Santorini Island

Above: Santorini spelt out in Greek. Below: the four of us girls that went to the Island.

On May 15th Britney, Jillian, Annie and myself set out for the Greek Island of Santorini [where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed]. We left Thursday afternoon so we could take the train to Athens and catch our 5:30 am flight [ugh] on Friday morning. We arrived in Santorini while the sun was rising, it was so beautiful.

We took a taxi from the airport to Perissa [the area we stayed in]. Our hostel was right on the beach, it was beautiful.

These pictures were taken from the roof of our hostel .

So we put on our suits and headed to the beach to lay out in the sun and get a good tan.

Above: is Perissa Beach [where we stayed] Below: The 'rough' life I lived on the island :)

We took a break so we could grab something to eat. We ate at the restaurant that our hostel ran and we got to meet the manager and some of the other staff. They were really nice and they helped us out a lot. They told us how to go about renting a car and the manager, Vagelis, took us around to show us a couple of popular places and to use the internet. He’s a really great guy. He is a professional volleyball player in Athens and works on the Island in the summer. We were supposed to play volleyball of Sunday with him but the weather wasn’t good for it. On Friday night we went to a little beach bar down the road and had fresh fruit drinks and met a couple of Americans that were touring Europe for 5 weeks. We exchanged stories about where we’ve been and gave them some pointers.

Saturday we decided to rent a jeep so that we could tour the island, because its small enough to tour in a day. So we picked up the car and headed out to explore the island.





Our first stop was Red Beach. Santorini has a Volcano on the Island and the beaches are different colors. Most of the ‘sand’ is black and the rocks surrounding this beach were red. It was beautiful.

You can see how clean the water is, its amazing.


Next stop was the lighthouse on the island. [Mom you’ll have to come here now ;), I’ll come too don’t worry] There were amazing views from all the places we stopped but this was great. We climbed around the rocks for a while but we decided to get going before Britney got too daring, we thought she was going to fall so many times =).

Below if you look closely you can see Britney on the left, kind of looking over the edge, and I'm about in the middle on the little point, looking out at the beautiful sea.



Then we were off to the top of the mountain, the highest point on the Island. Unfortunately we had to follow a cement truck up the mountain; we were in a manual, NOT FUN! But the view was worth the wait. You could see the ENTIRE Island from here. This is a picture of the area near the port.



Next stop was Fira, the main ‘city’ on the Island. Here we stopped and shopped around for a bit. There were a lot of cool things and many amazing buildings. This one was my FAVORITE!

It was getting pretty late in the day and we needed to get to Oia [Ia] to watch the sunset. On the way we saw this cute little donkey,



and a hill of windmills [beautiful]

We stopped at the beach near Ia.

Oia is the place I want to stay when I come back. It is AMAZING. White houses and blue doors EVERYWHERE.





When we got there, there were so many people around waiting for the sun to set. So we walked through the ‘city’ and headed towards to edge of the Island to check out the sunset. We saw a lot of boats, cute houses, a couple churches, even a Bride [lucky girl]. The sunset was pretty amazing.

So many people were there watching the sunset.

There were a lot of clouds during the day so it was as cool as some but it was still unbelievable. After the sunset we headed back to Perissa and went to bed after our long day.


Sunday was really windy and cloudy so we wondered around to different shops and went to see what was around Perissa. We found a cool church and some neat little resorts.




When the sun finally did come out we went and laid out but it was too cold to go swimming. It was the other three girls' last night in Santorini [I left on Tuesday], so we went to another Beach Bar to hang out for a bit. We took some pictures by the Sea because the waves were rolling in, it was really cool.

Monday we laid out and went swimming for a bit before Annie and Britney had to leave. After they left Jill and I went to look for some things Jill still wanted. Her flight was at 8 so around 6 we headed out, I was going to try and change my ticket so I could just go back with them but I couldn’t do it without paying for a new ticket so I just stayed and left on Tuesday morning. Below is at picture of us girls with Vagelis, Europeans dont like to smile in pictures and I haven't figured out why...




All in all Santorini was phenomenal! I really want to go back and visit someday. It was so relaxing and I just loved it!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I only have two weeks left in Greece; I can’t believe the time has flown by so fast! I’ve had a wonderful time, and again I thank everyone of you who has read my blog and taken interest in my life abroad and helped me with my travels, I’m very thankful. Many of my dreams have come true on this trip/adventure.
Thanks again.
xoxo

Sarah

Plunging into the Corinth Canal

[Samantha, Lea, instrctor, Britney, other instructor, and ME!]

GUESS WHAT I DID ON SATURDAY?!?! Went bungee jumping!!! Me and three other girls left Thessaloniki around 11 Friday night to head to the bus station. From there the bus took us to Athens [6 hour bus ride…ugh!]. Then when we reached Athens we waited a couple hours, since the bungee place didn’t open until 10:30 am, then we took a bus from Athens to the Corinth Canal. Once there we checked in with the Bungee company and they said they would need about 15 minutes so we walked over to the canal to check it out. It was deep but awesome! We all took a couple of pictures



and went to a little shop and bought some post cards then headed back to sign some papers for the jump. After we filled out the papers we were weighed and then we were harnessed up.



Finally we were off to the jump sight. There were 7 of us total that were there. After we got there 3 other guys showed up [two French men and a Greek]. They all went first, which was nice because they had done it before and it was just nice to see a couple of other people go before us. They made it look super easy and then it was our turn. Lea went first, then Sam, then me and finally Britney. Lea went like she had done it 80 times, no hesitation. Sam hesitated and said a prayer first [haha]. I had to gather my thoughts but made myself go before I talked myself out of it. And Britney went right away, too, and she was also the only one of us to touch the water [besides one of the French men]. So, for a breakdown of my jump. I went under the bar into the ‘jump area’.


I was strapped to the rail, so no accidents happened, and the bungee cord was attached to me. Then they added another rope to me that attaches to your harness and your feet and it keeps you upside down throughout your jump and then when instructed you pull a cord that flips you over so you can be brought up.






Anyways, they attached it to my harness then moved me closer to where I would jump from and attached it to the ankle braces on me feet. They explained the proper way to jump and gave me a few more instructions. After that I was unclipped from the strap tied to the edge. Now I was moved closer to the edge, I was a little hesitant I’m not going to lie, and the bungee cord was lowered so that none of it was laying on the edge and that thing was SO HEAVY! I thought it was just going to pull me right off. So then it was time, I took a second to collect myself,



then I raised my arms, and the instructor started counting down with everyone 5…4…3…2…1…Jump! And I jumped!



Falling, falling, falling, falling, and there was the water



but I stopped about 2 feet short [oh man] and up and up and up I went.



It was an amazing experience the distance you bounce is AMAZING! Then I was just bouncing,upside down.




I was instructed to pull the cord that flipped me back over and I was just bouncing in the middle of the canal just checking things out.

Then they lowered a cable that you attached to your harness so that they could bring you up. Once I jumped I already knew I’d want to do it again! It was so fun! After Britney jumped we went back to the shop, picked out our t-shirts, and waited for them to copy the video for us. We sat around chatting with the instructors and other people that worked there for awhile and signed the wall.

They were so nice. When our videos were done we watched it right away. It was cool to relive the moment [which I did again when I got home and about 3 times today =) ]. Then we ate, we thought it best to wait until after we jumped to do this, and headed back to Thessaloniki. It was a great day! And another wonderful thing to add to the other list of amazing things I’ve been able to do while abroad. I hope you enjoy the pictures, I couldn't get the video to load so you'll have to wait until I get home to see it :).

Spring Break 2009: London, England

LAST STOP and good news the weather was BEAUTIFUL while we were here too. It never rained on us once.

Day 1. We were so lost after the airport and trying to find our hostel that there wasn’t much time to go into the city and do any sight-seeing. So, we went and picked up a couple of frozen pizzas, ate dinner, wrote in our journals, watched a movie and crashed.

[A view of the city from our Hostel. You can see the London Eye on the left. ]

Day 2. We woke up early so that we could go pick up my friend Ellen from the train station. She also studied abroad but she was in England and finish with her school the day before so she toured London [again] with us and came to Greece with us. Anyways, after we picked her up we took her back to the hostel so she could put her things in there and then we were off to the city to sight see. Our first stop was Parliament and Big Ben. I know we’ve all seen pictures of this famous clock but it is absolutely HUGE!

Right across the road was the London Eye. [above] It's basically a huge ferris wheele and you can take a ride but we didn't.

And of course we had to take our picture in a phone booth!

Then we traveled to Buckingham Palace [the Flag was flying so the Queen was home]. Here there was also beautiful flowers and landscaping.

[all of us in front of the palace]
[the palace]
[Ellen and I in front of the beautiful flowers]

Then we headed to ‘Theater city’, a neighborhood of London, to purchase tickets to a show. We saw Chicago. The actors were very good and the singing was amazing. We got out of the show around 10:30 so we headed back to our room to get some serious sleep, after a PB & J which was amazing. [In Greece they don’t really have peanut butter and if they do its really expensive so Ellen brought us some because food was cheaper where she was.]

Day 3. The weather was beautiful again so we decided to grab some food from the grocery store and have another picnic, in Hyde Park this time. So we laid around in the sun and had lunch.






Then we headed to Piccadilly Circus, which is like a version of Time Square in New York,



and then we went to the National Gallery to look at some beautiful pieces of art. Here there were also many paintings by artists that I’ve studied in my art class but unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures in this museum. We headed over to Abbey Road to see the studio and take the classic Beatles picture...





...and sign the wall infront of the Studio.





Then we found a little pub that we could get food [fish and chips for a few of us and burgers for the rest =) ].

We wanted to see Big Ben and the London Eye at night. So...





Day 4. We spent Saturday hitting up some of the major markets in London, Camden and Portabella markets. We ate some really good Fajitas at the Camden market and found some touristy things.



Then we went to Harrods which is a huge shopping mall. There are many designer names in here so needless to say we didn’t buy anything but Ellen took us to see the food halls. They were really cool. You could buy foods that were native to places from all over the world [they even had some Greek food], and they had a candy room and a room that had different places to eat. It was cool to go in. We had made plans to meet up with some girls we knew so we had to get going. We headed back to the National Gallery to meet up with Tessa and Lucy. Ellen and I went to High school with both of these girls and Lucy goes to college with all of us. So we met up with them and headed to another Pub to grab a bite to eat and catch up on life. Tessa has been in Ireland for the entire year, and it was neat to hear of the things that she’s been doing with her life. Lucy is studying in England this semester and she just got back from some traveling too so they both had a lot of stories and so did we. It was a great dinner. After this we had to get our bags and head to the airport before the trains closed because our flight left early the next morning. We ended up sleeping in the airport since our flight left so early, but it was ok.

All in all spring break was a BLAST!
2 weeks
5 countries
7 airplane rides
10 buses
5 different metro systems [oh man!]
Miles of walking around Europe
An experience of a LIFE TIME!

I’m so grateful. Thank you for all of your support and help it has meant SO much to me. I will see you in 6 weeks!

Love, Sarah