Dear Diary, Greece

(Excerpt from my travel journal; 18 years old; Italy to Greece; if you see == within parenthesis, they are comments I'm making while typing this up. If you haven't yet, feel free to check out the London post which was the first part of the trip, or the intro.):

2008 June 20

The reason I didn't really write much about yesterday was that not much happened. We boarded the ferry, which everybody says was actually a cruise. I slept top bunk over Ashley. I danced at the disco and was, for the second time, on top of the pyramid. Oh, and we toured Pompeii. I forgot about that. (<== Actually, I did, briefly, mention Pompeii in my journal.)

Anyway, Alyse was the one who stayed on the dance floor with me the longest. When she stepped off, so did I. I went ahead and went to the bedroom. (I was with Ashley and Jessica P) and took a shower. The shower was the bathroom! It soaked when you showered. So, at around 1:30am, Jessica and Ashley came in, waking me up, exclaiming about Patrick being drunk and how everybody was going to get drunk and some girls were smoking, though the girl with the cigs didn't mind. I went with them. Some girls drank, but nothing interesting really happened. So I woke up earlier this morning than I wanted to because the room was freezing. I later found out through Jim (Alyse's grandfather) that we could have turned it off.

I got presents today in Delphi. I'm rooming with Erin, Alison, and Katelyn (sp?). Three of the girls with moms. The land, here, is beautiful. Huge mountains with sparkling, blue, clear water. It's so pretty. At first, I thought I wouldn't like Greece because of the food, but now I just might. So, it's uneventful, but I'm not complaining. It's kind of relaxing. Oh, I'm not sure if I've written about it, but Jessica and Ashley and I got stuck on the fifth floor in a hotel in Italy. Ashely and I wanted to go to the top, but we didn't realize there were no stairs. We tried to get back down (the only thing up there were men's clothes drying on a line), but the elevator door wouldn't close. Eventually, Dilan came up. For some reason, it chose to work. Later, Dilan and Jimmy went up and got stuck. Took them a while before they finally got down. We were lucky because we could see the pool from where we were and some of our group was in it.

In Paris, I tried snails and today, I tried squid and olives. Some of these things are actually pretty cool. And, even though I forgot in Italy, today after lunch, I got to put some of the Mediterranean Sea in a water bottle.

hotel view in Delphi

2008 June 21

I got up from my spot on the rocks because everybody was crowded around somewhere else and I wanted a drink (and I went ahead and grabbed this) and I figured nobody would take my spot. I came back out and there's nowhere else to sit where I was.

Last night, the three girls kept talking... and talking... and talking... and talking. I finally dozed off. I heard one ask if I was asleep (Alison?) and one confirmed I was (Erin?) and then I fell back to sleep.

This morning, we have toured Delphi. Greek history.

Oh, and Aaron says, "Hi!"

And, note to self, if I ever become a famous musician and I decide to shoot a video on the road, I should REALLY do it in Greece.

(==> There's still a few more days, if you want to scroll past the photo, but I'm tossing all of June 21st photos here!)

Mrs. Richey, Alysa, Jim

Pregnant woman, tour guide, she was AMAZING

Thanks to her, this was my favorite tour of the whole trip. Penis signs to the whorehouse, anyone?

I remember sitting in this restaurant but I don't know why!

Mrs. Richey had this tagged as the Belly Button of Earth

Mrs. Richey had this tagged as visiting the oracle of Delphi

2008 June 22

Today, we saw the Parthenon, still only eleven minutes left on my phone, but I did get to use the Internet. Jessica's phone (sidekick) uses memory cards, which means I can listen to music now! I'm rooming with Ashley and Jessica now, again.

Yesterday, we were shopping around. I ended up with a striped dress. They don't care about age around here at ALL. People sneak drinks around. I would if I drank, but I don't, so I don't care. (<== ahem, I distinctly remember one night, Ashley went with me to grab a drink from the bar. Apparently, it was more than 1 euro, but that's all I had, so the guy there paid the rest off for me. I didn't understand at the time because I hadn't spoken the right language. Ashley was reluctant to go with me because she had already done it, but I begged her to and she agreed.)

Today, I've been kind of blah, so it pleases me just fine that we're not out. My feet tend to get sore after awhile.

Last night, the guys, Maya and Tess, and whomever else, were messing around from the balcony, were harassing me. Immature. (==> Insert some random word that starts with an M that I can't read) are so freaking disgusting here. No respect. (<== I don't remember this. I wonder what happened...)

I'm on the far right. Next to me is Alysa then Erin. On the far left is Jessica Perez. Aaron is behind Erin. Ashely is behind me. Christians has a peace sign in the back next to Andy. I have no idea about anybody else here.

Patrick!

2008 June 23

Today is our last day in Greece. We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning to hit the airport.

Everybody is starting to get sick here, I just hope I don't.

Today, think we'll be heading to the beach again. (Well... not the beach... the sea.) I just wish it wasn't another tour. :( so, yeah. It's about that time.

It's about 10:30am and for once, I skipped breakfast. I ended up eating the banana from the other night. Last night, we had ice cream cake for dessert. NOT fruit. Yay! I was very, very happy.

I can't wait to be home. We took another tour *snooze* and wound up at a beach... with sand. I bought a tart strawberry slushy for 4 euro. Not worth it. But yeah. Jessica P. and I went to see the beach. I stood out there longer than her. When I went back to the shaded area, of course, my seat was taken. So I sat out in the sun on the couch. I enjoyed it. Breeze, sun, waves nearby, and the soft sound of the radio paying Greek pop music. So peaceful.

Tonight, some of us went to the movie and watched Get Smart on top of a rooftop with the projector to our left. It was pretty far out, wicked, and funny. We saw a couple of 'scene' chics at the metro. Alysa talked to them to ask how they kept their hair up for Jess P. I tagged along. They were really chill. I wanted to stay and talk to them, get to know them.

2008 June 24

Finally heading home!

(==> End of excerpt. I am "publishing" this around the date I wrote it, but the real date is 2019 June 18. Other locations of the trip: London, France, Italy from the post before.)