Pictures: Candles lit in the Monastery visited on Thursday, Beach view from the castle we explored in Napflia (sp?), Me on the top of the mountain, beautiful sunset at the Temple of Poseidon, and then us girls the first time we ran into each other (Sarah, Hannah, Me, Ali, Lauren)

I have been going and going and going like CRAZY since the last time I wrote! Friday night was my last night in Parikia – so sad! That place has become like a home to me – and today is really the first day that I’ve realized I’m not going back there. I have felt like this is just another side trip, and I still need to go back to Paros when I’m done with my parents here. Don’t get me wrong – I’m INCREDIBLY excited to come home and see everyone, and I am exhausted from the trip, but oh man, I’m going to miss this place!

Friday night we (Ali, Hannah, Sarah, Karlie, Lauren, David and I) went and ate at the restaurant at the windmill – BEAUTIFUL view, awful food. I got sick again that night – I had the WORST Kalamari in the WORLD.. Oh man it makes me gag just thinking about it – it was grilled (I think) and tasted like rubber. So yes, I got sick the first and the last night in Parikia. But, I would say it was worth it because the view and the laughter and the pleasure of enjoying my last meal with that group of people was one of my favorite parts about the trip. The people I met on this trip are some of the most amazing people ever! I will never forget them and the memories we have made!

Saturday morning, when I still felt like death, I finished packing up my bags and headed to the ferry with Sarah, Karlie, David, Ali, Hannah and Lauren. Karlie didn’t come to Athens with us because her parents were coming to Paros the next day, so she just came to see us off. I could have cried my eyes out when I said goodbye to Karlie – but I held myself together! I was so proud – ha ha! The first hour of the boat ride SUCKED, just because I felt awful. But as the next 4 hours passed, I started feeling much better. By the time I got to Athens, I was feeling about 95% better. I was a little worried about finding my parents after getting off the ferry, but right as I was walking off the boat I saw them! It was so nice to see them and it has been GREAT to have them here in Greece experiencing this with me. I wish EVERYONE could have come over here! I introduced them to my friends who were riding in the ferry with me, then we headed off to the hotel with Theodore as our taxi driver! He’s so great – he opens the doors for us and takes our luggage – Mom and I were joking that we’re going to be expecting Dad and Kyle to open the doors for us now and it will be weird having to do it ourselves! Ha ha!

Saturday night we went walking around the plaka and had another free glass of wine from that nice man that gave us girls 2 free glasses of wine when we were in Athens before! Then we met up with Pericles at the Hard Rock Café and had supper for Dad’s birthday. I was eating at an American restaurant, in Greece, and I ordered Chicken fajitas (Mexican). Weird, I know.

Sunday we went walking all around Athens and decided to go to the Parliament and the Tower of the Winds. We started out and had to stop so Dad could look at the map and all of a sudden I hear someone scream, “OH MY GOD! LEZLI!!!” I look across the street and see Ali, Hannah, Sarah, and Lauren all running towards me! It was SOOOO good to see them again – I was already feeling some separation anxieties – ha ha, just kidding! So we all walked around a while and went to the Parliament together to see the changing of the guards. We didn’t see them do the actual thing, but they did something – maybe just a little walk to stretch their legs – except it was planned out exactly and all – of course. After that the girls were headed to see the Acropolis because Lauren hadn’t seen it yet, and we were going to the National Gardens – so I had to say goodbye to them for a second time – like the first time wasn’t hard enough! We got some really cute pictures and had a great time together. Then Mom, Dad and I went to the National Gardens for awhile, had a little lunch, and decided to find the Tower of the Winds, which I was pretty sure I’d gone to on my first day in Athens. So we headed back there, doing some shopping on the way and munching on ice cream and drinking beer! We found another ruin site and looked at that, then got directions to the Tower of the Winds. As we were walking up the street to head there, I see Hannah walking straight towards me with the rest of the girls behind her. I just screamed and sprinted towards them! They were headed back to their hostel, so we chatted for awhile and had to say goodbye for the THIRD time. I guess the third time is the charm because I didn’t see them again after that, even though I know I WILL stay in contact with them and see them in the future! So the parentals and I went to the Tower of the Winds, then had some supper and Theodore picked us up and we went and watched the sunset in a town about an hour or so away from Athens where the temple of Poseidon is. It was gorgeous.

Monday we left for our 4-day tour of the Peloponesse Peninsula. On Monday, I am proud to say, my parents and I climbed a MOUNTAIN! Ha ha – it was HUGE, seriously, I thought I was going to die. Wait until you see pictures! While we were at the top it was thundering, so we decided not to take too long. We ate at a café in town and that’s when it started raining. I finished my food and went and held my hand out of the tent we were under and felt my first Greek rain! This all was in Ancient Corinth – where we also saw the “Lion’s Head” monument.

Tuesday through today we visited many other places. It will take too long to go through each day individually. Tuesday morning we were still in Corinth, and went to see a castle that’s on the top of the hill. It was awesome! We also went to Epidauros and saw that natural amphitheater which you can supposedly talk in a regular voice at the bottom and people at the top can hear you. We couldn’t try that because there were WAY too many people there and talking. I’ll be putting a bunch of pictures up on facebook, but maybe not until I’m home again – depends on how tired I am tonight and how much time I have. Tuesday night we stayed in Olympia at Hotel Europa – which is a Best Western chain… ha ha! It was the NICEST HOTEL EVER. Well, maybe not ever – but it was GREAT! There was a pool that we got a chance to sit by and relax and swim a little – sooooooo nice! Afterwards we went into town for more shopping. Wednesday we went to the original site of the Olympics and saw all the ruins – I even saw where they still light to the torch. We went and drove for awhile and had lunch right by the beach and listened to the waves come up onto the shore. Mom and I waded in the water a bit, but it was a rock beach and it hurt SO bad! We got some rocks and decided to get out of that water! Ha ha! After that we drove to Delphi and there was a Crepe place right across the street from our hotel. So we went inside to our hotel, relaxed a bit, and went and had a crepe. My foot has been bothering me since Monday afternoon, so I went back to the hotel after we ate and mom and dad went shopping a little bit.

Today (Thursday) we went to ruins in Delphi and saw the Belly Button of the earth, according to Apollo or Zeus…. I think Apollo – not positive though. We walked up to the top and saw another Temple of Apollo, another stadium and an athletic arena. We also went and saw some of a gymnasium, but missed out on the Temple of Athena. We went through the museum and then Theodore drove us to a monastery – which was beautiful! Then we stopped at some tavern on the side of the road and had some souvlaki, Greek salad, bread and beer for lunch. Now I’m typing this as we travel in the car back to Athens. It really hit me today how sad I am to leave, and also at the same exact time how INCREDIBLY EXCITED I am to get back – mainly just to see everyone. If only I had rich family and friends so they could come here and just live at Jimmy’s on Paros with me for the summer. Heck, if I were rich enough I’d pay for everyone to do it!

I’m going to go through my pictures and sort, separate, delete, and organize to decide what to put on Facebook and what to show everyone on the 4th of July and all of that good stuff. I’ll be putting this up onto the internet tonight probably – and I’ll be home TOMORROW!! Holy crap – this month went fast. And yet, at times, it seemed to be going to slow. But it has definitely been one of the greatest experiences of my life and I wouldn’t have changed anything about it.

Except the two times I got sick. Could have done without that. 

Love you all and see you soon!

Xoxo
Lezli

Two Days Left... :-(

Pictures: The first picture is some of us girls (our favorite waitress, Sarah, Karlie, Ali, Hannah, Me) and David, who we bought worry beads as a present for because he's always sharing his food with us and drinks and cooking for us.
Yes, it said "Farmacy" I thought it was pretty funny...
The next picture is Me, Lauren, Karlie, Ali and Hannah one of the last few nights that we cooked a HUGE supper upstairs and there was a BEAUTIFUL sunset. It was probably as close to a storm as I'll see in Greece - the wind was blowing a lot and it was humid all day and I guess it spit just a little, but no real rain... The last picture is me and my friend Hannah taking a break from dancing at a bar/restaurant near our school.


Wow – I can’t believe I haven’t written in 5 days – SORRY! I haven’t really been doing anything too exciting, so I guess I haven’t had too much to write about.

Since I got back from Santorini, we haven’t had any more “excursions”, so I’ve had time to finish up my pictures for my final project and print off the 6 that we need to present to class. I actually did my presentation this morning to a group of about 7 of us. There was a huge confusion because on our schedule that the students had it said that we had presentations today and tomorrow, but the professors had told us all that we just had presentations tomorrow, so we assumed we would have class today. Some of us decided to bring our pictures so we could present today, so that we didn’t have to be there for HOURS tomorrow. Well, then Dacy, one of the Photo students who has to leave tonight because she’s doing another program in Italy, got an e-mail last night saying that we didn’t have class today but she should come in for her presentation. The teachers didn’t e-mail anyone else about this so we were very confused this morning. Then, Dacy e-mailed her back telling her that our schedule says we have class at 10 today, so she’d plan on coming then, but they never e-mailed her back. We didn’t really know what to do this morning, so about 7 of us went to the school with our stuff and sat around for about an hour waiting for our teachers. Yuko, the wife of the program coordinator, got to school and called Sarah and Cameron (our teachers) and they said that they didn’t know we had class and what not……turns out that they had made an original schedule with no class today, given that to the teachers, and once they realized how many people were taking this class they decided they needed two days of critiques. Sarah also said that she hadn’t checked her e-mail to see if Dacy responded so she didn’t even know that she was going to be at school. It was kind of frustrating because we sat around school an hour waiting for them – that’s the ONLY complaint that I have about this program – it seems VERY unorganized. I mean, everything has gone very smoothly, but when we have to sit around for an hour it gets frustrating. So, 5 of us who were ready did our presentations today – and that took an hour. I think there are about 15-17 people in the class, so tomorrow is going to be a long day of presentations – not looking forward to it. But I got mine done, and it went better than I thought it would go, so I’m happy!

So, I got some bad news yesterday. My friend John Verly from Marshall (he’s a friend from FFA) has a brain tumor, and he just was moved from Sioux Falls to St. Paul and they are going to see what they can do and when/if they can operate. They have been giving him steroids and that has helped to decrease the size of it. Here’s his caringbridge website for more details: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnverly

I can’t believe that I only have two more days with these AMAZING people here! I HATE goodbyes. And it’s REALLY hard with these people because I don’t know when I’ll ever see them again! Karlie and I are honestly planning to go down to Maryland next May for Sarah’s wedding, because it’s really kinda been the three of us who have been communicating from the beginning and very close this whole time. We have this plan to all come back to Paros in 10 years and stay at Jimmy’s and have a big reunion – which would be INCREDIBLE. I definitely want to come back to this place in the future – it’s my favorite of the islands that I’ve visited and it really has become a home for me – and I love it! It makes me so sad to think that I have to leave in just two days, and at the same time I’m really excited to see Mom and Dad and travel with them and then to get home to everyone else!

Well, I’m gonna read some and burn the rest of my pictures to a CD and probably add more onto facebook – so check there for more pictures!

Love you all!!!
xoxo

Back "Home"

These are the picture of me jumping off the cliff - don't worry, I look closer to the edge than I actually was. They were taking the pictures from a weird angle. I might have some more to add later - one of my friends had her waterproof camera with us in the water by the cliff and she got some decent ones.

Yesterday morning we went to the Archeological Museum – very interesting! There was so much stuff that got preserved when the volcano exploded – even like food and paint/color particles. After that we went shopping for awhile, I got some more presents for people! Then at 4 we loaded onto the boat and headed back “home” to Paros. It’s interesting how easy it is for me to call this place home – I mean, after all I’m spending nearly a month of my life living here, so I guess it kind of is. I’ve made it home-y by putting pictures up on the wall and I have Makenzie’s artwork she did for me before I left next to my bed. And yes Mom, sometimes my room does get a little messy, just like home! Ha ha – but I clean up after myself.

Last night I made supper with Caroline and Karlie – it was fantastic! We stopped at the little market by our apartments to get some more tomatoes and some WATERMELON! I have been craving watermelon since I got here, and I finally got it! OH! And I’ve also been craving PIZZA since I got here and I got to have that for lunch yesterday – my two foods I’ve been wanting, both in one day! Fantastic. Ha ha, anyway – so we made some pasta and had watermelon for “dessert” and left the rooftop before the bugs could attack us anymore. Everyone thinks they’re awful here – but there not even as close to as bad as home some nights, and especially not as bad as Grygla! Ha ha – I’m used to this mosquito business. After that I came back to my room, talked to Kyle and Jeremy for awhile, and worked on editing some of my pictures for my final project. I hope to get some printed today or tomorrow – so that I don’t have to wait until the very to do it.

Well, I’ve added more pictures to my 5th Greece album and started a 6th, so here are the pictures from that:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27754&id=1278630039&l=826c95e06e

Love you all! MISS YOU!
xoxo

I'M IN SANTORINI!

Pictures: First one is me standing in front of the picture-esque Santorini! The second one is a picture of where I jumped into the water today - I'll have pictures later of me actually jumping! The next one is a view of the hot springs from the top of the volcano and the one after that is me jumping into the water. The last one is just a view of the town we're staying in from the side of the cliff - beautiful!

Today was ABSOLUTELY amazing! We woke up, had breakfast and then walked about 700 steps down, while almost getting trampled by donkeys, to get onto our “Pirate Ship” for our tour today. First we went to the Caldera (which is the center of the volcano) and walked up to the very top where you can see every part of Santorini from around it. After that exhausting excursion, we went to some hot springs nearby and went swimming!!! It was sooooo cool! The water went from cool, to warm, to hot the further you went in – very interesting experience! After that we went to another part of Santorini and had lunch. Then we went to the best spot EVER! If any of you have seen Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, it’s the spot where Lena jumps into the water while she’s in Greece visiting her Yaya and Bapou (gma and gpa) and then Kostas jumps in the water with her. I JUMPED IN THE WATER THERE AND WENT SWIMMING THERE!!!!! Absolutely incredible! I still can’t believe I was there! I jumped off a 15 foot cliff two times – very brave of me if I do say so myself! Ha ha! Then we walked up about 240 STEEEEEP steps to the top of Oiu and took the bus back to Firya (sp?) where we are spending these two days. When we got back I took a shower to get rid of all the salt on my body and in my hair, and then I went with my friend Dacy and got my first Crepe – a chocolate and strawberry one – DELICIOUS!

So, Mom was harassing me about being a journalism minor and using “awesome” and “amazing” to explain all of my Greece experiences – but there HONESTLY are not words to describe this place! It’s the most outstanding thing I have ever experienced and I am SOOO lucky to be here right now! I never thought I’d actually achieve my “Number one thing to do before I die” – but I did it! And I’m here! For another two weeks still – crazy to think about! I miss everyone back home like crazy, and I’m SO looking forward to Mom and Dad coming next week! Tomorrow we head back to Paros, and that’s the end of our trips for class – which will be kind of nice. It’ll give me a week to get all of my pictures together and to rest up before doing much more touring with Mom and Dad… which I’m sure will be cram-packed, but will be amazing!

Well, I’m exhausted, so I’m going to try to upload some pictures from today, and then relax and go to bed early – I’m SO tired! Tomorrow we’re going to an archeological museum that has remains from the big volcanic eruption that occurred 1500 BC – it’s what they claim to be the Lost City of Atlantis. Kind of like the Pompeii explosion, so I’m VERY excited to see all of it! Then we’re headed back to Paros.

Love you all! Miss you!
xoxo

New Pictures

Here's some new pictures - sorry about the doubles (if they're still there when you look at them). Facebook is being kind of dumb right now and I can't get them deleted. There's just an extra copy of some of them at the end.

Gonna go out on my porch and read a little and then probably go to the beach soon with my friend Lauren - everyone else is down there already, I'm just going to wait for her.

Love you all!
xoxo

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27388&id=1278630039&l=817b04ec2f

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.

Today we went to Antiparos, the island that is right next to Paros. Most beautiful place I’ve been yet! First we just wandered around the town for a little bit waiting for our bus to come pick us up. I got an AMAZING ham/cheese/bacon pastry at this little shop in town for breakfast and then the bus picked us up and brought us up to a cave. We got to walk around the cave on our own for awhile – just beautiful, but HUMID! Oh man the humidity really got to me, especially once I got to the bottom and had to start walking back up. But the stalactites and stalagmites were worth the hike!

After that we went down to another port and got on this small boat that brought us over to an excavation site where people are currently unearthing ancient ruins – it was REALLY cool! We also had a really good small “lecture” I guess you could call it from one of our teachers. He just talked about how important this ancient civilization is in relation to the lives we live today. He talked about how concrete of a foundation they built and how the materials they used have lasted this long, and then we started talking and thinking about how this ancient stuff that’s there now is stronger materials than much of the stuff we use today. Which got us wondering how long of a legacy will we leave with what we build today? Will people thousands of years from now be able to learn anything from us or will all of our buildings and such just be gone because it’s not built to withstand the test of time. It was really interesting.

Then came one of the best parts of this ENTIRE trip! We got back on that small boat and went and drove around a small little sea cave. Then we dropped the anchor – and just jumped in the water in the MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN! It was AMAZING! Super cold right away, but probably one of the most fun and exhilarating things I’ve ever done in my life! It was soooooooo cool!! Afterwards we took the boat back and went and ate lunch at this AMAZING place right next to the water – probably one of the best meals I’ve had this whole trip too!! Ha ha, the bread was AMAZING and I had pork souvlaki (kebob) and some amazing fried potatoes. I love this place.

If you are EVER planning a trip to Greece you have GOT to go to Antiparos, if you have time of course. The cave is apparently one of the oldest in Europe!

Well, I’m working on uploading more photos onto facebook, so just look at that last link that I posted. It’s being kind of finicky, so I’m not sure if it will work right away – but I’m going to keep working on it. I also got Photoshop to work – all together now – YAYYYY!!!! I’ve been trying for the past week, and I’m so excited because now I won’t have to spend so much time on the slow, dinky computers in the school’s computer lab.

Alright – well, that’s all for now!
xoxo

p.s. I was going to add pictures onto here, but it's not cooperating with me, so just look on the facebook link!
Here's a link to the next album - I'll continue to add to this one, so keep checking it!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27388&id=1278630039&l=817b04ec2f

More pictures!

Hey guys, I don't have much time to write, or post a picture up on here - but I just thought I'd let you know that I created another new album on facebook - so feel free to look at it!

Here's the link!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27235&id=1278630039&l=3cc10a8cea

Also, my e-mail isn't working this morning, so if you sent me anything I won't be able to respond.

Got a phone card last night and got to talk to Mom, Dad, Kenzie and Kyle - it was SOOO nice!

I'll write more later tonight when we're back from Antiparos! WE GET TO SEE CAVES!

LOVE YOU!
xoxo

I'm good luck?

The first picture is me trying OCTOPUS!!! It was actually pretty good!
The second one is some Holsteins on Naxos! Feels like home! ha ha
The third picture is a cute old man in Naxos that let me take his picture.
The fourth picture is a guy walking a donkey in Paros.
The fifth one is me by some graffiti that says Drama Queen - ha ha!


Today we went to Naxos from about 12-7. It’s about a 45 minute ferry ride, and on the large ferry, so no one had to worry about getting seasick. I thankfully haven’t had to worry about that – which is great! Once we got there we took a bus to a smaller, much less tourist-filled town. We explored around there for awhile and had lunch. I got pooped on by a pigeon today! Ha ha Apparently it’s good luck! I was sitting at lunch and realized there was bird poo on my bag, and wiped it off. Then after lunch I itched my back and realized that it was on my back too – but Ashley and Emily informed me that it’s good luck to get pooped on by a bird… ha ha, so I guess it was a good thing?!

I got some decent pictures from there (I hope!) and then we took the bus back town to the port and got to see the Temple of Apollo and walk around the port city for awhile. I SAW SOME COWS TODAY!! Holstein’s too! I didn’t get very good pictures of them, as I saw them as we passed by on the bus – but I got a couple! Then we took the ferry back and I went to dinner with Sarah, Jean, Ali, David, and Darryl and we sat and ate and talked for about 2-1/2 hours. It was really relaxing to not have to have a certain time that I had to be anywhere. Right now I’m trying to upload pictures from 2 days ago when we went to Delos and Mykonos – so I’ll post the link to that album since I’m just starting a 4th album. I’m also watching Harry Potter right now – it’s really kind of nice to have some American TV to watch instead of just listening to music all the time! I’m also going to work on putting pictures onto CD’s so that I have yet a third place to back them up – I don’t want to lose these!

Well, the pictures aren't working to upload them, so I'll try it again tomorrow. Good night everyone! Miss you!

xoxo

Lazy Day

Hello everyone – today was a pretty lazy day. I woke up at 10 (I actually slept until my alarm went off! WOW!), sent some e-mails, had a little breakfast and went to class at noon. After class I grabbed some lunch with Karlie and Sarah, and I also booked my ferry back to Athens on the 27th. Mom – I know I haven’t e-mailed you this yet, but I will e-mail more details. After lunch we went to the beach for awhile and then I came back to my room. I’ve been trying to download the Photoshop trial this afternoon and it’s kind of been a struggle – still haven’t gotten it to work. I also cleaned my room and did a little bit of laundry in my sink – that was interesting! My friend Ali who lives next door has a clothesline on her patio, so I have them hanging there to dry – hopefully they’ll dry pretty quickly. I’ve been watching American TV all afternoon – turns out my TV does work. I watched an old episode of Young and the Restless, and then some Extreme Home Makeover, and now I’m watching House. They are all in English, but they have Greek subtitles – it’s pretty cool!

I haven’t really written about my program yet. There are around 30 of us – and only 2 guys! Everybody is so great! They’re all so much fun and it’s so fun to get to know people from all over the country! We have so many trips throughout the week to different islands, so the days that I have class are kind of relaxing for me because I’m actually around here and can go to the beach!

Well, that’s all for now – might be going out for awhile tonight. Tomorrow we go to Naxos and leave at 11. Mom said that’s more of an agricultural island, so I’m pretty excited to see it!

Oh yea!! My show cow Tracy had a heifer a couple days ago – Kirsten let me know via facebook. I knew she was due while I was in Greece and I had just recently seen a Greek word – Erene – which means Peace, so I wrote that down in my phone to remember it, and now I have a Greek heifer named Erene!! I’m super excited!

Alright, I’m adding some pictures of my apartment onto the blog so you can see where I’m living!

Love you all!!

p.s. might be adding more to that Album 3 and I did add more captions this morning – so keep checking that and if I get to a 4th album, I’ll post the link for it!

xoxo

Another day of exploring!

Today we went to Delos and Mykonos – incredible. Yesterday I climbed a HUGE mountain and today I did again, even though I didn’t have to!! I was so proud of myself – I feel like I’m on the biggest loser though when I’m doing that stuff – ha ha! I really hope to lose some weight here! Heck, I’m walking and hiking and climbing enough that I should!! I’m putting pictures up on facebook now from yesterday and either tonight or tomorrow morning I’ll put them up from today. It’s already midnight here, so I’m getting pretty tired. We got back today at about 6ish and Karlie and I went to the supermarket to get some stuff – had some supper, and then there was this group of French people who are staying here that were making TONS of food and had a bunch of wine and pop and were sharing with all of us! It is their last night here so they were just trying to eat everything up – it was so fun! We were singing and talking and laughing all night – great night! I’ll have pictures up soon, and if I can figure out how to do the video stuff, I’ll put a link on here so you can all see it! I also hope to take pictures of my apartment soon so you can all see it – it’s soooo nice! I can’t remember if I’ve described it yet or not, but I have 4 twin beds (2 pushed together as one bed) a bathroom, small kitchen and a little patio all to myself! I also have air conditioning (SO NICE!) and a small little closet thing. And a TV that works – but it’s all in Greek, so there’s no point in watching it! Ha ha! We even have a maid service who comes and cleans our bathrooms daily (well, basically just takes the garbage out) and then gives us fresh towels and sheets 2 times a week – very convenient! I bought some laundry detergent so I can wash clothes in the sink. We can have our laundry done for 5 Euros, but since I don’t like to have my stuff dried, I’m going to attempt to do it in the sink. I also stocked up on some more food so I don’t have to eat out all the time, although I feel like most of the prices on Paros are very reasonable (especially after eating on Mykonos today – wow!) Mykonos didn’t have too bad of prices, but they were a little higher than here.

Alright, well, I’m finishing uploading pictures and I’m really tired – but I only have class at noon tomorrow, so I should have more time to write and add pictures/captions – so keep checking album 3, and if I fill that I’ll post a link to a 4th album!

Love you all and hope the weather back home starts warming/drying up a bit!

xoxo

Island Tour

I’m so exhausted. We took a tour of the island today and walked and walked and WALKED… haven’t gotten all the pictures on Facebook yet, but when I do, I’ll let you know, I’m adding some from yesterday now, so check album 3.

I went ROCK CLIMBING TODAY. Huge HUGE mountain that we climbed to start the day, and then walked ALLL over different villages on the island the rest of the day. I left my migraine stuff at the apartments, so I got a migraine and was just miserable all day. I think I got some good pictures tho – we’ll see.

Sorry this is short, I’ll write more later, but I’m REALLY tired and I have to be up early tomorrow because we’re going to Mykonos and Delos for the whole day tomorrow – another LONG day.

Love you all!
xoxo

First day at the beach!

This picture is a beach that is just down the street from our apartments - it's amazing! The water is a little chilly, but you get used to it!

Time really passes slowly here – I’ve only been in Greece for 4 days, but it seems like so much longer! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – it’s just a very different way of life. It’s about 4 PM right now – right in the middle of Siesta time – so I’m just hanging out in my room and relaxing for awhile before I have class at 5. Tomorrow we have a bus tour of the island from 12-6, and then on Thursday we get to go to Mykonos/Delos all day and take pictures and tour the island. Then Friday I have normal class again at noon, and Saturday we go to Naxos (another island) and spend the day there too! We pretty much have class or tours every single day – even weekends, but it’s all so fun and interesting that I can’t really complain. Most of the time my class is at 5 – so I have the morning to relax on the beach and come back and relax for awhile before class. I love this schedule! Ha ha – I’m really excited for next week because we’re going to Santorini from Wednesday to Friday!! It’s so weird to look at my schedule and see how fast these three weeks seem like they’re going to go! But I’m really excited for Mom and Dad to come to Greece and experience all of this with me too! Tonight we have a group dinner since everyone has finally made their way here – there were a few that couldn’t get here the first two days we were here. Alright, well I think I’m going to put more pictures up on facebook and post this to my blog and head to class pretty soon.

I love you all!

xoxo

200% Better!

Later at night:
After sleeping most of the day and taking it easy until 5 (when my first class was) I felt MUCH better! It’s funny because I was talking to the girls about how you don’t really appreciate being healthy until you’ve been sick for awhile. I just felt like a million bucks tonight! It was great! I’m writing this – it’s about 11 pm here- and talking to Jeremy online, where it’s 3 back home – SO WEIRD! Would be talking to Kyle too, but he’s at a golf tournament. Hope the rain holds off back home for him! Had our first class at 5 today – it was great. We went through a bunch of slides of photographs, ranging from the first photograph taken, to contemporary art and contemporary Greek art. Our big (and only) project for the semester is to present our 20 best pictures by the end of the session. We are supposed 800-1500 pictures, which shouldn’t be a problem because I’m already at 486! After class we went to the supermarket to get some food to have in the apartments and I got a gyro for breakfast/lunch/dinner.. ha ha, pretty much my only meal of the day. It was delicious. I got some bread, juice, peanut butter, cereal, Pringles, and crackers similar to graham crackers – oh, and some milk, which I’m REALLY hoping to be good! Then I came back, put my groceries away, and went and hung out with Sarah and Karlie for a bit. The three of us went and walked around town for awhile then met up with a bunch of the other girls for a Greek dance performance in the center of town! They were doing their circle dance, which I learned when I went with Kristina to her Greek Dinner/Dance – it was so great! I took some video of it on my camera and hope that it turned out!

Well, I’m pretty tired now – don’t have anything tomorrow until 5, so I get to sleep in for awhile! Might actually go to the beach tomorrow hopefully! Love you all and miss you lots!

I’m also posting the links to my facebook picture albums, so feel free to go through them!

xoxo

First Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26633&id=1278630039&l=5c2b3e2f70

Second Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26667&id=1278630039&l=8e6ce97f2a

Third Album (will be adding more pictures later)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26784&id=1278630039&l=d5ba815ae8

(You'll have to highlight, copy and paste the links - Gma, Mom might have to show you how! :-)

Sick in Greece..

The first picture is about half of the girls on this trip that went out our last night in Athens, and the second picture is of some of the mannequins in that market place we went to.


So, I got to talk to Kyle last night on gtalk for awhile – which was fantastic! But then I wasn’t feeling very well at all, so I went to bed early. Woke up at about 12 and got sick. I was up off and on for the next hour or so, but finally started feeling better. When I woke up this morning I was feeling still a little exhausted, but not as sick. I tried to eat some Cheez-its, but that didn’t stay down. Everyone went for breakfast at 11 then on the walking tour of Parikia at 12:30, but I absolutely could not go. It’s about 2:15 now and I’ve been sleeping all day. The tour gets done about 3, and I think one of the girls is going to bring me an apple, so I hope that goes down and stays down. I’m trying to eat some plain crackers right now that Ali (my neighbor, and one of the AMAZING girls on this trip) gave me. Those are going alright so far. I woke up at about 2 and was actually feeling pretty good. I think it might have been something I ate last night. We walked to the school last night and got our ID pictures taken and had a small orientation. Then a few of us went to one of the many restaurants along the water and ate and watched the sunset. I had spaghetti and I think it maybe didn’t agree with me because it was wayyy too garlic-y. But it could just be exhaustion too – I really have no idea, but I’ll be fine. Today I have my first class at 5, so I really wanted to rest and make sure that I’ll be feeling better for that, because I know how much it SUCKS to miss the first day. Well, I think I might lay down for a little while longer. I love you all!

p.s. I just realized that I never entered the correct name to that shopping market in Athens we went to that had all the crazy stuff - it was Monastiraki.

Live Your Life, and Shake Your Bodies.

I wrote this Saturday afternoon. (The picture is from left to right: Pericles, Me, Karlie, Sarah and Ryland in front of the PARTHENON! AHH!)


This morning we had a small breakfast in the courtyard behind our hostel – a few slices of bread and part of an orange that was impossible to cut/peel/do anything with! After that, we met Pericles at 9 – he came to the hostel to meet up with us and tour Athens for a bit. And tour Athens we did. Wow. First we went up to the Acropolis – absolutely stunning. I still can’t believe that I actually finally saw it in person! We saw the Parthenon and the Porch of the Caryatids. Pericles pointed out to us where abouts he lived – which is on the other side of Athens and that there was a beach and some nice restaurants down there. So we left there and went to this marketplace area that has a bunch of shops – It’s something like Markakjdl (check name). We walked around there for a little while and decided to go see the water for the first time. So we hoped on the metro and went to the other side of Athens. We ate lunch down by the water at the most beautiful café. The whole side of the café was open to the water – no window. Birds were flying up to us and we were feeding the fish in the water. It was absolutely amazing and beautiful. All of us girls had a burger and fried potatoes (French fries) and Pericles got pork chops. Us girls tried his pork chops and he tried some of our burgers – each VERY good! After we ate we walked down to the beach and then walked up by the port and looked at some of the boats. Then we decided to head back to the hostel – we rode on the tram and parted ways with Pericles. This is where the real fun comes – ha ha. When we got on the tram (without Pericles to be our Greek speaking tour guide – which was VERY helpful, by the way. If it hadn’t been for him there’s no way we would have gone to all the places we went to today – and it’s only 3:35 here right now.) Anyway, we got on the tram and IMMEDIATELY there these Greek boys in their teens talking to us and hitting on us and telling us we have nice teeth and boobs. Ha ha, they were so funny and harmless – one of the boys name was John and he called himself John the Greek Lover and was trying to convince us to come eat with him and he wanted to buy us Souvlaki. But we had just eaten and frankly didn’t want to go with him, even though he was very entertaining. Now we’re just back at the hostel resting a little bit – since it kind of is the “rest time” for the entire town. So now I’m going to rest for a little while. After being on the beach today, I really can’t wait to get to the island. I also can’t wait to have kind of a steady place to live and get used to where everything is. Going to rest now.

Added on Sunday
After resting, I got ready and the whole group went out to eat at this amazing restaurant - but then again just about every restaurant in Greece has been amazing. We then hung out in the plaka for the rest of the evening and we've made it up to our 6th free drink that we've gotten while we've been here - it's been great! This morning we had to get up at like 5:45 to leave the hostel by 6:15 - our ferry left at 7:20 for Paros, and we arrived about noon. We got here and this place is absolutely amazing!! I can't even put into words how beautiful it is here! Once I get some better pictures from around the island I'll post them on here - But so far all I've really done is walk from the port, and got some food - now I'm updating people on here and going to unpack and get settled!

I love you all! I'll write some more later!
xoxo miss you all like crazy!

First day in Athens

I can’t believe I’m actually here in Greece! We landed early – about 9:00 am Greece time (1 am home). Couldn’t get access to the internet at the airport and the hostel doesn’t have it either, so eventually we wandered our way down to the local Starbucks so I could e-mail Mom and everyone to let them know I was alive. Got my luggage and everything just fine and made it through customs! Oh man, the exchange rate is NOT great. Oh, and I learned VERY quickly that it’s a great thing that Mom and Dad decided against renting a car. They drive CRAZY here and along with that the streets are so narrow and crowded. I think our taxi driver almost hit about 37 cars – ha ha. So far we’ve gotten 3 free drinks – 1 during each lunch and supper and one because a guy tried to persuade us to eat at his restaurant by giving us a free glass of wine. I’ve spent most of the day with three of the girls I’ve met online – Sarah, Karlie, and Ryland. They’re all great and a lot of fun!

I feel like I’ve walked ALL over the Plaka District – I’m exhausted. Had Moussaka for lunch and finally ate a gyro for supper – delicious!

I’m exhausted so I’m heading off to bed!

I just posted this in the morning here - it's actually 12:29 am at home. We're meeting up with Phoebe and Pericles to go site-seeing today and to see the Acropolis today! Got told we were being too loud at breakfast when we were talking because everyone is still sleeping.. ha ha - it's 8:30 and there's hardly anything open downtown yet and a cat just walked past me outside of Starbucks - there are stray cats and dogs everywhere!

Hi to everyone back home - I miss you and love you!

Lezli

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

I'm leaving tomorrow. HOLY COWS! At like, umm.. 3:30 AM for the airport. yikes - that's gonna be a LONG day - considering I won't get to Athens until 9:30ish am their time which is 1:30am our time. It's worth it though!

Right now I'm just doing last minute things on the computer, like saving school stuff to my hard drive, and getting the perfect music on my iPod for the plane ride - stuff that will help me sleep, hopefully!

I think I have everything I need, or at least I hope I do - Now I just have to pack it all up!

Next time I'll be writing on here I'll be in GREECE!

Love you all!
~Lezli

Anticipation

So, I'm leaving for Greece in less than a month, and I decided to get a blog set up so that when I'm there I can post pictures and write updates on here instead of sending e-mails to a bunch of people. This way anyone can check it at anytime!

I leave for Greece on June 4th, arriving there June 5th. I'll spend three weeks on Paros Island and once I'm done taking my class (Photography) my parents are coming over and we're spending a week touring the mainland!! I will be arriving home July 3rd, just in time to celebrate my favorite holiday in the states! Since no one in Greece gives a crap about our Independence Day! ha!

I'm super excited and I've started learning Greek. So far I can ask if someone knows Greek, or English. I can respond that I know a little, or yes, or no. And I can also ask someone if they are American - all very helpful!

Not sure how much I'll be updating this before I go since I'm working on finishing up finals, but I will definitely update this as much as possible once I'm in Greece to keep everyone updated!

Happy May!

Hope you're all enjoying the warm weather finally!


This is a little about where I'll be staying and the course I'm taking (Photography)