Sunday, I watched my wonderful friend Chelsea finish her marathon; boy was that a rewarding experience! When I first saw her coming I felt like a mother with her sheep, I was so proud of her! This amazing young lady spent two week on spring break with me without running, and then when she was suppose to resume she was sick for a week. Still she beat her best time! Shows how good of shape she is in. Chelsea is a very strong individual. She makes me want to set my goals higher, as she proves to us all that anything can be accomplished. I intend to be able to run a marathon as well within the next couple of years, it has always been something I have wanted to do. After meeting her, I know that if she can start at mile one and be able to complete this feat on several occasions I will be able to do it as well. I definitely feel blessed to have her in my life, and I feel like she makes me a better person. Love that girl!
So my parents are here! I thought that I would be shocked to see them, however it feels like they were never even out of my life.It is very nice to have them here, it's pleasant to rememberw what home is like. Sometimes I forget what life was like before I came here... Greece fills me bottom up with everything that I need. I miss friends from home, however I have a few amazing individuals here who I intend to keep with me forever. I've started spending time with several Greek people. It's fascinating to discuss our differences, as well as our similarities. We are all just people. I am able to connect with a few Greek girls far beyond what I anticipated; it will be sad to say goodbye.
I head home in a month and a half... I don't want to. If I wasn't taking a class as of june 14 and had more money I would stay all summer. There are not any available Grad schools for psych that have english, or I would come back. It is sad to think that I may never return to this incredible place; I've never felt so as home as I do here. At UWEC this year, I have always felt like the odd man out now that my best friend Abbey transfered schools. I have friends there, but I just feel isolated... In Greece, I don't have that problem. Even with the economy problems, corrupt government, all of it! I want it all. The people fit. We miss the world passing us by in America. The greeks take the time to enjoy it. I hope that I don't forget this when I return to the states. My eyes have definetly been opened and I hope that they never shut. Thus the blog writing, I hope to be able to look back on my experiences and appreciate them for what they are, and what they were all over again.
This weekend I am suppose to go with the other study abroad students to Athens, however I choose not to. With all the projects, papers, and presentations galore, I'm going to use the weekend to relax and slow done. I had enough GO GO GO over spring break, I think that I am afriad that my time here will go to fast if I continue to be busy. I'll spend the weekend working on a project, as well as getting better to know these incredible new greek friends that have entered my life, as time is limited with them.
4/12/2010
Highlights of my Spring Break
Naughty/Interesting Things That Took Place Over Spring Break:
1. We jumped a fence in Pompeii so we could take pictures of a blocked off area.
2. We went into a garden at Capri that was clearing marked private property because the gate was open.
3. We crashed another hotels sitting area and drank boxes of wine in Rome.
4. We got kicked out of that same sitting area a few days later when we were homeless and ended up eating our grocery store dinners on the side of the road like hobos.
5. We slept on the freezing cold floor at the Roman airport with the homeless people.
6. We saw the Coliseum- enough said.
7. We rode camels at the pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
8. We wore were sometimes asked to wear headdresses at the mosques we visited, which we did out of respect for the religion because we were in THEIR holy place, even though we felt a little degraded as women.
9. Everyone in the hotel we stayed in at Cairo knew who we were, and a few even told us they were sad to see us go.
10. Chelsea grew very sick while we were still in Cairo, and now I am incredibly ill as well, hoping it is not hookworm or malaria or something else unpleasant that can be contracted in Africa.
11. We were too scared to cross the street (Egyptians drive CRAZY, way worse than the Greeks or the Italians) or go outside again from the heckling and following of Egyptian men so we had the bell boy go get us food.
12. We slept in a mixed room at a hostel in Rome with two tiny Asians boys that were asleep by 9- hence or crashing the other hotels sitting area.
13. We realized how much we love Greece, and how homesick we were for it!!
1. We jumped a fence in Pompeii so we could take pictures of a blocked off area.
2. We went into a garden at Capri that was clearing marked private property because the gate was open.
3. We crashed another hotels sitting area and drank boxes of wine in Rome.
4. We got kicked out of that same sitting area a few days later when we were homeless and ended up eating our grocery store dinners on the side of the road like hobos.
5. We slept on the freezing cold floor at the Roman airport with the homeless people.
6. We saw the Coliseum- enough said.
7. We rode camels at the pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
8. We wore were sometimes asked to wear headdresses at the mosques we visited, which we did out of respect for the religion because we were in THEIR holy place, even though we felt a little degraded as women.
9. Everyone in the hotel we stayed in at Cairo knew who we were, and a few even told us they were sad to see us go.
10. Chelsea grew very sick while we were still in Cairo, and now I am incredibly ill as well, hoping it is not hookworm or malaria or something else unpleasant that can be contracted in Africa.
11. We were too scared to cross the street (Egyptians drive CRAZY, way worse than the Greeks or the Italians) or go outside again from the heckling and following of Egyptian men so we had the bell boy go get us food.
12. We slept in a mixed room at a hostel in Rome with two tiny Asians boys that were asleep by 9- hence or crashing the other hotels sitting area.
13. We realized how much we love Greece, and how homesick we were for it!!
4/11/2010
Egypt
The day we checked out of our hotel we left our stuff with them for the day and wandered, but that evening when it came to be dinner time we realized we were homeless.. We bought dinner from the grocery store then sam, chels, and I went up to a different floors hotel couch area to eat it. We had sat up there before so we thought it would be fine.. 10 min later we got kicked out and we ended up eating dinner on the side of the street!! After that, we went across the street and got a couple cheap drinks at the bar in order to kill time and drown out our sorrows.
Sooo the night in the airport was not all that fun.. We slept on the floor at the airport with all the homeless people! It was freeezing!! I only slept for 45 min all night, but i did get 8 postcards written! We met some girls at the airport in athens that were studying abroad in cairo so they gave us lots of tips which was reassuring! They helped us get our visas and transfer money. As soon as we left customs our driver was waiting for us, and he spent the hour drive trying to teach us a few words in arabic and we listened to arabic music. Until we got to the hotel I was trying to convince myself that he wasnt kidnapping us because I am a worry wart!!
The hotel was amazing.. apparently 191 euros goes a looooong way in egypt for a hotel and tour. we stayed in a 4 star hotel which over looked the pyramids. we had one room with two beds in it, a tv, and a dresser, and a second room that was a livining room with a second tv( i slept on the pull out bed) and then a very nice bathroom. room service was free, and one day we even got the bell boy to go get us food because we were too scaredto cross the street!! our first evening we ordered food from the restaurant downstairs and just vegged out and watched tv.
We were not a hundred percent sure about the time difference but we thought our estimate was correct.. boy were we wrong!! The next morning we woke up at what we thought was 7 am so we could get ready and go get free breakfast at 8. Pick up by our tour guide at 8 30. At “9” we were getting worried, so we called the person in charge. Apparently he was still sleeping, and didn’t make any sense when Chelsea talked to him. Eventually she said, “sir, are you awake now?” and when he went on with his babble she hung up. A few minutes later he called back and we asked where the guide was. He was confused.. Chelsea said, “ Sir what time do you think it is?” Turns out we called him at 7 am instead of 9… meaning we got up at 5 am!!!! Needless to say we went back to sleep for an hour!!
That first day we went to the pyramids of Giza, Memphis, the Sphinx, the Valley Temple, went camel riding, the original statue of Ramses, the Sakkara pyramids, the step pyramid, the Titi Pyramid, and the Mere-Ruka tomb. It was a CRAZY day!! The Sphinx and the pyramids were incredible. Riding a camel with them surrounding us topped off the entire experience; I don’t think I could have been happier!! I also thought the step pyramid was pretty incredible because I remember learning about Imhotep in high school. The tomb had all original hieroglyphs on the walls, which was impossible to fully comprehend. I can’t even grasp that those painting are 2 thousand years old! That day, our guide Mahmud taught us something cool about statues. Apparently if the beard is straight the person it was made for got to see it completed, but if it was curled then the important person died before it was finished.
The second day, we visited the Egyptian Museum which includes the golden collection of the burial chamber of King Tutankhamun. Then we went to see Mohamed Ali Mosque, the Hanging Church & Ben-Ezra Synagogue. The museum was unreal because there were anything from chairs to sandals found there. I can’t believe it survived so long! I really enjoyed the mosques, because the art and architecture is nothing like all the cathedrals I saw in Italy. Everything is made into geometric shapes, and they are much smaller. The hanging church was literally off the ground, which I found to be pretty neat. That day we also bought bracelets with our names on them in hieroglyphs which we had been looking for, and I also got one for my best friend Abbey. We went to a papyrus place as well, and through bargaining I bought one with the last judgment on it and a second with the Egyptian calendar on it for only 200 egyptian lbs. I am going to give the second one to my friend Ashley for her birthday! They make the papyruses exactly how the ancient Egyptians did.
The third day, we drove to Alexandria were we saw the Roman Catacombs, a Roman theater, Alexandria Great Library, Qaitbay Citadel & Montazah Royal Palace. Everything was very enjoyable except for the library… I expected it to have history relating to Alexander the Great (considering it was originally made because of him, as well as the city), however it turned out to just be a library. Not quite sure why we were brought there. The palace we saw was where all of the last king of Egypt’s wives lived. I found that entertaining! Alexandria is a coastal city, so we spent a lot of time walking around taking pictures. We returned at 7 pm, just in time for the mentalist (a show we started watching nightly in Egypt)
Our last tour day, we went to Rifae Mosque, Sultan Hassan Mosque, and Ebn Tulun Mosque. We were suppose to visit a few other places because it was Islamic Cairo day for us, however Chelsea was feeling very sick and we cut it short. At the mosques we were required to wear the muslim head dresses on our heads, which we did only because of respect even though we felt degraded. We returned home very early, and then Sam and I decided to go for a walk for shopping. We made it about 2 blocks before we turned around.. The entire stay we had been in touristy areas and with a guide, and didn’t realize what the men are like elsewhere.. Men followed us, yelled to us, honked their horns, you name it. We experienced that in Italy as well, however Egyptian men were just too much to handle.. That’s the only negative thing I have to say about the country. Egypt is amazing. I didn’t want to leave it. I’ve never done well in ritzy areas like Italy was, I prefer how life is seen in Egypt. Yes, they are poor, but the country is getting better and has so much to offer.
The people working at our hotel were wonderful! Everyone that worked there knew who we were and what our room number was! The people at the front desk let us charge our ipods with them, and we spent a good deal of time talking. One girl who worked there, (I can’t pronounce her name) told us she was sad we were leaving and that she would miss us! We definitely stood out at the hotel, due to our age. Everyone else there was either a family or they were Asians and Indians. One Euro = 7.5 Egyptian lbs, so we must have looked wealthy! Meals were like 20 lbs.. which is about 3 euro. Which food was that cheap in good ‘ol Thess!!
My parents are coming on Thursday!!! I’m so excited to see them!! They are getting really excited, they are planning day trips and looking up stuff on how not to look like a tourist hahahha! I’m excited. That’s all for now.. There is so much more to say but my fingers hurt!!!!
Sooo the night in the airport was not all that fun.. We slept on the floor at the airport with all the homeless people! It was freeezing!! I only slept for 45 min all night, but i did get 8 postcards written! We met some girls at the airport in athens that were studying abroad in cairo so they gave us lots of tips which was reassuring! They helped us get our visas and transfer money. As soon as we left customs our driver was waiting for us, and he spent the hour drive trying to teach us a few words in arabic and we listened to arabic music. Until we got to the hotel I was trying to convince myself that he wasnt kidnapping us because I am a worry wart!!
The hotel was amazing.. apparently 191 euros goes a looooong way in egypt for a hotel and tour. we stayed in a 4 star hotel which over looked the pyramids. we had one room with two beds in it, a tv, and a dresser, and a second room that was a livining room with a second tv( i slept on the pull out bed) and then a very nice bathroom. room service was free, and one day we even got the bell boy to go get us food because we were too scaredto cross the street!! our first evening we ordered food from the restaurant downstairs and just vegged out and watched tv.
We were not a hundred percent sure about the time difference but we thought our estimate was correct.. boy were we wrong!! The next morning we woke up at what we thought was 7 am so we could get ready and go get free breakfast at 8. Pick up by our tour guide at 8 30. At “9” we were getting worried, so we called the person in charge. Apparently he was still sleeping, and didn’t make any sense when Chelsea talked to him. Eventually she said, “sir, are you awake now?” and when he went on with his babble she hung up. A few minutes later he called back and we asked where the guide was. He was confused.. Chelsea said, “ Sir what time do you think it is?” Turns out we called him at 7 am instead of 9… meaning we got up at 5 am!!!! Needless to say we went back to sleep for an hour!!
That first day we went to the pyramids of Giza, Memphis, the Sphinx, the Valley Temple, went camel riding, the original statue of Ramses, the Sakkara pyramids, the step pyramid, the Titi Pyramid, and the Mere-Ruka tomb. It was a CRAZY day!! The Sphinx and the pyramids were incredible. Riding a camel with them surrounding us topped off the entire experience; I don’t think I could have been happier!! I also thought the step pyramid was pretty incredible because I remember learning about Imhotep in high school. The tomb had all original hieroglyphs on the walls, which was impossible to fully comprehend. I can’t even grasp that those painting are 2 thousand years old! That day, our guide Mahmud taught us something cool about statues. Apparently if the beard is straight the person it was made for got to see it completed, but if it was curled then the important person died before it was finished.
The second day, we visited the Egyptian Museum which includes the golden collection of the burial chamber of King Tutankhamun. Then we went to see Mohamed Ali Mosque, the Hanging Church & Ben-Ezra Synagogue. The museum was unreal because there were anything from chairs to sandals found there. I can’t believe it survived so long! I really enjoyed the mosques, because the art and architecture is nothing like all the cathedrals I saw in Italy. Everything is made into geometric shapes, and they are much smaller. The hanging church was literally off the ground, which I found to be pretty neat. That day we also bought bracelets with our names on them in hieroglyphs which we had been looking for, and I also got one for my best friend Abbey. We went to a papyrus place as well, and through bargaining I bought one with the last judgment on it and a second with the Egyptian calendar on it for only 200 egyptian lbs. I am going to give the second one to my friend Ashley for her birthday! They make the papyruses exactly how the ancient Egyptians did.
The third day, we drove to Alexandria were we saw the Roman Catacombs, a Roman theater, Alexandria Great Library, Qaitbay Citadel & Montazah Royal Palace. Everything was very enjoyable except for the library… I expected it to have history relating to Alexander the Great (considering it was originally made because of him, as well as the city), however it turned out to just be a library. Not quite sure why we were brought there. The palace we saw was where all of the last king of Egypt’s wives lived. I found that entertaining! Alexandria is a coastal city, so we spent a lot of time walking around taking pictures. We returned at 7 pm, just in time for the mentalist (a show we started watching nightly in Egypt)
Our last tour day, we went to Rifae Mosque, Sultan Hassan Mosque, and Ebn Tulun Mosque. We were suppose to visit a few other places because it was Islamic Cairo day for us, however Chelsea was feeling very sick and we cut it short. At the mosques we were required to wear the muslim head dresses on our heads, which we did only because of respect even though we felt degraded. We returned home very early, and then Sam and I decided to go for a walk for shopping. We made it about 2 blocks before we turned around.. The entire stay we had been in touristy areas and with a guide, and didn’t realize what the men are like elsewhere.. Men followed us, yelled to us, honked their horns, you name it. We experienced that in Italy as well, however Egyptian men were just too much to handle.. That’s the only negative thing I have to say about the country. Egypt is amazing. I didn’t want to leave it. I’ve never done well in ritzy areas like Italy was, I prefer how life is seen in Egypt. Yes, they are poor, but the country is getting better and has so much to offer.
The people working at our hotel were wonderful! Everyone that worked there knew who we were and what our room number was! The people at the front desk let us charge our ipods with them, and we spent a good deal of time talking. One girl who worked there, (I can’t pronounce her name) told us she was sad we were leaving and that she would miss us! We definitely stood out at the hotel, due to our age. Everyone else there was either a family or they were Asians and Indians. One Euro = 7.5 Egyptian lbs, so we must have looked wealthy! Meals were like 20 lbs.. which is about 3 euro. Which food was that cheap in good ‘ol Thess!!
My parents are coming on Thursday!!! I’m so excited to see them!! They are getting really excited, they are planning day trips and looking up stuff on how not to look like a tourist hahahha! I’m excited. That’s all for now.. There is so much more to say but my fingers hurt!!!!
4/02/2010
Rome
Spent the last four days in Rome... It was not what I exepcted. the Colloseum was amazing. It has beeni something I have been wanting to see for my entire life. We went on a guided tour, which was def. worth the money. It was nice to see how much of what was in gladiator is actually true!! The next day we went the the Vatican, and got to see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters and the pope. the chapel was cool because we learnd all about the last judgement in my art class and I got to see it for real!
that evening we realized that the sights of italy are amazing, however the culture and the people are not. Italians are rude. They hate americans and heckle you constantly. They also attempt to rip you off in anyway possible. Needless to say after the vatican we had had enough... Becky left yesterday morning and the rest of us decided to avoid the touristy sites and just wander. We went to the Trevi fountain, the temple of Adrian and all that, but we stayed away from the other tourists. The people ruin it. Somehow we wandered to this artsy square where there were artists selling and making paintings on the street. That helped change our mood because it was the italy we had been expected to see. I bought a painting from a guy on the street that made it completely out of spray paint. its beautiful. not sure how i will travel with it but i decided that I did not really care. I wanted it! We also saw a really creepy old man putting on a puppet show, and that that pretty entertaining.
haha to tell you the truth we have been spending a lot of time in the train station and at the mcdonalds for coffee. It is the only place that people dont stare at us and pester us. Ugh!! done with italy!! We did not realize how long 2 weeks truly was. Also, we see how much we adore Greece. It has become our home, and I cant wait to go back!!! I think this spring break and how we were treated in italy will make us appeciate Thessaloniki even more then before. Boy do I love that place :) Not to mention I miss the food!! :) what I would do for a gyro right now...
Tonight the 3 of us have to spend the night in the airport because we check in for our flight at 6 am. haha we are bringing cards to play, and will be filling out lots of post cards FINALLY. I will def. take a nap.... good ol airport sleeping, not the first time i have done it! :) I am very exciting for Egypt tomorrow.... We get to see the pyramids the next day and ride camels!! I think the food and the muslim culture in Africa will be interesting to experience as well. YEESSSSSSSSSSS Cannot wait!!!!! We have a tour guide the whole time, so I think our time there will fllllyyy by. All the time I have to type now, my time at the internet cafe is about to run out!!
<3 Brit
that evening we realized that the sights of italy are amazing, however the culture and the people are not. Italians are rude. They hate americans and heckle you constantly. They also attempt to rip you off in anyway possible. Needless to say after the vatican we had had enough... Becky left yesterday morning and the rest of us decided to avoid the touristy sites and just wander. We went to the Trevi fountain, the temple of Adrian and all that, but we stayed away from the other tourists. The people ruin it. Somehow we wandered to this artsy square where there were artists selling and making paintings on the street. That helped change our mood because it was the italy we had been expected to see. I bought a painting from a guy on the street that made it completely out of spray paint. its beautiful. not sure how i will travel with it but i decided that I did not really care. I wanted it! We also saw a really creepy old man putting on a puppet show, and that that pretty entertaining.
haha to tell you the truth we have been spending a lot of time in the train station and at the mcdonalds for coffee. It is the only place that people dont stare at us and pester us. Ugh!! done with italy!! We did not realize how long 2 weeks truly was. Also, we see how much we adore Greece. It has become our home, and I cant wait to go back!!! I think this spring break and how we were treated in italy will make us appeciate Thessaloniki even more then before. Boy do I love that place :) Not to mention I miss the food!! :) what I would do for a gyro right now...
Tonight the 3 of us have to spend the night in the airport because we check in for our flight at 6 am. haha we are bringing cards to play, and will be filling out lots of post cards FINALLY. I will def. take a nap.... good ol airport sleeping, not the first time i have done it! :) I am very exciting for Egypt tomorrow.... We get to see the pyramids the next day and ride camels!! I think the food and the muslim culture in Africa will be interesting to experience as well. YEESSSSSSSSSSS Cannot wait!!!!! We have a tour guide the whole time, so I think our time there will fllllyyy by. All the time I have to type now, my time at the internet cafe is about to run out!!
<3 Brit
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