Ompa!

Greetings from Greece!

 

Today is our thrid day in Greece. My friends and I are going to try out  our independent travel skills and hopefully get to Olympia for the day.

 

The first day in Greece, we went into Athens by a "Hop On, Hop Off" bus which is basically a double decker bus where you can plug in these earphones they give you and it tells you about all of the places you pass in Athens. It cost 20 euro but we get to use it for 2 days and seeing as we are 10 km (6 miles) from Athens AND there are transportation strikes out the wazoo, its a pretty good option.

 

About the transportation strikes - taxis and the metro are not working. AND on top of that, the taxis and some of teh buses even parked their cars int he middl eof the road so not only are they not moving people, but other form of transportation can't get through. This is one of those times where it'd be nice to have a motorbike haha. But anyways its a very effective strike! There is also a protest in the main square of Athens because of their financial situation.

 

Basically, if Greece doesn't reach an agreement with the EU (aka privatizing things like their port by selling it to China / making really extreme budgets cuts that will effect their pensions and welfare and stuff / use all of that money to strat paying back loans) they are going to have to default on their loans and be kicked out of the Eurozone. So its tricky because no matter what the Greek government and the EU decide on, someone will probably be displeased. They are suppose to reach the decision really soon - by the end of this week or the next is what we were told - but hopefully we will be out of Greece befor that happens!

 

Speaking of politics, Hillary Clinton is in Greece and made a speech at the New Acropolis Museum about two hours after we went to it. But we saw her whole entourage driving through the streets!

 

Anyways - the frist day we made it up to the "high city" aka the Acropolis and saw everything. Every temple, every monument. It was really hot. But the view is amazing and just the fact that somethign that old is still standing is pretty incredible. The New Acropolis Museum was really neat too! Half of it has glass flooring and you look down on the ruins from above.

 

We got lunch in the city too! I got a Spinach Pie which is the filo dough we use for baklava + spinach + feta. Yummm. Then the restraunt kept trying to get us to stay but offeringus free stuff. We got free dessert but had to refuse the free coffee. No clue what the dessert was called but it looked / tasted like a fruity couscous poundcake... in a good way! We think maybe they kept trying to get us to stay so that they looked busier and got more business?

 

That night we saw Harry Potter! Kaleigh and I did some low risk planking in the theater too (hahahahha) Harry Potter was so good tho!  A real nail biter!

 

The next day, I bought a ticket to go on the Saronic Island trip. It was so cool! We were basically on a one-day cruise ship and we went to three islands - Hydra, Porrous (sp?) and Aegina. We also got lunch on the sip and there was lots of Greek entertainment.

 

Befor we even got to the island, I got locked in a bathroom in the basement of the boat. SO BAD. It wasn't a stall, it was a room and there was no way otu and it was so hot and the lock was jammed so I started banging on the door and a professor from SAS heard me and at first tried to just bust the door open with force. In the end, we had to get someone that worked on the boat to bring down tools and get me out.... typical me!

 

Hydra was my favorite. The islands has no cars on it so its really clean and Kaleigh, Abby and I rode donkeys! Mine pooped all over the road and then the guy had to like clean it up and then he died the bag of doodoo to my saddle....niceeee!

 

Porrous was also really pretty. We saw a clocktower up in the distance and just kept going uphill until we found it. It was a really pretty island.

 

Aegina is the bigger more commercialized one, but still really nice. We walked to the Monestary and to the ruins but the ruins were closed because it was a Monday.

 

Whoops! Gotta go meet people at the gangway to try to get to Olympia!

 

 

 

Croatia Wins

Croatia. Is. Hands. Down. The. Most. Beautiful. Place. I've. EVER. Been.

 

But seriously, if you have some spare change laying around and need a place to go  to relax, go on a honeymoon, go on a second honey moon...this part of the world is where its at. Just picture the cute light stone houses with red rooves among so many trees in between the stony mountains and the perfectly blue water. Its really incredible.

 

We ported in Dubrovnik 3 (or maybe 4?) days ago. The port is either a 20 min walk or a 1 hour walk away from the old city depending on who you ask. I personally walked for 35min and was no where near the city walls. Whether that is a sign of how bad I am with directions or how much I exaggerate is a good question hehee.

 

Regardless, the first day I didn't have a field excursion until 1 pm (or 1300 shipboard time!!) so my crew and I attempted to make it into the city. That did not work but we did stumble upon a grocery store called Konzum which is remarkably similar to grocery stores in America - a refreshing change from the past two ports which have had real weird grocery stores the size of gas stations. I suppose the size of the grocery stores in America probably directly correlates with our circumferences.

 

Anywho so we stumble into Konzum just trying to get a nice cold something to drink and what do we find? Apple juice in these weird carton things except they call it apple nectar. I was a little skeptical but it was only 4.99 Kuna - AKA 1 US dollar so I got it. IT WAS THE BEST JUICE I'VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. it was literally a liquid green apple. fabulous. (this will come into play later in this port too I promise!)

 

The we go a pastry for very cheap and go back on the boat so that I made my field excursion bus.

 

My trip was to the old city which is basically a fortress so it has these really thick walls / watch towers / etc. surround all of the red-roof houses. (literally every roof is red. I think its probs a building regulation kind of thing) So we climb up these walls and walk all around it. I have no idea how long it was because they told us in kilometers and I can't quite grasp that...hahah

 

So then after becoming a sweaty mess, I came back to the ship to meet up with my friends and make our way back to the old city. Lucky for us / the rest of the cruise community, there is a bus that runs from the port to the city that comes about every 10 minutes and takes less than that to get there. Its a major time save and only 10 Kuna!

 

That night we got dinner right in front of the clock tower. Best quesadilla I've ever had in my life. It tasted sweet? but it worked. Then a few of us went to a piano jazz bar. Really cool atmosphere and its right outside in the middle of one of the main squares. Funny story - we tried to order a glass of wine each and dessert to split. Something got lost in translation so we ended up getting a glass of wine each and a dessert wine to split... oh Croatia!

 

Next morning I had a trip to Montenegro which is actually a different county than Croatia. They both used to be part of Yugoslavia. This turned into a mini nightmare. I set my alarm for 6:35 becuase my trip left at 8 and I wanted to meet Amanda for breakfast. (Fun fact: Amanda is from Hawaii!)

 

Well turns out I set my alarm for 6:35 PM...!! So I woke up at 7:57 by the shear grace of God and my roommate's watch alarm that we can't figure out how to turn off. I am immediatly stressed out. This is so bad. I haven't showered since the previous morning and I was suppose to meet for the trip at 7:45. I honestly almost started crying. But then I pulled it together and threw on a dress that was still wet because I washed it the night before. On my way to the bus I bobby pinned my hair up (thank goodness for the "poof") and threw the rest in a bun. I got to my bus out of breath at exactly 8:01. Pretty impressive actually.

 

I'm sitting on the bus for about 7 minutes when I realize I DONT HAVE MY PASSPORT. So I get off the bus which thankfully hadn't left yet and ran up to my room in record time, got my passport and got back on the bus. SO BAD.

 

Then follows an hour or so of super high winding roads and extreme nausea from not eating anything and not having my trusty little earth water bottle. But its ok because it was EVEN MORE beautiful than Croatia and definitly worth it. Words and pictures wont even do this place justice. Plus the bandwith limits wont allow me to upload pictures. But look it up online. We drove through / around all of these inner bays that were so remote that that they looked like lakes. Turns out, this aread used to be a valley until the Adriactic Sea (I think) flooded it.

 

We stopped at Kotor which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is another fortress type city with the walls, the saints, the cathedrals, the works! Really pretty and we got a guided tour and we got to tour the catherdral and the museum upstairs. Then it was off to the next place - a small village / cheese farm out in the stoney hilly countryside of Montenegro only accessible through roads with "hairpin turns" (according to our tour guide)

 

While we're all freaking out winding through these super crazy roads, our tour guide then told us a joke: "A priest and a bus driver died driving on this road. When they got to heaven, God said he will only let one of them in. God chose the bus driver. Outraged, the priest asked 'Why?!' God replied 'When you were doing your job, everyone was sleeping. When he was doing his, everyone was praying.' " bhahaha

 

The cheese village was very quaint. Basically just alot of farms and then a big house / restraunt where you can buy their home-smoke ham and home-made cheese sandwiches on their home-made bread. I didn't realize that Montenegro only takes Euro...so I did not buy one.

 

Next stop - lunch time! We went to yet another area, this time - a city (sorry I have no specific names for these places!). Got lunch and then had half hour of free time so I walked around the harbor and the old city / fortress there. Then back on the bus and time to go home and SHOWER.

 

That night we went out to the old city again! Pretty much every night we made our way there. Last night we went for dinner again. I had the best salad of my life with super fresh feta cheese! One thing I love about these old cities like Dubrovnik and Rome, there are huge fountains with safe drinking water all over the city, so you can refill your water whenevery you want and don't have to pay for it!

 

After getting dinner we walked around for a little "exploring" aka wandering aimlessly thoughout the city. We stumbled upon a dock and hung out there for a while. Then we went to meet our friends at a club. It was 11 and I was so tired. We got to the club and they told us that it doesn't really open for another hour or so. Since I felt that I would probably fall asleep in an hour no matter where I was, a few girls and I left to go back to the boat. I couldn't hang - I'm gettin to old for this! ;) But we didnt leave befor gettin nutella and banana crepes!

 

This morning we were extra productive. Woke up at 7, breakfast at 8, off the boat by 8:30. We went to the old city (of course) to hit up the beach and go kayaking. For only 60 kuna (12 bucks) we got to rent kayaks for an hour. So we kayaked around the city walls and one of the harbors and then Kaleigh and I kayaked out to one of the islands. Ah it was so cools. You could HEAR the island there were so many birds / bug / wildlife on it! Plus it was super far away so I was pretty freaking pleased with myself that we got there and back in an hour. We also got to spend alot of time swimming and stuff. The water there is amazing and clear. Also it was a nice not crowded familyish beach.

 

Then we went to lunch where we all got pizza (typical Americans) and I got fresh lemonade. And let me tell you - they weren't kidding! I basically was drinking lemon juice hahah but it was really good!

 

After lunch we found the war museum. Really neat place. Basically its just all of these pictures with stories under them about the people. For anyone who doesn't know, there was a civil war / genocide in Yugoslavia in the 90s with concentration camps, rape camps, the whole nine yards. Thats basically what the museum was about. It was really modern but mostly just really sad. Glad I went tho - I learned alot.

 

Then we came back to the boat. But not befor stopping back at Konzum to get more of that apple nectar. We were all so excited to spend out last 10 - 12 Kuna buying juice to bring back onto the boat. Usually youre not allowed to bring twist caps on board because you could have "contaminated it" (put alcohol / drugs in it) But they let Vanessa bring on these juice box things with caps two days ago so we bought HUGE things of it.

 

They wouldnt let us on. This was not funny at the time. I luckily only bought a liter of it. Vanessa bought 3.5 liters. HAHAHAH. So we had to sit outside and drink it or throw it away. I drank probably 3/4 of it until it was no longer good or worth it. Too much sugar!

 

The next two days are class days in which I have a huge midterm paper due and a test. Then we'll be in Greece!!

 

 

 

Dovidenja (Goodbye in Croatian!)

My Ancestor's Stomping Ground

Hello world!

 

The past two days have been pretty relaxing since we've been on a regular class schedule in between Italy and Croatia. Theres been alot of essay writing and alot of class time and alot of laying out on the deck doing homework.

 

Two big things happened though! :

 

1) In Global Studies yesterday one of the other faculty acted as a guest speaker and talked about the Grand Tour of Europe that rich guys right out of school used to do. Now alot of people doing it as backpackers. IT LOOKS AMAZING. And it got me really excited about doing it after I save up enough money - so probably not until I've been in the real world for a few years hahah

 

2) Same lady also offered a seminar that night on a non profit womens organization she started in Guatemala so I went to listen cuase it sounded alot like El Salvador. I got so excited that I talked to her at the end and we're gonna meet up for lunch or something and shes gonna give me some advice on our El Salvador project for SIFE. weeeeee!!

 

So I don't know if I was just really easily excitable yesterday (Kara - if you're reading this: we would have been dangerous together yesterday lol) or what but I got so pumped up.

 

Then I discovered all of these modern witty travel guides on the shared files and found some neat places to go in the upcoming countires. My friends and I also planned out some  things we want to do in Greece - mostly because I have NO field excursions so I have 5 free days. We're gonna go see alot of the stuff like museums and such in Athens the first day and then we're gonna try to make it out to an island (probs Aegina) for a night or two and see some stuff there!

 

Croatia I'm basically booked - I have an field excursion everyday but the last! But they'll be awesome and I get back between 3 and 6 everyday, so I'll still have lots of time during the late afternoon/night.

 

Tomorrow I have a tour of the city walls of Croatia  - aka my ancestors stomping ground :)

 

 

 

Missing everyone!! <3

 

No Room at the Inn

I don't even know how to possible explain what my life has been the past 12 hours. But I'll try.

 

First. We wait until our friends get back from their trip to head into Rome. They are too tired to join us. Vanessa, Abby and I continue on because we are suppose to be meeting SAS people for a "Pub Crawl" between 9 and 10 on the Spanish Steps. We don't have anywhere to stay in Rome, but at this point in time, thats ok because we'll be with lots of people and the crawl goes until about 4am at which time the train station opens again.

 

We get on the train and know we'll be cutting it close. We get to Rome at about 9:46. So we have 14 minutes to get to the Spainish Steps. Which is totally doable because the metro is basically in the train station and its super fast.

 

As it turns out, Line A is under maintenance. So now we have to find a bus. The bus is late. We get to the Spanish Step  at 10:11....aka we miss the pub crawl and all of our friends.

 

So we hang out on the Spanish Steps for about 10 minutes until we realize we all need a bathroom. Find a McDs. (On the way I found a cheap souvenir shot glass for my collection yay!) We are hungry / need comfort food so we get fries and burgers excepts I dont get a burger, duh.

 

Then we make the executive decision to go back to the train station and back to the boat since we are no longer with a big group, have no where to go and nothing to do.

 

The bus is late again. We get to the train station 5 minutes after the last train back to Civitaveccia. Crap.

 

Then I find a nice english-speaking guy and ask him what our options are. He is also the owner of some taxi service. He siad that the cheapest taxi we'll be able to find is going to be about 150 euro. It is clear that even if we get mugged, we will not lose 150 euro mostly becuase we don't even HAVE that much on us, so we dont take the cab.  

 

The next train back is not until 6:39.

 

Then we find out that the train station closes in about half hour and McDonalds is the public place that stays open the latest and its only open until 2 am. The train station doesn't open again until 4am. The train station is also in a really bad area.

 

That cab ride starts to sound like a really good option...

 

But then - !!! A group of 5 British (I think) girl college students overhear me trying to speak to an Italiam McDonalds worker. Turns out they are in the same predicament and didn't even realize it! They thought the McD's and station were both open all night. So we all make mugging jokes for a little while. After about 4 minutes of that, it gets old and 2 of the British girls, Vanessa, Abby and I go out to see if we can find any rooms open. The plan is all 8 of us will just split the price and sleep on the floor or whatever because thats gonna be alot safer than the streets of Rome!

 

After about an hour of being told theres "no room at the inn" we stumble upon a 1 star hotel in the Roman hood. The owner feels really bad for us. In Europe you usually have to pay per person but we explained the situation and he agrees that as long as we're out by 4, we can just pay 125 euro total for all 8 and there will be 5 beds - 2 in one room, 3 in another. So the group of 5 gets the 3 bed and we get the 2. Everyone ends up paying about 15 euro - not a bad price for my life! Vanessa, Abby and I push the little beds together in our room that looks a little bit like Aladin's Palace and has a huge window without screens. It actually wasn't too shabby, there was a TV, our own bathroom and shower, but there was a really sketchy pair of tennis shoes in the closet... hahahah I know WHAT!?

 

But other than that, it was fine. After thoroughly examing the room and hysterically laughing because we were so happy we weren't going to get kidnapped, we got to sleep for about 3.5 hours off and on. Then we woke up at 6, walked to the train station and got on our train. Got to Civitaveccia, walked back to the boat - just in time for breakfast!

 

It was an insane  day / night to say the least. The kind of situation that is only funny because nothing bad happened! And we learned our lesson - plan ahead, leave early and always check train times!

 

As for an update on my computer - still broke as a joke. Which will ironically be something my computer and I have in common after I pay for a new laptop. But I have many wonderful friends onboard who have all offered me their computer / iphones to use whenever I need them! Plus we have a computer lab onboard.

 

The next 2 days are class days as we sail to Croatia!

 

 

I hope everyone's night was less eventful than mine! Miss you all <3

Curse You Dell

So in my last post, when I said "watch" in reference to my jeans, I meant "wash." Hehe oops! Good thing this blog isn't graded.

 

Yesterday I went to Rome and saw the Pyramid (random, I know), the Forum, the Colleseum, the Vatican/Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, etc. All met my expectations! I'm still confused about the pyramid though - its like Ancient Rome KNEW that Semester at Sea was going to cancel the part of our trip to Egypt. Another thing that suprised me was how crowded all of those things are! Our tourguide even said that it was more crowded that ususal because of all of the huge cruise ships that docked in Civitaveccia the same day. (But also, I think she was just trying to make excuses for why she lost like 1/2 the group!!)

 

After all of that, I went to the Pantheon.... BY MYSELF.... WITH ONLY A MAP. to meet up with Vanessa and Abby. The master plan was to find a hostel and stay overnight in Rome. But it ended up being really confusing and a few of the people we were gonna meet up with decided to go tonight instead AND our friends that were on a trip all week  are able to go with us now that we watied until tonight so we decided to just explore a little and then catch a train back to the boat. We wandered around for a little and then took a metro to the train station. (As it turns out, there are a few hostels near the train station but they're sorta in a sketchy area and more expensive than we thought, especially considering the boat is "free")

 

Today we went back into Civitaveccia for a little to do our last minute souvenir shopping and find an internet cafe.

 

THAT is when things turned sour. So we go to the internet cafe and you have to order something to get the password. So I order the cheapest drink on the menu and its 5.50 euro. Wah. Then I turn on my computer. Literally just press the power button. And then up pops a message that includes the phrases "hard drive" "crash" and "imminent failure".....ok. So I try everything. It wont let me do a system restore or anything and we try taking out the battery and starting it up again and nothing happens other than a blank black screen pops up within 2 minutes everytime. So I'm sitting in Italy, crying in an internet cafe with a worthless internet card and a dumb 5.50 euro strawberry daquiri.  Please believe me when I say this is the cheapest drink.

 

So now, not only do I have to worry about having enough money AFTER this trip to pay my sorority dues, the SIFE trip to El Salvador, for a mattress, for paint for my room, and for other rando expenses that will surely come up...now I have to buy a new computer. :( Which is definitly going to be a Mac. I know, I know...they're expensive right? But so is a Dell when you've had it for 2 freakin years, you've put in more than $700 to it, and still the hard drive crashes.

 

So then we go out in search for either shot glasses/mugs/cups anything of the sort that says Italy on it to add to my collection. Apparently people in Civitaveccia are all dehydrated because there were none to be found.

 

And then Vanessa randomly got tested for narcotics when we got back on the boat. HAHAH which was more funny than bad. And the one captain stared at my phone for 3 minutes like it was dangerous while searching through my bag.

 

I'm trying my best to stay positive that my last night in Rome will be filled with a cheap souvenir and a wonderful time on the Spanish Steps with all of my friends that I haven't seen all week.

 

Wish me luck!!!

When in Rome..

Hello! We arrived in the port of Civitavecchia today which is about an hour from Rome. Yesterday in Napless, I went to the archealogical museum which is suppose to have all of the dead bodies from Pompeii along with alot of other cool artifacts and statues from around Italy. Unfortunatly there was a minor strike yesterday so THAT part of the museum was closed. :( But it was still really neat! Then we wandered around the city a little more until it was time for the 4th of July BBQ on the boat. Celebrating your country's independence in another country is very strange. hahah but the BBQ was great. Then there was a sleepout on the boat but there were real extreme forecasts of rain and all I could think about was running down the ridge at kirkwood when a storm would catch us in the middle of the night. hahaha. So that didnt happend. But at some point - yes.

 

Today we got to our next por tand I said goodbye temporarily to my roommate while she meet sup with her mom for the rest of Italy. My friends and I explored the city today, meeting really nice locals, eating good food and getting in some shopping! Turning in early tonight because tomorrow I go to Rome with a Semester at Sea trip to see the Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, etc! Then I'll be signing off the trip to stay in Rome and meet Abby and Vanessa. From there we'll find a hostel - AHHH I'm so excited. And then I'll return to the trip the following day.

 

Wish me luck - I've never staying in a hostel before!

 

Also, I heard about the Casey Anthony trial via Breeanneallen on twitter (SHOUTOUT to my psisssy!) . Ok what the heck. Someone please email me how she got off and explain it to me because I'm considering not coming back to America. I wish Dexter was real right now.

 

But to end on a positive note - I cannot WAIT to see the vatican tomorrow!! And I'm finally gonna wear my jeans that I've been saving to wear so I didnt have to watch them. hAHAh

 

<3

First Italy Post

We made it to Italy (specifically Naples) yesterday!!

 

The first day I went to Pompeii and Herculaneum. CRAZY. THey are both cities that were buried under the wrath of the Mt. Vesuvius (sp?) eruption. They are preserved so well from all of the ash and its so interesting how advanced their plumbing and other technology was. I personally enjoyed Herculaneum more. Less people, smaller/more managable city, more impressive preservation. Ex: there were some rooms where the original wood was still preserved! Holy cow. Then we were so tired that we just ate dinner on the boat, worked on homework (yes, I have to do homework) and got a good night's sleep.

 

Today I went to the island of Capri. First we visited the harbor and took a boat tour around the island. The caves are so neat and the water is beautiful. Then we went up to capri , had some free time to shop (not like I can afford anything there its all prada and d&g, etc. because Capri is a "rich people" vacation spot. Bill Gates goes there every summer according to our tour guide!) and had a really nice lunch. Then we made our way up to Anacapri. Abosolutely breathtaking. We toured a villa with a view of the whole bay  - it was insane and the water was SO BLUE. Its so high up that to get there theres only one bus company that runs up there and you pass over a road called "Mamma  Mia Road" meaning "Oh My God Road" hahahah. Then we got to try lemon chocolate, lemon candies and lemonchello - a lemon vodka made in Italy. All were wonderful.

 

I got back around dinner time so me and my friends went out in search of original-italian-wooden-stove-baked-margarita pizza. We ended up eating at the restaurant that made the first pizza in Naples! It was awesome and there were very talented and adorable old guys playing the guitar and mandolin (!!) and singing. Then we got gelato (italian ice cream) and the guy who served us was hilarious. He would put our ice cream on a cone and then somehow attached 5 other cones to it. HaHa we all looked like fools walking around trying to eat it!! But overall a good night. Naples night life isn't as simple or safe or cost-savvy as Barcelona, so were laying low for the second night in a row. But thats fine by me because I'm already spending more money than I thought I would've and I'm super tired and there are upper respiratory infections going around the ship. :/ ahhhh

 

Tomorrow is out last day in Naples. We are going to the archealogical museum, the cathedral and to look at the shops. Then were gonna plan out our time in Rome (which may include a HOSTEL AH) and celebrate the 4th of July with an on-boat BBQ and sleepout (where we sleep out on the boat!). Yay!!

 

Until Rome,

<3