I have so many adventures to tell everybody about! This trip is just amazing! Where to start....
Two weekends ago we went to an Island called Corfu. The entire school went together. It took three hours by bus and two hours by ferry boat to arrive. Along the way we stopped to see ruins of the temples of Gods as well as the tomb of the grandfather of Alexander the Great. (I also learned that they have not yet found the tomb of Alexander the Great! Crazy! I wonder if they will find it soon). Once we arrived in corfu we went right to our amazing 5 star hotel. Mary, myself, and my friend Carly were all in a room together. We had some good quality girl time together. The Friday night the bus took us to the downtown square where we all ventured our way to local bars. (Its so fun that our school buys us drinks and takes us to bars...awesome!) We ended up at a cute place along the water. There were luxurious couches and seating outside by the bar along the water with a dance floor and another bar inside.
Saturday we woke up early for our island tour.
We went to two different palaces, numerous ruins, one church, and ended up back in the city square shopping for a few hours. We eventually made our way back to the hotel where we went to the beach and the pool for a while. After a tiring day the majority of us decided to stay in the hotel for the night. We started a party on the beach with a bon fire!
It was a blast! ... Until security discovered that we were having fun and came to ruin our party. Needless to say, we got kicked off the beach. So the party moved back into the hotel and eventually the dance floor!
The next morning people slowly rolled out of bed and piled onto the bus.. Back to Thessaloniki! Side note... if you ever take a ferry, wear sunscreen! Mary found that our the hard way. She had major short burn lines. It was hilarious and she was still in great spirits!
Then it was back to school for a few days. My photography class is actually really tough! Our teacher is great but he can be difficult to understand due to the language barrier. It was sometimes frustrating, but since I have read "The Alchemist" I remembered that I can learn from every experience! So here is my new outlook on
the class (since I am going to be a teacher)... , I can learn from him what might be best to say as a teacher and what not to say! You can always learn from every experience whether its good or bad. So Mary and I started making a list of what never to say. Here are a few...
"Why are you confused with that!?"
"You look confused, do you get it?"
"It's not that difficult guys..."
There are many more things that I have learned from him that have taught me what is important as a teacher. So I am learning things after all! Also, keep in mind, I am one of the only people in the class who have not worked with and SLR camera before so I ask a lot of questions. And NOW every time that he finishes a lecture he says with his funny accent, "Heatha, do you get it? Tell me." It was sort of mean at first but now its funny since im use to it. He is actually an awesome photographer, so we could learn a lot from him.
Also, when I got home from the weekend I found out that my dad was in the Hospital :( He had an accident at the cabin and fell off a ladder. His leg went up into his pelvis and bruised his ribs. It was extremely difficult to see my family in the hospital and my dad in the hospital bead, but when I first talked to him on skype he said, "I tried to fly! But it turns out I don't have any wings." He is always trying to be funny even when he is in pain in a hospital bed. I wish I could be there for him sooooo bad but Hannah, my mom, and our awesome family friends are taking great care of him. He had surgery last Tuesday, has gone through a lot of physical therapy and is now in a wheel chair. However, he is staying strong and is coming back home within the next few days! Please keep him in your prayers!
Now back to another weekend adventure! This time a bunch of our friends clim
bed Mount Olympus! It was an amazing experience! It took a three hour bus ride and 30 minute taxi drive to the bottom of the mountain. We all had our huge hiking backpacks and tennis shoes ready for some hard work. The only tennis shoes that I had with me were my cheer shoes so I carried my cheer family with me to the top of Mount Olympus. It was great and funny to see my little white shoes next to all of the intense hiking boots. The first day we hiked for three hours up to the first refuge. The hike was incredible! Every minute you could stop and be in awe of the view. It was also much more difficult than we thought that it would be to climb up this mountain. There were many points where we had to hold hands and help each other up the rocks and steep steps. Thank goodness we were with an amazing group of people who didn't complain and encouraged everyone up to the top! On the way up there were many intensely hot moments when we were dripping with sweat and other moments when we were freezing and layered up with jackets. When we finally made it to the refuge it was freezing cold and our sweaty clothes had froze to our nasty selves. So we stripped off our layers and fried our clothes in front of the fire. We sat down and had a tasty dinner with some wine after that. Mary and I were in a separate cabin from the other six people but we ended up getting the nicer place :) It was a decently rough adventure however. We didn't shower and the toilet was just a hole in the ground. That was interesting to say the least.
So the wake up call the next morning was at 6:00 AM! Mary and I popped up in great spirits and got ready for the long day ahead
of us. Every other hiker (there were probably about 40 people at the refuge) were up and already on the mountain, however we had to wake up the rest of our group. So we were the last ones out on the mountain but it was still early for us! We were out at about 7:30 with a 2 1/2 hour hike up to the top. This time the path was very steep and slippery. It was important to stay together and hold on to each other. Once w
e reached the top it was amazing! I could've stayed up there forever! Not only could you see everything, but we were above the clouds! That is my favorite place ever! I hope that my heaven is on the clouds some day! :) I also enjoyed a wonderful Greek treat (Baklava) on the top of the mountain! It was soooo delicious; made my day! Now it was time for the long hike all the way down to the bottom. It didn't take as long to go back down but by the time we made it all the way to the bottom we had hiked 10 hours! Needless to say we were extremely sore for the entire next week.
The Sunday after our hike to Mount Olympus we went to a gorgeous beach in Halkidiki. A bus filled with people from school all traveled together. The water there was amazing! If you were to swim out twenty feet where the water was about 30 feet deep, it was so clear that you could still see all the way to the bottom! Incredible! We also jumped off a tall rock which we considered "cliff jumping," rented a paddle boat with a slide, and played numerous games of beach volleyball. It was a fun day with all my friends from school.
Now comes to the ultimate adventure....
If you stop and ask yourself what you picture when you think about Greece, most people say white buildings up the side of a mountain with blue rooftops and donkeys! (at least that's what I use to picture when I thought about Greece) Well most of Greece unfortunately is not like that, although it is still very beautiful. There is one main island that captures that picture perfect image; SANTORINI! Santorini is where I just spent my last weekend with my bestest girlfriends. I'm actually on the train ride home right now while I am writing. We have five hours until we are back to our "home" in Thessaloniki. Which by the way is extremely crazy to think about that I am so comfortable and familiar with the area that I call it home. I have my normal routine of sleeping in, completing homework, occasional shopping or trips to the agora and our usual food joints, walking to the bus station while passing heaps of garbage on the streets and homeless dogs at every corner, taking the city bus to school, class, then time to hang out with friends! It is definitely not a normal America life, yet it is my lifestyle here in Greece. While I complete that routine every day it seems normal, but really I AM IN GREECE! I am living the life and loving the new experiences! Its crazy!... so anyways sorry I got carried away, now back to Santorini. Mary and I planned this trip weeks ago. Our trip started by a five hour train ride to Athens. At this point we had ten crazy fun girls with us on a wild adventure to a romantic island. Like usual, we were the loud Americans that every Greek hates....oops! So as we first arrived at the train station it took us a while to find the correct platform and await the train. We started waiting for a good 20 mins at platform number one, just chatting away when someone says, "the train leaves in ten minutes and we are still at this platform...no one else is here.. something isn't right." As an old man comes up to tell us that we have it all wrong we realize that we are three platforms over, where the crowd of people are standing. Why wouldn't we just follow the crowd... nobody knows. So us 12 girls quickly make our way to the correct platform and again decide to go against the crowd. We wondered why no one was getting on the train even though the doors were open. So here we go again, we split up (there were six girls in the front cart and six girls in the fourth cart) a few of us jump on the train while some of us stay off and wonder why the other people are still standing on the platform. Within that minute time span we have three girls on cart four of our train, the doors close! The girls faces were priceless! They press the bottom but it wont open. We stand motionless with our jaws open staring back at them through the small window of the train door. Seconds latter the train gradually inches down the track, then it rolls faster, and it pulls away. The only thing we can do is burst out laughing! We were all in tears we were laughing so hard. Then we figure we better find out where that train was going. So we split up and asked a few different people who understood English. We find out that the train is pulling into the station to add another cart and then it will be back. Still in tears because we are laughing so hard we decide to call the girls on the train so that they are not freaking out. We then found out that three of the girls from the front cart were also on the train but they were slightly freaking out. After ten minutes of this crazy hectic laughing adventure the train pulls back up and we are on our way to Athens. When we get to Athens we have four hours to explore the city and make it to the port. A few girls head up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon while the rest of us who have already seen it shop around for a little while. We eventually take the metro to the ferry where Mary and I talk to a nice Greek man who teaches us how to use worry beads. Many Greeks have this string of beads that they swing around their fingers in a specific manner. They do this when they are worried, or are just sitting and thinking. Its a tradition that goes way back. SO I got some worry beads of my own and I'm sure that people laugh at me when I try to swing them around but I still attempt it and watch the funny faces that I get from all the Greeks. Anyways.. I got off track again! SO now the ferry. We traveled on Blue Star Ferries for six hours into the night. The ferry was wonderful! There was a bar, restaurant, Goodys (Greek McDonalds), multiple lounging areas, cabins, air seats, and an open top deck to watch the beautiful sea. We had many girl talks and naps while on the ferry. When we arrived to the island of Thira Mr. Poppy (owner of Villa Manos hotel) was waiting for our arrival. We all piled into the van and worked our way up the side of the mountain and into the city. We were bursting with excitement! That was until we reached the hotel. There was a slight miscommunication with the owners wife and six of us ended up staying at the other hotel. It was stressful but we ended up stay with us six girls that are the closest and our hotel was so much nicer! It was wonderful!
So we sleep in and our first day in Santorini begins! We new it would be a beach day but how would we get to the beaches!?..... ATV's! Yeah baby! It was the best decision o
f my life! We show up to the ATV rental place with the 5 girl drivers and the men there ask, "where are the boyfriends!?" needless to say, there is no need for boys!!! My friend Elise and I were experts at driving since we have grown up on ATV's so it was fun to teach the other girls. So we all role out in our dresses and funky helmets back to pick up our partners at the hotel. All ten girls strap up and hop on, and off we are to the black sand beaches! It took a 20 minute drive through the mountains, wonderful houses, and some donkeys while seeing water on both sides of us on the way to the beach. Definitely something that I will never forget.
Akrotiri was the first beach that we ventured to. It had red and black sand! It was wonderful. We found out the hard way that part of the beach was a nude beach. haha Then it was off to the second beach, Kamari! It was Mary's turn to drive.... dun dun dun. My heart was pounding, my palms were sweaty, me lips were trembling in fear. We whipped out of the parking lot and around the first corner two wheels in the air, screeched around the second corner skidding through the gravel road and flying over bumps. Good thing we had helmets!
So we made it safely (well we made it alive) to the next black sand beach. On the way we grabbed some Breezer drinks and sprawled out on the sand. It was a great time. We all got alot of color! Im almost a new race. haha It is about 7 o'clock when we finally decide to head back and get ready for dinner. You see in most of Europe they eat dinner at about 9-10 o'clock so we had plenty of time to get home and get ready. We drop the first group off at the hotel and the other six head back to our place. Only we didn't really know where our place was! But we didn't care, we were on ATV's in Greece for goodness sake! So we drove around guessing which streets to drive down. Meanwhile two cute boys spot us six girls and follow us down a random road. As we turned around (because naturally we were lost) we almost witness them crash and burn because they were trying to be cool as speed past us. So about 15 more minutes stroll by and we are still sondering around the island. Then we pass the two boys at the gas station and decide to whip around and follow them this time since we were clearly in no rush. We end up stopping and talking to them and it turns out they were from Australia! So that was kinda cool. We didn't see much more of them but it was a fun adventure.
We eventually had to go back to the first hotel to get directions to our hotel. We got ready and head out to dinner with all the girls! We found the cutest little place in town where we had champagne and wonderful food... plus free shots! Then it was party time. You see in Thessaloniki there are huge parties but people stand around and drink casually unlike the bars in the states where people like to dance and in general be loud. However in Santorini its a different story. The town is filled with tourists and many fun clubs! We made our way to a club called Two Brothers where we danced the night away (while dancing on top of the bar). That night was very successful.
Day number 2! We almost cried when we had to bring our ATV's back. However Mrs. Poppy (aka our Santorini Mother) signed us all up for our full day tour around the island. The tour started by us running to the bus one by one making the tour group slightly off schedule. We were all frazzled until five attractive men hopped on the bus. Anyways our first stop was at a monastery at the highest point of the island. It was gorgeous. Then we quickly walked through the city with all of the gorgeous white buildings, while taking many many pictures. Next we hoped on a pirate ship and sailed to the volcanic islands! We climbed all the way to the top (which was nothing for those of us who had climbed Mt. Olympus). The island was covered with rocks and surrounded by hot springs. We had the opportunity to then swim through a hot spring which was pretty sweet but kinda dirty. Mary and I wrote our names on a rock, so we permanently left a mark in Santorini!
Our next stop was the most amazing place ever! OIA! It is the part of the island
that has white buildings up the mountain, donkey rides, and the most amazing sunset in the world. We started by taking a donkey to the top which I absolutely loved! Only the guys were mean to the donkeys :( I felt bad. 
Once at the top we got to shop around a little bit then sit on the south side of Oia to watch the sunset. We found the perfect ledge overlooking the city. There were hundreds of people there to watch the famous view. It was absolutely breathe taking.
It is definitely a sight that I would love to see again. 
Then we came to the adventure back to the bus. A few of us split up at the last second to shop so we were late to the bus. We all ended up running through the crowds of people to catch our bus back to the hotel. I was doing my best to hide my face when I got onto the bus so that no one could see me. It was pretty embarrassing.
So then we get to the stop where our hotel is and the cute boys get off at the same stop. At this point it seemed like we were creepers and following them so we decide to stop at a pizza joint. It was delicious! When we finally make it back to our hotel and up the stairs we run into
the cute boys yet again! It turns out they were in the room directly beside us in our hotel. What a coincidence. So they ended being very nice Swedish boys who came out dancing with us that night. We had a great time. So many memories! The next day was our like hike back to Thessaloniki. Overall it was the most amazing trip ever! I will never forget it.
Thanks mom and dad for helping take this opportunity to travel! It is definitely life changing!
Two weekends ago we went to an Island called Corfu. The entire school went together. It took three hours by bus and two hours by ferry boat to arrive. Along the way we stopped to see ruins of the temples of Gods as well as the tomb of the grandfather of Alexander the Great. (I also learned that they have not yet found the tomb of Alexander the Great! Crazy! I wonder if they will find it soon). Once we arrived in corfu we went right to our amazing 5 star hotel. Mary, myself, and my friend Carly were all in a room together. We had some good quality girl time together. The Friday night the bus took us to the downtown square where we all ventured our way to local bars. (Its so fun that our school buys us drinks and takes us to bars...awesome!) We ended up at a cute place along the water. There were luxurious couches and seating outside by the bar along the water with a dance floor and another bar inside.
Saturday we woke up early for our island tour.
We went to two different palaces, numerous ruins, one church, and ended up back in the city square shopping for a few hours. We eventually made our way back to the hotel where we went to the beach and the pool for a while. After a tiring day the majority of us decided to stay in the hotel for the night. We started a party on the beach with a bon fire!
It was a blast! ... Until security discovered that we were having fun and came to ruin our party. Needless to say, we got kicked off the beach. So the party moved back into the hotel and eventually the dance floor!The next morning people slowly rolled out of bed and piled onto the bus.. Back to Thessaloniki! Side note... if you ever take a ferry, wear sunscreen! Mary found that our the hard way. She had major short burn lines. It was hilarious and she was still in great spirits!
Then it was back to school for a few days. My photography class is actually really tough! Our teacher is great but he can be difficult to understand due to the language barrier. It was sometimes frustrating, but since I have read "The Alchemist" I remembered that I can learn from every experience! So here is my new outlook on
the class (since I am going to be a teacher)... , I can learn from him what might be best to say as a teacher and what not to say! You can always learn from every experience whether its good or bad. So Mary and I started making a list of what never to say. Here are a few..."Why are you confused with that!?"
"You look confused, do you get it?"
"It's not that difficult guys..."
There are many more things that I have learned from him that have taught me what is important as a teacher. So I am learning things after all! Also, keep in mind, I am one of the only people in the class who have not worked with and SLR camera before so I ask a lot of questions. And NOW every time that he finishes a lecture he says with his funny accent, "Heatha, do you get it? Tell me." It was sort of mean at first but now its funny since im use to it. He is actually an awesome photographer, so we could learn a lot from him.
Also, when I got home from the weekend I found out that my dad was in the Hospital :( He had an accident at the cabin and fell off a ladder. His leg went up into his pelvis and bruised his ribs. It was extremely difficult to see my family in the hospital and my dad in the hospital bead, but when I first talked to him on skype he said, "I tried to fly! But it turns out I don't have any wings." He is always trying to be funny even when he is in pain in a hospital bed. I wish I could be there for him sooooo bad but Hannah, my mom, and our awesome family friends are taking great care of him. He had surgery last Tuesday, has gone through a lot of physical therapy and is now in a wheel chair. However, he is staying strong and is coming back home within the next few days! Please keep him in your prayers!
Now back to another weekend adventure! This time a bunch of our friends clim
bed Mount Olympus! It was an amazing experience! It took a three hour bus ride and 30 minute taxi drive to the bottom of the mountain. We all had our huge hiking backpacks and tennis shoes ready for some hard work. The only tennis shoes that I had with me were my cheer shoes so I carried my cheer family with me to the top of Mount Olympus. It was great and funny to see my little white shoes next to all of the intense hiking boots. The first day we hiked for three hours up to the first refuge. The hike was incredible! Every minute you could stop and be in awe of the view. It was also much more difficult than we thought that it would be to climb up this mountain. There were many points where we had to hold hands and help each other up the rocks and steep steps. Thank goodness we were with an amazing group of people who didn't complain and encouraged everyone up to the top! On the way up there were many intensely hot moments when we were dripping with sweat and other moments when we were freezing and layered up with jackets. When we finally made it to the refuge it was freezing cold and our sweaty clothes had froze to our nasty selves. So we stripped off our layers and fried our clothes in front of the fire. We sat down and had a tasty dinner with some wine after that. Mary and I were in a separate cabin from the other six people but we ended up getting the nicer place :) It was a decently rough adventure however. We didn't shower and the toilet was just a hole in the ground. That was interesting to say the least.So the wake up call the next morning was at 6:00 AM! Mary and I popped up in great spirits and got ready for the long day ahead
of us. Every other hiker (there were probably about 40 people at the refuge) were up and already on the mountain, however we had to wake up the rest of our group. So we were the last ones out on the mountain but it was still early for us! We were out at about 7:30 with a 2 1/2 hour hike up to the top. This time the path was very steep and slippery. It was important to stay together and hold on to each other. Once w
e reached the top it was amazing! I could've stayed up there forever! Not only could you see everything, but we were above the clouds! That is my favorite place ever! I hope that my heaven is on the clouds some day! :) I also enjoyed a wonderful Greek treat (Baklava) on the top of the mountain! It was soooo delicious; made my day! Now it was time for the long hike all the way down to the bottom. It didn't take as long to go back down but by the time we made it all the way to the bottom we had hiked 10 hours! Needless to say we were extremely sore for the entire next week.The Sunday after our hike to Mount Olympus we went to a gorgeous beach in Halkidiki. A bus filled with people from school all traveled together. The water there was amazing! If you were to swim out twenty feet where the water was about 30 feet deep, it was so clear that you could still see all the way to the bottom! Incredible! We also jumped off a tall rock which we considered "cliff jumping," rented a paddle boat with a slide, and played numerous games of beach volleyball. It was a fun day with all my friends from school.
Now comes to the ultimate adventure....
If you stop and ask yourself what you picture when you think about Greece, most people say white buildings up the side of a mountain with blue rooftops and donkeys! (at least that's what I use to picture when I thought about Greece) Well most of Greece unfortunately is not like that, although it is still very beautiful. There is one main island that captures that picture perfect image; SANTORINI! Santorini is where I just spent my last weekend with my bestest girlfriends. I'm actually on the train ride home right now while I am writing. We have five hours until we are back to our "home" in Thessaloniki. Which by the way is extremely crazy to think about that I am so comfortable and familiar with the area that I call it home. I have my normal routine of sleeping in, completing homework, occasional shopping or trips to the agora and our usual food joints, walking to the bus station while passing heaps of garbage on the streets and homeless dogs at every corner, taking the city bus to school, class, then time to hang out with friends! It is definitely not a normal America life, yet it is my lifestyle here in Greece. While I complete that routine every day it seems normal, but really I AM IN GREECE! I am living the life and loving the new experiences! Its crazy!... so anyways sorry I got carried away, now back to Santorini. Mary and I planned this trip weeks ago. Our trip started by a five hour train ride to Athens. At this point we had ten crazy fun girls with us on a wild adventure to a romantic island. Like usual, we were the loud Americans that every Greek hates....oops! So as we first arrived at the train station it took us a while to find the correct platform and await the train. We started waiting for a good 20 mins at platform number one, just chatting away when someone says, "the train leaves in ten minutes and we are still at this platform...no one else is here.. something isn't right." As an old man comes up to tell us that we have it all wrong we realize that we are three platforms over, where the crowd of people are standing. Why wouldn't we just follow the crowd... nobody knows. So us 12 girls quickly make our way to the correct platform and again decide to go against the crowd. We wondered why no one was getting on the train even though the doors were open. So here we go again, we split up (there were six girls in the front cart and six girls in the fourth cart) a few of us jump on the train while some of us stay off and wonder why the other people are still standing on the platform. Within that minute time span we have three girls on cart four of our train, the doors close! The girls faces were priceless! They press the bottom but it wont open. We stand motionless with our jaws open staring back at them through the small window of the train door. Seconds latter the train gradually inches down the track, then it rolls faster, and it pulls away. The only thing we can do is burst out laughing! We were all in tears we were laughing so hard. Then we figure we better find out where that train was going. So we split up and asked a few different people who understood English. We find out that the train is pulling into the station to add another cart and then it will be back. Still in tears because we are laughing so hard we decide to call the girls on the train so that they are not freaking out. We then found out that three of the girls from the front cart were also on the train but they were slightly freaking out. After ten minutes of this crazy hectic laughing adventure the train pulls back up and we are on our way to Athens. When we get to Athens we have four hours to explore the city and make it to the port. A few girls head up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon while the rest of us who have already seen it shop around for a little while. We eventually take the metro to the ferry where Mary and I talk to a nice Greek man who teaches us how to use worry beads. Many Greeks have this string of beads that they swing around their fingers in a specific manner. They do this when they are worried, or are just sitting and thinking. Its a tradition that goes way back. SO I got some worry beads of my own and I'm sure that people laugh at me when I try to swing them around but I still attempt it and watch the funny faces that I get from all the Greeks. Anyways.. I got off track again! SO now the ferry. We traveled on Blue Star Ferries for six hours into the night. The ferry was wonderful! There was a bar, restaurant, Goodys (Greek McDonalds), multiple lounging areas, cabins, air seats, and an open top deck to watch the beautiful sea. We had many girl talks and naps while on the ferry. When we arrived to the island of Thira Mr. Poppy (owner of Villa Manos hotel) was waiting for our arrival. We all piled into the van and worked our way up the side of the mountain and into the city. We were bursting with excitement! That was until we reached the hotel. There was a slight miscommunication with the owners wife and six of us ended up staying at the other hotel. It was stressful but we ended up stay with us six girls that are the closest and our hotel was so much nicer! It was wonderful!
So we sleep in and our first day in Santorini begins! We new it would be a beach day but how would we get to the beaches!?..... ATV's! Yeah baby! It was the best decision o
f my life! We show up to the ATV rental place with the 5 girl drivers and the men there ask, "where are the boyfriends!?" needless to say, there is no need for boys!!! My friend Elise and I were experts at driving since we have grown up on ATV's so it was fun to teach the other girls. So we all role out in our dresses and funky helmets back to pick up our partners at the hotel. All ten girls strap up and hop on, and off we are to the black sand beaches! It took a 20 minute drive through the mountains, wonderful houses, and some donkeys while seeing water on both sides of us on the way to the beach. Definitely something that I will never forget.
Akrotiri was the first beach that we ventured to. It had red and black sand! It was wonderful. We found out the hard way that part of the beach was a nude beach. haha Then it was off to the second beach, Kamari! It was Mary's turn to drive.... dun dun dun. My heart was pounding, my palms were sweaty, me lips were trembling in fear. We whipped out of the parking lot and around the first corner two wheels in the air, screeched around the second corner skidding through the gravel road and flying over bumps. Good thing we had helmets!So we made it safely (well we made it alive) to the next black sand beach. On the way we grabbed some Breezer drinks and sprawled out on the sand. It was a great time. We all got alot of color! Im almost a new race. haha It is about 7 o'clock when we finally decide to head back and get ready for dinner. You see in most of Europe they eat dinner at about 9-10 o'clock so we had plenty of time to get home and get ready. We drop the first group off at the hotel and the other six head back to our place. Only we didn't really know where our place was! But we didn't care, we were on ATV's in Greece for goodness sake! So we drove around guessing which streets to drive down. Meanwhile two cute boys spot us six girls and follow us down a random road. As we turned around (because naturally we were lost) we almost witness them crash and burn because they were trying to be cool as speed past us. So about 15 more minutes stroll by and we are still sondering around the island. Then we pass the two boys at the gas station and decide to whip around and follow them this time since we were clearly in no rush. We end up stopping and talking to them and it turns out they were from Australia! So that was kinda cool. We didn't see much more of them but it was a fun adventure.
We eventually had to go back to the first hotel to get directions to our hotel. We got ready and head out to dinner with all the girls! We found the cutest little place in town where we had champagne and wonderful food... plus free shots! Then it was party time. You see in Thessaloniki there are huge parties but people stand around and drink casually unlike the bars in the states where people like to dance and in general be loud. However in Santorini its a different story. The town is filled with tourists and many fun clubs! We made our way to a club called Two Brothers where we danced the night away (while dancing on top of the bar). That night was very successful.
Day number 2! We almost cried when we had to bring our ATV's back. However Mrs. Poppy (aka our Santorini Mother) signed us all up for our full day tour around the island. The tour started by us running to the bus one by one making the tour group slightly off schedule. We were all frazzled until five attractive men hopped on the bus. Anyways our first stop was at a monastery at the highest point of the island. It was gorgeous. Then we quickly walked through the city with all of the gorgeous white buildings, while taking many many pictures. Next we hoped on a pirate ship and sailed to the volcanic islands! We climbed all the way to the top (which was nothing for those of us who had climbed Mt. Olympus). The island was covered with rocks and surrounded by hot springs. We had the opportunity to then swim through a hot spring which was pretty sweet but kinda dirty. Mary and I wrote our names on a rock, so we permanently left a mark in Santorini!
Our next stop was the most amazing place ever! OIA! It is the part of the island
that has white buildings up the mountain, donkey rides, and the most amazing sunset in the world. We started by taking a donkey to the top which I absolutely loved! Only the guys were mean to the donkeys :( I felt bad. 
Once at the top we got to shop around a little bit then sit on the south side of Oia to watch the sunset. We found the perfect ledge overlooking the city. There were hundreds of people there to watch the famous view. It was absolutely breathe taking.
It is definitely a sight that I would love to see again. 
Then we came to the adventure back to the bus. A few of us split up at the last second to shop so we were late to the bus. We all ended up running through the crowds of people to catch our bus back to the hotel. I was doing my best to hide my face when I got onto the bus so that no one could see me. It was pretty embarrassing.So then we get to the stop where our hotel is and the cute boys get off at the same stop. At this point it seemed like we were creepers and following them so we decide to stop at a pizza joint. It was delicious! When we finally make it back to our hotel and up the stairs we run into
the cute boys yet again! It turns out they were in the room directly beside us in our hotel. What a coincidence. So they ended being very nice Swedish boys who came out dancing with us that night. We had a great time. So many memories! The next day was our like hike back to Thessaloniki. Overall it was the most amazing trip ever! I will never forget it.Thanks mom and dad for helping take this opportunity to travel! It is definitely life changing!
