Hi there everyone,
I am sorry I haven't posted anything for a really long time! However, I have been busy with a lot of traveling and I just finished my midterms which were extremely stressful but I did very well on all of them.
The last weekend in September I went to Mykonos and Santorini. I went with 9 girls including myself. It was very fun and beautiful. We took a 5 hour ferry to Mykonos but the ferry was really nice. There were couches to lay on and comfortable seats to sit and also tables to play cards or eat. It was very comfortable. We spent the night in Mykonos, which is known as a "Party Island" so yeah that was a lot of fun and then did a little souvenir shopping before we went to Santorini. The ferry from Mykonos to Santorini was about 2.5 hours so it went by very fast. Santorini is gorgeous. We went to the black sand beach and laid on the beach for awhile and then also saw the Red Sand Beach. We drove 4 wheelers to the Red Beach which was a lot of fun. Then we also went to Oia, which is in Santorini, to watch the sunset. It is the best place known to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous! Then I did some more shopping... oops! However, the ferry from Santorini to Athens was 8 hours, which was long. However, it was an overnight boat so I slept most of the time which made time go by really fast. The day I got home I was very tired though!!
My family came the next weekend from November 4-13. They stayed in Athens for 5 nights. We did a lot of exploring. We all hiked the Acropolis together and saw the Parthenon on top! Very gorgeous and had a great view of the city. We heard some demonstrations from the top of the Acropolis but found out it was a good demonstration, not a bad riot or protest. So that is always good. They took the "Hop On, Hop Off" bus which took them around the city of Athens and learned about all of the main sites and said it was very informational so if you are visiting a large city and don't have many days to explore, I would suggest taking a tour like this. You learn about everything and then you can explore the sites that most interest you or you want to see. I had class, so I didn't have the chance to do this with them. We were told to go to the town/ metro stop called Thissio and this has a great view of the acropolis at night and a lot of mini shops and so we also did that. And we were told to go to this restaurant and so we did. 3 of us ordered marinated salmon. Well when we got our salmon it was raw.. it was gross. So there are people who sell corn on the cob on the streets so I asked a guy to grill my salmon because the restaurant wouldn't. Anyways, on November 9 through the 13th we all went to Austria. We stayed in Vienna for the first two nights then went to St. Andre, which is where our ancestors are from for one night then back to Vienna for another night. We walked around downtown Vienna a lot. We visited a couple churches and saw the Stephens dome which is gorgeous. It is also pretty at night when it is all lit up. Then one day we did a city tour around Vienna and learned about many sites in Vienna. Then we got a tour of the Schönbrunn Palace which is huge and gorgeous!! The gardens on the palace are also very pretty. I wish we had more time at the palace because it was so big and intriguing but we didn't have enough time to see it all. We also did some shopping and got some fun clothes and souvenirs. I love getting clothes from different countries. Then we took a train to Gols which is the city before St. Andre and we got picked up by our ancestors and had an amazing breakfast with them at their home. It was great experience to meet them and I really would like to go back and spend some more time with them. They were very welcoming and wanted to learn about our family and vice versa. We went to a huge dinner with about 20 other people and had a real Austrian dinner and there was SOO much food!! The food was great though. But I met many people and will never forget them. The last night we were in Vienna we celebrated my birthday which was very emotional. I had some weinersnitchzel which was great and that is the food they are known for. But I was glad I was able to celebrate my birthday early with some family because I knew I wasn't going to be able to spend it with them on my real birthday.
The week I got back I had 4 midterms in one week. I was so stressed and worried about all of the midterms because I didn't know how difficult the tests were going to be and some of my professors arent the best so I was super worried. I literally studied all day everyday for that whole week. I was stressed to the max but I ended up doing very well and I guess hard work (studying) pays off!! I know I got 3 A's on my midterms but I still haven't gotten one back yet, but I feel confident that I did great on that one! So my classes are going well!
Then I had a trip with my school on October 19 to Nafplio. We toured a castle which we didn't have nearly enough time because the tour guide talked for so long and gave us little time to explore. So that was a bummer. It was a very cool castle and had a great view of the city and it was right on the water so it was very pretty. We had lunch and I tried lamb. It was OK, it reminded me a lot of pulled pork. We then went on a winery tour which I found interesting and learned a lot. I did buy two bottles of wine because they were so good. We tasted 6 different kinds but I only bought one. I am not into red wine but I do like white. Maybe one day I will like red wine.
Then it was my birthday weekend. Of course, I went out... Actually my birthday, October 28, is a holiday here in Greece. So luckily I didn't have class on my birthday either. The holiday here is called "Oxi Day" Which means "No Day" It was the Greeks saying no to Italy. I'm not quite sure exactly what it was but I know that much.. Anyways a bunch of us went downtown to this bar and it was the grand opening of the bar so there were like mini fireworks going off and dancers on platforms. It was a lot of fun!! My family sent me gorgeous flowers and huge teddy bear, which I have no idea how I am getting home!! But I loved it so much and it made me feel special even though I am half way around the world and couldn't spend it with them. And then my friends bought me some champagne and I got cake and I felt very blessed. I couldn't be more thankful for the people in my life right now and how special they made me feel.
Thennnnn.. I went to Cirque Du Soleil Dralion on October 29 with my friends Sarah and Lex. It was at the Olympic Basketball Stadium and it was awesome. They did some crazy things. This lady was balancing on a pole on one arm for awhile and there were guys walking on huge balls and doing backflips on them. Very crazy. Also, they were trampolines and they would do flips and scale a wall then fall back on the tramp. And my favorite part was when the guys made a pyramid on top of each other... they weren't kneeling on each others backs they were standing on each others backs and they were jump roping!! SUPER COOL! And of course there were the 3 comedians that were hilarious.
Finally, this past weekend I went to Crete! We took an overnight, 9 hour, ferry which was easy because I slept pretty much the whole time. We stayed in a hostel and these ones weren't so nice. We had to walk down a couple flights of stairs and outside to the showers and bathrooms. The bathrooms were shared between men and women. We had 8 beds in a tiny room but we got lucky and it was only the 3 of us girls in one room so we didn't have to share a room with anyone else. On Saturday we did a lot of shopping.. again, and then went to the Palace of Knossos. The palace was huge! We had a lot of fun roaming around the palace and taking pictures. We had lunch on a boat which is a restaurant like in a port so we were on the water. It was very cool. I had a club sandwich and it was delicious. Then on Sunday we went to the beach all day and laid out on a sandy beach. It was gorgeous. Its weird to think it is November and I was laying on the beach. Very awesome, I loved it. And of course I went swimming too. I really wish we had more time in Crete because it is too big of an island for only two days. I really would like to come back here to explore more.
I am going to Italy, France, Belgium, and Amsterdam so I won't wait this long to do another blog!! Sorry but thanks for reading!
xoxo
Kayla
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