Sunriver

A few weeks ago, right when I got back from Greece, my family and I spent time up at a cabin in Sunriver, Oregon. The beginning of the week was a large family reunion run by my side of the family. There were around 40 people there! Many who I hadn't seen in a long time. We played games, ate, sung songs, chatted, and hung out. Later in the week, we celebrated my Grandparents' 50th anniversary with our family. It was so great celebrating love and the example of love and happiness that they are. We also canoed, rode bikes, played tennis, and played cards. It was fun to be constantly active and doing things. I decided I really like tennis and want to continue to play for fun. We have a tennis court at the country club down the street in Charleston so my family is going to play while we are all together. I also decided I want to get a bike. I think it would be fun to ride around and to ride to class. Riding it to class may not be the best idea for me, though, considering all of the bike accidents I have witnessed on campus. Anyway, it was a fun week of family and outdoors. Sunriver is a beautiful place and made me grateful for this wonderful world that God has created.

the end

My amazing trip to Greece is over and I am back in the real world. I can't believe after months of planning and anticipation, it has come and gone. But, I could not be any happier. I had the time of my life and got to see beautiful things and meet amazing people. Before the trip, I was worried because I was spending so much money. I was afraid it wouldn't meet my expectations and I would end up being disappointed. It was totally worth the money, plus some, and greatly exceeded my expectations. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I will never, ever forget it. I am so thankful that I had this great opportunity. I think traveling abroad has an effect on people one of two ways. Either people realize that they want more out of life or they realize how happy they are with their lives and become grateful for what they have. I have had the first realization in previous trips, but this trip, I realized that I could not be happier with my life. I had the opportunity to sit back and look around me and see how lucky I am to have such great friends and family. They were so supportive throughout my Greece adventure. I am so thankful for them in my life. I also realized that I have many opportunities that others don't receive. I get to travel, get an education, etc. I am now more motivated to achieve my dreams and goals. I wish my time in Greece would continue forever, but I cannot wait to see what else life has in store for me. Paros Island, you will always be in my heart.

Some of my favorite pictures from Greece

Until next time!

Day 25: Long, long journey home

After an awful night's sleep on a very hard bed and in a noisy hotel, I woke up at 8 and took a shower in the gross community shower. Thankfully, they had a nice breakfast of fruit, bread, eggs, and juice provided. We packed our stuff up and then check out of the hotel. Cassandra, Sophie, Sara, and I caught a taxi and jammed all of our luggage in. The driver said it was a good thing we left when we did because all of the roads were going to be blocked in a few hours. As we drove, we got to see the magnitude of the protest. It was the day of the vote so the protests spread away from just Syntagma square to all of the city. There were police officers every where and people already clashing with them. I can't imagine what it looked like after the vote. After a long, speedy( I think he went 100 mph) ride, we got to the very busy airport. It took about 30 minutes to check in after a giant high school tour group. We then said goodbye to Sara and Sophie and then went through security. The Athens airport is really weird. Inside security, there are only gates. There aren't and shops or food. You also have to stand in a line to get into your gate. We were so confused and hungry. Thankfully, we found a little kiosk with prepackaged sandwiches, chips, and drinks. We waited at the gate for about 2 hours and then got to board our flight. We had to sit on the runway for an hour though, because it was backed up after the strike. Then, it was a long, 12 hour flight. Luckily, I got to sit next to Cassandra. We watched movies and chatted. She slept a lot but I couldn't sleep. We actually got a pretty good meal. It was chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, salad, and a roll. Best plane food I have ever had. When we landed, it was 8:10. I realized I only had an hour to deboard, get through passport control, pick my suitcase up at baggage claim, go through customs, recheck my bag, go through security, and go 3 terminals down to my gate. Everything went smoothly and I ran frantically to my gate and got there just as they were closing the gate. I didn't get to say goodbye to Cassandra though : (. I was sweating and had to sit between two larger men. The air conditioning happened to be broken the whole flight as well. Thankfully, it was only 40 minutes to Charleston. My parents were waiting past security and I was so excited! My mom had mac and cheese waiting for me and Lexie was sooo excited to see me. Ahhh it is so good to be back in the US. Things I have been enjoying the most: a normal shower, a comfy bed, flushing toilet paper, American food, a full fridge, working internet, and normal tv. I will miss Greece and my friends a lot, though!

Day 24: back to athens

Cassandra and I woke up around 8:30, packed, and dragged all of our bags down to the port. Cassandra sat with out bags while I ran to an internet cafe to check on our flight. Unfortunately, it was already delayed 2 hours. I guess that was better than being canceled though. We got on the ferry and luckily found some comfy seats. Cassandra slept while I read for 4 hours. When we got to the port, we were the first ones off the ship. We walked towards the metro station and were bombarded by taxi drivers. "Metro not open. I take you I take you." We were bummed that we couldn't take the metro(closed because of the 48 hour strike) and annoyed that the taxi drivers wouldn't leave us alone. We were informed that the taxi drivers around the port are very dishonest and try to charge tourists a ton. So we walked down the street a ways and found a taxi. A bunch of the streets by our hostel were shut down due to the protests that were going on in the square across from our hostel so the taxi driver had to drop us far away. We didn't know where it was exactly so we walked a half mile, lost, with all of our luggage, for at least half a mile. We were relieved when we finally found it. We got to our tiny little room and put our stuff down then got on our computers. We hadn't eaten all day and it was about 5:30 so we walked(away from the protests) to a little pizza place. We were so hungry we downed a cheese pizza that was actually not very good now that I think about it. We shopped a little bit and then headed back to the hostel. We hung out with some girls from our program that were staying there for a bit. They had been up to see the protests and told us we really needed to see it. We also met some photo journalists from Italy that were shooting the protests. We decided to meet up with out teachers at the protest. It was so interesting to see. Glass was broken in, there was trash and rocks every where, stuff had been set on fire, and buildings had been chipped away at. I also got to experience tear gas, not fun. It does make you cry and it makes you sneeze and your nose run. If you are in it long enough, your face turns white. Our teachers walked us to an area with restaurants that locals hang out at. It was cool. We hung out and they ordered us some Greek dishes. (Em, I tried beets and I really liked them!) It was really good food. After, we went home and got semilost. We had to walk through the protest again. Apparently, while we were at dinner, it flared up again and then calmed down again. The streets were a mess and there were police every where. They helped us find our way home. Such a long crazy day! It was so awesome to experience, but I couldn't wait to be home.

Day 23: Goodbyes

We woke up and were immediately informed that we had to be out by 11 am! Not fun to wake up to, considering I was dreading saying goodbye. So, I frantically showered, packed, and got everything out of my room. Cassandra, Marissa, and I took our stuff to Marissa's hotel. She is staying on Paros for an extra week so she was nice enough to let us stay in her hotel. We then met up at Dodoni with the rest of the group for brunch. I was exhausted so I feel asleep on the couch at the cafe while the others walked around. When I finally woke up, I met up with the others and we walked around then went to a cute restaurant on the beach. We just got small appetizers and then sat in chairs facing the ocean. We then went back to Jimmy's where everyones luggage was being stored. Cassandra and I said our goodbyes to everyone and then went back to Marissa's hotel. It sucked saying goodbye. We all cried and promised to see each other again soon. Cassandra and I took naps and then when Marissa got back, we went and watched the sunset and walked around. We went to our favorite cafe, Dodoni, again. We got gelato and Cassandra got a really good crepe. We walked around a little more and then went home and went to bed early.

Day 22: last full day

I slept in until 2 since I didn’t go to sleep until 6 am. When I woke up, we headed to the beach for a bit. It was pretty much the first time I got to lay out since I had been in Greece. Needless to say, I had lost tan rather than gained it. Oh well, I have plenty of time to lay out at home! After, we went and hung out at a restaurant for awhile. Then, unfortunately, it was time to pack. We all packed and got ready then we had a potluck of all the food we had left. We then went out for a bit and I got to talk to Jake some more.

Day 21: Call from Jake

I woke up early to work on the last of the workshops. We then had our last creative writing class from 2-4. After, we went home and got ready for dinner. Our group of friends then went to this cute restaurant downtown we had picked out for our last meal together. It was such a good choice. The atmosphere was great and the food was even better. We then watched the sunset and met up with the rest of the group at Saloon D’or. We hung out and talked to our teachers for awhile and said goodbye to some of them. After, we went to Dubliner, but surprise! I got a call from Jake and headed home. I got to talk to jake for about 30 minutes before he went to dinner. I waited up until 4 am to talk to him again. We talked for about an hour and a half. It was so nice to get to talk to him and hear about how he was doing. He had a cold, pin eye, and was more than exhausted. Other than that, he is doing good. From now on, I get to talk to him every weekend. More than excited!

Day 20: ATVs

We had class from 11-1 were we did workshops. It was my day to go. It was weird sitting in silence not being able to respond to people’s comments about my writing, but at the same time, it was kind of cool to see how people felt about my writing. After workshop, we went home and grabbed lunch real quick. Then, we headed out to get atv’s. We tried to rent scooters, but they wouldn’t let us if we did not have experience. I am kind of glad though, atvs felt much safer. There were about 7 of us on 4 atvs. We drove to Naousa, a town about 15 minutes away. It was nice being able to drive along the country side enjoying the view. In Naousa, we shopped a bit and then stopped at this cute café for lunch. After, we drove back to our town, Parikia, and explored on our ATVs It was pretty awesome. We drove to the other side of the cove and got to see an awesome view of our town. It was such a fun day. That night we made pasta for dinner and then went out.

Day 19: workshop

I slept in again and then went to my favorite café to work on the workshops while I had a sandwich. We then had class at 2 where we talked about each person’s piece. The workshop process was kind of long and boring but it was actually pretty helpful. We had workshop the next day at 11 so we worked on that and then Cassandra and I watched Bachelorette and went to sleep. It was nice to get a good nights rest.

Day 18: Paper due

I slept in a bit and then woke up to finish my paper. I went to my favorite café right by the school where I worked on my paper for a little bit and had a really good turkey sandwich. It was nice to sit by the water and relax. I then had a meeting with my teacher about my paper. I met with him for about an hour then I stayed there and edited my paper and watched gossip girl on my computer until it was time for class at 4. At 4, we turned in our paper for workshop and then did a sample workshop. After, we went home and worked on the workshops that were due the next day. We did 4 students per day. We read each story, took notes and wrote comments, then wrote a letter to the writer. Then the next day we go over each piece and talk about our comments. So I worked on that a bit and then we made pasta for dinner again. After, we hung out on the roof for a bit and then went out.