Island hopping, mule traveling, cliff jumping, quad riding...just keeps getting better!

Ok, once again, it has been awhile but that is just because we are so busy having SO MUCH FUN AND PURE AMAZINGNESS! Also, the internet here is down more often than it is working so that makes updating this thing a little more difficult so please forgive me. I can will put some pictures up but these aren't even the best ones. I am waiting to steal those from other people but here it goes. Really, I have said many times that pictures and words cannot do this experience justice but this is my best attempt to share some of the beauty with friends and family :)

Last Sunday we went to a traditional Anglican church service because the Greek Orthodox church was under construction, three and a half hours long, and all in Greek.

The Greek orthodox that we were going to go to but as you can see it is under construction.


But the service was cool because even though we came from across the world and different denominations, we could still come together and worship the same God and share in communion so that was pretty cool. The rest of the day we went back to "the Crop", napped in the park, went to dinner in Monastraki with everyone at a cool, hip restaurant that gave us a discount and free dessert for no reason! It was awesome! Then we came back and had a movie night in our room with everyone and watched Talladega Nights even though most people fell asleep. It was still fun all just being together and having a "family" movie night!


On Monday we had class, then we went to the grocery store to buy food for our Progressive dinner. My room was in charge of the Greek salad! After we got groceries, we went to Athens' first cemetery and apparently everyone who is anyone in Greece has been/ is buried there. It was like a museum in itself with tons of marble sculptures and extravagant graves. We actually saw not one, but two funeral processions which made the whole experience a lot more real for us. We sat down, pondered and journaled for awhile before returning to the studios in order to prepare our dinner for everyone. Dinner was tons of fun! We went from room to room for each course and the salad was a hit! In the dessert room, we all played charades and the terms were that the losers had to make the winners dinner of their choice. Unfortunately, the boys won so one of these days were are going to have to make them dinner, but it will be fun :) After charades, Andy Wade busted out his guitar and we had a fun group singalong time with Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Miley Cyrus of course haha. Then we all kind of dispersed and we came back, ate some BOMB chocolate covered strawberries and me, Jenay, Andy, Garrett and Hilma played cards for awhile before bedtime!

Tuesday: We had class again in the sports bar and then Jenay and I shopped in Plaka for a little bit and got matching dresses just in different colors. After shopping, we met up with our class again to go to the Byzantine and Christian Museum which I was very excited for. It really put a lot in perspective for me. People in the church didn't do anything half way back then. It was all so detailed, ornate, and meaningful They had so much reverence and respect for God and religion. However, I also noticed that Jesus was just about always depicted on the cross and often titled, "Jesus, a man of sorrows." I don't agree with this title but it was interesting to notice that nonetheless.

Art in the Byzantine Musuem, Elijah and the chariot of fire, SO COOL!


More art in the Byzantine museum


After the museum, we got some sushi. Then came back, worked on some homework and got really antsy so we decided to go for a run to Mars Hill. It was awesome to be able to just go on a run to a place where Paul preached. It was beautiful. We could all sit up there and gaze at the beautiful horizon without having to say anything. It was kind of funny (and very American of us) running through the streets of Athens in our group of five and in gym clothes but we couldn't sit still any longer! We came back, showered, and then wanted to explore more. We went to a new area, wandered around and looked for a cool, cafe or restaurant to eat. We ended up eating at around 11:45 pm and didn't even realize it until we looked at the time afterwards and it was 12:30 in the morning. We all joked about how we are assimilating to Greek culture without even trying because so many people eat SO LATE here! Dinner at 11:00 is normal. We have also learned that they are more focused on just being instead of doing all the time. That is something I have really come to appreciate.

Wednesday we met at Starbucks to have class and after we walked around and tried to find Psiri which is supposedly a cool spot where a lot of young people like to hang out. We have tried to find it a few times now and still haven't been able to. So whenever we are looking for something to do, we always have the option of, "hey, we could try to find Psiri again!" haha. We came back to the studios and met with the rest of the group to talk about our Ferry tickets to Santorini. After that was figured out, we got ready to go to dinner as a group and we went to a phenomenal restaurant called Hell's Kitchen. Came back, did homework, and packed for the Islands!

Thursday was quite possibly one of the best days of my entire life! We woke up early to head to the port so we could get on a ferry that would take us to Poros, Hydra, and Aegina all in one day. The ferry was really nice and the people were actually nice to us too which is saying a lot because we are Americans! We were able to go to the top open-air level and to the front of the boat where there were nice reclining charis. It was beautiful and so nice just letting the wind blow over us. We made the first stop at Poros and walked around for a little because we only had 40 minutes .

Just lounging on the top of the ferry boat :)


Me and Jenay in front of the Ferry boat on Poros!


View from our mini hike on Poros


We took some pictures, walked around, then got back on the boat for Hydra.
Hydra was AWESOME! We jumped off some rocks that were about 50 to 60 feet high and it was so invigorating jumping into the beautifully blue Aegean Sea. The water was the PERFECT temperature. We jumped several times but then had to pull ourselves away so that we could ride mules with the time that we had left. Hydra is the only island that has no cars on it. The only traffic is foot traffic or mule traffic, no joke. So of course, we had to ride the mules. We could not stop smiling the entire time as we wound through tiny, narrow, cobblestone streets. It was truly a place where everyone knew each other and waved to each other from opposite shop windows. It was adorable!
Riding the Mules on Hydra!


Mule and the leader


This is on Hydra, the area where we swam and jumped off rocks.


Boats docked on Hydra


More Hydra


Then, we already felt like our day could not get any better. We hopped back on the ferry and headed to Aegina. We had joked a little bit that the only way the day could get better was if we were able to ride vespas on the next island......what a blessing! Right across the street from where we docked, there was a rental place. So of course, we did it! We are a very experience-oriented group which is great. Jenay and I got quads because the guy said they are safer and the guys got vespas. We literally had the BEST time! We cruised all up and down the GORGEOUS coast of the island for an hour. It was one of the most, invigorating hours of my life. I was filled with so much emotion and excitement the entire time.

Riding the quads on Aegina!


After an hour, we returned them and were super hot so we crossed the street and just jumped into the ocean. We were able to go really far out and still stand and surprisingly we were the only ones out there! That is another thing I don't understand! It seems like lots of the places that we go are not crowded at all! Like God prepared the experience just for us! I love it. We frolicked and cooled off in the turquoise water for about a half an hour and then had to head back to the ferry We all felt like we could not stop smiling the entire day. I honestly think we were in shock about how blessed we were to have been experiencing everything that we did. We lounged in the wind the entire ride back to Athens and spoke of how thankful we are. We got back showered, and the boys cooked us dinner of pesto pasta and chicken. We ate together while watching the Office and trying to keep our eyes open. I think it is safe to say we all went to bed exhausted and feeling extremely blessed. By far, one of the best days of my life....


Ok, more has happened but this blog is long enough as it is so I will update you on the rest in a few days hopefully! Thanks for reading, enjoy! Love to everyone!