into my head and there's nothing to stop me from pondering it, no need to hurry, just let the peaceful smells and fresh air, hot sun and beautiful scenery help me think about it more. The thoughts seem almost more important when I'm outdoors, maybe because the giant world we live in reminds us through the outdoors that there is still room for the mind.

There was one spot along the path that looked almost like something you'd expect out of an enchanted forest. Anyone who has hiked in the woods has seen piles of rocks marking the way. But in one grove, we found literally hundreds of them:

Shoot, these pictures don't do them justice. Trust me, it was a spectacle.

The hike was a super-trek. It was so rocky that our feet just slipped in between crevices and our ankles were twisting constantly. I seriously considered doing it barefoot, but the trip leader was right behind me, and I'd told him before we left that I wouldn't cause any trouble. But overall, it was a fantastic hike and I would do it again if I ever return to Crete.

The next day was a free day. I hadn't known that, because nobody tells me anything in Greece, so I hadn't brought a swimsuit or sandals, or even enough sunscreen (you don't even want to look at my skin right now, unless your favorite color is red). But that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying the first half of the day in our town, Chania (pronounced "han-YAH"). There were a gajillion shops and great food. The beach wasn't gorgeous, but it was nice enough to hang out on. The water was warm enough to put your feet in, so I walked out onto some rocks in the middle of the water to sit and take in the fact that I was on an island. Everyone would want to come to Crete. I know it's a giant island and we were only in one part, but I feel as though the scenery made me really get a taste of the life there. That aspect was the nice part.

The not-so-nice part, for me, was the OTHER good thing about islands: parties. I got a little mixed up in that. Couldn't really help it, since I had to stick with the people from my school all day. So the British Navy happened to be there for some reason. There were 700 men in the town that day. And they all wanted two things: beer, and to sleep with me and the girls I was with. My classmates loved the attention, I hated it. It's just one more thing for me to consider about island life, and paradise in general...guess there is always more than one side to every paradise.

But overall, I loved Crete, I wish I was still there and not in big-unorganized-city Athens, and I hope to visit more islands before I leave, because they are so pretty, and very relaxing! Kind of. If you're not hiking. And even though my body is in pretty bad shape now, it feels like a great accomplishment to an aspiring outdoors girl like me, so I'm very content and proud. At this point, I feel accomplished. I feel like there is a whole lot to do in Greece, and that I've done so much that I can go back to the States with no regrets. So anything else that comes along will only be cause for more of that sense of accomplishment. That agonizing foot pain I had, that I had said stole the pain in my calves...returned ALL the pain back to my calves, to the point where I can't even jump off my bed without cringing just a little, and I am sunburned in the weirdest places...have you ever been burned in the crook of your elbow? I didn't even know it was possible, but I have temporary evidence!

The final Spain post.

The moment you've all been waiting for is here. Just to let you know, I am not the type who finds enjoyment in souvenirs. This sort of includes pictures, too, so suffice it to say, there may not be AS many as you'd expect.

Here we are in Las Ramblas, where I think I have discovered my future career in street performing. Definitely the best one I ever saw was last summer though, where there was a guy dressed up as a Transformer.

When I met up with my friend on the last day, I'd sent him an email that said, "Meet me at the house that looks like a masquerade ball." I'd been wanting to say that all year. Next time I come to Barcelona, I hope to go inside, too, I'd bet it's pretty fantastic.

Like, what Antoni Gaudi did when he was bored. Created mosaics on the ceiling.

The famous lizard at Parc Guell.

This is what changed my life last summer. La Sagrada Familia. Begun in 1865, due to be completed in 2026, I have already decided that I want to come back to Barcelona in 2026 to be there when it opens. It affected me that much.

Now we're in Zaragoza. I went for a run along this river.

Something I've noticed is that water seemed to follow me all over Spain. First with the beach in Torredembarra, then this cool fountain, then rain in Burgos and Madrid, then a fake river in Sevilla, aqueducts in Granada, an aquarium in Valencia, and a fountain back in Barcelona. This square was bustling at night, and to me it felt like a good place to chill out and take in the fact that I was doing this.

La Basilica del Pilar. I have started my personal collection of church photos. I wish that I could have taken a picture of the view from far away against the sunset, but alas, I try not to carry my expensive camera when I go for runs in strange countries. I had to stop at a playground, climb on the monkey bars, and look at the view of these towers from afar. It's really quite wonderful to see something like that. When I first stepped off the bus into Barcelona I noticed a tall, distant hill with a castle on top...blew my mind.

The Gothic Cathedral in Burgos is very well-known. It was this building which chimed the hour in that sing-song way and where I saw mass. I tried to draw this tower, but failed.

Are there any botanists who can explain these trees? The branches of different trees are connected to each other, they actually fuse together perfectly. Romantic, much?

Again, it's always breathtaking to see a normal-looking city with something like THAT in the background.

Madrid! City of art.

The best word to describe Madrid is "huge". Everything from the plazas to the buildings to the parks were just colossal. This happens to be the former Palace of Franco.

I know what you're thinking. They look like KKK members. I know you're thinking it. I was a little weirded out by this, too, until I realized that dressing up like this is how the Spanish Catholics celebrate Easter. It's a symbol that's been taken very far out of context. I didn't get to see too much Semana Santa (Holy Week), I think I was just in the wrong places. Parades like these, solemn and dark with some trumpets, were all I got to see.

Me with a piece of artwork in the huge Retiro Park, taking a break from museums.

And here is (supposably) the biggest Gothic cathedral anywhere in the world. I say "supposably" out of a personal opinion that the one in Burgos was bigger, but what do I know? This is Sevilla now...

It was the plazas like these that made it so beautiful here. Green trees, shade, small streets, and a sense of relaxation.

That bridge there is where Anakin Skywalker and his lady Queen once walked with R2D2 right on their heels. I mean...this is the Plaza de Espanya. :)

Such a beautiful place to spend a day. There's a park next to it, too.

Here we are in Granada, overlooking old moorish buildings.

The Alhambra, castle built by the Arabs. Seriously, I still marvel at how close I was to the Arab nations, even after being in Greece, I'm still amazed by Granada.

The girls are in the way, sorry. Just a nice picture of the small Sevilla-esque street in Granada. This city was a really nice place to simply walk around.

Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences. Looks like the Sydney Opera House to me, or like an Olympic stadium. You could call it a day just by being outside, no need to go in! (I didn't take any pictures of the fish in the aquarium).

I just thought these buildings looked like they were begging for a photo.

Just a picture of the street in central Valencia to remind myself how the streets in Europe look so different from the ones in the States. Everything right down to the balcony railings looks delicate and authentic.

Here I am back in Barcelona with a well-needed familiar face from Athens. He has a friend studying abroad in Italy, so they decided to meet up in Barcelona the same weekend I did. The fountain behind us is magic. It's called the Magic Fountain :). It puts on a show not at all unlike the one you find in Disneyland (what's that called, Fantasma, or something like that?). We missed the night part, where they light it up in different colors, but we got to see the huge display coordinated to music. And below of course, is my good-bye image of la Sagrada Familia.

And to make my day in Granada that much better.

To wrap that up

Didn't get to post too often in Spain, as it turned out. I'll talk about everything now and then create a post full of pictures later on, okay? Please let me know if you want more details on any certain part of my trip, I know I haven't been getting into all kinds of specifics on here.

Let's see, I left off in Sevilla, having summed up the rest of the cities. Next came a day in Granada. As I discovered, a day in Granada is not enough time. It is an absolutely fascinating little city, with essentially three different cultures: Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim. The moorish streets and mosques, the Arab-style architecture, winding streets, and white walls of the area of the Muslim quarters called Albacein was the area I explored. First of all, it was extremely mind-blowing for me to be so close to the Arab nations (it's southern Spain), and also to be so exposed to it, since I never have really been exposed to Islam before. After being in Greece, where they are so involved and knowledgeable of the current situation in the Arab nations, I have been thinking that I would like to do a Middle East trip sometime. Years from now. I want to head back up to northern Greece and spend more time there, and I want to see Turkey really badly, and I want to see Egypt. And I want to return to Granada while I'm at it because I missed out on seeing the fantastic Muslim castle called the Alhambra (evidently purchasing tickets for that needs to be done either a day in advance or at 5:00 AM). I had a very good time in Granada looking at the mountain views, eating free tapas (after backpacking and taking care of myself for almost two weeks, and now I get free food!), and mostly simply walking up and down the moorish streets. Overall, it was just a great place to ponder how many cultures there are in the world. I tried looking for the Jewish quarters, but I think I looked in the wrong place. This is another reason I want to return to Granada one day.

After this I had to take a night train, which I was worried about, obviously. But other than the fact that I had to get up at 4:30 AM to get off in Valencia, it went totally fine. It was sort of like spending the night in an airplane bathroom, but hey, I was just happy to not be sitting in a chair all night. I shared a cabin with this hilarious old lady, and actually slept pretty well. Thanks Tracy for the extra-drowsy Dramamine!

I had been looking forward to Valencia partly because it's on the beach, so it seemed like a good way to end everything, and partly because of the arts and science center. It houses an aquarium which is supposed to be world-reknown, so you know. After having visited Monterey a million times. I'll be honest, I really tried to get my money's worth of the place, but I thought it was kind of lame. I'm sorry! The aquarium was fun, and there was a big long tunnel you can walk in where all the fish swim above you, so long you can't see the end of it, and the sea horses looked like some kind of futuristic science experiment. But for being world-reknown, I expected better. Fifty points for Monterey. And the science center, well, it was cool, because it's hands-on and makes you feel like a little kid again, but I think because it's geared towards kids maybe that's why I felt like it was kind of lame. Oh well. At least I can say that I went.

No, here's what I want to say about Valencia. This deserves an entry all to itself, so prepare yourself. I'm about to tell you something about Valencia that is probably meant to be kept secret, and I've been really bad at keeping it secret.

I first heard that the legendary Holy Grail itself was in the cathedral in Valencia while I was in Sevilla, and I kept that in the back of my mind when I arrived there, not that I was on such a mission at any point in my life...but if anything, it at least sounded cool :). I found the cathedral and first went into the tourist shops to look through their numerous books on Valencia. They all merely mentioned the Holy Grail, not trying to promote that it was there (probably out of respect for it), and they even admitted that Valencia doesn't know for sure if it IS the Holy Grail. I went in the cathedral and looked around for any hint of it, seeing all the smaller rooms along the sides of the cathedral, I don't know the name in English, but you know what I'm talking about...there's the big central worship area and then along the walls of the cathedral are smaller places just as decorative. One of them had a ceremony going on, and I saw A grail, but it wasn't THE Grail. I walked out wondering if I was even in the right cathedral, and read the posters on the walls showing the opening hours, worship hours, etc...and at the very bottom in small print: "Catedral Del Santo Grial."

Upon looking through more tourist books, I found out I had been right about that smaller place of worship with the other grail I saw. They keep it hidden in there, and take it out for worship very occasionally. I ended up going into that cathedral three or four times, but I didn't see the Holy Grail.

And you know what? I don't even know if it IS the Holy Grail, and no, I didn't see it...but this is what I think: I went to Spain because I loved Barcelona and wanted to remind myself that I am a strong person who can take care of the past, then I decided that hey, I'll be in Spain, I'll go all over it, so I did, had lots of adventures, ran around, met new people and an old friend, got a little tipsy once, climbed through a dark tunnel in freezing cold water once, slept on a night train, spoke another language, had some culture shock, had some trippy moments, and then at the very end, I found the Holy Grail.

Seriously, my life is complete now. When I walked back into Robert's apartment knowing I had done it, I wanted to celebrate, I was so happy. It was one of those moments where I felt truly happy with myself. The next day was even better. I spent half of it massaging my feet on a white sand beach, and the other half in Barcelona, the city of my dreams, with another one of the study abroad students from Greece who happened to be there with his friend from home. We caught up, ate a great meal to go out with a bang, and sat on a rooftop with a far-off view of the Sagrada Familia having probably the best philosophical conversation I've ever had in my life. It was all just perfect.

When I got back to the Athens airport the metro was on strike. I felt like that was sort of a bitter welcome home. And I actually went back to school today, which I hated. After doing that incredible trip, I don't want to get back into the swing of things, I just want to do nothing! My feet are absolutely killing me. My shoulders hurt from carrying the backpack. My calves hurt, which I didn't even notice until today because my feet had been hogging all the pain I should have been feeling in my calves. I'm sunburned, my clothes are all wrinkly, I still need to buy groceries, I am exhausted beyond belief. I google-mapped all of my walking in each city, and found out that I walked 102.2 kilometers, which is 63.5 miles, which is the equivalent of walking from Pleasant Hill to Sacramento, or Flagstaff to Prescott, or Athens to Argos, or Barcelona to almost Andorra. I have a lot of weekend plans coming up this month, and I want to relax as much as humanly possible for a college kid and I don't want to wear shoes ever again. But mentally, I am SO content, and emotionally, I am unstoppable. The trip went so fast and was such a crazy idea, but it was just as wonderful as I'd imagined it to be and am so so so so happy that I did it.

And more

I just left Sevilla, one of the most romantic cities in the planet, so they say. And I loved Sevilla. We didn´t start off on very good terms, because when I arrived, Sevilla said to me, "Hello, I am Sevilla, and this is what I am all about!" and...yeah, what that means is that I got lost immediately. Sevilla, as I learned from the walking tour, was originally an old Jewish and moorish town, and to add protection for their Catholic-dominated city, they constructed labyrinthine streets all over the place. Some streets will be relatively straight, but from one end to the other, you will come across five different names for the street. By the end of my stay I thought it was funny, and a humorous challenge to get from point A to point B (C,D,E...), but when you get out of the bus station looking for your hostel and get lost within five minutes...not the best first impression.

But I loved Sevilla! The city is beautiful. There are lots of hidden plazas with orange trees and cobblestones, and fountains everywhere. The gardens, which were created for kings and queens, are also extremely well-kept, green, and refreshing. My favorite part of Sevilla undoubtedly was the Plaza de España. It is a giant, semi-circular structure adorned with mosaics of all the different provinces of Spain. There is a false river running through it, which brings added romantic air :). Also...little tasty tidbit for you: bring to your mind "Star Wars Attack of the Clones". I know, it was probably the worst of the series, but I remember the battle scene was really good. It was filmed in the Plaza de España! I have to admit I was sitting in this beautiful Spanish monument taking in the breathtaking architecture of this place...and I couldn´t stop thinking about "Star Wars." I got to visit a galaxy far far away!

I´m trying to decide which I liked better, Sevilla or Barcelona. It´s an easy comparison, two Spanish cities. But I realize that part of what made my stay in Sevilla so great was the fact that I met a lot of people in my hostel. I hadn´t met anyone in northern Spain because there aren´t any tourists in northern Spain, plus I had some unfortunate accommodation (in Burgos I was in a hotel, which for a backpacker, just felt plain wrong; and the hostel in Madrid was owned by a creepy old guy who would watch me walk to the bathroom, and there were drunk Europeans next door to me). In Sevilla I was greeted by a warm lobby with other English speakers and accidentally went on a tapas tour for free. As for Barcelona, for one thing, it was my first big European city, and for another thing, I was happy to see it again. It´s just something to consider when picking favorite cities. I really did love Sevilla because it was so beautiful, though.

This whole trip has gone really fast, so fast that I still can´t believe I´m actually in Spain doing this. I´m sure I will be quite satisfied upon my return, I´m not even worried about it. Part of me is tired out and looks forward to setting my clothes and drawing stuff in one place instead of a backpack, and the other part of me just wants to keep going forever.

How it´s going so far

Finally I can let you know how things are going! I haven´t had internet access for a while.

So I started for two days in the Barcelona area, which was so much fun and felt so good to be seeing the place I loved so much again. The people I stayed with were more than helpful when I booked all of my train and bus tickets and hostels. Although that was stressful, it has been nice getting to the stations and hostels and having my spot already there for me.

Picture me doing a large counter-clockwise circle around Spain.

From Barcelona I went to Zaragoza for the day. I had originally just planned it to be a pit stop before Burgos, but I wound up really liking it. I went for a run along the river, even though what I really wanted to do was bike, because everyone was biking and it looked like fun! The grand Basilica was very close to my hostel (which I had minor annoying difficulty finding), and when I saw it I said, "There´s no way the entry is free," and the entry was free! It might have been my favorite of the inside of churches that I´ve been exposed to because it was so huge. I wonder if religious people back in the days it was built just saw the world this way or something.

I was a little sad to have less time in Zaragoza, but I was excited to see Burgos because I´d seen pictures of THAT cathedral. However, when I was walking around Burgos, I just felt kind of...I don´t know. Off. It was there that I had a why-in-the-name-of-the-lord-am-I-here? days. I wandered down the streets for a while, because the churches of Burgos are more spread out than just the confinements of the city center, and then climbed up to a castle in a park for a view of my surroundings. Oh, that´s why I feel so far away...don´t old fairy tales and fables of castles and knights and magical happenings come from places like the UK? Where it´s always overcast and the hills are so green? That´s what the day looked like here in Burgos, and I´ve noticed even in Greece that whenever it´s overcast I feel even more like I´m in Europe and thus REALLY FAR AWAY from anything I´ve ever known.

I also got to witness a Catholic service in Burgos inside the cathedral. So I got to knock that off my list, even though it was in Spanish so it was hard to understand at times. I loved the way the church bells chimed the hour in Burgos, it was sweet and reminded me of singing. Fairy tale, I know.

Moving on. Madrid! I´m sorry to say that my arrival in Madrid sucked. I got in close to 11:00 PM and got lost on the metro, and when I came outside it was pouring rain. It took me a while to find the hostel and when I did I was greeted by a creepy old man and a tiny, smelly hallway. I couldn´t believe I had payed that much for that, no internet, and no breakfast. But the next morning I figured out what to do in Madrid and things looked up. I found the Plaza Mayor and got adopted into a free tour where I got to not only walk around Madrid but hang out with other Americans and speak English for the first time since Monday! Not only that, but...(anecdote):

A girl in the tour group ran up to me and said, "Do I know you? I think I know you. Do you know Emily Baker?"

One of my best friends growing up? I tried to remember Emily´s cross country friends or San Francisco friends from birthday parties, I still didn´t reconize this girl, though.

But she seemed pretty convinced. I asked, "Emily Baker from California, right?" thinking it was a common name. Yes, she seemed to know me. And then a millisecond before she told me her name, I recognized her. I was so weird. I´ve only met her, like, three times, years ago, I can´t believe she recognized me because if she hadn´t said anything I would have spent the whole tour with her and never recognized her in a million years. Makes you wonder how many people in all corners of the world know who you are, doesn´t it?

I really enjoyed my time in Madrid, even though it was so huge that I definitely didn´t see everything. However, I visited two museums, a flea market, and a giant park, and those activities were sources of some well-needed relaxation. Carrying around that backpack and hopping on and off public transit...tiring!

Now I´m in Sevilla. I know there is a whole lot to see here, too, but I don´t have plans yet. I will definitely elaborate on these posts, too, when I´m not being waited on by others needing internet!

Arrival in Spain

We´ll take a break from "Ya sahs" and instead say "Hola" for two weeks! After some crazy stuff, I arrived in Spain!

At first everything was just crashing around this trip: my bank deactivated my credit card so I couldn´t buy train or bus tickets, which meant I couldn´t book hostels, my chauffeur to the airport at 4:30 AM cancelled, and the Internet went down in my apartment. I kept waiting for my flight to get cancelled in order to go out with a bang.

But it didn´t, and I got my card reactivated (I TOLD them I was here, they weren´t supposed to do that) and all my tickets and hostels, and then I spent the night in the airport. I learned two things about spending nights in airports: number one, wear a thick scarf. Because if you have to sleep on the floor, you can at least fold it underneath your hipbone and hope for the best. Number two, wear a heavy coat. I sort of knew that airports were freezing, but I took it for granted until I slept on the floor of one.

I slept on the plane though. Unbelievable. I remember I saw the drink cart coming around and thought, "excellent, I´m thirsty," and the next thing I knew we were descending and I was still thirsty.

I was a little sad to leave Greece, even though it was driving me insane. I really do love it there, even if it drives me crazy. Funny how that works out, I know. I feel like this is going to be a short break and that when I return I can have a whole new outlook on it, like, now I´m prepared and now I can really live it up now that I (think I) understand it. In Barcelona, I had a few instances where I was confusing Spanish and Greek. I call that speaking "Spreek," trying to ask for stuff in Greek by accident.

So, Spain! Is still amazing. Everyone was really friendly, and I was so happy to be speaking a language I could get by with that I surprised myself with how well I spoke Spanish! It was really surreal to be walking around Barcelona again, especially since the last time it was overcast, and this time the weather was really nice. The sun stays out until 9 PM here. I saw the Placa again, las Ramblas, LA SAGRADA FAMILIA again...when the Sagrada Familia is completed I´m going to return to Barcelona to be there at the grand opening. It really changed my life last summer, made me look around more and appreciate how everyday things still make room for amazement. It will be one of the seven wonders of the modern world. I could barely bring myself to leave. But I realized, it´s okay to leave places, because you can come back to them. I´m not one of those people who lives like they will die tomorrow. I understand the notion, but I´m not dying tomorrow, so I don´t need to rush anything.

I also saw Parc Guell and the Gothic Cathedral for the first time. I read a blog once from a girl who backpacked around Europe, and she said something like, "We came across a beautiful cathedral that at first we thought was the Sagrada Familia," and I had thought, "Really??? How do you POSSIBLY confuse another cathedral with the Sagrada Familia?" But yeah...okay. It´s also a very very pretty church.

Overall, I believe that any city with personality has something to offer, and what Barcelona has to offer is imagination. It is not a city where you can get away with skipping things. When you walk down streets or catch the bus, you need to look at the buildings around you. Many of them are more than gorgeous, some are funky and some are elegant and some are just plain wild.

I stayed with Robert´s grandparents, which was also trippy...never thought I would be back there again. But, after sleeping on the floor of a freezing airport, I was just happy to have a bed in a safe place. I´ll be back there at the end of my trip, too, so I can go to the beach.

So begins my Spanish adventure. I am in Zaragoza now and I had a really good day in it. I will write about that tomorrow. I will post all of my Spain photos upon my return.

By the way. I GOT MY DRESS.

I keep changing my mind about which place in Greece is the prettiest. That's how you know you're in a pretty place.

There's a website called couchsurfing.org for backpackers who don't want the expense or solitude of staying in hostels. People create profiles and allow travelers to stay with them in their homes, typically on their couch, free of charge and otherwise just accommodate them for a few days. I made a profile hoping to get some help in Spain, not just to save money but to make friends. If that sounds too sketchy for you guys, don't worry, NOBODY has responded to my couch requests. Easter, you know? But I met someone else in Athens, at least, who I decided to meet up with and go for a walk with.

 A walk up a really tall hill above Athens called Lykavitos. It was sunny, by the way, the picture is misleading. It's too bad the Acropolis isn't one of the Seven Wonders of the World. My classmates and I were talking about that over possibly the best pasta I've ever had, and we concluded it's because it's just not big enough. But really, when you go to Monastiraki and you see the Acropolis standing above the city...it's pretty incredible.

Man, I have learned so many lessons on life from living in Greece. From my trips to Corinth and Thessaloniki I was very reassured that if you're feeling uncomfortable, people WILL help you. Growing up in suburbia and going to school in a place only slightly bigger, I've just always retained that faith in humanity. It makes me want to go out and work so that I can actually afford to help people--offer them food, drive them somewhere. I suppose the least I can do is cheer them up with my experiences in crazy Greece.

I leave for Spain on Sunday. Planning that has been painful. To say the very least! I am a spontaneous adventurer, but that is not working out for this study abroad experience. I will never put travel-planning off again after this. But I'm really really excited to go. I get two weeks, and all of the study abroad students here are going off somewhere, whether it be another country, a Greece trip, or a Eurotrip. For me, my decision is the perfect one. I've never been outside the States for this long, guys, I'm tired. I need a break from the language I can't keep up with, and everything being late, and the public transportation situation. Not that romping around the entirety of Spain by myself is going to make me less tired, but I feel that it is a well-needed break from the culture shock that Greece has so graciously provided. At least Greece gave me Greek time. I have been perfectly comfortable saying, "I'm too tired to handle this right now," and doing it later. Try it, it works.

I have also learned that it's okay to be American. Following the credo of Montesquieu, "There is more than one way to be civilized." The very least I did was get out there. I'm traveling in order to be entertained, but I feel like I'm very slowly lightening up as a person, too. I'm not forcing things on myself, I'm slowing down and observing things openly and uncritically. I have absolutely nothing against eating fast food anymore (big step up. Maybe alcohol's next, haha). And I'm not criticizing myself for being American like I was when I first heard myself speak Greek. America's inability to learn another language is, in fact, cultural, in some twisted sense. That's another thing I've learned, is that things don't have to make sense or come to some sort of conclusion. Sometimes I've wondered if by coming here, I would just figure everything in life out and come back knowing exactly what to do with myself. And what I've found is that yes, I have identified the things that make me comfortable...unchanging bus schedules is one of them. But to also just take time to let things happen and not hurt myself figuring out why...that makes me feel better about my life.

Beauty of traveling.

By the way, I WILL be updating this in Spain, for the sake both of keeping a travelogue and for letting you know I'm safe. I am extremely excited about this, even though planning it has proven difficult. That's another thing I've learned: travel plans AAAALWAAAYS go wrong. But I'm still excited and feel that this will be an enriching part of my study abroad experience and my life as a whole.