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| Kalimera. So, it has been awhile. I'm really bad at this game. Anyway, what's the coolest thing that happened since I last wrote? I climbed up frickin' MOUNT OLYMPUS. Well, I climbed up most of it. It is 2918 meters high and I got to about the 2100 meters. The weather conditions were the worst you could possibly imagine. There was 4 feet of snow on the highest peak, so we couldn't get there, not that it mattered because it was pouring rain where we were. We decided to climb up anyway and find a different peak to reach, but then it was hailing like crazy, so our guides made us turn around. I was completely soaked and felt really really gross. It sucked, but I still had a blast on the mountain. A group of us are going to try to go again in a couple of weeks. I really want to reach the top. It was really rigorous and my legs have been sore nearly all week, but I'm ready to go again. I went out last night and didn't get home until 5:00 this morning. I got 4 hours of sleep last night, and I'm surprisingly refreshed. Last night we went to this bar across from the water and chilled there for a couple of hours. And while we were walking home after that (even though our apartment is like an hour long walk from that bar), we came across the boats that are docked along the walkway. They are bar boats and you just have to order a drink to ride it as it cruises along the harbor. We decided to get on. I had a good time. The mojito I ordered was exquisite. Mojito: my favorite drink. I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left in Greece.  Jeanny
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| Bonjourno! I'm almost sick of traveling. I was in Athens two weekends ago, and 5 of us went to Italy last week. I just got back yesterday afternoon. We went to Florence, Pisa, and Rome. I love Italy. It was definitely worth skipping a week of class for. Athens was Athens...the only good thing they have is the Acropolis. It's dirty, crowded, and the people aren't as friendly as in Thessaloniki. I think the general agreement is that we don't like Athens. I liked the Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus, and that was it. On our way home we had to spend the night in the Athens train station because we missed the 12:30 train and had to wait for the 9:21 one. People thought we were homeless...it was pretty miserable. I saw the REAL statue of David. He was beautiful. But I've gotta say that the Sistine Chapel was even more breath-taking. We pretty much saw all the big stuff. Pisa was actually a really cute town...I went overload on the souvenirs. I didn't do a picture of me holding up the tower though because EVERYONE was doing that. I don't think I have a single picture of the leaning tower without someone in the background posing for a picture of them holding it up. It was pretty comical. If you want to see pictures, check out facebook. I haven't put any up yet, but hopefully I will soon.  Jeanny Wang
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| Jia sas! So, I'm back from my cruise of the Greek Isles. It's the first day back to classes and I dislike it already. I want to go out again, out into the world and explore it some more. We caught an overnight train to Athens, where the port our cruise ship left from was. I'm an idiot and forgot my passport. At first I wasn't worried because I didn't know if we even needed our passports, but while we were going through security I see a "Passport Control" sign. I slowly begin to freak out. When I got up there, I started handing the lady my driver's license, school IDs, credit cards, etc. and seeing if those will work in place of a passport. She asks her supervisor and he comes up to me and yells "These are not travel documents! You need a passport!" I was near tears at this point, I didn't want to have take another 7 hour train right back to Thessaloniki and miss the cruise. So I try to see if my ISIC (international student identity card) will work. To my surprise and relief, the lady accepted it and handed me my key. My heart started beating again. Our itinerary, respectively: Mykonos, Kusadasi (in Turkey!), Patmos, Rhodes, Crete, and Santorini. It's hard to choose a favorite. All I can say is that all were breathtaking at some point. In Kusadasi, I saw the ruins of Ephessos. Patmos is where we went to the cave where John wrote the book of Revelations. I saw the Palace of Knossos in Crete. And Santorini is how I've always pictured it. We rode donkeys up to Thira. I loved it.  Jeanny
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| Hej! I've been in København for a few days now, and it is wonderful. It's different from Greece, but still great. Hannah and I rented bikes for our stay here so we've been riding all over the place. Did you know that 58% of the people in this city bike daily or almost daily? I think that is frickin' awesome because the bicycle is the most efficient machine. (Yeah, I've read a lot of the tour magazines here.) We've been doing the typical tourist things, but I'm loving it!  Jeanny
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| Jia sou! Last night I got caught riding the bus without a ticket and had to pay a fine. That sucked, especially because some of the people I were with hopped off the bus quickly at the next stop and evaded the fine. Also, that ticket checker guy was a jerk. He didn't even ask to see my ticket, he just assumed I didn't have one. Obviously I really didn't have one, but still, he should have at least asked. And from there my night went downhill. We went to a couple of clubs, but I didn't really have fun at either. The first one had no people and had bad music, and the second one had creepy guys. I just want the weekend to come. It feels like Friday, but it's only Thursday. I think the days are going by slower because I'm just waiting for spring break. Next week I have midterms and then the next two weeks are spring break. I'm super pumped for break. I'm going to Copenhagen the first week and meeting up with Hannah and the second week I'm taking a cruise of the Greek Islands. It's going to be great fun! Jeanny | | |
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