Saturday, May 29, 2010
Greece
It would have been almost too poetic to get stuck in London on our way back to the United States. Iceland sure gave us a run for our money, as its infamous volcano spewed threats of airport closures and teased us for the days of travel it had already stolen.
I jump ahead, let me rewind to the final week of my European adventures.
For almost 20 years Miami students have taken part in a sailing trip around Greece after their program ended, sometimes with as many as forty students. This year, I planned the trip and went with 10 other Miami kids and a high school friend who was studying in Liverpool. The sailing trip was through GreekSails, where we were able to charter three sail boats and travel each day through the sea to various islands and towns in Greece. Each morning we began sailing, led by our fearless skipper Graham, in a fleet of the three boats. During the day, we laid around the deck and viewed the pristine waters and took in the strong Mediterranean sun. In the afternoon we docked at various small harbor towns, took in the adorable colored houses and overcrowded docks, and did more damage to our bank accounts via shopping. At night we seized the moments of our last nights in Europe (including the drinking age) and made (or lost) memories galore.
We traveled for over 24 hours to get to Greece after a long bus ride from Athens to Poros, a nightmare with checking luggage and weight restrictions (let’s put it this way, we each wore layers upon layers of one another’s clothing to bring the weight down a few kilos) and a complete language barrier with the people picking us up. However, we eventually made it to the beautiful town of Poros where we would begin our trip.
We were divided into three boats, one for the boys and two for the girls. I was on a boat with four of my sorority sisters. We were surprised to see the small space we were to live in, but I don’t know what we expected! We had large backpacks (which I am happy to say I will never use again now that I’m home) and two small bunkrooms. We made it work though, and got to know each other on a whole other level!
The trip focused on the ?, and we visited a few of the cities along the main coast as well as the island of Hydra. Honestly, it was such an authentic trip. The towns we visited were unspoiled by tourists and the crystal clear water demonstrated the dedication to the beauty of the country, untouched by our human destruction. The Greek people were so friendly, ushering us into restaurants where they would pick the lemons right off the trees and “Mother” would be cooking in the back to give us a “real” Greek meal. They really do eat Greek salads for every meal. Often they would even give us free food or drinks to make us feel welcome to their home.
I think one of my favorite destinations was Hydra. It was more on the touristy side, but still seemed relatively untouched by the rest of the world. It was a smaller island and the town was full of shops (mostly jewelry, which may be a reason I liked it so much). There were no cars or anything, only donkeys, which were actually labeled with miniature license plates. We were able to climb up onto some rocks and cliff dive into the crystal clear water, a turquoise color that seemed painted onto the scenery, before enjoying cocktails and a fine seafood dinner overlooking the sunset. It was a pretty perfect vacation.
Other highlights included:
Seeing a professional gold digger (no older than 20) working her way onto a yacht full of 60 year olds
Seeing a school of dolphins swimming past our boats
Listening to our skippers stories about the pirates that still haunt the seas
Getting towed behind the back of our sailboat while our skipper dragged us along with buoys
Lindsey falling into the water off the back of the boat
Learning that sailing is really hard
Putting 75 SPF my face every half hour and still getting a little too pink
Trying to see inside the large yachts docked in the many ports
Seeing the 8 billion stray cats that are everywhere in Greece, be warned
Taking showers off the back of the boat with ice cold water
Eating really, really fresh calamari
Seeing and smelling the beautiful flowers that were everywhere, I probably took at least 200 pictures of just plants
Honestly it was the perfect end to a pretty perfect semester.
The last day we headed to Athens, where we actually drove past the bank that had been fire-bombed during the Greek riots over the economy. Besides that, however, we were relatively untouched by the discontent haunting the island-country. We were able to visit the Acropolis, which really is in the middle of the city on a huge plateau. We then headed outside of Athens and stayed in apartments before waking up early the next morning to catch our flights out.
I flew back with my sorority sister Cary who is also from Connecticut. She and I made our way to Europe together, and back in January (if you remember) got stuck in London due to snowstorms. Apparently, London has something against us for no sooner have we started our voyage that airports in Ireland, Scotland, and the UK started to close. These closures worked south, haunting London Heathrow, where we connecting to our flight to New York’s beloved JFK. We watched the news on our blackberries with worried eyes and couldn’t help but laugh at the inevitability of repeating our stressful trip to Europe on our way home. Luckily, all of our knocking on wood and crossed fingers paid off. We were one of the last flights out of London before the airport closed due to ash. And soon enough we were on our way back to the land of jumbo-sized coffees and cable television. Ah, home sweet home.
MUDEC Farewells
It’s our last week in the chateau (some people today is the last day!) and I have a sense of foreboding mixed with excitement, as our eagerness to see our families, friends, Starbucks, and car keys is thwarted by the nostalgia of how great our semester has been. I cannot believe how fast everything has gone. It was only yesterday that I was stuck in blizzarding London, and here I am in the sun of Differndage saying goodbye to my 129 new friends. How do you sum up everything from this experience in one blog entry?
I guess there’s just the things I am going to miss:
1. Drinking beer out of a boot.
2. Asking people where they are going for the weekend, and hearing things from Paris to Turkey to Ireland. And it being completely acceptable.
3. Going to high school. Aka, our chateau, complete with the lockers, a common room, and a lunch hour and cafeteria. Not to mention the amazing, small world group of friends.
4. Packing my stupid hiking backpack every weekend and attempting to see if it’ll fit in Ryanair storage bins.
5. Drinking our way to cities and sleeping our way home.
6. Going to places I am learning about in history class.
7. Skype. JOKE. Can’t wait to see everyone’s faces for real!
8. Those little old delinquents that we’ve grown so fond of on the playground.
9. Acting like the Euro is monopoly money. (And believing it)
10. Those amazing places I have been to.
11. The people. Honestly, I can’t believe how many amazing people I have met.
12. Going to school in a castle.
13. Pretending to be at Hogwarts. Every day.
14. Being about two months behind on the popular music scene.
15. Bofferding.
16. Getting a café et croissant in the morning.
17. The word Moien.
18. From ash clouds to Polish presidents, I really feel like I’ve been where the news is, and little, old Oxford won’t seem the same.
19. Taking 10,000 photos a week. And uploading them all to Facebook and CVS.
20. Being in EUROPE and getting to see it up close and personal
Honestly, this list could go on and on and on. I just can’t believe it’s ending. I know everyone’s been caught up in this whole idea of making it last and remembering every detail. But, it was the best time of my life, and I will always remember that.
Things that dominated our last week at MUDEC included the school-sponsored “prom.” A final gala, the evening included a cruise down a river before being bussed to a restaurant for awards and dinner and a grand finale of a dance floor and bar. The entire program decked ourselves out in our top-notch clothing, actually did our hair and make-up, and headed to our favorite park to enjoy a few glasses of wine and some prom-themed photos. The night was everything a prom should be… wayyyyy too much fun! I had such a blast with everyone and felt a tad nostalgic for the high school days of old as I relished in the company of the 120 or so students I have become incredibly close with and the teachers who know us all by name. We all danced our booties off, laughed at inside jokes, and relished in our last days of Europe.
Another highlight included a Saturday Fun Day of Beer Olympics. Students divided themselves into teams of four, picked a country, decked themselves out in costume, and got ready to compete in the ultimate challenges. Teams included Vatican City (myself, dressed as a nun), Somalia (dressed as pirates), Italy (mustaches and flags and jerseys) and the Confederacy (they were actually able to find Confederate flags with monster trucks on them.) Each team made up chants, our’s: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the power of Christ compels you! The Confederacy’s: I take my wife and hit her, in the South we’re still bitter. As you can imagine, not the most serious chants. Overall, everyone enjoyed the beautiful Luxembourg spring weather and our last sips of beloved Bofferding.
Finals dominated the last few days, as did packing. Neither overly exciting. Kate and I were upset on our last day to have a major falling out with our host mom. It was unfortunate to have such sour relations with someone we had lived with for so long, but it seemed that our differences were irreconcilable. I know that both of us were glad to quit her house and hope to never hear from her again. I do wish that my amazing experience in Luxembourg had been rounded out by a wonderful experience with a host family, but I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it to.
After packing and saying tearful goodbyes to our classmates, people made there way to all parts of the globe, from Germany to Chicago, France, Spain, China, Ohio, New York, and for me and 13 friends…. GREECE.
I guess there’s just the things I am going to miss:
1. Drinking beer out of a boot.
2. Asking people where they are going for the weekend, and hearing things from Paris to Turkey to Ireland. And it being completely acceptable.
3. Going to high school. Aka, our chateau, complete with the lockers, a common room, and a lunch hour and cafeteria. Not to mention the amazing, small world group of friends.
4. Packing my stupid hiking backpack every weekend and attempting to see if it’ll fit in Ryanair storage bins.
5. Drinking our way to cities and sleeping our way home.
6. Going to places I am learning about in history class.
7. Skype. JOKE. Can’t wait to see everyone’s faces for real!
8. Those little old delinquents that we’ve grown so fond of on the playground.
9. Acting like the Euro is monopoly money. (And believing it)
10. Those amazing places I have been to.
11. The people. Honestly, I can’t believe how many amazing people I have met.
12. Going to school in a castle.
13. Pretending to be at Hogwarts. Every day.
14. Being about two months behind on the popular music scene.
15. Bofferding.
16. Getting a café et croissant in the morning.
17. The word Moien.
18. From ash clouds to Polish presidents, I really feel like I’ve been where the news is, and little, old Oxford won’t seem the same.
19. Taking 10,000 photos a week. And uploading them all to Facebook and CVS.
20. Being in EUROPE and getting to see it up close and personal
Honestly, this list could go on and on and on. I just can’t believe it’s ending. I know everyone’s been caught up in this whole idea of making it last and remembering every detail. But, it was the best time of my life, and I will always remember that.
Things that dominated our last week at MUDEC included the school-sponsored “prom.” A final gala, the evening included a cruise down a river before being bussed to a restaurant for awards and dinner and a grand finale of a dance floor and bar. The entire program decked ourselves out in our top-notch clothing, actually did our hair and make-up, and headed to our favorite park to enjoy a few glasses of wine and some prom-themed photos. The night was everything a prom should be… wayyyyy too much fun! I had such a blast with everyone and felt a tad nostalgic for the high school days of old as I relished in the company of the 120 or so students I have become incredibly close with and the teachers who know us all by name. We all danced our booties off, laughed at inside jokes, and relished in our last days of Europe.
Another highlight included a Saturday Fun Day of Beer Olympics. Students divided themselves into teams of four, picked a country, decked themselves out in costume, and got ready to compete in the ultimate challenges. Teams included Vatican City (myself, dressed as a nun), Somalia (dressed as pirates), Italy (mustaches and flags and jerseys) and the Confederacy (they were actually able to find Confederate flags with monster trucks on them.) Each team made up chants, our’s: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the power of Christ compels you! The Confederacy’s: I take my wife and hit her, in the South we’re still bitter. As you can imagine, not the most serious chants. Overall, everyone enjoyed the beautiful Luxembourg spring weather and our last sips of beloved Bofferding.
Finals dominated the last few days, as did packing. Neither overly exciting. Kate and I were upset on our last day to have a major falling out with our host mom. It was unfortunate to have such sour relations with someone we had lived with for so long, but it seemed that our differences were irreconcilable. I know that both of us were glad to quit her house and hope to never hear from her again. I do wish that my amazing experience in Luxembourg had been rounded out by a wonderful experience with a host family, but I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it to.
After packing and saying tearful goodbyes to our classmates, people made there way to all parts of the globe, from Germany to Chicago, France, Spain, China, Ohio, New York, and for me and 13 friends…. GREECE.
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